CONNECTION OF SUBTERRANEAN 



tion of the underground currents ! What a natural explanation does 

 this offer of many facts which have embarrassed or deceived geolo- 

 gists ! It may be well for the reader to refer to what was stated 

 in Chap. XII. respecting the teeth and bones of small land quadru- 

 peds found in the calcareous slate of Stonesfield. I there observed, 

 that I thought it probable they had been brought into their present 

 situation by subterranean currents, during the tertiary epoch, — and I 

 am inclined to believe that the traces of such subterranean currents 

 would be discovered, could the internal structure of the strata be 

 fully laid open. 



The subject of subterranean currents becomes interesting to the 

 geologist when connected with caverns, for caverns themselves would 

 scarcely deserve attention, were it not that they frequently contain 

 skeletons or bones of large mammiferous animals, belonging to spe- 

 cies that no longer exist in Europe, and are supposed to be extinct 

 elsewhere. Many of these caverns were closed when first discover- 

 ed, and some of them have been recently found to contain human 

 skulls and bones, mixed with the bones of extinct species of quad- 

 rupeds : hence, we are led to enquire in what manner and at what 

 epoch these bones were introduced into the caverns. The bone 

 caverns in Germany will be first described, and then some notice 

 will be given of the caverns recently discovered in France, contain- 

 ing human skulls and bones : and lastly, we shall notice some of the 

 bone caverns in England. 



It has been long known to naturalists and travellers, that there are 

 numerous caverns in the calcareous mountains of Germany and Hun- 

 gary, the floors of which are covered with clay, enveloping a prodi- 

 gious quantity of bones and teeth of carnivorous animals. The bones 

 in these caverns are nearly the same, over an extent of more than 

 one hundred leagues. More than three fourths belong to species of 

 bears that are now extinct two thirds of the remaining part be- 

 long to an unknown species of hyena ; a smaller number belong to a 

 species of lion or tiger, or of the wolf or dog ; a very few belong to 

 small carnivorous animals, allied to the fox and polecat. The bones 

 are nearly in the same state in all these caverns : they are found 

 scattered and detached, partly broken, but never rounded by attri- 

 tion, and consequently not brought from a distance by water. They 

 are rather lighter and more fragile than recent bones, but still pre- 

 serve their true animal matter, containing much gelatine, and are not 

 in the least petrified. The bones are all enveloped in earth which 

 is penetrated with animal matter : except a few bones on the surface, 

 of a different kind, which have been brought there at a later period, 

 and are less decomposed. 



* The most common species of bear in these caverns, the Ursus Spelaeus, was of 

 the size of a horse. The fossil hyena was one third larger than any known living 

 species. 



