WTATT — THE DISPUTED DEADS EEOM THE DEIET. 



233 



slowly succumbing before the superior meutal force of their extermi- 

 nators, " the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiviug, 

 namely, the production of the higher animals, directly following"* 

 the extirpation of the lower race ; are speculations which cannot be 

 solved by the inspection or measurement of any series of skulls, still 

 less from so limited a number as those w4iich I have noticed above. 



Upon a review of the above facts, it appears that we may arrive 

 at the conclusions that brachycephalic skulls did not antedate doli- 

 chocephalic skulls in time, throughout the whole world; that no 

 analogy exists between the distribution of brachycephalic and doli- 

 chocephalic skulls of man, and the distribution of brachycephalic 

 and dolichocephalic apes ; that the proofs of the antiquity of the 

 JSTeanderthal and Engis skulls are not complete, the geological and 

 chemical evidence being defective ; that the persistent interparietal 

 bone of the Muskham skull is not a mark of the lower rank of the 

 race to which it belonged; and that large supraorbital ridges are 

 not jier se proofs of siraial affinity, or anthropic degradation. 



The above conclusions, it may be said, are purely negative. They 

 are so ; but it must be borne in mind that we are not entitled yet to 

 lay down general affirmative conclusions. The popular adage, " He 

 knows most, who believes least," should be more generally accepted 

 amongst scientific men. A future age alone may enable us to solve 

 many of the difficulties which at present beset our path, and may 

 dissipate the prevailing or the proposed theories as to the recent or 

 ancient antiquity of man. Till then, the constant observer of re- 

 corded fact follows his track through the devious labyrinth of An- 

 thropology, conscious that by a steadfast adherence to exactitude he 

 may possibly succeed in throwing some small light on the nature of 

 the earliest evidences of the human race. 



The question of the nature and date of anthropogenesis, like that of 

 cosmogenesis, will perchance not be solved for many generations yet 

 to come. 



THE DISPUTED BEADS EEOM THE DEIFT. 



By James Wyatt, E.G.S. 



It is not improbable that, in the eager search for flint implements, 

 some of us may underrate the importance of objects which might 

 serve to throw light upon the interesting subject of the antiquity of 

 the human race. Anxiety not to lose any evidence bearing^ upon this 

 point will, doubtless, be accepted as a sufficient excuse for re-opening 

 the question as to the perforated balls found in the Drift, displaying 

 proofs of the workmanship of man. "We have had conflicting opi- 

 nions upon these objects, but I am not aware that anything decisive 

 has been published. It is desirable, under such circumstances, to 



* Darwin, ' Origin of Species/ 1st edition, p. 489. 

 VOL. V. 2 H 



