WTATT — THE DISPUTED BEADS EBOM THE DEIFT. 
233 
slowly succumbing before the superior meutal force of their extermi- 
nators, " the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, 
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 which 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 
jS"eanderthal and Eugis 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 jper se proofs of simial 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 soaie 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 FEOM THE DRIFT. 
By James Wtatt, 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. 
YOL. Y. 2 H 
