398 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
species, but there may be certain species, which have ceased to exist." Should 
this Neanderthal man have proved an intermediate species between the papuan 
and the gorilla, a great point of controversy would be gained by the transmu- 
tationists ; but the failure of the proof which Dr. Sohauffhaussen has brought 
forward, leaves the human species as far from the apes, as it was when the 
author, who founded the genus, placed it apart from the other primates. 
It seems, therefore, irrefrably proved the the human species existed in 
Europe in the post-pliocene age, in as well as we can judge from the " celts " 
of Abbeville, a state of semibarbarism. However, sparse the population, he 
still found some enemy to contest with him the products of the forest, and the 
spoils of the chase. His vast solitude, compared with tlie present activity and 
teemmg millions of modern Europe, reminds the contemplative observer of tlie 
beautiful exclamation of the patriotic espronceda. 
" Cuan solitaria la nacion que un dia Poblara inmensa gente !" 
We have thus evidence of the existence of man-man, the highest-brained 
(archencephalate, Owen) individual of the highest sub-division of known Mam- 
malia, in whose image the most specialized adaptation of structui-e to fixed 
jmrpose is superadded to the original type of created animal life, which great 
Archetype was conceived by a Divine Mind, millions of years prior to the 
advent of the human race. — I remain. Sir, your obedient servant, Chahles 
Carter Blake. 
DESTRrcTiON OE Deer BY CoLD. — Keyslcr, in his " Travels in Wurtem- 
burg" (1756), has this passage: — "At London, Paris, and other large cities, 
the number of inhabitants is calculated by the bill of mortality; in like 
manner a conjecture may be formed of the multitudes of deer in this country 
by considering that in one single hard winter above seven thousand of them 
expired." In a note he adds, "The two winters of 1731 and 1733 carried off 
above ten thousand head of deer and boars." 
Is it not probable that the cold during the great mammalian age may at 
periods of unusual intensity have exercised a lik^ influence in the destruction 
of life, and that to this cause may be attributed some of the great local accu- 
mulations in drift deposits which seem difficult to account for ? 
A Salt Spring i?f a Coal Mine. — Mr. Charlton, mining engineer and 
manager for the coal company, has communicated an unusual occurrence that 
was recently met with in the Dunkirk Coal Company's Astley Deep Pit, at 
Dukinfield. He states that in cutting a tunnel from the Black Mine Coal in a 
horizontal line towards the Cannel Mine, a beautiful spring of salt water or 
brine issued from a fracture in the rock, though remote from the trias and 
saliferous or salt bearing strata, and at the depth of 700 yards in the carboni- 
ferous measures. Mr. Charlton also states that in a careful analysis there were 
found in every 100 grains of the water — 
Chloride of Sodium 4*50 grains. 
Chloride of Calcium 0 37 „ 
Chloride of Magnesium 0 26 „ 
Total 5-13 grains. 
Or about seven ounces, (nearly half a pound) of common salt per gaUon. The 
• specific gravity is 1.037, and the boiling point 214^'^ Eahrenheit. Another re- 
markable fact stated is that a fine specimen of petroleum, containing naphtha 
ornaphthalin floated on the surface, accompanied with a small quantity of ear- 
buretted hydrogen. 
The pit alluded to is very deep, and the flow of brine from the spring dis- 
covered amounts to above 300 gallons in every 24: hours. The Cheshire 
