103 
Chapter XI. 
Supposed Cases of Fossil Hitman JBones. 
Before we enter on the consideration of the 
fossil remains of other animals, it may be right 
to enquire whether any traces of the human 
species have yet been found in the strata of the 
earth. 
The only evidence that has been yet collected 
upon this subject is negative ; but as far as 
this extends, no conclusion is more fully estab- 
lished, than the important fact of the total 
absence of any vestiges of the human species 
throughout the entire series of geological forma- 
tions.^ Had the case been otherwise, there 
would indeed have been great difficulty in re- 
conciling the early and extended periods which 
have been assigned to the extinct races of 
animals with our received chronology. On the 
other hand, the fact of no human remains 
having as yet been found in conjunction with 
those of extinct animals, may be alleged in con- 
firmation of the hypothesis that these animals 
lived and died before the creation of man. 
* See Lyell's Principles of Geology, vol. i. pp. 153 and 159, 
first edit. 1830. 
