434 
THE OEOLOGIST. 
of works of Imman art, or of liumaii remains in tlic various cavern- and other 
ossiferous deposits. Aud yet such statements liave neither been few nor 
limited ; but, generally, certainly they have been wanting in precision and ex- 
actness — they have been without point. In liardly any, if indeed in any, 
hitlierto recorded cases can we feel sure that the obseiTatious have been pro- 
perly made, or the facts properly recorded. No one has displayed more ex- 
actitude than M. de Pertlies himself, but he is an antiquary and not a geologist, 
and it is the geological aspect of the question that we regard ; and witliout dis- 
puting the premises that man existed among the mammoths, we still ask how 
long then has man been ujjon the earth, and how far back in geological history 
does his creation date ? If it be as facts seem, even yet, although we pre-date 
his first appearance by some tliousands, if not even millions of years, to indicate 
tliat man is still the most recent of the divine constructions, 'we do not ma- 
terially alter the conditions of previous belief, but only modify it ; and no 
theological considerations can impede our conversion to tlie new doctrine, as I 
think it would be hard to find any true biljlical grounds for its obstruction. 
We are bound, moreover, to look facts fuU Lu tlie face, and to meet all new 
opinions with carefid investigation and scratiny. 
Let lis then proceed in our review of M. de Pertlies' book ; and in gathering 
our first facts from him, and in making ourselves acquainted with his opinions, 
we shall be rendering honour where honour is due, and be basing our super- 
structure on its proper foundations. ^ / 
BRITISH ASSOCIATIOjS" MEETING. 
( Contimied from page 
On the Ossiferous Fissures at Oreston, near Plymouth. By W. 
Pengelly, F.G.S. (Read before the Geological Section of the Brilhh Asso- 
ciation, on Friday, September IG^//, 1859.) 
During the last meeting of the Association I had the pleasure of calling the 
attention of this Section to some of the results of the exploration, then in 
progress, of an ossiferous cavern, which, early in the year 1858, had been dis- 
covered at Brixham, in Dcvonsliire ; and though, perhaps, none of the facts 
then communicated were new to science, yet, when it is remembered that they 
were obtained from a virgin cavern, which, instead of being ransacked as too 
many have been, was systematically explored ; that the explorations were care- 
fully conducted aud sedulously watclica ; that it was not allowed to regard any- 
thing as a trifle, or as unimportant; that the situation of every object was ac- 
curately determined by exact measurements, and that everything note-worthy 
was immediately registered, it wiU be seen that they have a peculiar value as 
bemg perfectly reliable and unquestionably good in evidence. They furnish us 
moreover with a test, or measiu'c, of the credibility of, at least, some of the 
facts on record in comiection with other caverns, and thus enable us finally to 
accept or reject them as portions of knowledge. 
I regret that the ease to which I have now chiefly to call attention 
possesses no such claims ; the facts, such as they are, have come into my pos- 
session almost by accident, and mainly from the quarrymen ; the cavern, or 
fissure has been destroyed in the course of the ordinary cjuarryiiig operations ; 
there has been no attempt to control or direct the excavation; nevertheless, I 
am not without a hope that the particulars may be found to possess some de- 
gree of interest. 
