429 
been dried and hardened and Stalagmite formed before any 
inhabitants could have left their rude weapons in the caverns ; 
as, be it remembered, none were previously in existence, 
which two facts of themselves are fatal to the Doctor's theory. 
For we must either conjecture that this event took place at a 
period long antecedent to the human epoch, or that man was 
already in existence upon one of the numerous small islands 
with which the primaeval ocean was supposed to be studded, 
on the emergence of this portion of Britain. If the former 
supposition, then the deposit could not have remained in the 
soft and plastic state which the Doctor assumes for an indefi- 
nite lapse of time, until the creation of man, and his subse- 
quent migration from the cradle of our species in the East to 
the British Isles, without the commencement of the stalagmitic 
covering, which would at once have placed a barrier between 
the human and quadrupedal remains ; as centuries must have 
elapsed before the former event is likely to have occurred. 
And yet according to the Doctor's supposition this very 
covering was deposited subsequent to man's visiting the 
caves ! With such conflicting theories, therefore, is it not 
more prudent to assume that all the remains were drifted in 
or deposited at the same period, and then equally covered 
with lime ? Such a theory appears to be borne out by the 
evidence of Mr. Vivian, who, in a paper on this subject, 
read before the British Association in 1847, says: — After 
taking every precaution by sweeping the surface and 
examining most minutely whether there were any traces of 
the floor having been previously disturbed we broke through 
the solid Stalagmite in three different parts of the cavern, 
and in each instance found flint knives closely resembling 
the rudest of those found in the most ancient barrows. The 
nearest spot at which flint is found, is Aller, about five miles 
distant. The thickness of the Stalagmite is about two feet. 
In the spot where the most highly finished specimens were 
K K 2 
