513 
regret that the celebrated Kirkdale Cave was examined in 
days when it was never dreamt of that man and the mam- 
moth could have lived together, and when flints had not 
become of importance as evidences of man. It is more than 
probable, that amongst the large quantities of animal remains 
in the cave, may have been deposited the implements of flint 
or bone which would have shewn a human occupation coeval 
with the hyena ; but they were not looked for, and in con- 
sequence not found, because they were not then understood. 
Of the species of man to which I have been referring, no 
osseous remains have as yet been discovered to tell us how 
far they differed from, or how near they approached to, the 
existing form of the European man. 
"Was there as much difference between the men of the flint 
implements of the Somme and the Ouse valley and ourselves, 
as between Elephas primigenius and the existing elephant of 
Asia ? At present we have no evidence to decide the question ; 
but we shall have it, there can be no doubt, before long. A 
vast period intervenes, and we find England occupied by the 
present system of vegetable and animal life, and by a race of 
men who differed in no very important way from ourselves — 
the race of men of whom I am about to give you some 
account. 
It has been proposed to divide what are called "pre-historic 
times" into three eras, the stone, the bronze, and the iron age. 
This division, first propounded by the Danish antiquaries, has 
met with a pretty general acceptance, and, indeed, there is a 
great deal to be said in its favour. But it has, I think, been 
pressed by some too strongly into the service of British 
archaeology, where we have not those marked distinctions 
so clearly defined as they are in Denmark. I believe, how- 
ever, that there is decided evidence, at all events in some 
parts of England, of an age When only stone was in use for 
weapons and implements j and that the people, who at that 
