451 
THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 
BY J. E. LEII'CHILDj M.A. 
H OW long has man been a tenant of this earth which he is 
now so rapidly subduing and so extensively populating ? 
What was the probable geological epoch in the shadowy past 
when he first made his appearance here, as the last of a grand 
series of animals created to succeed each other in ordained 
and typical sequence ? This question has recently been ren- 
dered universally interesting by the book of Sir Charles Lyell, 
although it had been agitated amongst geologists for some 
years. While the common opinion has always been that man 
first inhabited our globe about four thousand years before 
Christy or nearly six thousand years ago., a few far-sighted 
observers saw reason for arriving at a very different conclu- 
sion ; and Dr. Sell merlin g, M. Boucher de Perthes, Dr. Fal- 
coner, and Mr. Prestwich, have during recent years severally 
investigated the geological evidences of man’s great antiquity 
in different localities until each and all of them have admitted 
and advocated it. 
A succinct and popular notice of the evidences for such 
human antiquity may be acceptable to our readers, divested of 
technicalities and condensed within moderate limits. 
The evidences derived from the actual presence of human 
bones, but more commonly of works of human art in caves, 
first claim our attention; and of these the discoveries of Dr. 
Schmerling’ were both earliest in time and most decisive in 
character. * In caverns in the limestone which rises up along 
the banks of the Meuse, this persevering geologist disinterred 
unquestionable human bones from two or three localities, and a 
now celebrated skull from the Engis cave. Much discussion 
has been held over and about this skull, as respects the race of 
men to which it belonged. The most recent and the clearest 
observations upon it have been made by Professor Huxley, 
from which we may present the following paragraph : — 
I can find no character in the remains of that cranium which, if it were a 
recent skull, would give any trustworthy clue as to the race to which it might 
appertain. Its contours and measurements agree very well with those of 
some Australian skulls which I have examined, and especially has it a ten- 
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