26 KEY. D. GATH WHITLEY, PRIMEVAL MAN IN BELGIUM. 
early Man is of such a valuable character, that geologists from 
all countries have always considered that it is necessary to visit 
Belgium and confer with its geologists before they are fully 
qualified to come to definite conclusions relating to the age of 
Man upon the earth. Sir Charles Lyell himself thought it 
necessary to visit Belgium before he discussed the antiquity of 
Man in the light of the discoveries which had been made in the 
gravel beds of the valley of the Somme.* 
The great importance of Belgium in questions relating to 
Primeval Man, is determined from two striking facts. The 
first is that it contains a wonderfully perfect series of the 
Quaternary deposits. These beds of sand, clay and gravel, which 
were formed after the appearance of Man upon the earth, are 
spread out in Belgium over a vast extent of country, and are 
therefore easily examined. In addition to this, the limestone 
rocks of Belgium are full of caverns, which contain the remains 
of the great extinct mammalia, and also the bones and weapons 
of Man. No country in the world presents such a splendid 
series of bone-caves affording evidence as to the early 
condition of Man in Belgium. Professor Dupont himself has 
explored more than sixty caverns in seven years, and the 
Belgian geologists are prosecuting the work with the greatest 
skill and enthusiasm. From the time when Schmerling began 
to explore in a scientific manner the caverns near Liege in 1833, 
down to the present day, the work of investigation has been 
unceasingly carried on, and has yielded most valuable results. 
According to M. Dupont, the oldest portion of the Quaternary 
formation in Belgium is composed of a thick bed of rolled 
pebbles, averaging in size a hen’s egg, and immediately over the 
pebbly deposit, lie stratified sands and clays. f In this deposit 
are found quantities of the hones of the lion, hyaena, elephant, 
and rhinoceros. As a rule, this bed of pebbles is only found in 
the bottom of the valleys, and thins out on the lower slopes of 
the hills ; here and there, however, it is found in patches on the 
uplands and on the plateaux,^: where it contains the same fossils 
as characterise it in the bottom of the valleys. Next in 
ascending order, comes a vast deposit of yellow clay full of 
angular blocks, which covers hill and dale, and envelops the 
* Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society , vol. viii, pp. 277-281. 
+ Etude sur le Terrain Quaternaire des vallees de la Meuse et de la 
Lesse, pp. 37-39. 
t See the opinion of M. Butot in Bulletin de la Societe Royale Malaco- 
logique de Belgique. Tome xvi, 1881. 
