4 
though it is the tomb of the reindeer and many denizens of our 
land, now utter strangers to us. 
We will not here yield to the temptation of recapitulating 
the facts. The excellent, accessible, and popular works of 
Lvell, Evans, Prestwich, Dawkins, and others, render such re- 
capitulation wholly uncalled for. We will first glance at the 
gravels, and then into the caves, and afterwards state the de- 
ductions and arguments pro and con. 
Mr. Prestwich puts the case of the implements thus : “ The 
flint implements have been found in beds of sand and gravel 
along the line of existing river-valleys, in some cases hut little 
above the level of the rivers, and others on adjacent hills, at 
heights of from 30 to 100 feet above the river.”* Pie after- 
wards adds that isolated implements of the same kind have 
been found on table-lands 200 feet above the level of the 
existing stream. The instances of their discovery now extend 
widely over the valleys flanking the chalk adjacent to the main 
streams of drainage. <f There can be no possible doubt,” says 
Mr. Evans, “ that a certain series of gravels, sands, and clays, 
containing organic remains and flint implements in extremely 
variable quantity, all belong to one geological period, and owe 
their existence and present position to similar causes.”f 
We at once assume that the flint implements are of the age 
of the gravels and earth in which they are found. They have 
not been dropped and penetrated since. They may have been 
re-sorted and disturbed with the gravel itself, but they belong 
to it. We have therefore man, as a worker in stone, in con- 
nection with a distinct stratum, the last in which we find 
remains of great mammals now extinct. We have only to in- 
quire if this stratum yields to geology any proofs of its own 
absolute age ; and if so, do such proofs accord with our con- 
clusions on the same subject, derived from the book of Genesis. 
How long ago, then, were the gravels deposited ? 
(2.) When we set out on this inquiry we are met at once by 
apologies all round, for the necessary uncertainty attaching to 
the whole subject. Belgrand, the highly-accomplished French 
Government engineer, says : “ Les phenomenes geologiques 
qui se sont accomplis dans ces temps anciens, sont eux-memes 
peu importants ; ils se bornent si quclqucs oscillations d’unc 
faible amplitude du sol de l’Europe septentrionale et au releve- 
ment tres lent des continents, que nous constatons encore dc 
nos jours. II est done difficile d’emettre une opinion sur la 
* Philosophical Transactions, 1864, part ii. p. 257. 
t iStonc Age, p. 611. 
