312 
xnent to prove not only that intercourse between the Old World and the New 
was possible, but that it did actually take place. Now I think I can carry 
that argument still further, and I hope you will not be suspicious of me when 
I seek to bring a proof from certain suspicious quarters in the estimation of 
some, namely, that mixture of archaeology and geology which belongs to the 
flint period, and to the period which immediately succeeds it. We 
have now obtained a very large collection of relics from the lake 
dwellings, such as hammers and other implements used by our remote 
ancestors. This epoch is also well illustrated by the remains of animals 
which have been found, and especially by the bones of the reindeer and 
the implements made out of them, and which have been found without 
any admixture, so that such collections constitute a particular group of 
remains, which may be witnessed at Neufchatel, and there is also a 
still larger and more complete museum of such things in Victoria-street, 
and which will illustrate the archaeology of this remote period. We have 
thus had an opportunity of examining almost all the implements used, 
for it is quite evident that they all were used in these lake villages, 
and the materials .are all admirably disposed and classified ; and the con- 
clusion to which we must come is that they were the relics of a people of 
quasi- civilized character. (Hear.) They were certainly civilized to the extent 
which the Esquimaux may be termed so, and if you have any doubt as 
to their being a civilized people all you have to do is to visit the museum of 
Mr. Christie, and there you will find harpoons of bone and materials used in 
fishing, such as forks, also harrows, diggers, and cutting instruments, such as 
scythes. With all this in your mind, if you compare the archaeological imple- 
ments with those now used by the Esquimaux and Fins, you will find that they 
are almost identical — many of them certainly are, so far as their forms and 
the uses to which they were applied — with those of the present day. Then I 
go further than that. If you look at the skulls, although one does not attach 
much importance to the measurement of a skull, yet you do get a certain idea 
of character from the skeletons. If, then, you can get an idea of the skeleton 
of the people, so as to form an idea, as to their stature and appearance, of 
the skeletons of Fins and Esquimaux, you will come to the conclusion, which is 
remarkably strengthened by what we have heard, that the inhabitants of Sicily, 
the South of France, and especially of Ireland, are identical with the people 
who have been for ages inhabiting the northern shores of North America. 
Whether they were driven northward in consequence of a change of climate, 
or by some other cause, is not material to Mr. Titcomb’s purpose ; all that is 
necessary for him to show is that they are the same identical people, so far as 
we have evidence bearing on the question, and we have no evidence to the 
contrary, so that Mr. Titcomb very likely added this to the cogent chain of 
reasoning on the geographical ground, in order to show that not only did some 
intercourse take place between Asia and North America, but that traces can 
be shown which would go far to prove that a much more direct means of inter- 
course with America might have been found from India. Then we come to the 
analogy which we find between the language of the Old and the New World. 
