EEPOET ON THE EXPLORATION OF BEIXHAM CAVE. 
569 
of their bones show that the cave became a place of more frequent habitation for Bears. 
Their remains in all stages of growth, including those even of sucking cubs, were met with 
in greater numbers than were the bones of any other animal. These animals resorted 
especially to the darker and more secluded Flint-knife Gallery, where 209 out of 354 of 
their determinable bones were found, whereas only twenty-six were met with in the 
West Chamber and 116 in the Reindeer Gallery. 
Finally, whether from a change of climatal conditions or from the cave becoming 
quite out of the reach of the flood-waters, and partly possibly from its being more 
blocked up, the formation of the stalagmite floor proceeded without interruption. The 
cave, however, still continued to be the occasioual resort of beasts of prey, for remains 
of the Reindeer, including a fine entire antler, together with bones of the Bear, the 
Rhinoceros, or the Mammoth, were found in the stalagmite floor. But no flint imple- 
ments and no remains of man are found in this position ; and while therefore we 
have reason to believe that the cave continued to be frequented by some of the older 
Mammalia as long as it remained open, we have no evidence that it was latterly 
resorted to by man. After a time the falling in of the roof at places from the effects 
of rain and weathering (and every earthquake movement must also have detached 
blocks from it) stopped up some parts of the cave, and closed its entrances with an 
accumulation of debris. From that time it ceased to be accessible, except to the 
smaller rodents and burrowing animals, and remained unused and untrodden until its 
discovery in February 1858. 
The instances in which the remains of man or of his works have been found in caves 
in association with the remains of extinct Mammalia are many. They were duly 
noticed by Schmerling in Belgium, by Tournal and others in the South of France, by 
Dr. Buckland in Wales, and by Mr. M c Enery and the Natural-History Society of Torquay 
in Kent’s Hole ; but in all these cases they were either explained away, in many 
instances by the observers themselves, from 'a preconceived improbability or rather im- 
possibility of the circumstance, or the facts were refused credence on the same grounds 
and the evidence negatived, as in the case of Kent’s Hole, without investigation. At 
this time it is not necessary to contend for the correctness of many of those observations ; 
they are too numerous and too well attested to admit of doubt, and are now generally 
accepted ; at the same time it is to be observed that the discovery and early reports 
df Brixham Cave had a very important influence in bringing about such a result. 
The discoveries of Schmerling and others had dropped into oblivion, the assertions of 
M. Boucher de Perthes were ignored, until the certainty of the facts established by 
the exploration of Brixham Cave showed the strong jprimd facie evidence of the con- 
temporaneity of man and of the great extinct Mammalia. Fresh from this new ground, 
and strong with convictions acquired on other grounds, Dr. Falconer visited the valley 
of the Somme in which the reputed works of man had, it was said, been found in quater- 
nary deposits ; and so satisfied was he with the force of the evidence, taken in conjunction 
with the observations already made at Brixham Cave, that he at once urged in the 
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