2 62 
REVIEW. 
to say that it is well got up by the publishers. The plates are good, 
many of them being from blocks lent by well-known authors of other 
works on the subject, and they give a very clear idea of the implements 
used by the palaeolithic hunters and warriors. 
The introduction gives a very fair, though not by any means full or 
lengthy, account of the archaeological and geological remains of ancient 
man from various localities in Europe. Then we have a full account 
of “ The Earliest Men of Ealing and its Neighbourhood ; and the 
Physical Conditions indicated by the Drift Deposits in N.W. 
Middlesex.” This part of the book, containing the original investi¬ 
gations of the author, appears to form the raison d'etre of the whole; 
the introduction naturally leading up to it, and the sequel tending to 
explain and illustrate the facts here given. To many readers this 
sequel may prove highly interesting. It is entitled A Consideration 
of the Conditions of Life presented by certain Savages apparently 
analogous to Palaeolithic Men ; ” and contains a resume of what is 
known of the manners and customs of many existing savage tribes 
and nations. Nor does the writer confine himself merely to facts, for 
in the body of the work (p. 60), he starts a curious speculation as to 
the existence of an island in the ancient Thames, which was the abode 
and secure retreat of some palaeolithic men ; and, in the conclusion, 
he gives a highly imaginative sketch of a palaeolithic winter and 
spring. 
Readers who wish a clear and concise narrative of the salient 
points in the evidence for human antiquity will find here what they 
require ; for although the book cannot pretend to the completeness of 
larger works, it presents fairly the main conclusions which have been 
reached. We think the author is a little too much inclined to accept 
extreme conclusions on little or no evidence; as, for example, with 
respect to the human (?) fibula of the Victoria cave at Settle. This 
small fragment of bone, though at first considered to be human, after 
passing through a stage in which it was assigned to an elephant, is now 
almost universally admitted to have belonged to a bear. With this 
slight caution we can heartily commend the volume to those who 
desire to make themselves acquainted with the questions relating to 
the antiquity of man in Britain. 
A word or two must be added concerning the original researches in 
the Ealing district. These bring out two points of importance. One 
is the extension of the valley gravels to a greater altitude than had 
previously been known, accompanied by the occurrence of rock frag¬ 
ments from the west and north of England, due presumably to 
ice transport. Indeed, the author goes so far as to attribute certain 
superficial furrows which he found to the grinding of icebergs; but 
in the discussion at the Geological Society, the glacial experts refused 
to admit the cogency of his reasoning as to the ice-origin of these 
furrows. The other point of importance is the discovery of a floor 
which had been a mauufactory of palaeolithic implements, for about 
400 flakes and fragments, sharp and unabraded, were here found. 
Such floors have been discovered in other localities of the Thames valley 
by Messrs. Spurrell and Worthington Smith ; but the point of interest 
in this floor is that the deposits are associated with foreign blocks 
traceable to the boulder drift. Thus Mr. Brown’s discovery has an 
important bearing on the question whether, in the Thames valley, man 
was post-glacial or pre-glacial; a difference, however, which many will 
consider to be like the difference between “ tweedle-dum and tweedle- 
dee.” G. D. 
