42 
THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 
beneath the surface of the land, within a stratum of blue 
clay, 5 feet in thickness. Over the clay was a layer of 
peat, 9|- feet in thickness, containing remains of pig, fox, 
etc. Over the peat was a surface stratum, 3 feet in 
depth, made up of loam, sand, and gravel. The date of 
the discovery is 1852. Darwin had not yet published the 
Origin of Species (1859), but the Vestiges of Creation was 
passing into a tenth edition. Orthodox minds were being 
disturbed by the discovery of facts which seemed to be 
at variance with Biblical tradition. The antiquity of the 
Mickleton skulP became a matter of public controversy. 
A learned Scottish clergyman publicly censured Professor 
00 GO 40 10 O 
MICKLETON 
Fig. 20. — The Mickleton skull, side and front. 
Baden Powell of Oxford University for countenancing a 
" pre-Adamite " date for the Mickleton skull. ^ Mr Gavey, 
who discovered the Mickleton specimen, was of opinion 
that the age of the deposit was clearly indicated by the pres- 
ence of a human skull : the deposit could not be earlier than 
the historical date assigned to the act of man's creation. 
In Mr Gavey's opinion, tht skull of this reputed " pre- 
Adamite " was probably that of a " drunken sheep-stealer, 
drowned in the bottom of a hill pond, in all likelihood 
not more than eighteen hundred years ago." There is 
something to be said for Mr Gavey's contention. The 
' Edinburgh New Philosophical Jour7ial^ 1856, vol. iii. p. 247. 
- Quart. Journ. of Geol., 1853, vol. ix. p. 29. 
