368 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
first continental period] have failed to come to light. If any such 
le hid in those strata, and should hereafter be revealed to us, they 
would carry back the antiquity of Man to a distance of time 
probably more than twice as great as that which separates our era 
from that of the most ancient tool-bearing gravels yet discovered in 
Picardy or elsewhere” (p. 272). 
‘‘T trust I have said enough to show that the monuments of the 
glacial period, when more thoroughly investigated, will do much 
towards expanding our views as to the antiquity of the fauna and 
flora now contemporary with Man, and will therefore enable us the 
better to determine the time at which Man began to form part of 
the fauna of the northern hemisphere” (p. 412). 
In closing these remarks respecting the views of Sir C. Lyell, 
and speaking for myself only, however far back in antiquity the 
fabricators of the Cave-earth tools take their stand, I cannot hesi- 
tate to place those of the implements of the Breccia as much further 
back. Many must remember, and perhaps few were surprised at, 
the excitement and, indeed, the alarm occasioned by the antiquity 
of Man disclosed by the researches in Brixham Cavern, in 1858; 
and now, cavern researches growing out of those just mentioned 
appear to me to make an irresistible demand to have human 
antiquity in Britain at least doubled. 
It is not unusual, nor is it perhaps unreasonable, when this 
subject is discussed in a mixed company, for some one to say 
‘ How long ago did the Cave-men live?” To request, in fact, that 
. geological time should be reduced to astronomical. Unfortunately 
this is not possible at present. Mr. (now Professor) Prestwich, 
speaking on this point before the Royal Society of London, in June 
1862, said, ‘‘ Just as, though ignorant of the precise height and size 
of a mountain range seen in the distance, we need not wait for 
trigonometrical measurement to feel satisfied in our minds of the 
magnitude of the distant peaks, so with this geological epoch, we 
see and know enough of it to feel how distant it is from our time, 
and yet we are not in a position at present to solve with accuracy 
the curious and interesting problem of its precise age.”* Since 
these striking words were uttered, no advance has been made 
towards the numerical solution of the problem, but the problem 
itself has assumed much larger dimensions, for the Crystalline 
* “Phil, Trans.” 1864. Part ii. p. 303. 
