The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-11 00:00:00

tribute t

great pc.

SEPT:

ALLEGED CO-EXISTENCE 0
MAN AND THE MEGATHERIUM.

The Mlowing letter has beea addressed to the Editor
of the Times:—

Sir,—A considerable sensation appears to have been
caused in the minds of the scientific, and part of the un-
scientific public, by the annouccement in many of the
newspapers, of the
_discovery in America of a fossil
human bone, associated with the remains of the mega-
therium and other extinct quadrupeds. I have only just
read in the last number of the Athenceum (Dec. 5, 1846),
a brief notice of the reported discovery, copied from an
American paper, and which the editor has inserted with
a judicious caution to his readers, that no competent
authority has yet vouched for all the facts. I feel sure
that the story relates to part of a human pelvis (a frag-
ment of the os inominatunz), which was shown to me at
Natchez last spring, together with several very remark-
able remains of megatheriod animals. I visited Natchez
in March last, on which occasion I was informed of the

antiquity assigned to the human r, lie, and h
mined carefully into the evidence, ealne to the conclusion
that the proofs of the en. existence the human indivi-
dual with the reegathoroid and other extinct quadrupeds
found in the vicinity was altogether unsatisfactory. We
are indebted to the skill and indefatigable industry of
Dr. Dickerson, of .Natcl.er, for having formed a splendid
collection of organic remains, derived from the superfi-
cialthe kindnessdeposits ot fo that neighbourhood.
me, e
t taf
te;
weArdlsl tahccesoempheanied
had
me to the principal spots where they had been procured.
Ono of these, distant about six miles from Natchez, hrer
been named by him the Mammoth ravine, from the ske-
leton of the mastodon discovered there ; and it was there
also that the fragment of the human pelvis supposed to
have been contemeoraneees with the megatherium was
pickei up.
Iu order to explain its position, a few words on the
geology of the region will be indispensable. The broad,
flat, alluvial plain of the Mississippi is bounded on its
eastern side by a table land, about 200 feet higher than
the river, and having a very gentle upward slope to the
eastward, or towards the interior. This elevated plat-
form ends abruptly at Natchez, in a line of perpendicu-
lar cliffs, or bluffs, the base of which is continually un-
dermined by the Mississippi. The vertical section here
exposed to view affords the geologist a fine opportunity
of studying the composition and succession of the strata
for a vertical thiekness of rather mere than 200 feet.
The whole deposit is of comparatively modern date, the
up: cr 60 feet consisting of clayey loam containing
shells of recent species, and the lower of sand and gravel
without organic remains, except some wood and silcified
corals washed out of older rocks. The yellow loam at
the top bears a singularly close resemblance to the
liuviatile silt, or "loess, as it is termed, of the
valley of the Rhine, between Cologne and Basle.
and, like it contains abundance of fresh water
and land shelle, of which I myself obtained more
than: twenty species, now in my cabinet in London.
They belong to the genera helix, helicina, pupa, suc-
cinea, accompanied, or rather replaced in a few places
where the loam passes into shell-marl, by lymnea,
planorbis, physa, and cycles. All the species are iden-
tical with testacea now inhabiting the same part of the
United States. With these shells are found, at different
depths, some in the loam, and some in the clay at the
bottom of the loam, the scattered bones, and occasionally
entire skeletons of the mastodon, megatherium, mylodon,
casteroides, equus, bos, and other quadrupeds. It in any
part of this formation, whether at the depth of 10 feet
or 100 feet, any remains of man lie buried by natural
causes in undisturbed loam or clay, the antiquity of
the human race is thereby established to an extent
far greater than has ever yet been made out in any
instance which I have had an opportunity of investi-
gating. It would follow that the human race had sur-
vived the extinction of one group of terrestrial `mam-
malls, and seen another succeed and replace it; and also
that man had lived in North America when the geogra-
phical configuration of the country was very different;
in other words, before the valley of the Mississippi, or
even some of the strata forming its boundary rocks, were
in existence. Every deposit entering into the composi-
tion of the bluffs of the Mississippi valley must be older
than the alluvial plain and delta of that river; and we
thus obtain, independently of any evidence attesting
great changes in the animate world, a measure for esti-
mating the minimum of time which has elapsed since the
bluffs originated. For we must allow a sufficient series
of years for the deposition of all the sedimentary matter
forming the plain and delta of the great river. I have
endeavoured to calculate the period (one of enormous
duration, relatively to the historical epoch), and ex-
plained my views on the subject in a lecture delivered
to the British Association at their meeting at South-
ampton, and a correct, though incomplete abstract of
that communication appeared in the Atheneum for Sep-
tember 26, 1846. _

ng exa-

To come then to the point—•what proof is there that
the geological position of the human pelvis bone was such
as to demonstrate its anteriority in date to the entire
hydrographical basin of the Mississippi, and the forma-
tion of its alluvial deposits and delta ? Toe yellow
shelly loam, or loess, before mentioned, extends for
twelve miles inland, or eastward from the river. ; and,
in consequence of its incoherent and destructible nature,
every streamlet flowing over it cuts out for itself, in its
way to the Mississippi,. a deep gully or ravine. This
denudation has of late years proceeded with accelerated
speed, especially in the course of the last thirty or thirty-
five years. Some - ;,-,Qralsed erosive action
others to the

rthqualte ot new Madrid, in 1811-12,
by which this region is as ir.uth lissure, ponds being dried
op, and some latid-olips caused. Colonel Wiley, a pro-
prietor in this part of the state of Missis.,ippi, and who
well remembers the district btfore the year 1312, assured
that the Mammoth ravine, aithoagh now seven miles
long, and in some parts 60 feet deep, with its numerous
rarnifi rations, has been entirely famed since that year,
when th.., earthquake occurred. lie has hfrnsifpleugla(d
some of the la-id, exactly ovcr the spot where the ravine
is now situated.

It is, however, enoug,h for our present purpose to

9.ffirm that whatcNer be the date or the Origin cf
this watercourse, it has of late years been conider-
al3ly enlug,ed and lengthened, its links presenting.

everywhere precipices, in which the boat
as it is, retains its verticality, as is

unsolidified
the case with

its counterpart, the loess of the lihine. Land shells are
seen in great numbers at the dopth of about 30 feet from
the top, and the fossil bones of the mastodon, and other
extinct quadrupeds, are usually picked up in the bed
of the stream after they have been washed out of the
undermined cliffs, where, however, some few have also

been observed in situ. tinder these circumstances, as
I was given to understand, the human pelvis was pro-
cured at the base of the cliff. Even if it had been dug
out in tha presence of a practical geologist, it would
have becn necessary for him to be more than usually
on his guard against deception, for land-slides have
detached large masses from the cliffs, and these
may easily cover human bones previously washed down

by . the stream, or dislodged from the soil near the
top of the cliff, where some old Indian graves, so com-
mon throughout the country, may have been undermined.
It is not rare to find on shoal and on the shores of the
islands in the Mississippi at low water, numerous bones
of man, mingled with those of extinct animals, washed
out of the bluffs. In these cases the human bones are as
black a§ the quadrupedal fossils, having been apparently
stained with peaty matter, in ie soil whore they were
buriel ; but no geologist has ever ventured, on this evi-
dence, to infer the contemporaneousness of man and the
fossil species thus accidentally associated
After I had made up my mind that the remote anti-
quity of the human bune of Natchez was quest' oaable,
and that its occurrence in the ravine might be c-..,. p'ained
in the manner above suggested, I found that C donel
Wailes, a friend of Dr. Dickerson's, who accomi aniei us
in part of our excursion, and who has also made a fine
collection of the fossils of this neighbourhood, not only
shared my doubts, but had made the same conjecture
s espccting the probable manner in which the fossil may
have been conveyed to the spot where it was found.
I have the honour to be, Sir, yours, &c., .
CHARLES L 1 ELL. _
I] , Flarley-street, December 7.

SALE OF THE BOROUGH HAYMARKET.—Wednes-
day a sale took place of the the Borough Haymarket
sheds, stabling, dwellin-houses, and other appurte-
nances, by Messrs. Bailey and Son. The market con-
tains an acre or open space of about 30,000 feet, forming
the Newington Causeway. It was sold for 9001. by
private cOntract. The estate is held under the Mayor,
Commonalty, and citizens of London, 61 years of which
were unexpired.
Hors.—Mr. Epps, of the Bower Nursery, has re-
ceived instructions to ship, during the present week,
50,000 sets of hop plants for Hobart Town, where the
soil and the climate are said to be most congenial. An
inferior sore has been tried there experimentally, and
found to turn out more than equal to the planters' ex-
pectations. The present lot comprises all the best varie-
ties grown in Kent.—Maidstone Gazette.
The Portsmouth and Chichester Exte9sion Branch
of the London and Brighton line, is procieid7rmasitrapiTdhye
towards completion. as the weather will
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