Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1859-09-02


possibility of their having been buried
where we find them.
These instruments are very similar to
what are known to antiquaries as Cells
/ Those oldest and rudest races of men,
who inhabited primaval Europe-those
tribes Of whom History and Tradition
are alike silent, and the traces OF whose
works even have been almost obliterated
by the waves Of succeeding populations,re-
sembled the savages of the South Sea,
when visited by Cook, in their ignorance
Of the use Of metals.
Even at the present day, the inhabit'
ant of the Islands in Torres Straits knows
neither iron nor bronze. All his work,
from the delicate carving Of his canoe,
to the cutting off of his enemy's head, is
done with one implement, an adze, whose
blade is made of a sharpened stone
Our predecessors were in a similar con-
dition, but instead of the jade of which
the South Sea islander fabrieates his
tools and weapons, they used the handy
fiints, which can be so readily Clipped
into shape, and are found in so many
parts of the country and these fints,
fashioned by chipping into sharp-edged
axe or adze heads, are the sO-called
'eelts' Such tools or weapons have long
been known TO occur in the burying-
places Of ancient men, but it is only of
late years that a French antiquary, NJ.
Boucher de Perthes, made the remarka-
bic discovery of their occurrence in GER
tain deposits near Abbeville, in company
with remains of mammoths and extinct
animals. II need hardly be said that the
worthy saraHt was pooh-poohed, and
his important investigations might have
fallen out Of sight again, except for ;ht
recent careful exploration of bone cav,
near Brixham, where eelts were found
associated with similar remains, undel
circumstances which admit Of no i'm
parchment. His attention being thu
awakened to NJ. Boucher de PeFthes
statements, an eminently competent En-
glish geologi>t, Mr.. Prestwich, determin
ed TO examine into them for himself; AMI
the results Of his inquiries, which confirm
the French antiquary's statements in al
essential respects, to have recently bee
communicated to the Royal Society,"
More than this, Mr.. Prestwich has poin
ed out that the same association of cell
with remains of extinct animals had bee
observed al Oxney, in Suffolk, more tina
seventy years ago; and, as if to VERT
the old adage it never rains but it pours
De- FsIeonor, 80 vseu l...,,--u f,1s- his
searches in the Paleontology of Indi
and who was actively engaged in the il
vestigaiion of the Brixham cave, hi
quite lately observed a ike association
flint and agate knives with extinct an
mails, and the Grotta di Maecagnon
near Naples
That human implements and the r
he mains of animals which are now extin
ds, and which inhabited our globe at
zen enormously remote epoch, have be
-sy. brought together into the same depos
,ral by natural causes, or, in other words, Ii
spi- man is older than the last physi
lied changes which have altered the relati
BOO levels of sea and land, may be consid
rel ed to be satisfactorily established by tn
zed discoveries. 1t must be further allow
ltly that if any other animal were in questi
nee geologists would probably at once adj
the that there was sufficient evidence of
que eontempOraneity of all the remains Il
ven associated and it is quite fair for
ent, advocates Of this side Of the question
ime throw the Onus prObandi on those v
uch affirm that, although the human rema
Ives are certainly older than the last subm
. of genee Of the districts in which they
larry cur, they are OF later date than the
out tinct beasts with which they are founC
fOs- 1t Is not necessary, however, to be
cry voeates Of either side on the other ha
.um, it seems better to be content with "
ion has been gained-the indubitable
the that man Is older than the present di.
uck- button Of land and water, bill and va
and and to wait for further evidence
aims fore admitting that his contemporan
near with the hairy giants Of the pleistoc
sup epoch, the mammoth, the rhinocerus,
and bison, and the bear, which once roaI
ex- over the plains Of England, absoIu
and PrOven.-Oacs Eeek.
- g. Tr,tb = . -. - Il.