Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-11-08
THE GAZETTE.
TUESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER $. ls5g
a pRE.ApAMITE QUESTION.


sturiily waged between the biologists and
theologians in regard to the date of mans
appearance ON this planet, and which had
wel-nigh been given up by the former, Will
have to be fought over again. By those who
denied rs well as by these who accepted
the Mosaic account Of the cosmoSony, it
was held, in the language of Hugh Mil
Ter, that there were mo good grounds to
believe that man existed upon the earth dur
ing the times of the boulder.clav and drift
gravel period" This belief was based upon
the fact that no fossil remains were found
in the strata of the "post-pleiocene' or drift"
period which could be referred TO human
origin, whereas the bones Of numerous spe
cies Of extinct mammals were discovered in
abundance in these strata. 1t was also con
tended that the climatic conditions Of the
earth during the Tertiary or drift period
were such that man, a ut present organized,
could not by any possibility have kept alive
even though he had been created Ut that time.
This opinion, We say, was almost universal
" held. both by scriptural and anti Scriptur-
al biologists until recently. Certain dis
coyeries have been made in the course Of
the past two years which, i'll all probability,
will reopen the question OF man 5 origin and
result in an essential modification Of the opni-
ION which has hitherto been accepted as con-
elusive.
The Westminster Review, never unwilling
to enter into controversy on questions OF
this kind. records in its July number. with
great satisfaction, some of the discoveries to
which we have alluded. About two years
ago, NJ. de Perthes, in work entitled I'm
1ignites CsIiquesa 1ntediiurienneS," announ-
ced the discovery of fiints, obviously fashion
ed by the hand Of man, in gravel pits, on
hills two hundred feet high, i'll the neighbour
hood Of Abbeyille, associated with the re-
mains Of the extinct elephant. rhlnoceros.
bear, hyena, stag, OK. and horse; the gravel
beds being overlaid with thick beds of sand
and loan containing the delicate shells Of
fresh water mollusks. The discovery, i'm
portant as it was, attracted little attention.
But i'm the course Of last year, fresh evidence
of the same kind was brought to light in
the course Of some explorations which have
been carried on beneath the stalagmitic crust
which forms the floor off cave newly opened
at Briyham, in Dcyonshire. Strongly I'M
pressed with the facts revealed At Brixham,
Mr.. Prestwich, "the geologist par excellence
of the post-tertiary formations" associating
himself with Mr. Evans, an antiquary, who
has paid great attention to flint weapons,
repaired to Abbeville. where, by ocular
proof of the flint weapons IN stu, and the
undisturbed condition Of the gravel bed
above and around them, he became satisfied
that they had not been placed there by de-
sign or by geological accident, but belonged
to a race of men who inhabited that part OF
the globe at period anterior to It's Celtic
occupation, and who were contemporaneous
with the extinct animals whose bones lie
side by side with the silicic implements.
But still more remarkable case has 0c-
Cured in our own country. Mr.. JAS. NJ.
ii. Beale, well known politician Of Virgin
ia, writing from Point Pleasant, Mason
county, under date Oct. 4th, 1859, commu-
nicates to Mr.. London, Of Richmond, the
discovery of fossil milestone in coal bank
near Prunty Town. in Taylor county. The
discovery was made in or before the year 1919,
and the milestone, when seen by Mr.. Beale,
was in the possession of the Rev. DIR. Wheel
er, Principal of an Academy in Prunty Town,
"a very unsophisticated man, devoted to the
pursuits of Natural Science" In form and
figure. the milestone was dcntically, except
such an one a. the joiner or cabinst-maker
uses in whetting plane bits, being wooden
block with All oil stone inserted III the top
part The block had been wood, but was
petrifed; the oil stone had been followed out
by long usage. Mr.. Beale whetted his knife
upon it, and found its sharpening qualities
unsurpassed DR.. Wheeler called it Noah 5
whet-"stone," but Mr. Beale is evidently Of
opinion that its owner lived long before Noah.
He describes infinitely the position Of the
block when discovered in the coal bank, and
though he gives no Satisfied opinion as to
how and when it got into that position. argues
very gravely to show that men may have nv
ed at time anterior to the coal formations
The adaptability Of mans constitution to the
extreme temperatures of the arctic and tor
rid zones, suggests the idea that he may have
lived under terrestrial and aerial conditions
which we deem fatal.
Without entering into the discussion of a
subject of which we know little, We can but
notice the important bearing of the facts we
aforementioned. Few and isolated rs they
are, they will, if substantiated and accepted,
reopen a wide field of discussion. But the
scriptural geologist is not easily defeated
Hitherto his most positive if not most tor
midable opponent has been Mr.. Andrew
jackson Davis, the cairvoyant and spirit
ualst who, in that strange medley which he
has chosen to call the Great Harmonic,
gives the particulars of u number OF races OF
pre-Adamite men, the highest order Of which
was something between Negro and Cor
lila. But these spiritual vagaries, so far
from damaging the cause Of religion, were
disallowed by even the most atheistic scien-
fists. Mott and Gliddon absolutely went 50
far as to neglect to notice Mr.. Davis cxis-
tence.-Bditimore imericdn.
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country This GUANo is imported by WM. ii.
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