The Portland daily press., 1866-09-15

fully secured by either.
The present postmaster ON being asked by
Whip, if he would not prefer him to Spur ior
successor, quietly replied, that he occupied the
same position that the man did who witnessed
the fight between the skunk and hedsehos'-
II don't care a darn which WHIPS.
gao ,c.Aaan,ie Antiquity Of Man.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS: :
Sm,-Under the heading OF an important
Discovery" you gave in your issue of Wednes-
day morning, Sept IL, an extract from the Alta
California paper published at San Francisco
of which the following paragraph is the most
striking and interesting part:
The skull was found in shaft $50 feet Deep
two miles distant from st. Angels in Calayeras
county, by miner named James Matson, who
gave it to Mr.. Scribner merchant, and he gave
1t to Dr. Jones, who sent it to the State Geolog-
zeal Survey. Prof. Whitney went to the place,
examined it, questioned the persons who had
had the skull in their possession, and he is en-
t1rely satisfied that it was found i'll the shaft,
but it is to be taken out, and then the Profess
or will resume his examinations. The shaft
passes through five beds of lava and volcanic
tuta, and four deposits of auriferous gravel
The upper bed of tufa is homogeneous and with
out any crack through which the skull could
have been introduced from above The pub
lished volume of the State Survey on the Geo
logy of California states that man existed here
cotemporaneously with the mastodOn, but this
fossil proves that he was here before the time
in which the mastodon was known to exist.
In regard to this statement you very justly
remark, that "the discovery announced by
Prof. Whitney is not simply matter of deep
interest to the scientific world" This comment
of yours is entirely just; for Il the discovery
here announced should be received, as it is in
tended to be received by Professor Whitney
and his school, the Scriptural account of the
origin and antiquity of man must be given up
as false If man existed at tho time OF the lay
ing down Of the Pleocene Formation, which
must have been million or more of years ago.
then Moses has given us mere fiction fora
truth; aud his credit as an inspired or even
truthful narrator is entirely and forever over
thrown MAJ, more on that supposition, the
entire book of Revelation must be thrown aside;
for every portion of the Old Testament is based
on the eredibilty of the Mosaic Record; and
Jesus himself, who everywhere indorscs and
builds on Moses, must be regarded as having
been mistaken in his confidence. This
would be only saying, that the founders of
Judaism and Christianity were both uninspir-
ed and mistaken men; that they were liable to
error like other human beings; that their sys-
tens Of faith and practice rest upon mere hui
man opinions, which the discovery in question
has proved to be unscientifc, unhistorical, and
incorrect and that, consequently, we have no
Revelation, no. Word of God, on, this or any
other subject. s4ass ss Il
This my dear sir, is precisely what this "dis-
covery' would amount to, if generally receiv-
ed as an established fact. a.8.f
Permit me to say, therefore, that l do not
imagine that the editor Of the Alta California,
OF the editorsof the Portland Press intends to
advocate or indorse any such discovery" as
that Nor does the statement made by Prof.
Whitney establish any such conclusion. Let
US look into it for amoment.
The substance of the account is, that hui
man skull, like that of Digger Indian, has
been found in shaft one hundred and fifty
feet below the surface of the Garth, by com
mon miner of the name of Matson. The miner
gave the skull to Mr.. Scribner; Mr. Scribner
gave it 70 DIR. Jones; and this DR.. Jones gave
it to the geological survey of California, of
which company Of scientific gentlemen Prof
Whitney seems to be a member.
Now, then, let it be observed that neither
the Professor nor DIR. Jones' nor Mr.. Seribner,
nor any other scientific or responsible person
saw this skull while engaged in the matrix.-
No one of them could swear that it was found
IN The miners shaft at all. They cannot say
that the whole affair is not q fiction, or that
the skull had not been thrown into the shaft,
or accid entally fallen in from some upper
portion Of the shaft, or from the top, in the
miners absence, or when he was not paying
the strictest attention to his work. There is a
score of other similar suggestions possible in
the CASE in which there is no scientific or reli-
able person whatever to give us either yea or
nay. 1t need scarcely be added, that neither
Sir Charles Lyel, nor any other of the emf
nent biologists, who are seeking for proofs of
the pre-Adamic antiquity of our race, would
admit any testimony of this sort to be render
ed OF received in their scientific court.
On the supposition, however, that Professor
Whitney had himself seen the skull in Situ
While yet disengaged from its matrix, it would
not then establish the prehistoric antiquity OF
man II was found in a gravel-bed, like all
the human remains of the highest age men,
TONED i'll Lyel's work on the Antiquity of
Man-oyer which several layers of lava had
been poured by volcanic action. In other
words, the skull was found, according to the
miners statement, in a formation which once
constituted the surface Of the earth in that To-
calty; and this surface, by volcanic agencies,
had been let drop for a hundred and fifty feet,
when five successive eruptions of the volcano
had poured as many streams of lava and tufa
over the deposit. 81 81
Nothing, certainly, would be more suppos-
ible or natural in region so thoroughly vol
sanic as that Of California But it proves
nothing for the prehistoric antiquity of the
human species. Volcanic movements are al
ways inclined to be abrupt and sudden. The
work OF ages is performed by them, in some in
stances, within The compass of o single day.
New islands, by volcanic power, have been
hhrown up from the bottom of the sea i'm one
night. Others have as suddenly sunk and dis
over these suni1en surfaces new
deposits may as suddenly be laid; and they
may then rise again, whether in the sea or ON
the solid land, bearing with them whatever
they contain. Such rapid changes have ALWAYS
been taking place. They are taking place at
the present time. Vcsuvius has buried cities
full ofinhabitants beneath its OVERLOOKING lava
streams. Some of the human remains
have been exhumed 1t would be sin
gular If q country SO volcanic as Cali
iornia, had not buried, in some remote
lge' some of its savage occupants; and it |
proves nothing for the pre-Adamic antiquity
'f mankind to cxhumea specimen, now and |
hen, from its place Of sudden burial; for few
thousand years would be as amply sufficient as |
! million, or any number of millions, for the
accomplishment Of everything required by the
interesting and important discovery in oues-
ion, in country so subject to volcanic ac-
ion. 3+ til. aa..i ifl l3E .f4lf
80 the Bible may yet stand, in spite of this |
discovery of the California MINER But it is as
,ood case as any given by Sir Charles, or by
Sudtrc1a0cS nr nacci1 or on,- e.