The Placer herald., 1866-10-06
WONDERFUL RELICS OF THE PRE-.
ADAMITE AGE.

A we'll known literary gentleman Of Mid,
dleton. Conn, has recently made public the
following remarkable geological discoveries
upon the banks Of the Connecticut river.
These researches show that the ages when
there we're "giants in the land" are very
remote, and that the human race in that
locality has been steadily dwindling down
to its present pigmy statue. Between the
modern wooden nutmeg stratum and the
Silurian beds on which twelve.foot giants
and g;antesses lay them down to sleep, fully
10000 years have iutervened, by scientific
calculation. The slight discrepancy Of 20 900
years in the "human period" which exists in
the calculation of Prof Agassiz and DR.. Bar
ret, need not in the least weaken our faith in
the giants; W
"On the east bank of the Connecticut are
the Portland stone quarries, which have
been worked for $50 years. At present. in
the three quarries, about 900 men are at
work, and 80 to 40 vessels are employed in
carrying the stone to the great markets.
These excavations; which have now reached
a depth of los feet below the surface of the
water in the river, have revealed uhtold
wonders. The stone is said to be full Of fossil
remains in its lowest depths. | might call it
a great cbarnel.house, but this is too gloomy
term to apply to it. 1t is rather Gods great
book of records which has been here carefully
preserved and bermeticaly sealed up until
within the last few years. On the countless
leaves of this book are found the records of
The past ages. They tell US of the climate,
Of the seasons, and Of the storms; of The birds
and animals; and more wonderful still, they
tell us of the men Of those ages, show US
their implements, and shadow forth some'
thing of their customs. They also open to
us their graves, and show to US their modes
of burial, the men lyiug in one posture and
the women in another. These men had ali
three fingers and thumb, and four toes
The comparatively more recent Of them we're
six to seven feet high, but as we unfold the
leaves further and proceed far back in the
cycles Of time to the lower depth of the rock
we eo"e ts race Of giants twelve feet high,
with shoes, and who had domesticated ami.
mails Of peculiar structure and great sizs-
The only human instruments SO far discovered
we're made of stone. They had saws and
long knives made Of slate, and brought
probably from Vermont.
This sandstone basin is believed to be oi
The same geological age as the basin of Paris,
in France, but the fossil remains are more
numerous than those in the Paris basin,
more wonderful and in q better state OF
preservation. How easy it is to see thing
after it is pointed out to US! Just as it is
easy to use and apply Kepler's laws. after
Kepler bas dscoversd them. These quarries
were worked more than one hundred years
and we're used for sidewalks and buildings
before the fossils were discovered! Now the
practical eye can see them almost every,
where. .t......f tot4 ...
The most indsfatigabe observer, and the
most industrious collector Of these facts is
DR.. Barret, who has spent almost lifetime
in collecting fragmenlary evidence and
surmounting diffrultes. lie is said to have
remarkal le knowledge of comparative
anatomy, and 10 be in many respects a very
learned and remarkable n,an, who has been
far in advance OF bis times. Many years since
the fact of pre'Adamite race dawned upon
him, and he announced il in conversation.
Presently similar discoveries have been
made in Europe, and learned men are
beginning TO admit the fact. Agassz carries
the existence of man on earth back 10000
years DR.. Barret says men trod this valley
at least 80, 900 years ago, but not our race;
the present race is new and distinct crea
tion."