Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1870-04-19

ef ana or CndFleS LJeli 10 lue ueitd |
of certain rivers which have been ex-
amined and found to contain the re-
mains of man, or stone implements
used by him, with rude fragments of
brick, pottery. &C., like the delta of
the Nile and Mississippi. In 1854
the Royal Society of England, under
the guidance of Mr.. Leonard Horner,
examined the delta of the Nile, boring
it in many places, and by the meas
urement Of its deposit since the time
history becomes fully authentic, and |
in accordance with this data extend
ing backward. calling its deposit at
the same rate, they in their boring cx
tracted pieces of brick which must,
according to their calculation, have
been twelve thousand years old: also
human bones, with bones OF living
species of animals, but none of extinct
species were found. According TO
their estimate the delta itself may be
$4,000 years old, and always inhabit-
ed by man. In the report of said So
ciety they say that no brick we're
burned during our historic period, in
the valley of the Nile, until the time
Of the Roman dominion in Egypt,
which according to their reasoning
shows concusively that this must have
been burned long previous to our his
toric period, and confirms the former
data. OF the delta of the MiSsissip-
pi, Sir Charles Lyell says: " 1t ex-
tends over an area of 10000 square
miles, and is known in many places to
be several hundred feet thick; and
be feels that the lowest estimate upon
it would be, that one hundred thou
sand years was too short a period for
its formation. In speaking of skeI
eton found there he says, " 1t is in
type like the American Indian" and
he does rot think it safe to consider
that, or mans antiquity in that sec
tion at over half the age of the delta,
or fifty thousand years.
Again, in cave deposits in various
parts of Europe the remains of man
have been found in connection with
the Cave Bear and Mastodon now ex-
tinct, which must, in the opinion of
Sir Charles LyeIl, give man an anti
quity of from fifty to seventy-fve
fbDDropl EIo ft,rfhar SoyC
that upon examination OF those de-
posits there is found, promiscuously
with the bones Of man, stone knives,
and extinct animals, the bones Of the
horse. goat. dog, and other domestic
animals" and he has even found the
) skeletons Of mice entire. thus showing
beyond a doubt that the extinct ami
mails, like the Mastodon, Cave Bear,
DC, were coeval with man, and all the
existing species. He further remarks
that be found them washed in with
, gravel lying in such manner as to
: show conc lusively that they were
washed in by water, while the flesh
and muscles held the skeletons to-
, gether. as the bones were found lying
t next TO each other in regular order,
which could not have been mad old
bones been washed out by other stra-
] ia. These remains, in his estimation
have been for thousands of years pro
! tected by the stalagmite formed in the
, caves on the surface of the drift In
which they are deposited, thus exclu-
ding them from the action of damp
and atmospheric influences. Then
I again, there are isolated instances OF
skulls and bones of men, together with
, their instruments, being found in such
a way as to show mans great antiqui
/ ty, like the skull found in California
in 1854, and now on exhibition in the
: Natural History Rooms in Boston, OF
/, the one more recently found four hun
dred feet below the surface, and eX
hibited to the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, al
, their Chicago meeting last August, Oh
= like the tracks of two human feet il
: the old limestone formation of the
: Mississippi valley, now split off frou
I the rock, and in possession OF Prof
+ Owen; all of which seem to be addi
+ tional evidence in the chain which pla
ces man far back in the worlds histo
ry, which, if true, must in reality IN
n dermine the inspiration of our Bible
? and render Genesis, at least, little
more than fiction.
n But let US review this evidence. 0
{ the piles driven in the lakes of Europe
; we can hardly suppose it possible tha
f. they could exist for fifty thousand
), years, and in fact the advocates o
e mans great antiquity do not claim i
f for them. That land rises or subsidies
Y in a regular manner so as to gain ;
e data to calculate time by such subsi
], dence, is contrary to our experience
- Calico, il South America. was sunl
p beneath the ocean in a single hour
e and has never again appeared. VIII!
e could not have Eburodunum In fine
G. we have the tradition that it did, tho
is on this point history is not authentic
u The water does not now, however
e neither has it TOR the last one hun
e dred years, encroached on the land
n Last summers experience of earth
N quakes in South America is too fresl
t. .upon our minds to have US suppOst
d that the crust of the earth is even nov
IS proof against rapid changes. Ye
D. admitting that the opinion first motto
a ed may be correct, and those dwell
a ings have been built two thousand o
ID more years before the Christian era
,e it does not destroy our chronology
IS 1t might have been. Yet we find i
,e our ancient history of the Romans
~ report that people once lived, an
O. some then did thus live in the distan
rt part of their empire, upon pile SUI
H. ported houses over the lakes, to pre-
II tect them from wild beasts. We bav
Is only to go to Africa to see the sam
9n state of things today. OF deltas,
Is, will say their advance is sometime
Vi. rapid, like that of the river Pc. Spin;
lis an ancient seaport situated at th
be mouth of the Pc, was at the commence
. ment of the Christian era eleven mile
II. distant from the sea. Adrian was
re seaport at its mouth in the time
IF Augustus, and is now twenty miles II
o. land, and Ravenna, within our memor
he a seaport, is four miles distant frol
A. - Ul -. Do ;fco1f Lor;o