The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-07-26
THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.

III hundred years ago sa1ant had ex-
pressed, in a company of his peers, the
opinion that the earth was million of
years old, he would have been laughed at;
and if only twenty years ago a geologist
had, in similar assembly, asserted the
great antiquity of mankind and the exist
ence of fossil men, he would have been
considered to be incredulous in religious
matters and over credulous in regard to
| geological evidences. The general opinion
that the diluvial age and the modern period
were Enthusiastically distinguished by
the appearance of the human race could
not, 20 years ago, be shaken; but now
there is scarcely any geologist left among
us who doubts the existence of man dur
ing the end of the glacial period, or at
least Immediately after the same.
1t should be kept in view that, for the
| geologist, when there is question concern
ing the nature and habits of the fossil men.
neither traditions, written histories, nor
pictures of ancient civilized people can
give any information. The Oldest among
the traditions or writings give US scarcely
any information for period of 5000 years;
while in regard to pictorial relics, even the
highest estimates allow maximum of
only 10000 years. But what is G,OOO or
$4,000 years for the geologist, who meas
ures the period of the carboniferous era
| alone by millions of centuries?
Therefore, in order to obtain information
in regard to the history of primitive man,
we are reduced to the geological records,
investigated and explained according to
true philosophical methods. Such geolegi-
cal evidence we find, besides the some
what rare human skeletons, especially in
the TOOLS remnants of food, kitchen uten-
sils, and other indestructible traces of
mans presence and activity. Rude con-
trivances or arms to subjugate the animals
surrounding them, and to procure food
for themselves, were in the possession of
all primitive races, in whatever savage
condition they may have existed; and many
important conclusions may be drawn from
their appearance.
1t is evident that, in all investigations in
which there is question of the primitive
history of our own race, we should proceed
with the utmost care, so as to avoid errors;
because this question is closely related to
those concerning the highest spiritual
interests Of mankind. This praiseworthy
prudence is therefore the cause that, in
former years, all records of diuvial traces
of man were treated with mistrust, and
that there existed an inclination to consid-
er such remains as have reached the deluvi-
al strata by mere accident. So the report
of Pastor Esper, who, in 1764, dug human
bones (among those of the fossil cave bear
out of the Gailenreuther cave, was not
noticed; and similar fate befel the records
of the English archaologist, John Frere,
who, in 1897 found, in the diluvium of
Suffolk, arms made of flint. The report
Ami Bouee, who in 1928 found, in the
bluffs of the Rhine valley in Baden, hu-
man skeleton, was also neglected; and no
notice was given to the communications of
the French psychologists and biologists
Journal, Christol, Jolly, and Marcel de
Series, concerning several bones of new
fossil animals found in different caves
which had been worked and fashioned by
human hands, as well as flint implements
found among the bones of these now ex-
tinct animals, in the caves of Southern
France. 1t must be acknowledged that
several of the above reports could easily
be objected to by reason of uncertainties
in the observations and the vagueness of
the conclusions drawn. But it is almost
unexplainable that Investigations Of ex-
emplary accuracy, such as those of the
Belgian geologist Schmerling, remained SO
vestigator had, in 1888, the caves of Engis
and Engihoul, near Liege, empted of
their contents, and watched personally,
several witnesses, the labor, for many
weeks and with the utmost care. lie de-
scribed afterward in, large atlas, all the
objects found; among them were two hui
man skulls and many flint implements, all
found mixed with the remnants of the
cave bear, cave hyena, etc. At last, all
doubts were resolved by the facts furnished
by Boucher de Perthes, in Abbeville.-
High above the present valley of the Som
me in Picardy, existed undisturbed layers
of dilvium, with remnants among them of
the mamoth, rhinoceros, cave bear, cave
hyena, ETC., relics in short of the whole
fauna which inhabited Europe during the
glacial period. In the middle of these
primitive animal remains, De Perthes, as
early as 1888, found near Abbeville the
first few speciments of flint arrowheads
hatchets, knives, ETC., and he afterwards
discovered many hundreds of the same
Moreover, many of the fossil bones had
been evidently cut and scraped by means
of these flint tools. But, singularly, it
was not till 1868, thirty years after the
first discovery, that Moulin Quignon found
lower jaw and several other human bones
at the same place.
This last discovery made some commo-
ton. A small congress of English and
French biologists assembled in order to
inspect the locality which had yielded hu-
man bones from the deposits of the diluvi- |
al period. After Boucher de Perthes and
Sir Charles Lyell, in his celebrated work
on "The Antiquity of Man," had drawn
the attention to these prehistoric human
remains. similar discoveries have succeeded |
one another continuously. Flint tools,
similar to those Of Abbeville, were found |
in caves with the bones of the diluvial |
mamalia. Near Aurignac, in the Haute
Garonne, the exploration of rabbit hole
by boys led to the discovery of large
grave, closed with stone slab; inside this
tomb II human skeletons were found, to- |
gether with implements of flint and rein
deer horn, and several fossil men. In front
of the cave was hearth, on which we're |
numerous broken and half burned bones |
of the giant deer, reindeer, cave bear,
rhnoceros and other animals; many pro- |
auctions of human art were also found
Unfortunately the mayor of the place had |
4 hal