Litchfield enquirer., 1878-09-12
Correspondence of the Chicago Times.)
 Antiquity of Man.
HoLYwEIL, North Wales, July s1st, 1878.

HOLYwELL, North w aies, July oIst, 1oto.
 In Devonshire, on the shores of Torbay, are two celebrated caves, one situated in the outskirts of. the village of Brixham, tl.e other similarly located in the beautiful town of Tor quay. In both cases these caverns extend into the hills upon whose slopes they are situated 500 to 900 feet, the chambers and galleries being very large, tortuous and irregular. The cave at Brixham, the mouth of which was completely closed by debris when accidentally discovered some years since, was most care- fully explored under the auspices of the Royal Geological society, which appointed the able geologist Mir. Pengelly, to personally super wise the operation. The cavern at .Iorquay, known as tKents Cavern, i" is now being sim ilarly explored by carefully removing it's con- tents, amounting to many thousands of tons, under the same eminent management.
 The similarity in the contents and revela- Ftions of these caverns is remarkable. COnfin- ing our attention to that at Torquay, which is the most recent and important in its disclos- ures, It's floors is found to be composed, first, of layer from to F aehes thick of deeaHsdd with dust and fragments of limestone, which has fallen from the sides and roof of the cav ern. Under this statum of black mold, and sometimes peering up through it, is an exten- sive floor of granular stalagmite, or quite pure carbonate of lime, varying in thickness from
 
 granular stalagmite, and at a dstnnce of about 40 feet from the entrance to the cavern, oc- CUTS stratum of charcoal, ashes, bones, and fragments of wood covering an area of over 100 square feet. Below the charcoal band, and where that does not occur, immediately in contact with the floor of the stalagmite, is a thick statum of red clay mixed with fragments of limestone (from the roof, scales of stagal- mite, etc., the whole amounting to about four fook sV, and aoIIa fhn tGaax1 Beneath the cave earth occurs another f0or of hard crystalline carbonate of lime, having thickness in some places of over 12 feet, called the crystalline stalagmite." Below the latter lies deep stratum composed of frag- ments of limestone, red grit, quartz, and sand, all more or less cemented together by carbon ate of lime in the form of stalagmite deposit.
 The interesting feature of this matter, which alone induced me to visit and inspect these caverns, is the fact that the relics of man are found imbedded in every Stratum of this cav ernous floor, even to the last one mentioned. These relics in the bottom stratum consist of rude flint spear points and flint daggers or knives. Those implements found nearer the surface, as in the crystalline stalagmite, are better shaped, while in the cave earth are found many well-f formed flint spears and arrow points, flint knives, bone daggers, bone needles, with eyes, etc. Nearer the surface the weapons are more numerous and elaborate and are as- s0ciated with objects of ornament Along with these impliments of man are found very large number of fragments of bones of living and extinct animals. Among the latter are the mammouth, rhinoceros, tichorinus, the gigantic Irish deer, cave bear, cave lion, etc.
 The question at once arises How old are these fossils The problem is, to large ex- tent, one of chemistry. How long would the formation of such massive floors of statag- mite, deposite from water which still contin- ues to drip from the ceiling of the cavern, require. In the calculation it must be re- membered, first that the drip must be moder- ate, otherwise the deposit would be washed away, and secondly, that in these caverns evaporation, which so much facilitates the deposition of stalactites under bridges, etc., is wholly impossible. The formation of the stalagmite deposit is wholly due to the differ ence in temperature in the cave (always 51 degrees FarenheiD and that prevalent without. When the temperature of Devonshire was be- low this point, water slightly charged with carbOnic acid, in percolating through the over lying limestone rocks, became charged with carbonate of lime; on entering the warmer cavern portion of the carbonic acid gas es- capped, and part of the calcareous cargo was deposited as stalagmite.
 Fortunately, in Rents cavern, we have at point where the stalagmitc floors are thick est, kind of time scale or gauge On rath- CT large knob or boss of stalagmite, by the aid of talIow candle, easily read this inscrip- tion :-'R0bert Hedge, of Ireland, Feb 20, 16SS," the letters about an inch in length having been cut or scratched in with knife. Although the 'hard water' continues to drip on this name, 190 years have served to dim but not to efface the inscription. The film over the letters does not exceed the one-six- teenth of an inch in thickness Putting aside the immense time requisite to the formation of all the other strata, it appears that the sta- lagInite floors alone at this rate, would have required over 900, 900 years for their deposi- tion.
 Enormous as this time seems, the calcula. ton is corroborated in remarkable manner by independent evidence. Although these caverns are situated more than 70 feet above the small streams on whose hill-sides they are located, it is certain that the bottom stratum in each case was washed in. The proof of this statement lies in the fact that the bottom stratum contains large quantities of flints red grit, and sand which the walls of the caverns could not have supplied, but of which the AS water will not now, and probably never would, run up hill, it follows that the beds of these streams were at or near the level of the caverns where these materials were washed in,
 The next problem, therefore, is how long has it taken the rains of Devonshire to exca- vate in solid limestone valleys several hundred feet deep? How much limestone can the an- nual rainfall dissolve, and how much can it mechanically carry and push into the ocean? Professor Huxley has estimated that the Thames basin, which consists principally of soft clays and chalk, is deepened at the rate of about one-eighth of an inch per century. Ap- ply this time scale to the present case we find that more than 800, 900 years are necessary for this work. AS the excavation was how ever, through hard limestone instead of chalk, and as the mouth of the cave in Brixham is nearly one hundred feet above the level of the creek, it is evident that the time should be heightened. But was man in Devonshire before these valleys had been cut deeper than the mouths of these caverns and long before an inch of the stalagmatic floor had been depos- ited.
 Diminish the time involved in these facts and calculations in any reasonable manner as much as possible, and still the time during which man has lived in England is enormous as compared with our previous conceptions Unless we admit that England was the cradle of the human family, the figurative Garden oi Eden, these facts only point to the antiquity of man in Devonshire, but do not fix the true antiquity of the race
 MALARIAL DIsEAsE.-The death last week of Henry Aimitt Brown from typhoid fever has called the attention of Philadelphians tC the working of the sewerage system of that city. 1t appears that months ago Dr. Gross and other eminent physicians, reported the whole system as defective, declaring that owing to the absence of proper traps the es- cape of sewer gas into the houses was inces- sant. It was proposed, we believe, as first step toward reform, ,o send committee tc investigate the drainage of European cities but the City Fathers, suspecting an intended holiday at their expense, withheld the sup plies. Now that a popular citizen has fallen victim to the disease, they are bestirring them selves again to look into the cause. Phladel Phlans, like all other Americans, will pcobah ly be more energetic in the work of CT e thal of prevention.
 The season is just beginning when malari of every kind gains gound most rapidly. Tn Stearn of oh aoss IN.