The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1878-11-02
TowsoNTovvN, Md, sATuFDfY, NOVEMBER 2 1873.
VERY OLD MEN.
Indications that the Human Race Has Ex-
listed for Over 600, 900 Years.

listed for Over 900, 900 Years.
A correspondent of the Chicago Times, writing
from Holywell, North Wales, says
In Devonshire, on the shores of Torbay, are two
celebrated caves, one situated in the outskirts Of
the village of Brixham, the other similarly located
in the beautiful town of Torquay. In both cases
these caverns extend into the hills upon whose
slopes they are situated 500 to 600 feet the cham
bers and galleries being very large, tOrtuous, and
irregular. The cave at Brixham, the mouth of
which was completely closed by debris when aeci-
dentally discovered some years since, was most
carefully explored under the auspices of the Royal
Geological Society, which appointed the able ge-
ologist Mr.. Pengelly, to personally supervise the
operation. The cavern at Torquay, known as
"Kent's Cavern" is now being similarly explored
by carefully removing its contents, amounting to
many thousands OF tons, under the same eminent
management.
The similarity in the contents and revelations
of these eaverns is remarkable. Confning our at
tention to that at Torquay, which is the more re-
cent and important in its disclosures, its floors is
found to be composed, first, of layer from two to
twelve inches thick of decayed leaves and other
vegetable matter, commingled with dust and frag
ments Of limestone which have fallen from the
sides and roof of the cavern. Under this stratum
of black mold and sometimes peering up through
it, is an extensive floor of granular stalagmite,
quite pure carbonate of lime, varying in thickness
from few inches to over five feet. Beneath the
granular stalagmite, and at distance of about
forty feet from the entrance to the cavern occurs
a 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 stalagmte is thick stratum of red clay mixed
with fragments of limestone (from the roof scales
of stalagmte ETC., the whole amounting to about
four feet in depth, and called the ''cave earth.'
Beneath the cave earth occurs another floor of
hard crystalline carbonate of lime having thick
ness in some places of twelve feet, called the
crystalline stalagmite." Below the latter lies a
deep stratum composed of fragments of Limestone,
red grit quartz and sand, all more or less cement
ed together by carbonate Of lime in the form of
stalagmitic deposit.
Theinterestng feature of this matter, which alone
induced me to visit and inspect these eaverhs, is
the fact that the relics of man are found mbedded
in every stratum of this cavernOus floor, even to
the last one mentioned. Theserelics in the bottom
stratum consist of rude flint spear points and flint
daggers or knives. Those implements found nearer
the surface in the crystalline stalagmite, are
better shaped while in the cave earth are found
many we'll formed flint spears and arrow points,
flint knives, bone daggers, bone needles, with eyes,
etc. Nearer the surface the weapons more
numerous and elaborate, and associated with
of man are found very large number of fragments
of bones of living and extinct animals. Among
the latter are the mammoth, rhinOceros, tichOri-
nus, the gigantic Irish deer, cave bear cave lion,
etc.
The question at once arises, How old are these
fossils? The problem is, to large extent, one OF
chemistry. How long would the formation Of such
massive floors of stalagmite, deposited from water
which still continues to drip from the ceiling Of
the cavern, require In the calculation it must be
remembered, first, that the drip must be moderate,
otherwise the deposit would be washed away and
secondly, that in these caverns evaporation, which
so much facilitates the deposition of stalactites
der bridges, etc., is wholly impossible. The for
nation of the stalagmitic deposit is wholly due
to the difference in temperature in the cave (al
ways 5lo Fahrenheit) and that prevalent without.
When the temperature of Devonshire was below
this point water slightly charged with carbonie
acid, in percOlating through the everything lime
stone rocks, became charged with carbonate of
lime on entering the warmer cavern portion Of
the carbonic acid gas escaped and part of the
calcureous cargo was deposited as stalagmite.
Fortunately in Kent's cavern, we have at point
where the stalagmitic floors thickest, kind of
time scale or gauge. On rather large knob or
boss of staagmite, by the aid of tallow candle,
easily read this inscription :-"RObert Hedges, of
Ireland, February 20, $685." the letters about an
inch in length, having been cut or scratched in
with a knife. Although the "hard" water still
continues to drip on this name, ! 80 years have
served to dim but not eface the inscription The
film over the letters certainly does not exceed the
one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness Putting
aside the immense time requisite to the formation
of all the other strata it appears that the stalag
mite floors alone, at this rate, would have requir
ed over 600,0 900 years for their deposition.
Enormous as this time seems, the calculation is
corroborated in q remarkable manner by indie
pendent evidence. Although these caverns are
situated more than seventy feet above the small
streams on whose hllsides 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 guam
titles of fnts, red grit, and sand, which the walls
of the caverns could not have supplied, but of
which the supply is found at the heads of the
streams. As water will not now, and probably
never would, run up hill, it follows that the beds
of these streams were at near the level of the
caverns when these materials were washed in.
The next prob en- therefore, is how long has it
taken the rains of DevOnshire to excavate in solid
limestone valleys several hundred feet deep How
much limestone can the annual 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 cays and chalk, is deepened at the rate of
about the One-eighth of an inch per century. Ap-
ply this time scale to the present case we find that
more than 100000 years are necessary for this
work. As the excavation was, however, through
hard limestone instead of chalk, and as the mouth
of the cave at BriXham is nearly 100 feet above
the present level of the creek is evident that the
time should be heightened. But man was in Dew
onshre before these valleys had been cut deeper
than the mouths of these caverns, and long be-
fore an inch of the stalagmatic floor had been de-
posted.
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 of Eden, these facts only point
to the antiquity of man in Devonshire, but do not
fix the true antiquity of the race.
TAKE CARE OF THE IMPLEMENTs.-It is la