The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-10-14
VOL. Vino. 26.

Don't interfere with the search after
truth
There MAS never more humbug about
me ,mcrl,m OF >plrtualisn than there has
been IN all this talk by scientific men about
i the antiquity Of man aud the evolution OF
nan The statement, On the subject have
\ been Of the most reckless character This
allegation We shall now proceed to prove
Ten Years ago we were told that Avebury
aud Stonehenge IN Euglani were Older than
the Pyramids, indeed the former was set
down some tOtn years old. Then Ne
were told that the shell heaps on the DANISH
islands belonged 10 "A race ot naatcs men
who had not Yet learned To talk Then We
were told that the stone mplements found
IN the Danish peat bogs belonged to
period when nothing but pines grew in
Denmark, aud 1t was claimed that this was
ages ago. Then We Were told that on the
margins Of the Swiss lakes, ani a little dis
tancc ont from Shire, ancient hahitat,ons Of
a lost race had been found, whose antiquity
was from 6ooo to 500 year,. Then Dr
Horncr found pottery IN the Nile mud
Is, 900 years old. And DIR. Dowler found
human remains in the delta Of the Mlssss-
tppi 5000 years old. Then We were told
that IN the bone caves traces of man had
been found IN ASSOCIATION with the bones OF
the Irish Fix, the mammoth the cave bear.
x, and Mr.. Alfred H. Wallace aud Mr..
Pcrgey estimated that the relics were At
least 1000, 900 years old. Then We were
told that human bones had been found IN
coral formation IN Florida, which, according
To Prof Agassez was at least Ia, 900 years
old Then Prof. Lesley, Of Pennsylvania,
announced to a Boston audience land sub
scquently printed 1t IN book that NJ
DeIannay had found the works of man in "A
Miocenc or Phocene deposit in France.
Then Mr. Frank Calvert found traces of
man at depth Of 800 feet in the face of
cliff near the Dardanelles Then Mr.. Boyd
Dawkihs announced in learned book that
pre- glacial man had been discovered at the
Victoria cave in yorkshire "a human ibula
under the glacial clay, (it turned out to be
the bone of a bear. Then Prof Rutimeyer
announced that inter glacial man had been
found IN glacial bed at Durnten In Switzcr-
laad, Then DR.. Abbott announced that
palaeolithic' implements of glacial age had
been found in New Jersey on the Delaware
River. And lastly we have the astounding
discovery of Prof. Whitney that granite
mortars, beautifully cut, holding two quarts,
have been found with human bones under
two or three hundred feet of volcanic and
other matter, in the heart Of Fable Noun
| tam, California
Now the stone circles, the peat .bogs, the
shell mounds, the lake dwellings, have been
| silently abandoned as furnishing any eyi-
| dence for the antiquity Of man. DR. Hor-
ners ancient Egyptian potter is discrsdited
| Dir. Dowlcr's red Indian excites only a
smile. The human bones in Florida turned
J out not to have been found in a coral for
, nation. Prof. Lesley's pliocene scratched
bones are Ielieved to have been gna wed b.
/ L..
the caves for whom an antiq lity Of 800, Ooo
(uay 1000 900 years was claimed is now
according to Prot. Ninchell, only more
| than 5000 years old. The pre- glacial man
| of the Victoria cave is formally given up.
| The sharpened sticks found in the glacial
clay al Durnten are given up. The Miocene
man Of the Dardanecs Is given up. Moth
/, ing remains but DR.. Abbots argillite in
plement- from the glacial drift Of the Della
ware ' alley, aud Prof Whitncys granite
mortars from the auriicrous graves Of Cab
forna. We understand that in consequence
OF studies recently made, DIR. Abbot's
New Jersey implements will soon be with
drawn. Aud if any body believes with Prof
hltney that man IN California manufac-
tured stone mortars and pestlcs and skillet
with spouts in the Tertiary age, all we have
got to say Is that he ought to be killed 3"
DIR. Southall thus docs justice to DR..
Wnchell's treatment Of his subject in It's
scientific aspect Prof. Wnchell's theory
has not one particle Of evidence to support
it, and rests only on guess Scientific
men have bern too reckless and nascicufifc
in their statements and the un7centiic
public has been entirely too crc1ulous.
The readers Of the F"rmer ami .HecLnac
have as yet no shadow Of reason 10 doubt
their Bibles a. to the origin or antiquity Of
man. J. W. +.