The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-04-26

from Charlottesville to the University of
Virginia (near the University }, and which
have been broken by the hammer to mend
the road. Mr.. Fiske displays his ignor-
ance of the subject, moreover, in attribut-
ing the hints exhibited by M. Ribeiro to
the Pliocene age; they were not found in
Phocene, but in Miocene, strata, and if
they are artificial, Mr.. Fiske must allow
that it was human being, and not a
semi-hunaaa form, which appeared in the
middle of the Tertiary era
But why does Mr.. Fiske assert boldly,
and without rausing to entertain ques-
ton, that these fints are of undou6ted
human workmanship How does he
know it? Who says so? DR.. John Evans,
the highest authority on the subject in
England, was present at the Lisbon Con-
ference of European Archeologists in
1880, saw the fints in question, and Wis
tied the spot where they were obtained;
and he rejected them. Professor Vir-
chow was member of the same Congress,
and he rejected them, and stated that at
the next meeting of the Congress, he
would bring forward conclusive evidence
to show that they were mere natural
forms.
Mr.. Fiske then goes on (page 449) to
say that in his admirable memoir on
the Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Ne
vada, Professor Whitney has collected a
great amount of evidence which seems to
prove that man existed in California at
an equally remote date" We are aware
that Professor Whitney has undertaken
this remarkable task; and it is equally
remarkable that no less scientist than
Professor o. @. Marsh, of Yale College,
the world-renowned paleontologist, has
endorsed the conclusions of Prof. Whit
ney in the most unqualified manner. But
it happens that the human relics found
in the auriferous gravels Of California are
beautiful granite and diorite mortars,
of exquisite workmanship, three-legged
stone skillets, ladies and shovels of stea-
tite, and perforated polished stone ham
mers. These things are comparatively
modern; every arch@ologist knows that;
and, as the traces Of old mines, worked
by the aborigines, are found in Califor-
MIA, and right in Table mountain, where
many Of Prof. Whitney's relics were pro-
cured, it is reasonably certain that the
ancestors of the present Pacific coast In
dams left these utensils and implements
in the old galleries and shafts which they
opened in the mountains in their search
for gold Schoolcraft gives an account
of the discovery of one Of these old mines
(210 feet deep in his Archaeology (vol.
l., p. 1867.
In the May number of the Atlantic"
Mr.. Fiske has a second article on the
same subject, which we have not space
to follow In this second article, treat
ing of the "River- Drift Men" he affirms
unqualifedly, and as an ascertained fact,
that these men arrived in Europe before
the Glacial period. He adds, 1--WE can
not tell how long there had been human
beings on the earth before the Glacial
period. But, as I have said already, it
must have been great while, because,
even before the close of the Pliocene age,
they had had time to spread over the
earth as far as Portugal in one direction,
and as far as California in the other"
We have only to repeat that the lead
ing psychologists and anthropologists in
England-such men as Dawkins, Hughes,
Evans-afirm that there is no evidence
of the existence of man before the Glacial
epoch; and yet we are solemnly assured
by Mr.. Fiske, and the atlantic Monthly,
that the contrary is now an established
scientific fact This may be science, but
it is not ethics.