Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1885-06-05
Blan in Geological Eras.

The laws of nature are immutable.
Cause and effect are inseparable. No
particle of matter is exempt from
them. Then, to examine and COM
prehend all the forms, conditions and
properties of our material surround
ings, though as easy as talking prose,
is called scientific research, and the
knowledge thus gained is called sci
ence.
One Of the most superficial or re-
cent formations are the Danish peat
moses, winch vary from ten to thirty
feet in thickness. "In this" Lyell
says, Int various depths are found the
trunks Of trees, especially the Scotch
fir (Pinus syl,estris), as much as three
feet in diameter. This tree is not
now, and has not in the range of his
tory been, a native of this island
{England), and will not grow here
now when transplanted. But it grew
here within the human period, for
Steinstrup found, and removed with
his own hands, flint instrument from
beneath the trunk Of one of those
pines" The Scotch fir-tree, now ex
tinct in that region, was followed by
several species Of oak (que1cus), APP
pearing successfully at higher levels
in the peat, and these in turn have
been almost snpplanted by the beech,
which has been indigenous to that
locality as far back in time as history
extends. And yet, all the land and
fresh water shells, and all the nam
malta found in Danish peat are Of re.
cent specres. So we can begin to
learn something of the age of spe
cies.
The great antiquity of man is fur
ther attested by the chronological
succession Of materials used for max
ing implements and by the rude char
acter of the utensils. These periods
are called successfully the ages of
stone, Of bronze and of iron. The
age of stone, as we have seen by the
flint implement found under the trunk
of the hr-tree, comedies with the pc
Rod of the first vegetation in Den
mark. The age of stone was succeed
ed by the age of bronze about the
time the fr-tree was supplanted by
TIE oak in that region. These two
ages passed and were succeeded by
the iron age and the beech-tree before
history began. Flint implements
were recently found near the Seine,
in the vicinity of Paris, Undecided in
gray dllnvium, twenty feet below the
surface. In the cavern of Arcy- sur
lonne human bones have been found
with the bones of extinct quadrupeds
Flint tools have been found Undecided
with the bones of the rhinoceros and
the hyena, 80 feet deep in gravel
resting on the chalk at Abbeville,
Amlens, and other points along the
valley of the Somme. In cave near
Torquay, called Kent Hole, the bones
OF an extinct mammoth and Hint tools
of very antique type We're found
mingled together in the stratum;
above these were human remains, all
in matrix of red loan, and covered
with stalagmite. In the Brixham
limestone are caverns in which were
found in n floor of stalagmite the hui
merus of the Grsus sp'eneus (cave
bearl, and still under it various flint
implements; here, again, it is clear
that man lived before the cave bear,
which Is now extinct. On the banks
of the Mouse are the caverns of En-
gis and Engishial, both containing.
the bones Of man and various extinct
species of animels.
Many more evidences of the anti
putty of man might be adduced but
already enough has been presented
to show that he has outstripped most
OF the species of animals in the race
OF life that may have come into en-
istence with him. Geology and ar
ohaology have Taught us that man
far antedates history, and was con-
temporary with many species of ami
mails known only by their fossils.
That he roamed along the banks of
the Somme, Thames, Clyde, Rhine,
Seine, Mississippi and the Pc, and
scattered stones rudely fabricated by
his hands into utensils, as early as the
pliooene period, and when the beds
of those rivers ware ono hmm rad foo+