The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1891-07-11
Written for the Republican.
Tho Antiquity Of the Rnce.

more than 5000 years ago.
A Mr.. Horner declared that there
were men in Egypt making pottery
more than IL, 1000 years ago. ItRppears
that while digging in the mud of the
delta Of the Nile he found piece of
pottery 80 feet below the surface. At
ter long consideration OF the matter
he came to the conclusion that 100
years would be required to make q
layer OF mud three and a-half inches in
thickness at that point; and as the
piece OF pottery was 46S inches below
the surface, he divided 46S by three and
a-half, In order to ascertain how many
centuries had elapsed since that piece
OF pottery found resting place in the
delta, and the quotient, (more than
1888, satisfied him that the pottery had
been in the mud more than 1873 CEN
turtles.
His conclusion was hailed with de-
light by men who never could be-
lieve the Bible" But there were other
scientists who thought Mr.. Horner
was altogether too modest on the an
tiquity question, and SO they went to
work to convince the world that the
Egyptians were making pottery co.
that three-and -a-half inches of mud
could accumulate in the delta in the
short space OF 100 years. though not
soul OF them remained anywhere near
that length OF time in that quarter In
order to measure tho increase year by
year, but they calculated that more
than hundred years would be re-
CURED to produce layer of mud an
Inch In thickness.
Sir George Stephenson found brick
In the delta OF the Nile. in the mud,
more than 80 fest below the surface.
OF course Mr.. Horner's friends will
conclude that the Egyptians made
bricks 1900 years ago, and othsrs
on the brick-making business $4,000
years ago. But Sir George beloved
that the brick was made less than 100
years ago. Probably Mr.. Horner's
friends consider his belief unscientifie.
However, Sir George had sOme-
thing more reliable than mud to
found his belief upon, for, inscribed
upon the brick he found name in
modern language, and that name was
Muhammed Ali. The gentlemen rep
resented by that name died A. D. 1870;
and that was neither 10000 nor 1900
years ago. And rs Mr.. Horncr's piece
of pottery was found In the same mud,
though at not so great q depth, 1t 10
|
more than 100 years old. But certain
scientists say that there Is something
better than mud to demonstrate that
the race is scores OF tn ousands of years
old, and that something Is stalag-
mite.
Stalagmitei is n limo deposit found on
the floors of caves. 1t originated thus:
Rain drops in descending to tho earth
absorb carbonic acid gas from the air,
and in It's passage through the earth
and into the caves. this slightly acidu-
lated water comes in contact with
limestone and holds some Of it In solu-
ton. and this solution crystalizing on
tho floors produces stalagmite.
There is celebrated cave in England
known as Kent's Cavern. II 10 in q
limestone hill 20 feet above the bottom
of tho valley and 1856 feet above the
level of mean tide, and consists of two
parallel galleries that are $50 feet in
length. The floor OF the cave is COW
cred with layer of stalagmite
eighteen inches thick. In the earth be-
meath this stalagmite have been found
the remains OF extinct animals, Thu.
mau flint Implements" and part of q
mans upper jaw with four teeth in
1t. 1t is said that the stalaglnite in
this cave has grown but tho one-twen-
tieth part OF an inch In 200 years. At
that rate 1900 years were requisite TO
produce the present stalagmite floor;
and 1t is cinlmedthnt the man to whom
the piece of jaw belonged must have
lived over 1900 years ago, or when
those extinct animals were extant and
that the human Implements must also
have been made at tho same point Of
time.
But there Is no proof at hand to
support the hypothesis that the sta
lagmite floor is 1000 years old. Who
can prove 1t? Mr.. Soutlall found a
metallic plate of tho twelfth century
under eighteen inches Of stalagmite
in cave at Gibralter. Prof. Dawkins
says that tho stalagmite floor in
marlborough Cave increases in thick
ness at the rate OF quarter of an
inch per annum. Prof. Lyell inform 8
us that at San Felippo in Italy solid
caleareous deposit thirty feet In thick
ness has been made by tho waters of
its baths in twenty years. That the
stnlagnite floor in Kent'B Cavern is no
older than that of marlborough Cave
is quite propable; and the gentlemen
whose jaw fragments was found in
the earth in the former cave must
have died less than thousand years
ago.
| IEoi. DhNbou says, WIEN We Hre
| told by Dawkins that the rate of de.
post in marlborough cave may be es-
timated at quarter OF an inch per
annum. and when We consider that the
present rate of deposit in Kent's Hole
is probably very different from what
1t WIS IN the former condition of the
country, Stalagmite becomes o very
unsafe measure of time.
The remains OF fossil mammoth
elephants are found in great aGund-
ance in Siberia ''ln superficial deposits
Of sand, gravel and loam." II some
Russian exiles were to be buried In one
OF these superficial deposits, and fifty
years hence some scientific explorer
bones of mammoth, very likely no
would shake his head wisely and say,
"fhose men and that mammoth died
in one and tho self-same year,
The Edinburg Encyclopedia admits
that 'tit is possible that objects belong
ing to different eras may be commin-
gled in the eave-earthh OF Rents CAV
ern; but adds, ut is certain that the
most modern thing 1t contains is more
ancient than the oldest articles in the
stalagmite formed on It. Rev. Mr.. Nc
Emery found In tho cavo earth the re-
mains of twenty species of extinct und
recent animals eomningled, and hui
man flint implements And this
commingiing OF ancient and recent
objects exists In the stalagmite also.
Therefore, as Prof. Dawson says
'Stalagnite becomes @ very unsafe
measure OF time"
In the next article the testimonies of
human monuments, ETC., will be con-
sldcred. L. ii. b.
ct1rr o,,,S C,TIpDu pr,trny