The East Riding Telegraph. — 1903-03-21 (Beverley, Humberside, England)

SOLILOQUY ON AN ANTEDILUVIAN.  (BY A BANKER).  Perhaps the most interesting of all the exhibits in the British Museum is the preserved body of the man recently discovered in Egypt entombed in an air-tight stone sarcophagus, which was briefly referred to in a previous article of this series. The flint implements by his side indicate that he lived long anterior to the period of civilization in Egypt, and it is therefore assumed that he is one of the antediluvian inhabitants of the earth ; and though, notwithstanding the thousands upon thousands of years which have rolled by since lie was a sentient, living creature, yet he still remains in a most extraordinary state of preservation. His hair is a bright red, and parts of his skin are still of a fair. ruddy hue, altogether different to the type of Egyptians of the times of the Pharoahs, onwards, to the present day. Although apparently in the prime of life, it is possible that lie was several hundred years old, for in those days of longevity we must assume that the sere and yellow leaf of age was not put on until after many hundreds of years of life.  Arid as we gaze s'pell-bound at this recumbent figure, the thought flashes through the mind that we are perhaps in the presence of one who has conversed with Adam, and has heard him recount the thrilling events which happened when the world was so young. Or perhaps those sightless orbs had witnessed the construction of that mighty vessel which was to preserve life upon the earth; and though he could not be one of those who perished in the devastating cataclysm which ensued when that ark was completed, yet it is possible that lie may be one of those scoffers who derided the old patriarch Noah, and ridiculed the huge craft which he was constructing. Or who could say with positive certainty that this red haired, ruddy man was not in the direct line between Adam and Noah, and therefore, a very ancestor of our own ; though, of course, it would be far too fanciful and extravagant to conjecture that he is the father of our race himself. (The name Adam, interpreted, means ruddy.). . .  But 'though these vague speculations may be profitless and vain, yet few could stand there and behold this antediluvian without being thrilled through and through with a strange emotion. And perhaps that sleeping form will remain still unaltered until the Archangel's trumpet shall summon the dead to life again. Then will those sightless eyes once more behold the light of day, and those quiescent limbs once more throb with life. And if he were one of those few who in those days of wickedness served his God, and obeyed His laws, then will he, in virtue of the retrospective benefit of the Redeemer's atonement, with that same body, though etherealized and seraphic, and once more tenanted by his undying spirit, be escorted by the angels into the glory.  At Belfast on Tuesday Patrick Nugent was remanded on the charge of murdering his motherin-law by kicking her. It was alleged that prisoner was assaulting his father-in-law, when the woman intervened, upon which Nugent turned on her.  The death-rate in the "seventy-six great towns" fast week averaged 17.2. Ipswich had the lowest rate—six—and Wigan the highest— twenty-seven.