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the Urgent, while I occupied a second boat nearer to the stern of the ship. He cast the plate as a mariner heaves the lead, and by the time it had reached me, it had sunk a considerable depth in the water. In all cases the hue of this plate was green, not, of course, a pure green, but a mixture of green and blue; and when the sea was of the darkest indigo, the green was the most vivid and pronounced. I could notice the gradual deepening of the colour as the plate sank, but at its greatest depth in indigo

water the colour was still a blue green.

"Other observations confirmed this one. The Urgent is a screw steamer, and right over the blades of the screw there was an orifice called the screw-well, through which you could look from the poop down upon the screw. The surface glimmer which so pesters the eye was here in a great measure removed. Midway down a plank crossed the screw-well from side to side, and on this I used to place myself to observe the action of the screw underneath. The eye was rendered sensitive by the moderation of the light; and still further to remove all disturbing causes, Lieutenant Walton had the great kindness to have a sail and tarpaulin thrown over the mouth of the well. Underneath this I perched myself, and watched the screw. In an indigo sea the play of colours was indescribably beautiful, and the contrast between the water which had the screw-blades for a background, and that which had the bottom of the ocean as a background, was extraordinary. The one was of the most brilliant green, the

other of the most lustrous ultramarine. The surface of the water above the screw-blade was always ruffled. Liquid lenses were thus formed, by which the coloured light was withdrawn from some places and concentrated upon others. The screw-blades in this case replaced the plate in the former case, and there were other instances of a similar kind. The hue from an indigo sea was always green at a certain depth below the surface. The white bellies of the porpoises showed the same hue, varying in intensity as the creatures swung to and fro between the surface and the deeper water. In a rough sea the light which had penetrated the summit of a wave sometimes reached the eye. A beautiful green cap was thus placed upon the wave when the ship was in indigo water.

"But how is this colour to be connected with the suspended particles? Take the dinner-plate which showed so brilliant a green when thrown into indigo water. Suppose it to diminish in size until it reached an almost microscopic magnitude. It would still behave substantially as the larger plate, sending to the eye its modicum of green light. If the plate, instead of being a large coherent mass, were ground to a powder sufficiently fine, and in this condition diffused through the clear sea water, it would send green to the eye. In fact, the suspended particles which the home examination revealed in green sea water act in all essential particulars like the plate, or like the screw-blades, or like the foam, or like the bellies of the porpoises. When too gross, or in too great quantity, the suspended particles thicken the sea itself visibly. But when sufficiently small, but not too small, and when sufficiently diffused, they do not sensibly interfere with the limpid greenness of the sea itself. They then require the stronger and more delicate test of the concentrated luminous beam to reveal their presence."

THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SUN

a

propose to show that a thermometer dipped inside the solar envelope in contact with the photosphere, cannot possibly indicate the enormous temperature of 10,000,000° Cent. assumed by Pére Secchi. The assertion that " body may have a very high temperature and yet radiate but very little," were it correct with reference to the photosphere, does not affect the question. It is of no consequence whether the sun's photosphere belongs to the class of active or sluggish incandescent radiators imagined by the distinguished savan; the temperature of the radiant surface, not its capacity to radiate more or less copiously, is the problem to be solved. Accordingly the following statement is intended to show that the temperature of the sun's photosphere at the point where the author of "Le Soleil" supposes his thermometer to be applied, cannot much exceed 4,000,000° Fahr. Observations conducted in lat. 40° 42', with an actinometer (a drawing of which has been published ir. Engineering) have enabled me to ascertain, with desirable accuracy, the intensity of solar radiation for each degree of the sun's zenith distance from 17° to 75°. The atmospheric depth at the first mentioned zenith distance being only 0046 greater than the vertical atmospheric depth, I have demonstrated, by prolonging the curve constructed agreeable to the observations referred to, that the intensity of solar radiation on the ecliptic is 67.20° Fahr. at the time when the earth passes the aphelion. The accompanying table, the result of two years of observations, shows the atmospheric depth and the intensity of solar radiation for each degree from the vertical to 75° zenith distance. ratio of diminution of intensity of the radiant heat during the passage of the rays through the atmosphere being accurately defined by this table, it has been easy to calculate that the amount of retardation of the radiant heat on the ecliptic is o'207 or 17'64° Fahr. Adding this loss of energy to the amount of observed radiant heat, it will be found that the intensity of solar radiation at the boundary of our atmosphere when the earth passes the aphelion corresponds with a thermometric interval of 17.64 + 67 20 = 84 84° on the Fahrenheit scale. Now, the aphelion distance of the earth is 2181 times greater than the radius of the sun's photosphere; hence, basing our calculations on the established truth that the intensities are inversely as the areas over which the rays are dispersed, we prove that the temperature of the photosphere is 2181 X 84 84° 4,035,584° Fahr. And if we then add the amount of loss of intensity attending the passage of the rays through the solar envelope, we establish, with absolute certainty, the temperature to which a thermometer will be subjected if "dipped inside the solar envelope in contact with the photosphere."

The

With reference to the retardation of the rays in passing through the solar envelope, we possess practical data of such a nature that the solution of the problem is by no means mere hypothesis. We know that the density of atmospheric air would be reduced to go of the ordinary density if subjected to a temperature of 4,000,000° Fahr.; hence, if we assume that the solar envelope consists chiefly of hydrogen, it may be shown, due allowance being made for the superior attraction of the sun's mass, that the density of the terrestrial atmosphere at equal depth from the boundary is fully 2,000 times greater than that of the solar envelope. Accord

PROF. NEWCOMB, in reviewing P. A. Secchi's work on the Sun, shows that if the temperature reached 10,000,000° Cent., as asserted by the author of "Le Soleil," the earth would speedily be reduced to vapour. In answer to this objection Pére Secchi urges, "that a body may have a very high temperature and yet radiate but very little;" contending that "a thermometer dipped inside the solar envelope in contact with the photo-ingly, as the sun's rays lose only 17.6° in passing sphere," would indicate the temperature mentioned. He adds, "This high temperature, besides, is really a virtual | temperature, as it is the amount of radiation received from all the transparent strata of the solar envelope, and this body at the outer shell must certainly be at a lower temperature." What information is intended to be conveyed by the statement that 10,000,000° Cent. "is really a virtual temperature," on the ground that it is the "amount of radiation received from all the transparent strata" outside of the photosphere, I will not attempt to explain; but I

vertically through our cold atmosphere, it may be demonstrated that the loss of energy during the passage of the rays through a transparent solar envelope 80,000 miles in depth from the photosphere, cannot exceed o'or or 40,000° Fahr. Let us be careful not to confound this diminution of energy with the reduction of temperature consequent on the dispersion of the rays as they recede from the photosphere during their course through the solar envelope. The reduction of temperature attending dispersion, obviously does not involve any diminution of mechanical

energy. It would be waste of time to enter on any further demonstration in refutation of the extravagant assumption that a thermometer in contact with the photosphere would indicate some 12,000,000° Fahr. higher temperature than that which we have established on the basis of the known distance and radius of the sun's photosphere, and the ascertained radiant intensity at the boundary of the earth's atinosphere. Nor need we point out the inconsistency of the doctrine that the sun's photosphere possesses less radiant power than incandescent terrestrial substances, such, for instance, as iron and carburetted hydrogen. But the advocates of high solar temperature may urge, that the law, agreeable to which the temperature of 4,000,000° Fahr. has been determined, is mere theory, which, although true for distances of a few feet, may be wholly erroneous when the radiator is millions of miles away.

For

It has been one of the principal objects of my researches connected with solar heat, during the last three years, to endeavour to determine this question. Accordingly, the difference of intensity of solar radiation at midsummer and midwinter has been particularly observed. tunately, the eccentricity of the earth's orbit is sufficient to produce a marked difference of intensity at different seasons; but, on the other hand, the varying depths of the atmosphere resulting from the varying inclination of the earth's axis, apart from the varying distance between the sun and the earth, present serious obstacles. My observations as before mentioned have been conducted in lat. 40° 42', hence 17° 12' from the ecliptic at the summer solstice, and 64° 12' at the winter solstice. Accordingly, the depth of atmosphere has varied during the investigations in the ratio of 104 to 2:25; thus rendering comparisons between the actual intensities very difficult. A series of observations made at different hours and seasons has ultimately enabled me to construct the curve before referred to, defining the maximum intensity of the sun's radiant heat for all latitudes at the time when the earth passes the aphelion; likewise defining the retardation of solar intensity for all zenith distances not exceeding 75°. Evidently an accurate knowledge of the solar intensity corresponding with given zenith distances removes the obstacles attending the varrying inclination of the axis of the earth. The variation of intensity consequent on the eccentricity of the earth's orbit has also been accurately determined for each day in the year. The detail not being immediately connected with the subject under consideration, it will suffice to state that actinometer observations conducted under very favourable circumstances, January 7, 1871, proved the sun's radiant heat to be 57.25° Fahr., the zenith distance being 63° 15'. Referring to the table, it will be seen that for equal zenith distance63° 15'-the temperature produced by solar radiation is only 51.77° when the earth passes the aphelion. An increase of solar intensity of 57°25 - 51'77 = 5'48°, when the earth is in perihelion, has therefore been established. This important fact enables us to test on a grand scale the correctness of our assumption that the intensity of solar radiation diminishes in the inverse ratio of the area over which the rays are dispersed.

The aphelion distance of the earth being 218'1 times greater than the radius of the sun's photosphere, while the perihelion distance is 2109 times that radius, the temperatures produced by solar radiation at the boundary of the earth's atmosphere at midsummer and at midwinter, will be inversely as 218'1 2109. Consequently, as the ascertained maximum temperature at the former period is 84 84° Fahr., the temperature produced by solar radiation at the latter period will be 218.1 84.84°

210'92

=

90'72° Fahr. Let us ascertain if this theoretical temperature correspond with actual fact. Our table shows that the diminution of solar intensity attending the passage of the rays through the atmosphere, when the zenith distance is 63°15', amounts to 15°43° in addition to the diminution

of 17.64° on the ecliptic, together 3307°. Adding this to the temperature 57:25°, observed January 7, 1871, we establish the fact that the temperature at the boundary of the atmosphere is 90 32° Fahr. Agreeable to the foregoing theoretical determination, the temperature ought to be 90 72°, difference = 04° Fahr. This discrepancy is accounted for by the fact that the sky, although unusually clear, was not quite free from cirrus haze on the day of observation, as proved by the indication of the solar calorimeter, an instrument by which the presence of any obstruction in the atmosphere is ascertained with absolute certainty. In addition to the proof thus furnished in support of the theory on which our calculations are based, that the temperature at the surface of the sun's photosphere does not much exceed 4,000,000° Fahr., other tests have been adopted with nearly identical results, an account of which, together with necessary delineations, has been published in Engineering. These tests prove that, unless the photosphere of the sun possesses relatively less radiating power than incandescent cast iron, or metallic substances coated with lampblack, and maintained at ordinary boiling heat, the temperature indicated by a thermometer "dipped inside the solar envelope in contact with the photosphere" will not exceed 4,100,000 deg. Fahrenheit.

Table showing the depth of atmosphere, and intensity of solar radiation, for each degree of zenith distance, when the earth passes the aphelion.

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GREYTOWN AND ADJACENT COUNTRY

GREYTOWN is important as the only port possessed

by Nicaragua on its Atlantic coast, and is situated in 11 N. lat. and 84° W. long. The place itself is insignificant enough, as a glance at the accompanying view of the interior of the harbour will show; at the same time it is of strategical importance in many ways, and its history is not uninteresting. The climate is humid, and along the low coast-lands a tropical heat prevails. The heat is never oppressive while the trade winds blow, but during calms it is sultry and overpowering. The prevailing type of disease appears to be a low form of intermittent fever, which is not to be wondered at, considering that Greytown is built upon a swamp. June, July, and August are considered the unhealthy months, and January, February, and March the healthiest, the thermometer seldom exceeds 82° Fahr., or falls below 71° Fahr. in the shade.

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calm precedes the coming storm, the barometer falls rapidly, and the clouds bank up in the horizon. After these warnings the norther commences without further prelude, and in an incredibly short time the sea is churned up into great and violent waves, whilst the surf on the bar is terrific. A norther will sometimes last for three whole days.

The whole civilised population of the Nicaraguan and neighbouring republics is collected on the Pacific side of Central America; the Caribbean coasts being almost entirely uninhabited, with the exception of a few independent tribes of Indians along the banks of the large rivers like the Indian and Rama. The principal tribes are the Valiente, Rama Cookwra, Woolwa Tonga, and Poya tribes, all interesting from an ethnological point of view, especially as they are fast disappearing. There is generally a small camp of some of these tribes on the sandy spit (Punta d'Arenas) at the entrance to Greytown harbour, who catch and sell turtle, &c. Accounts of these Mosquito tribes will be found in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 1862, p. 242, &c., by Mr. Bell, and in the last volume of Memoirs of the Anthropological Society, by

Mr. Collinson. This region, i.e. the valley and lowlands of the San Juan and the lakes of Nicaragua and Managua, is more particularly interesting to naturalists and geologists, as forming the border land between two of the great primary distributional provinces for the terrestrial vertebrata in the present world recognised by Prof. Huxley, viz., the boundary line betwixt Austro-Columbia and Arctog@a. For it was in this direction apparently, that, during the Miocene epoch, these two great land divisions were separated by that great equinoctial ocean whose currents rolled from eastward beyond and over the present sites of the Sahara deserts and the plains of Hindostan.

As the line of the American Cordilleras was upheaved, the continents more nearly approached each other, an archipelago of detached volcanic summits probably first indicating the future isthmus; whilst the bounds of the ocean were narrowed, and previous to the actual junction but a narrow channel or strait was left. It is supposed that the last indication of this strait is yet observable in the line of the San Juan and the waters drained by it. This theory has received substantial support from the ob*See Capt. Pim's "Gate of the Pacific," p. 71.

servations of Mr. Osbert Salvin, the well-known ornithologist, who, from long studying the peculiarities of the Central American bird-fauna, has come to the conclusion that an oceanic separation is plainly indicated as having formerly existed between Costa Rica and the country north of the Nicaraguan lakes. This upheaval has by no means ceased, and the lakes of Managua and Nicaragua, up to which the Spanish galleons proceeded, via the San Juan, are now 156 and 128 feet respectively above the mean level of the two oceans. So that now with difficulty sternwheel light-draught steamers, drawing but eighteen inches of water, make their way between the rapids, their cargo having to be shifted across these impediments. A rise of six feet in the waters of the lakes enables bongos to pass the rapids in the wet season.

Every year apparently adds to the difficulties of the navigation, which Mr. Collinson attributes to the continual rise of the Pacific coast. Indeed, it is not improbable, if a careful series of observations were established, that after a lapse of years the rate of rise might be ascertained, which, if compared with seismological observations in the same district, would prove of the utmost value and interest. It has been before noticed that Greytown is the only settlement of any size on the Caribbean coast, owing to its position at the mouth of the San Juan river, which is the only one which offers facilities for transit across the isthmus ; and consequently a portion of the Californian traffic has for some years passed in this channel, an enterprising American company having monopolised the "transitroute." Owing, however, to the rapid silting-up of the embouchure of the San Juan at Greytown, this town would infallibly have lost all its importance, had it not been that the rapid development of marine telegraphy has given rise to a great demand for india-rubber, a valuable kind of which is collected from trees which are numerous in the dense forests of the Central American isthmus, especially on the Atlantic coast.

Greytown is the principal port for the export of indiarubber on the coast. It is collected by parties of Indians, Caribs, or half-caste Creoles, seldom by Europeans, to whom the dealers, who are also storekeepers, advance the necessary outfit of food, clothing, and apparatus for collecting rubber, on condition of receiving the whole of the rubber collected at a certain rate. The rubber hunters are termed Uleros (Ule being the Creole term for rubber). A party of Uleros, after a final debauch at Greytown, having expended all their remaining cash, generally make a start in a canoe for one of the rivers or streams which abound on the coast, and having fixed on a convenient spot for a camp, commence operations. The experienced rubber hunter marks out all the trees in the neighbourhood. The rubber tree is the Castilloa elastica, which grows to a great size, being on an average about four feet in diameter, and from twenty to thirty feet to the first spring of the branches. From all the trees in the almost impenetrable jungle hang numerous trailing parasites, lianes, &c., from these, and especially the tough vines, are made rude ladders, which are suspended close to the trunks of the trees selected, which are now slashed by machetes in diagonal cuts from right to left, so as to meet in the middle in central channels, which lead into iron gutters driven in below, and these again into the wooden pails. The pails are soon full of the white milk, and are emptied into larger tin pans. The milk is next pressed through a sieve, and subsequently coagulated by a judicious application of the juice of a Bejuca (an Apocyna ?) vine. The coagulated mass is then pressed by hand, and finally rolled out on a board with a wooden roller. The rubber has now assumed the form of a large pancake, nearly two feet in diameter and about a quarter of an inch thick, on account of which they are termed tortillas by the Uleros; these cakes are hung over the side poles and framework which supports the rancho, which is erected in the woods, and allowed to dry for

about a fortnight, when they are ready to be packed for delivery to the dealer.

In the meantime others of the party go in pursuit of game, such as tapirs or dantes, or mountain cows, as they are termed, of which there are several species; or they harpoon the manatee,* which they dexterously follow in their canoes, as it cannot remain under water long. The point of the harpoon used by the Indians is moveable, and, attached to a line and floating reel, it becomes detached from the shaft when the siren is struck. The wild boar or javali (domestic pig run wild?) and the waree, or peccary, which are shot in June and July, and the deer, which are shot in December, afford good pork and venison. The waters of all the numerous rivers and lakes are characterised by an astounding number of distinct ichthyological fauna. The Indians are good fishermen, and will shoot fish in the water by bow and arrow, or cut them down with a machete; the best fish are perhaps the guapote, mojarra, and savallo. By way of feathered game the curassows and guans (Crax alector, C. fasciolata and several Penelopes) of different species are of good size and flavour, whilst iguanas and land turtle eggs serve to vary the bill of fare of the Ulero gourmet.

The picnic life of the Ulero is not all couleur de rose. At night the jaguars and pumas (Felis onca, F. melas and F. concolor) will prowl in the neighbourhood of the rancho. These beasts are sometimes brought to buy with dogs by the Carib mahogany cutters in the fork of a low tree, and then speared; the spear in this instance is always provided with a stout cross bar, to prevent the transfixed animal from reaching his assailant.

Besides this the alligators abound in the water, which renders bathing slightly precarious; but as a general rule these brutes are cowardly enough when not hungry. On one occasion one of the party (with whom the author was in these woods) having shot a dante, which sank to the bottom of the River Rama, an Indian dived after it to attach a rope to the carcass; while the alligators, attracted by the smell of blood, surrounded the canoe in a circle of some score yards in diameter, but none of them ventured an attack on the bold diver. Both Caribs and Indians have a profound contempt for the alligator in these rivers. Oa shore, again, the snakes are numerous, such as the tuboba, vipora de sangre, a long black snake, Coryphodon constrictor, the lovely coral, and barber pole snakes, and, worst of all, the small tamagusa or "tommy goff." The Caribs assert the valuable propereies of a vinee-a species of Aristolochia-which they declare will allay the effects of a snake bite.

The greatest drawbacks, however, to the enjoyment of Ulero life in Mosquitia and Costa Rica are the swarms of garrapatas or ticks (Ixodes), which persecute remorselessly the hunter or woodsman. The chigoe or jigger is also another annoyance. By-the-bye, it is said, I do not know on what grounds, that this last-mentioned pest is only to be found where domestic swine are kept. I only know that I have suffered from one in the woods many miles from any domesticated swine. Do they appear therefore where there are wild hog or peccary? There is also a digusting bot fly and swarms of mosquitoes near

the water.

The Formicidæ are likewise numerous and formidable; a gigantic black ant which especially pervaded the ebo (Dipterix oleifera) trees is justly dreaded, and we always avoided slinging our hammocks from these trees if pos

*The genus Manatus appears to be the most ubiquitous of the sub order Sirenia, and various species are to be found not only on the rivers inland lakes, and coasts of Tropical America, but along the entire opposite coast of Africa, where the habitat of th: Manatus senegalensis extends round the Cape, and as far north on the Mozambique coast as the river Zambesi ; besides which its presence is recorded in the Lake Shirwa by D. Kirk. A species, A. Vogelii, also occurs in the upper Niger, and, ccording to Barth, in Lake Tsad, whi st Heuglin notices one species in the Tana Sea in Abysinnia. So it is not improbable that the Manatus may occasionally meet its East Indian congener the Halicore Dugong.

sible. Stout Indians will howl and writhe with agony from the effect of their bites. A minute red fire ant also infests the acacia trees, and is barely more endurable. The howling of the black monkeys also is not conducive to sleep when they choose some neighbouring branches for their "serenade." The above slight sketch may serve to give some insight into the pleasures of a country life in the vicinity of Greytown, pleasures, however, of which the Nicaraguan citizens seldom avail themselves.

There have already appeared in NATURE some accounts of peculiar nocturnal vibrations observable in iron vessels off Greytown, which I will not allude to further.

The drawing which accompanies this notice was taken from the pier of the Transit Company's wharf; the town itself is barely visible from this point, and lies beyond the few buildings shown. The remains of one of the flatbottomed streamers which ascend the river is shown lying by the shore. Canon Kingsley appears to have been disappointed at only twice catching a glimpse of the black fin of a shark during his recent visit to the West Indies; let me recommend the bar of Greytown Harbour and its vicinity as an exceptionally favourable locality for studying these monsters in their native element. S. P. OLIVER

THE DATE OF THE INTERMENT IN THE AURIGNAC CAVE

IT is a remarkable fact in the history of Archæology that the paleolithic age of the human interments in the cave of Aurignac has been universally accepted without any criticism of the evidence. It has passed into the condition of an article of scientific faith, partly through the eminence of M. Lartet, the describer of the cave, and partly through the high authority of Sir Charles Lyell, who followed his views in the " Antiquity of Man." The ready faith with which it has been received stands in marked contrast to the scepticism which refused to allow the value of the discovery of flint implements in the caves of England and Belgium for more than a quarter of a century, and up to within some three years of M. Lartet's investigations in Aurignac. The importance of examining the data on which M. Lartet's theory is based can hardly be over-estimated in the present state of the science of man. If the human interments really be of the same relative date as the extinct Mammalia found in the cave, and M. Lartet's interpretation of the circumstances be true, then, to quote Sir Charles Lyell," we have at last succeeded in tracing back the sacred rites of burial, and, more interesting still, a belief in the future state," to the paleolithic age, and we have a powerful argument against the progressive development of religious ideas. This point did not escape Mr. Wallace in his speech at the Exeter meeting of the British Association. If, on the other hand, the interments be not proved to be palæolithic, the sooner an element of error is eliminated from a most difficult problem, the nearer shall we be to its solution. I shall first of all take the facts as they are now universally interpreted; and then I shall check them by the independent evidence of the late Rev. S. W. King, who finally explored the cave.

M. Lartet's account falls naturally into two parts: first that which the original discoverer of the case told him, and secondly that in which he describes the results of his own discoveries. I shall begin with the first. In the year 1852 a labourer named Bonnemaison, employed in mending the roads, put his hand into a rabbit-hole and drew out a human bone, and, having his curiosity excited, he dug down, until, as his story goes, he came to a great slab of rock. Having removed this, he discovered on the other side of it a cavity 7 or 8 feet in height, 10 in width, and 7 in depth, almost full of human bones, which Dr. Amiel, the Mayor of Aurignac, believed to

represent at least 17 individuals of all ages. All these human remains were collected, and finally committed to the parish cemetery, where they rest at the present time undisturbed by the sacrilegious hands of archæologists, the discoverer and the sexton being alike ignorant of their last resting-place. Fortunately, however, Bonnemaison, in digging his way into the grotto, had met with the remains of extinct animals and works of art, and these were preserved until, in 1860, M. Lartet heard of the discovery, and resolved to examine the cave for himself. It must

be remarked that before his advent the interior had been ransacked, and the original stratification to a great extent disturbed, a circumstance which obviously does away with any argument based on the association of remains in the

cave.

M. Lartet's exploration resulted in the discovery that a stratum containing the bones of cave-bear, lion, rhinoceros, and hyæna, along with undisputable works of art of the palæolithic type-like those of the Dordogne-passed from a plateau on the outside into the cave. On the outside he met with ashes and burnt and split bones, which implied that it had been used by the paleolithic hunters as a feasting place; within he detected no traces of charcoal, and no traces of hyænas, which were abundant outside. Inside he met with a few human bones, which were in the same mineral state as those of the extinct Mammalia. That, however, identity of mineral state is any clue to age is disproved by the varying condition of bones of the same geological age in every bone cave with which I am acquainted. As an example I night quote the reremains of cave-lion in the Taunton Museum. Such is the summary of the facts which M. Lartet discovered. He has, of his personal knowledge, only proved that Aurignac was occupied by a hunter tribe during the palæolithic age.

Is he further justified in assuming that it was used as a sepulchre at that remote period? Bonnemaison's recollections may be estimated at the proper value by the significant fact that, in the short space of eight years intervening between the discovery and the exploration, he had forgotten where the skeletons had been buried. And even if his account be true in the minutest detail, it does not afford a shred of evidence in favour of the cave having been a place of sepulture in palaolothic times, but merely that it had been so used at some time or other. If we turn to the diagram constructed by M. Lartet to illustrate his views (An. des Sc. Nat. Zool. iv. ser. t. xv., pl. 10), and made for the most part from Bonnemaison's recollection, or to the amended diagram given by Sir C. Lyell (Antiquity, fig. 25), we shall see that the skeletons are depicted above the strata containing the palæolithic implements and the quaternary mammals, and therefore, according to the laws of geological evidence, they must have been buried after the subjacent deposit was accumulated. The previous disturbance of the cave earth altogether does away with the value of the conclusion that the few human bones found by M. Lartet are of the same age as the extinct mammalia in the same deposit. The absence of charcoal inside was quite as likely to be due to the obvious fact that a fire kindled inside would fill the grotto with smoke, while outside the paleolithic savages could feast in comparative comfort, as to the view that the ashes are those of funereal feasts in honour of the dead within, held after the slab had been placed at the entrance. The absence of the remains of hyænas from the interior is also negative evidence disproved by subsequent examination.

The researches of the Rev. S. W. King in 1865, hitherto unpublished, complete the case against the current view of the palæolithic character of the interments, insomuch as they show that M. Lartet did not complete the examination which he began; and that he consequently wrote without being in posesssion of all the facts. The entrance was blocked up, according to Bonnemaison, by a slab of stone

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