CHAPTER XIII.

Human Fossil Remains.-Why they cannot be so numerous as those of other Animals.-Lime-stone Caves and Fissures.An Example in the Cave of Gaylenreuth, with its Fossil Contents.-Dr. Buckland's Theory of Caves and Fissures.Human Fossils found at Guadaloupe.-Also at Durfort.Great Fossil Deposits in Spain, containing Human Bones.Quarries at Köstritz, containing Human Bones.-Natural Conclusions from the above Account.—Dr. Buckland's Conclusion respecting Köstritz inconsistent with other parts of his Theory.-Caves and Fissures in Lime-stone.-General spread of Diluvial Effects.

We now come to the consideration of a part of the subject of organic fossil remains in rocks and soils, which has, hitherto, occasioned very considerable difficulty, and has thrown a shade of doubt and uncertainty over the historical account of the deluge, which, however, appears to be totally unwarranted by facts. I allude to the rarity of human fossil remains amongst those of the animated beings, which are frequently discovered in such abundance on the earth. For, it is objected, if all the human race, excepting one single family, perished by the flood, at a period when the population of the world must have been very considerable, there can be no good reason given why we should not also find their remains in the same abundance as those of other animals, on every part of the surface of the present dry lands.

In reply to this objection, it may be answered, that there can be no doubt that we have a consistent right to expect, occasionally, to find such fossil remains. But that we should

discover them in any thing like the abundance in which we find the remains of other animals, would be to expect what, from the very nature of the case itself, must be an utter impossibility.

When we look back to the early history of the world, and consider that man was created, one male and one female, from whom the whole human race was to spring; while all the other species of animated beings were produced “ abundantly," and the earth at once replenished with them; we must readily perceive, that at the end of any given period, such, for instance, as the 1656 years between the creation and the deluge, there could be, numerically, no proportion between the race of man and that of other animals.* We should come to the same conclusion, even in our own times, and in the most populous countries, where, as in England, the number of inhabitants bears but a small proportion to that of quadrupeds and birds.† Much more then, if we extend our view generally, over the whole inhabited earth, where the immense forest tracts are peopled with millions of quadrupeds and birds, for every hundred of the human species.

For instance, if we conceive any such event as the deluge to happen to the continent of America, at the present time, when the wilds of that country are swarming with deer, wild cattle, horses, and every inferior race of quadrupeds and birds, with a human population, scarcely worthy of calcula

* "The kingdom of Congo, like most other parts of Africa, produces a prodigious variety of wild animals. Amongst the most remarkable are the elephants, which are found chiefly in Baurda, a province abounding with woods, pastures and plenty of water. They go in troops of 100 or more, and some are said to be of so monstrous a size, that the prints of their feet measure from four to seven spans. They delight in bathing during the heat of the day. Lions, of immense size, tigers, wolves and other beasts of prey, abound in this country. The zebra, the wild ass, the buffalo, and numerous tribes of deer and antelopes, are all most abundant; and the forests swarm with hyenas and wild dogs, which hunt in packs with dreadful howlings."-Bibliot. Univers. de Voyages.

The population of England, which is not exceeded by that of any country in Europe, in proportion to its extent, is about ten or eleven millions. It is calculated that there are about twenty-six millions of sheep in this country alone; and if we include Scotland and Wales, where the disproportion is infinitely greater, we may form some tolerable idea of how the matter stands, when we add to the sheep, every other species of quadruped and bird, with which our woods and plains are so abundantly peopled.

tion, in proportion: we should feel no surprise, if, on being enabled to examine the wreck, we should discover the remains of the former, in thousands of instances, for one of the latter.* Instead, then, of exciting astonishment, or creating doubt, the circumstance of the comparative rarity of human fossil remains, ought rather to be looked upon as the strongest confirmation of the general history of the earth, which we are now considering. We must keep in mind, too, that it is only within a few years, and in a very confined portion of the whole earth, that fossil remains, in diluvial formations, have excited the attention which they now do: and that before the study of comparative anatomy became so common as it now is, many bones must have been frequently discovered which ought to have been considered under this head, but which were, in ignorance, mistaken for those of other animals, or attributed to some more recent era. It is certain that, at all times, since the deluge, such remains must frequently have been found; but, in the ignorance and darkness of past ages, these instances have generally been overlooked and forgotten. Besides, as such discoveries must almost always be made, even in our own enlightened day, by the most ignorant of the people, instances must still frequently occur, which would be of the highest interest to science, but which are lost or forgotten from the thoughtless ignorance of the peasants who discover them.t

"The Missouri and Arkansas territories, which would be capable of sustaining, probably, more than fifty millions of inhabitants, if in a state of civilization, are, at present, occupied by something more than one hundred thousand Indians; and they have been computed to contain about one million of square miles."

"The buffaloes go in immense herds, and no one, ignorant of the extent of these fertile prairies, can form any idea of the countless myriads that are spread over, and find support on them."-Hunter's Memoirs of his Captivity among the North American Indians.

"On the south of the river Saladillo, (in Buenos Ayres,) are the immense plains of Pampas, which present a sea of waving grass for nine hundred miles. Their luxuriant herbage affords pasture to innumerable herds of cattle, which rove about unowned and unvalued: they are, also, the abode of immense troops of wild horses, deer, ostriches, armadillos and every sort of game."

+ On three several occasions, I have lately had opportunities of remarking the careless apathy with which discoveries, most interesting to science, were regarded, both by overseers and labourers, in extensive works, where objects were every day discovered, most likely to attract their curiosity and attention. In the coal mines,

This darkness is, however, at least in our own country, passing rapidly away; and the love of science is now spreading from our own shores into every part of the habitable globe; from whence, we may hope, that the instances of diluvial human fossil remains will soon be greatly accumulated, and will afford us, from year to year, additional corroborative evidences of the true history of the earth. When we consider, indeed, the few spots on the surface of the globe, either by art, or by nature, laid open to our inspection, we ought, perhaps, to feel surprise at the extent to which our knowledge has already attained.

There is no part of the systems of geology, of the present day, in which more scepticism is evinced than in the instances which have occurred of human fossil remains; and it has even been, by some, considered nearly certain, that human beings had not been created at the period when the other animals, whose remains we find in a fossil state, were the inhabitants of the earth. The instances of human remains, which have been, hitherto, discovered, are not indeed numerous; but they are abundantly sufficient for the support of the general system now under consideration: and the instances which I am now about to mention, bring this branch of our subject, in the most natural and consistent method, within the very same class of facts, as those we have been, hitherto, occupied in passing under our review.

Before entering upon these statements, however, it may be necessary to say a few words upon the subject of the limestone caves and fissures, in which such animal remains are so generally found. The nature of some lime-stone rocks to split into fissures, and to become perforated in all directions, by cavities more or less extensive, is well known to have both of England and of Scotland, I have seldom met with any workman who was aware that trees and plants were visible in almost every part of their works; they have no difficulty in admitting the fact when pointed out to them; but the situation of these remains must appear so improbable to them, that they would scarcely credit the evidence of their senses. One pitman, in a Scotch coal mine, appeared, however, to have viewed the interesting objects around him with more attention. Observing that I held my light towards the walls and roofs of the gallery, without, however, having made any remark to him, he said, "there must have been fine confusion here, sir, in the time of Noah." I could not help wishing that this remark had come from some leading member of our scientific societies.

given rise to one of their geological names, that of cavous limestone. This particular character is, as may naturally be supposed, not confined to any country, nor to any district; but is as universal as the extensive secondary formation to which it belongs. Accordingly, innumerable instances of such cavities may be found in all countries; but they have, of late, come more especially into notice from the organic remains of diluvial destruction, which they have, in a great variety of instances, been found to contain. The cave of Gaylenreuth, in Franconia, has long been celebrated for such animal remains; and as an account of one will serve to give a very general idea of all such caverns or fissures, I shall here give Dr. Buckland's account of it; without, however, entering, in any degree, into his theory of the means by which the animal remains of this, or other caves, came into their present remarkable situation.

"The mouth of this cave is situated in a perpendicular rock, in the highest part of the cliffs, which form the left side of the valley of the Weissent river, at an elevation of more than 300 feet above its bed. We enter by an aperture, about seven feet high, and twelve feet broad; and, close to it, we observe an open fissure rising from the cave, towards the tableland above.* The whole consists principally of two large chambers, varying in breadth from ten to thirty feet, and in height from three to twenty feet. The roof is, in most parts, abundantly hung with stalactite; and, in the first chamber, the floor is nearly covered with stalagmite, piled in ir

*It may here be important to remark, that nearly the whole of this part of Germany forms one great table-land, of little variety on the surface, and in which the rivers, (and amongst others, the Rhine,) run, as it were, in trenches, the sides of which often present a perpendicular section of this whole secondary formation; and the sameness of character in both sides of which greatly detracts from the beauty of the scenery for which the Rhine is more particularly celebrated. That all this plain country, connected as it is with the lower levels of Belgium and Holland, on one side, and of Poland and Russia on another, once formed the bed of the sea, is a fact so generally admitted, that it is here unnecessary to dwell upon it. The period at which this state of things existed becomes a more important question; and if I have succeeded in proving that the chalk formations of France, and of England, were in this state immediately previous to the Mosaic deluge, and by that event were elevated to their present level above the waters, we can have no hesitation in carrying the same level, and the same line of reasoning, over all those plains of Germany, in which these cavities are found.