Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/463

Rh and alluvial and turbary deposits, of comparatively modern times,—in the detritus accumulating in the beds of the present seas,—in the recent tracts of limestone forming on the sea-shores,—and beneath the cooled lava currents erupted from volcanoes still in action,—that the remains of man and works of art have hitherto been found imbedded.

The contrast presented by the contents of modern deposits with those of the earlier formations, is thus eloquently enunciated by Sir Humphrey Davy in his interesting work, "The last Days of a Philosopher:"—"Were the consolidated de- positions of sand and mud, now forming in the depths of the ocean, to be elevated above the waters and become dry land, how entirely different would they be in their characters from any that have preceded them! Their chief features would be the works of man—hewn stones, and statues of bronze and marble, and instruments of iron; and human remains would be more common than those of animals on the greatest part of the surface. The columns of Pæstum or of Agrigentum, and the bridges of iron and granite of the Thames, would offer a striking contrast to the bones of the crocodiles and colossal saurians, in the older rocks; or even to those of the mammoth or elephant in the diluvial strata. And whoever reflects on this subject, must be convinced that the present order of things, and the comparatively recent existence of man as the master of the globe, are as certain as the destruction of a different order, and the extinction of numerous animal forms, of which no living types now remain on the surface of our planet."

It is these modern deposits that constitute the fields of research which the antiquary and the geologist may explore with mutual advantage; for they abound in objects of the highest importance, relating to the interesting problem as to the contemporaneous existence of the human race, and certain species and genera of animals now only known by their fossil remains.

The idea that a concise view of the present state of our knowledge as to the occurrence of the relics of man and works of art in the mineral kingdom, might be acceptable to this learned society, first suggested itself to my mind from a perusal of the treatise of M. Boucher de Perthes, entitled, "Antiquités Celtiques et Antédiluviennes;" in which the author has deteriorated the value of his antiquarian labours