This, with the item just mentioned, leaves us without evidence as to the antiquity of the quarry work except as furnished by the implements themselves. Their rejection as evidence would leave the question of its antiquity unanswered, and would render the quarry of slight archaeological value. If Mr. Holmes had found stone axes, hatchets or gouges, spear or arrow heads, pieces of pipes, or fragments of pottery, these would have served as evidence of Indian origin, but the utter absence of any of these leaves the Indian theory unsupported; It is a canon of prehistoric archæology, verified by every worker in the field, that no such extensive work as claimed for this quarry could have been done by prehistoric man without having left some of his tools, implements or utensils. But here not an implement or weapon fragment of polished or smoothed stone, not an arrow or spear head, nor pottery, was found. Mr. Holmes says (p. 13), "Only one was found *** (with) a rude stem worked out at the broad end. This specimen was found near the surface. Two other pieces found at considerable depth exhibit slight indication of specialization of form, which, however, might have been accidental." And this was all.

If it be said that this was a quarry for bowlders with which to make these implements, and that their finding in the disturbed and disarranged deposits is evidence of this fact, I reply, that the surface of the neighborhood is covered with the same kind of bowlders and many of the same kind of implements, and there is no more evidence to show that the implements were made in the quarry than there is that they were made on the surface. For anything shown in the quarry, the whole batch of turtle-backs, double and single, flaked stones, waste, debris, etc., etc., might have been originally on the surface, made there, possibly, in times of antiquity and been tumbled into the ditch, whenever it was filled up.

VI.

He not only de

Mr. Holmes' paper is radical and final. termines every proposition presented by the implements found at Piney Branch, but he determines them finally, and further

discussion is useless. According to him, we know (from his investigation) all about these implements, all about the man who made them, the race to which he belonged, his use of tools, his machinery and mode of manufacture, his transportation, and a large suggestion concerning his culture. If his conclusion be correct, then Mr. Holmes has determined the entire history of this man as well as that of the implements themselves. His statement is no longer a theory, it is a demonstrated proposition, a proved problem, the work is finished and the book is sealed. It is submitted that this is a greivous mistake.

VII.

I do not attempt any argument to account for this quarry or to explain either the manufacture or use of its implements. It is not my discovery, and I am in no wise bound to sustain or uphold it.

In the discussion, I have said no word about Paleolithic man in America. That question is not involved here. I have elsewhere set forth my opinion on that subject, and I may enlarge upon it on some other occasion, but not here or now.

I have sought only to criticise the theories of Mr. Holmes in reference to the quarry and its implements, and to show what I deem to be the errors in his conclusions, and in doing so I have avoided personalities. I have indulged in no maligning or abusive words, have conceded to him the most honorable intentions, and a truthful rendering of all his facts; and professing for him the kindest and most friendly feeling, I assert that in what I have said, I have given my own fair, and, as far as possible, unbiased opinion and judg ment, being moved thereto solely in the interest of truth and science.

FOSSILS AND FOSSILIZATION.

By L. P. GRATACAP.

II.

(Continued from page 912).

The replacing and mineralizing influence of surface waters may preserve bones which would otherwise quickly disappear. At Big Bone Lick in Kentucky the great numbers of bones of the buffalo are found according to Prof. Shaler " near the present position of the springs and never at any depth beneath the surface." These bones are in some places "massed to the depth of two feet or more, as close as the stones of a pavement, and so beaten down by the succeeding herds as to make it difficult to lift them from their bed." The attraction of this locality for the herds of wild animals spread through the forests of Kentucky in plistocene and recent times, arose from the saline encrustations made by the natural brines which

spring to the surface at this point. There is an ossuary of their remains, the mastodon and elephant bones being upon the higher levels and the buffalo skeletons placed more within the swampy basin, which has itself undergone denudation since the advent of the great proboscideans. These bones are impregnated with salt' and have become partially mineralized, while the salt solution itself neutralizes any vegetable acids arising from the decomposition of the reeds which, according to Mr. Cooper, accompany the bones. Yet the falling into swamps or bogs of the great mammals and their gradual submersion and burial in the deeper layers of the tenacious and yielding mixture, has been a means of preserving their remains, especially, as besides their partial immunity from the action of organic acids, their great bones have formed, from their formidable size and texture, an irreducible nucleus. But

1 The preservation of the bones of the Megalonyx in the Big Bone cave in Tennessee, may be partially ascribed to the presence of large quantities of saltpeter earth.

when we reinvest this continent with herds of wild animals, gregarious in habit, and probably reaching a great numerical aggregate, it seems at first singular that their entire skeletons should be so infrequent. The Mastodon, the Elephant, the Musk Ox, the Caribou Moose3, and the Reindeer, Horse, Buffalo and Mylodon have been distributed in plistocene and recent times as far south as Kentucky, yet except under peculiar circumstances of sepulture, their remains have disappeared. The conclusion is irresistible that the placement of the bones of vertebrates upon the surface of the ground is unfavorable to fossilization, that they must be covered in by deposits, and while thus held together become hermetically sealed against the accidents of surface conditions and the solution by carbonated and acid waters. The rhinoceros and elephant which were disappearing from Sumatra at the time of Mr. Wallace's visit had, after so recent a withdrawal, left few traces more than crania, tusks and teeth. Prof. Nordenskiold speaking of the polar regions pertinently remarks," the Polar bear and the reindeer are found there in hundreds, the seal, walrus and white whale in thousands, and birds in millions. These animals must die a 'natural' death in untold numbers. What becomes of their bodies? Of this we have for the present no idea."

The isolated death of individuals from packs of wild animals or the death of those less social in instinct, does not, under most circumstances, insure preservation. When some spot chosen for its proximity to water, or because of its fertility and nourishing vegetation, becomes a rendezvous of groups of animals, the herbivores being followed by the beasts of prey, and the region thus frequented is so situated as to receive the The Musk Ox, Ovrbos cavifrons Leidy, was found in Loess of Iowa at Council Bluffs, twelve feet below the surface; also at Ft. Gibson, I. T., St. Louis, New Madrid, Mo., Ohio, Big Bone Lick, Ky. These specimens afforded little else than the head, separated vertebræ and leg bones.

2

3 Bones of the fossil elk or moose have been found at Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, but it was reserved for Prof. W. B. Scott, of Princeton College, N. J., to obtain the magnificent example of Cervalces americanus Harlan now exhibited in the cabinet of that institution. This almost complete skeleton of a very large extinct elk or moose was discovered in a shell marl deposit uuder a bog at Mt. Hermon, N. J. (See Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1885, p. 181).