It is evident that I here speak in M. Hamy’s name as well as my own. The truth is, that what I am about to say on the subject of fossil man is almost the summary, not only of our book, but of many other general studies and of many discussions. It belongs, in fact, as much to my coadjutor as to myself.
II. Let us, in the first place, briefly describe the climate in which the fossil human races lived.
The quaternary or glacial period imposed severe conditions of existence on man. What then existed of Europe was surrounded on all sides by the sea, and was subject to all the consequences of an insular climate, that is to say; it was very damp, and moderately uniform in temperature, but chilled, to a great extent at least, by the Polar ice which extended even into France. The heavy rains, frequent in all seasons, took the form of falls of snow upon the high lands, and supported vast glaciers, the traces of which may still be seen in all our mountain chains. Immense water-courses hollowed out valleys in some parts, and deposited thick beds of alluvium in others. This vexed and watery land supported a fauna comprising, besides existing species, others which have partly disappeared, partly emigrated to distant countries. Thus, on the one hand, there were the mammoth (elephas primigenius), the woolly rhinoceros (rhinoceros tichorhinus), the gigantic Irish elk (megaceros hibernicus), the cave bear (ursus spelæus), the cave hyæna (hyæna spelæa), the cave tiger (felis spelæa), the horse (equus caballus); on the other hand, the reindeer (cervus tarandus), the elk (cervus alces), the musk-ox (ovibos moschatus), the aurochs (bison europæus), the hippopotamus (hippopotamus amphibius), and the lion (felis leo spelæa).
All these animals lived side by side during the greater part of the quaternary period. They afterwards became by degrees either extinct or separated. At the commencement of the present period, France, in which at one time they were all to be found, only retains the horse; and we must admit further, with M. Toussaint, that our beasts of burden and draught, are descended from fossil species, an opinion which is far from universal amongst palæontologists. We may remark in passing, that the same uncertainty exists upon the subject of the spotted hyæna and the grizzly bear, regarded by some palæontologists as races referable to the cave species.
Man was, in Europe, the contemporary of all these species.
The phenomena which have given to these countries their latest characters, have not always had the same violence, nor have they either commenced or terminated abruptly. They offered periods of repose and of relative activity, till the time when the continents assumed their definite proportions, when the glaciers were first confined within their present limits.
The modifications of living beings accord with these oscillations of the inorganic world. The principal animal species seem to predominate in turn; the human races appear in succession, increase and decline.
During the deposition of the lower alluvium (bas niveaux) of our valleys, the mammoth, rhinoceros, and great carnivora, seem to have played the principal part. Man disputed the ground with them, and fed upon their flesh. The struggle against the conditions of life, and the wild beasts of the ancient world was terrible. The race of these primitive times bears in a high degree the mark of this savage nature.
During the period in which the mean inferior alluvium (moyens niveaux inférieurs) were formed, the great animal species still inhabited the whole of Europe. The number of their representatives seems, however, to be diminishing; less formidable species begin to multiply, and the horse, in particular, forms, at least in places, large herds, which offered an abundant source of nourishment to man. The latter was represented especially by a race endowed with remarkable aptitudes. At first, we find it struggling with as much vigour as the preceding one, and under almost identical conditions; but, by degrees, perfecting all its methods of action, and adapting them to the new conditions introduced by the advance of time.
A great modification in the fauna corresponds to the deposition of the mean upper alluvium (moyens niveaux supérieurs). The great carnivora and the mammoth become more and more rare, till at length they disappear altogether; the horse no longer predominates; the reindeer has taken its place, and wanders in vast herds over lands which are gradually subsiding. Man has profited by these changes. New races, perfectly distinct from the preceding ones, appear upon our soil. That of the preceding age develops and attains a certain degree of civilization, attested by true works of art.