John Edward Lee

“ Franks, who, it is well known, has paid very great attention to prehistoric matters—in fact he had been attracted to Switzerland by these very discoveries. With great kindness he allowed me to accompany him to Schaffhausen, where a large portion of these relics are deposited in the Museum there, and also to the cave itself. Dr. Von Mandach, the President of the Schaffhausen Natural History Society, accompanied us. ”

“ It cannot, however, be wrong to state one or two facts which in a measure bear on the discoveries of the Kesslerloch. Although the Glacial period after the Tertiary is acknowledged by all thinking persona, yet every additional fact brought to light strengthens the theory—if in fact it can be now called by this name. The evidence of an Arctic or reindeer period in France is given so clearly in the valuable work called 'Reliquiæ Aquitanicæ,' that no one can gainsay it, and it is needless to refer to a volume of such standing ”

“ Together with these there were several species of Hypnum, which, according to Professor Schimper of Strassburg, who has paid much attention to mosses, consist entirely of northern or high Alpine forms. It will be seen that the objects found at Schussenried bear a great similarity to those from the Kesslerloch.
Sufficient has now been said to show that an Arctic climate at one time extended not merely over a great part of France, but also over Middle Europe. ”

“ I will merely add, that although individually I rather incline to think that one of them at least is genuine, yet they must stand on their own merits, and on their own merits alone. It may be well to add that these two specimens, shaded as they are by the cloud about their origin, have, by the liberality of my archaeological friend above mentioned, been placed for reference in the collection of prehistoric objects in the Christy Collection, Victoria Street. ”

“ Those who are accustomed to the laws of evidence must decide, in the first place, whether the man committed any breach of honour or honesty, and in the next whether these etchings are genuine, or were made for the occasion. ”

“ They argue from the amount of the chippings that this mass of phonolite was quarried for ages by countless generations of men, and that the mountain top must have been upheaved, and the island inhabited in a very remote past. ”

“ All these are species which belong to the far north, and, with the exception of the polar willow, live also in our Alps. The Polygonum and the Dryas are very plentiful at the foot of the glaciers, and the Arctostaphylos and Salix retusa and S. reticulata are not uncommon there, while the Betula nana prefers the peat moors. These plants evidently have descended from those which flourished at a time when the glaciers were retreating, and had formed tarns and small lakes like those of St. ”

“ He therefore obtained permission from the owner of the soil to sift the mass again; and the result was an abundant harvest of flint-flakes and bones of the reindeer, horse, Alpine hare, &c. Many of these are now in my possession. But unfortunately he employed for a stated period a labourer of the district, and when this period was expired, the man so employed says that he went to the heap on his own account, and discovered these two etchings of the bear and the fox! ”