Essay on the Theory of the EarthCuvier, Georges, baron
Science
Essay on the Theory of the Earth
Cuvier, Georges, baron
Geology; Paleontology
Canals,
20 feet in length, conduct to another grotto of 20 feet in height.
Lastly, there is another cave, 83 feet broad and 24 high, in which
more bones are found than in any of the others.
The sixth cave, which is the last, has a northerly direction, so that
the whole series of caves and passages nearly describes a semicircle.
A fissure in the third cave led to the discovery, in 1784, of a new
cave, 15 feet long and 4 broad, in which the greatest quantities of
hyena and lions’ bones were found. The aperture was much too small
for these animals to have passed through it. A particular canal which
ended in this small cave has afforded an incredible number of bones
and large skulls entire.
In the Philosophical Transactions of 1822, pl. xxvi. there may be
seen a profile of this cave, taken on the spot in 1816, by Professor
Buckland, in which is to be especially remarked an enormous mass,
entirely composed of bones enveloped in the stalactite, and thus
forming an osseous breccia, but of quite a different nature from
those which occur at Gibraltar and other places[432].
The cave of _Gaylenreuth_ is one of those the bones of which are most
completely known, by the researches which have been made or caused to
be made in it for a long time back by distinguished naturalists, such
as MM. Esper, de Humboldt, Ebel of Bremen, Rosenmüller, Sœmmering,
Goldfuss, &c., and by the numerous and rich collections which these
researches have produced. According to the examination which Cuvier
has made of the principal of these collections, three-fourths of
the bones found there belong to the Bear genus, and to two or three
species of that genus. The others belong to the hyena, tiger, wolf,
fox, glutton, and polecat, or some nearly allied species. There are
also found, although in much smaller number, bones of herbivorous
quadrupeds, and, in particular, deer, of which fragments are in the
possession of M. Ebel. It would even appear from a passage of M.
Sœmmering’s, that a parcel of bones had been got in it belonging to
an elephant’s skull[433]. According to Rosenmüller, there were found
in it bones of men, horses, oxen, sheep, deer, roes, mules, badgers,
dogs, and foxes, but which from the researches made by him in the
cave itself, and from their state of preservation, must have been
deposited at periods much later than those of the bear, tigers and
hyenas[434].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account