Essay on the Theory of the EarthCuvier, Georges, baron
Science
Essay on the Theory of the Earth
Cuvier, Georges, baron
Geology; Paleontology
The case is different with the _Kirkdale_ Cavern. It having been
visited immediately after its discovery by several well informed
persons, and especially by Mr Buckland, every thing has been made
known with respect to it. It is situated in the East Riding of the
county of York, twenty-five miles NNE. of the city of _York_, and
at about the same distance to the west from the sea and the town of
Scarborough. The small river of _Hodgebeck_ is lost under ground
in the neighbourhood, much in the same way as the _Piuka_, near
_Adelsberg_. It is placed in one of the limestone hills which form
the northern boundary of the vale of _Pickering_, the waters of which
fall into the Derwent. Mr Buckland compares the stone to that of the
last strata of the Alpine limestone, such as are seen near Aigle and
Meillene.
It was in the course of the year 1821, that some labourers working
at a quarry, discovered by chance the opening, which was closed by
rubbish, covered over with earth and turf. It is about 100 feet above
the neighbouring brook. It can be entered to the distance of 150 or
200 feet, but we can only walk erect in some places, on account of
the stalactites. On its sides there are seen spines of sea-urchins
and other marine remains, incrusted in the mass of the rock; but it
is on the bottom, and there only, that there is found the stratum of
mud, of about a foot thick, stuck full of bones, as at Gaylenreuth.
This mud, and the bones which it contains, are, in various places,
covered or penetrated with stalactite, especially near places where
the rock has lateral fissures.
The discovery having acquired much celebrity, a great number of
people procured bones from it, and placed them in various public
depots. Specimens have been deposited in the York Institution, that
of Whitby and Bristol, the British Museum, the Museum of Oxford
and Cambridge, and by Mr Young of Whitby, in the College Museum of
Edinburgh; but the finest collection of the bones of Kirkdale was
presented to Cuvier, and by him deposited in the Royal Cabinet in
Paris. The greatest number of these bones without comparison, belong
to hyenas of the same species as those of the caverns of Germany;
but there are also many of other large and small animals, which Mr
Buckland supposes to form twenty-one species. From the pieces which
I have under my eye, says Cuvier, there indisputably occur bones of
the _elephant_, _hippopotamus_, _horse_, an _ox_ of the size of the
common _deer_, _rabbits_, _field-rats_; also bones of some other
carnivora, namely, of the _tiger_, _wolf_, _fox_, and _weasel_.
All these bones and teeth are accumulated on the ground, broken
and gnawed, and there are even seen marks of the teeth which have
fractured them. There are even intermixed with them excrements which
have been recognized as perfectly similar to those of the hyena[436].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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