III. As far as we know at present, the Canstadt race is undoubtedly the most ancient European one. It disputed the ground with the great extinct mammals, with the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the cave bear, and the cave hyæna. It belongs, therefore, to the earliest ages of the quaternary epoch. In the opinion of M. Schaaffhausen, it may be traced to an earlier period still, and is identical with tertiary man surviving the latest geological revolution. The naturalist who has made us so well acquainted with the Neanderthal man, only invokes, in support of his opinion, what he calls the _typical inferiority_ of this man, and of those who are connected with him. This reason would to many be an insufficient motive for the view which he has taken. But I have observed above, that we are justified in assuming that man followed into Europe the great mammals which were driven by the cold into more southern countries. There can, then, be nothing strange in the idea that the race, to which everything points as having been the most ancient upon our soil, should also have been the one to accomplish the migration. But were the Saint-Prest, the Monte Aperto, and especially the Thénay men only its pioneers? The future alone can answer this question either in the affirmative or negative. However this may be, the remains of human industry indicate a well-marked progress since the earliest ages. Tools and arms became more numerous and perfect. Deer’s antlers and bear’s jaw-bones are worked into weapons and tools; in addition to scrapers and borers, the form of which becomes more and more marked, we find knives, chisels, and hammers, set in handles: hatchets of much greater size, sometimes comparatively thin, flat upon one side but retouched upon the other, sometimes thick and rudely cut on both sides, with or without a handle, belong to the _moustierien_ and _acheuléen_ types of M. de Mortillet; they assume definite forms by which we are able to recognise several modifications characteristic of certain localities; the arrow is larger and the lance has become a formidable weapon. In the midst of the lowest quaternary alluvial deposits, we meet with small heaps of _coscinopora globularis_, and other small chalk fossils, all pierced either naturally or artificially. The only possible explanation is to consider these polypi and shells as having once formed necklaces or bracelets, the thread of which has disappeared. Thus, the taste for adornment, so largely developed in modern savages, was displayed as early as this period.