the other-a pierced handle of reindeer's horn-precisely in the same way-namely, to provide flint knives and weapons of different kinds; arms and provisions for traveling for his dead lastly, a canine tooth of a bear, roughly carved brother called to "the happy hunting-grounds" in the shape of a bird,s head, and pierced with a hole, &c. should the weapons, and meat, and ornaments be found whero the deceased was laid? "The excavations having been carried to a In 1863 took place the famous discovery of lower level, brought to light the remains of the the human jaw in the diluvial beds of Moulin bear, the wild-cat, the cave-hyena, the wolf, the Quignon, near Abbeville, in company with two mammoth, the horse, the stag, the reindeer, the mammoth teeth. and the never-failing flint ox, the rhinoceros, &c. It was, in fact, a com- hatchet. Over this jaw has flowed a river of plete Noah's ark. The bones were all broken printer's ink, but nothing very certain has come lengthwise, and some of them were carbonized. of it. The French geologists are in favor of its Stric and notches were found on them, which authenticity; the English, perhaps jealous of could only have been made by cutting instru- the "oldest inhabitant" of the earth not being ments. M. Lartet, after long and patient found in their own country, still shake their investigations, came to the conclusion, that the learned heads at it. It may perhaps be as well cave of Aurignac was a human burial-place, to state, for the benefit of the unlearned, that contemporary with the mammoth, the Rhinoce- the beds which form the solid crust of our rus tichorhinus, and other great mammals of the Quaternary epoch." globe have been divided into five groups, corresponding to the same number of periods of The mode in which the long bones of those the physical development of the earth the animals were broken shows that they had been Primitive Rocks; the Transition; the Secondcracked with a view to extract the marrow-of ary; the Tertiary; and the Quaternary Rocks, which delicacy, by-the-bye, it seems that our which last immediately precede the present primitive forefathers were inordinately fond; period. Each of these periods was of immense while the notches on them prove the use of duration, since the generation of both animals sharp instruments. The implements and orna- and plants peculiar to it radically perished. ments discovered point to a general custom still Some idea may be formed of the extreme slowin use among many savage tribes-namely, the ness of such a process, when we consider how placing of the weapons, trophies, and personal little modification has taken place in the race of valuables of the deceased close to the body. In animals which belong to the present epoch front of the cave was a flat spot covered with during its existence. Some geologists go so far earth that had fallen from the top of the hill; as to contend that man existed in the Tertiary and on clearing this, the investigators met with period; but even if he lived in the Quaternary, another deposit containing bones, and situated he will be of an age which it is almost impossion a prolongation of the ground, on which the ble to conceive, much less to compute. It was skeletons were placed in the interior of the at the commencement of that stage in the earth's cavern. Under this deposit there was a bed of history that a great portion of Europe became ashes and charcoal, five to seven inches thick, covered with ice, on the one hand, making its the site of an ancient fire-hearth. "In other way from the poles down to the most southern words, in front of the sepulchral cave, there latitudes; and, on the other, descending into was a kind of terrace, upon which, after the the plains from the highest mountains. There interment of the body in the cavern, the funeral were left only a few plateaux, whither men and banquet was held." In the bed of this terrace animals could flee from this deadly cold, which an immense number of relics were discovered: annihilated SO many species. M. Figuier a hundred flint knives; two chipped flints, describes them all, from the Irish elk, the horns which archæologists believe to be sling projec- of which are so alarming, to the mammoth, tiles; a rounded pebble, used to flake off flint woolly haired and maned elephant, carcasses of knives; and quantities of instruments made out which have been found entire and in good preof reindeer's horn. Nearly all the bones which servation on the coast of Siberia. "It is cerhad not been subjected to the action of fire, tain," writes he," that man existed in the midst bore the mark of the teeth of some carnivorous of them." Nay, more, during that terrible animal, which had doubtless come to gnaw them epoch, he was just as much a man-though after man had taken his departure; and this doubtless a savage-as he is now; and not at animal, as is shown by other signs, was the all more like an ape or a gorilla. The famous hyena. One very interesting deduction from Borreby skull (found in Denmark), admitted on the discovery of the relics of Aurignac is the all hands to be a relic of the Stone Age, is a belief entertained by primitive man in a future most respectable skull, and not at all more like state; for with what other purpose, save that that of the Macacus baboon than that of any religious one which actuates the modern savage gentleman who is anxious to claim affinity with a a it for self and race. They made flint hatchets brows of the rocks of Bruniquel, was discovered and arrow-heads at this earliest stage of human a fire-hearth of the pre-historic period, as well existence, and even showed some taste for art. as a host of objects, the study of which has In that treasure-hole of Aurignac, there was furnished many data concerning this epoch of found quite an ornamented trinket in the tooth humanity. The area covered by this shelter is of a young cave-bear, perforated, so that it two hundred and ninety-eight square yards. could be hung round the neck, perhaps as an The bones of the horse-though these are comamulet, and carved into some fanciful form, paratively rare-of the ox, of the urus, the elk, which Monsieur Figuier (who gives us pictures the ibex, and the chamois, are found there, all Many of everything) believes to be the head of a bird. showing signs of the action of fire. It is always permitted to differ upon questions pounds-weight of the half-roasted bones of the water-rat prove that that now despised delicacy of art, and it seems to us to more resemble Fishsausage. Still, there it is, a perforated play- formed a feature in the primitive menu. thing, lying beside the bones of the cave-bear, bones are also found in great quantities; and of the furred and horned rhinoceros, and of the even skeletons of fish, rudely traced upon fraggreat elk. The cave-bear was the first of the ments of bone and horn. Reindeer's horn was, extinct animals to disappear. The diluvium-in that stage of man's existence, all that iron is Their arms, their implements, their the beds formed by drifted pebbles, and origin- to us. ating in the great derangement caused by what ornaments, were all made of this substance; geologists term "the inundation of the Quater- and their favorite dainty was the marrow of the nary epoch," and others "the Flood"-does not long bone, which they extracted by fracture, without spoons. We are sorry to say that these contain any traces of the bones of the cavebear. ancestors of ours labor under the suspicion of cannibalism. On certain children's bones of The favorite weapon of the paleontologist is undoubtedly the flint hatchet, which he waves these epochs found in Scotland, Professor with unceasing triumph in the face of the Owen has recognized the trace of human teeth; general reader. These hatchets and the flint human finger-joints have been detected among knives-found in vast numbers in these ancient the remains of cooking in the epoch of the burial-places-do not, it must be confessed, at great bear and mammoth, and also (later) in first sight much resemble hatchets and knives; that of the reindeer. In a cave in Northern indeed, it was contended that one of these old- Italy was found the small shin-bone of a child, world emporiums was nothing more than a rub- which had been carefully cleansed and emptied bish-heap on a spot where there had been a to satisfy the inordinate primeval taste for Not the least trace of dogs having manufactory of flints for guns; but it is certain marrow. that they were the substitutes for weapons and gnawed any relics of a feast of this epoch has instruments before metals were discovered. To been discovered; hence, it is declared that the argument that such implements could never these animals had not yet been reduced to a have been produced without metallic hammers, state of domesticity. It is also proved that men wore clothes. A Mr. Evans, an English geologist, offered a curious and convincing refutation. He took a large number of reindeer antlers have been pebble and fixed it in a wooden handle; having found with certain cuts at their base which thus manufactured a stone hammer, he made evidently could only have been produced in flayuse of it to chip a flint little by little, until he ing the animal. Nay, these dandies were not succeeded in producing an oval hatchet similar content with the mere skins; flint scrapers are to the ancient one before him. His scientific everywhere met with, which they used for opponents were convinced, and obliged to content themselves with the sarcasm, that this gentleman was born after his time. scraping the hair off; and bodkins and stilettoes made of flint and bone-exactly the same as are now used by the Esquimaux-for sewing the Even more remarkable than the ancient different pieces together. Certain reindeer bones caverns are the Rock-shelters which have been also give evidence that the sinewy fibres of that identified as the dwelling-places of Primitive animal were used for thread. No metal, howMan. In various parts of France, many speci- ever, was yet known; beside the hatchet and the flint knife there was no weapon. The ornamens of these early settlements-one scarcely call them Retreats-have been dis- ments were made out of the tooth of a wolf, or In some places covered; mere sheltering-places under some the bony part of a hare's ear. overhanging rock. Sheds, perhaps, were built were great emporiums or manufactories of flint there, all traces of which have long since weapons. In the cave of Chaleux were found perished, but man has left more enduring traces nearly twenty thousand flints chipped into of his presence. On the left bank of the river hatchets, daggers, knives, scrapers, scratchers, Aveyron, for instance, under the overhanging and spear-heads. Whistles have been also found can made from the first joint of the foot of the rein- but by too large a dose violent spasmodic effects deer. "We ourselves," says Monsieur Figuier, are produced. So exciting is it to the nervous "have had the pleasure of verifying the fact system of many that its effects are very ludicthat these primitive whistles act very well." rous; a talkative person can not keep silence or Perhaps the last person that blew into it had secrets, one fond of music is perpetually singeaten mastodon, or his own mother, ten thou- ing; and if a person under its influence wishes sand years ago! He had certainly eaten dog: to step over a straw or stick, he takes a stride bones of this animal, broken by the hand of or jump sufficient to clear the trunk of a tree man, and bearing marks of having been cut It is needless to say delirium, coma, and death with a knife, place that fact beyond question. often result, as in the case of alcoholic spirits. Space, or rather the want of it, will not permit The most remarkable fact is that the fluids of us to extract more marrow from this beautiful the debauchee become singularly narcotic, and book. Else, we should like to give to our are therefore preserved in times of scarcity. readers a peep at the Lacustrine dwellings of Thus a whole village, as some say, may be inSwitzerland, of which Monsieur Figuier paints toxicated through the medium of one man, and an interesting picture. It is not altogether from thus one fungus serves to prolong these most the imagination; since not only are the founda- fearful and disgusting orgies for many days tions of the houses of these lake-dwellers to be together. It is worthy of note that the very still seen deep down in the blue waters, but same erroneous impression as to size and distheir very fishing-nets have been preserved. tance produced by this plant, are also created by And, curiously enough, their preservation to the hasheesh of India, and are also frequently us was caused by their loss to their owners noticed among idiots and lunatics. Some of these lake-cabins were destroyed by fire; the outsides burned at once, but the objects inside-especially the heaped-up nets-could not burn freely, for want of oxygen, but were only charred by the heat. They became covered with a slight coating of some tarry matter, which prevented their decay, and fell with the debris. of the hut to the bottom of the lake, where they have been preserved almost intact. They are made of flax-for hemp had not yet been cultivated-with wide meshes. Boats, too, have also been fished up, in most cases, but not in all, to perish on exposure to the air. Some are still preserved with care in museums. Here we stop-not for lack of interesting material-and refer our readers who wish to learn more about their primitive ancestors, to the volume itself. Among other lessons it should teach us is, the insane folly of the pride of birth. The farther we trace back our descent, the nearer we approach the savage, and claim kin with him.-Chamber's Journal. The Aurora Borealis. Where are thy secret laws, O Nature, where? There has thy sun some sacred, secret throne? Come, then, philosopher, whose privileg'd eye Reads Nature's hidden pages and decrees; What fills with dazzling beams the illumin'd air? And earth and heaven with fiery sheets are blent; Is there some vast, some hidden magazine, AN INTOXICATING FUNGUS. The Fly Agaric (Agaricus muscarius).—It A VALUABLE TABLE.-The following table would seem, from a paper published by Dr. A. will be found valuable to many of our readers: Kellog, that this fungus is more extensively -A box 54in. by 16in. square, and 28in. deep, used than we are aware of. The desired effect will contain a barrel. A box 26in. by 15 in. comes on from one to two hours after taking the square, and 8in. deep, will contain a bushel. A fungus. Giddiness and drunkenness follow in box 12in. by 11 in. square, and 9in. deep, will the same manner as from wine or spirituous contain half a bushel. A box 8in. by 8in. square, liquors; cheerfulness is first produced, the face and 8in. deep. will contain a peck. A box Sin. becomes flushed, involuntary words and actions by 8in. square, 44in. deep, will contain one galfollow, and sometimes loss of consciousness. lon. A box 7in. by Sin. square, and 4in. deep, Some persons it renders remarkably active, will contain half a gallon. A box 4in. by 4in. proving highly stimulant to muscular exertion; square, and 44. deep, will contain a pint. Religion and Morals. & THE ORDER OF NATURE AND H There is enough of regularity to admit of the facts and phenomena of thought and feeling being interpreted on the principles of inductive philosophy, so as to furnish materials of intellectual and moral as well as political science. On the knowledge thus obtained, whether from individual minds or from the study of mankind, some of the most useful arts are founded, as the arts of reasoning, of polities, and of education. Apart, however, from systematic study of the human mind, observation of its phenomena is necessary in every one's daily experience. For this observation, a belief in the general order of nature, in the mind as well as in the outer MIDST all the wondrous variety of world, is necessary. Without it, vain would be objects and endless diversities of the training of experience, vain would be change in creation, there are fixed the teaching of history, vain the lessons of life. arrangements and regular sequences, By a figure of speech the term law is comwhich we call briefly the order of monly used in reference to the order of nature. nature." Under the same conditions the same Thus we speak of the law of gravitation, the facts and phenomena occur, and we naturally laws of chemistry, the laws of thought, meaning expect their occurrence. This belief in the thereby the general facts and phenomena ascerconstancy and regularity of nature is so universal, tained by observation in each department of and deep-seated that some describe it as an in- knowledge. It is a mode of speaking which is tuitive principle, or one of the fundamental convenient from its conciseness, but which may laws of thought. However this may be, reg- lead to error if taken in a literal instead of a ularity in the order of nature is presupposed in figurative sense. Let it be remembered that all human knowledge and experience. And this is merely a metaphor, adopted from human what is true of common experience is still more language. To speak of “a violation of the laws required in that systematized knowledge which of nature" is an abuse of language, as if the is called inductive science. The sum of modern Deity had prescribed to himself a passive philosophy in all its branches is what Lord uniformity of operation in governing the universe. Bacon, the founder of that philosophy, called A like abuse of the metaphorical statement has "the interpretation of nature." This is ex-led many to keep the Deity out of view in studypressed in the first axiom of the "Novum Or- ing his works, and to deal with general laws as ganum:" Homo naturæ minister ac interpres, if they were efficient causes. Nothing more is tantum fecit ac intelligit quantum de naturæ implied by the word law than the observed order ordine re vel mente observaverit: nec amplius of nature. scit aut potest:"-Man, the minister and interpreter of nature, is limited in knowledge and action, whether in the world of matter or the world of mind, by what he may have observed of "the order of nature." The distinction between necessary and conThe regularity of this order of nature is most tingent truth is familiar to every sound thinker, apparent and most readily recognized in the though often overlooked in the superficial outer world with which physical science has to writings of skeptics. The objects of inductive do. But the same constancy of facts and reg- science altogether belong to the class of conularity of operations prevails in the world of tingent or conditioned truth. We can conceive mind. It is true that here the perception of the order of nature to have been in many ways order is more difficult. Disturbing causes are different from what it now is. There might so numerous and powerful as often to baffle have been other physical laws, other laws of judgment and disappoint experience. But this chemistry, other laws of thought. Taking pheis to be ascribed to the weakness of human per- nomena separately, there is no necessity in the ception, not to absence of order in the objects of nature of things for the inclination of the earth's mental reflection and observation. There is no axis, which produces our variety of seasons; such thing as chance, and no such thing as con- there is no necessity for certain affinities of fusion, in the sequences of the mental any more atoms producing combinations useful to man; than in the material world. Order here prevails no necessity for certain outward conditions amidst seeming disorder, though it may be causing the emotions they now produce in the visible only to higher intelligence than man. mind. All these arrangements are due to the The existing order of nature, it must be here noted, is not necessary, but conditioned. It is the result of the appointment and will of the Creator. Divine power and wisdom and will. We can notion of relieving the Deity from the care of conceive other facts and phenomena than those superintending his own works. Miracles are which constitute the existing order of nature. regarded as special interpositions of God for The relation of vital forces to those of physics special purposes, and the truth of this claim is and chemistry might be different from what denied by describing them as part of the mere they are now. The relation of electricity, of wheel-work of nature. heat, of light, might be other than it now is to In studying the order of nature, we constantly matter and its laws. In other conditions of observe conflict of forces, or interference of this world these things might be different. various classes of sequences. Thus we see the What they now are is the result of the arrange- laws of chemistry modified by the laws of heat ment of the Creator, and is discovered by our or of vital action. We see the laws of motion inductive research. But it is not so with neces- suspended, or called into action by volition; sary truth-the axioms of mathematics, for in- the will itself being influenced by previous instance. In no conceivable world could the part fluences, whether external or internal. The inbe greater than the whole. In no possible troduction of volition among the ordinary world could two and two make five; no amount sequences of nature adds a new element of unof testimony could induce such a belief. Yet certainty in tracing, and difficulty in forecasting, we have seen this very argument used, that we events, but at the same time it throws light upon might as well believe two and two to make five the relation of nature's sequences. These have as believe in the order of nature being set aside among themselves nothing of the element of by a miracle! power implied in the terms cause and effect. Miracles are usually defined as violations of They are mere successions of phenomena bethe laws of nature. "A miracle," says David tween or above which there is room for the inHume, "may be accurately defined as a trans- terposition of volition or the agency of mind. gression of a law of nature, by a particular This we see plainly within the sphere of our volition of the Deity, or by the interposition of own observation. And if human volition thus some invisible agent." Bearing in mind what has arrests, and controls, and changes the sequences been said of the conventional use of the term of the material world, much more is there room law, this definition is most objectionable. The for the controlling agency of the omnipotent and order of nature is wholly the result of God's omnipresent Divine will. In the words of sovereign wisdom and will. It is an abuse of Hume, "a particular volition of the Deity, or language to represent the Creator as violating the interposition of some invisible agent," may or transgressing laws which from first to last interfere with the order of nature, and so proare under his control. God is subject to no law duce a miracle. in this sense of the word. A miracle is only a The assertion that miracles are impossible is departure from that mode of action which is therefore baseless and untenable. No one who observed to be the usual one in the existing believes in the existence of God, the Almighty constitution and government of the world. But and Infinite One, can seriously deny the possibilGod may have other modes of action, and there is no limit to infinite wisdom and power in dealing with his own works. To believe otherwise would be to regard the order of nature as eternal and immutable, and thus to transfer to created things the attributes of the Creator. That the order of nature is not eternal and immutable science itself bears testimony. Except we believe in the eternity of matter and the rule of blind chance, we know that a special interposition of Deity must have taken place in the creation of the world, in the origin of living creatures, and in the existing constitution of external nature. ity of miracles, or that he can act in other ways than those which come under our finite observation. Even Hume did not deny this, but only affirmed that a miracle could not be proved, that no amount of testimony could outweigh the evidence for the constancy of nature's laws. This is therefore the next point to be considered. Miracles, then, it is said, though possible, can not be proved, because they are contrary to experience. Contrary to what experience? That they are contrary to our experience, or to ordinary experience, is admitted. That they are contrary to all experience is denied. To affirm A theory has been propounded that miracles that they are is simply begging the question. It are the result of some larger general law, the comes to be a matter of testimony, and upon operations of which appear only at long distant testimony our belief of most of the facts of periods. They are, as it were, part of the same science and of most of the events of history mechanism, a wheel working in a larger cycle. depends. Now there is no fact of science and This idea may have sprung from a sincere, but certainly a mistaken desire to do homage to the Divine Wisdom. It is very like the old pagan no event of history established by such cumulative force of evidence as that great miracle which is given as the foundation of outward belief in |