PREHISTORIC MAN IN EGYPT AND SYRIA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 7221, 17 July 1884, Page 3

PREHISTORIC MAN IN EGYPT AND SYRIA.

A gala meeting was held by the Victoria Philosophical Institute of London in the second week in May, at which its members gave a worthy welcome to Vice-Chancellor Dawson, 0,1VJ.G., of McGill-University, Montreal, at whose instance the British Association visits Canada this year. The Societyof Arts kindly lent its premises for the occasion, and its great theatre was crowded in every part long before the hour of meeting. The chair was taken by Sir H. Barkly, G.C.M.G., 1C.0.8,, F.R.3., \yho—after the new members had been announced by Captain F. Petrie, the secretary—welcomed Dr. Dawson amid loud applause, and asked him lo deliver bis address : It was on ** Prehistoric Man in Egypt and Syria,” and was illustrated by largo diagrams, also flint implements and bones collected by Dr Dawson himself on the spot during his winter tour in the East; Professor Boyd-Dawkins, F.R.3., kindly assisted in the classification of the bones. In dealing with bis subject. Dr Dawson remarked that great interest attache* to any remains which, la countries historically so old, may indicate tho residence of man before the dawn of history. In Egypt, nodules of flint are very abundant in the Eocene limestones, and where these have been wasted away, remain on the surface. In many places there is good evidence that the flint thus to be found everywhere has beeo, and still is, used for the manufacture of flakes, knives, and other implements. These, as is well known, were used for many purposes by tho ancient Egyptians, and in modern times gun-flints and strike-lights still continue t> be made. The debris of worked flints found on the surface is thus of little value as an indication of any flint-folk preceding the old Egyptians, Ik would be otheiwiae if flint implements could be found in tbe older gravels of the country. Some of these are of Pleistocene age, and belong to a period of partial submergence of tbe Nile Valley. Flint implements bad been alleged to be found in these gravels, but there seemed to be no good evidence to prove that they are other than the chips broken by mechanical violence in tbe removal of tbo gravel by torrential action. In the Lebanon, numerous caverns exist. These were divided into two classes, with reference to their origin ; some being water caves or tunnels of subterranean rivers, others seacaves, excavated by tho waves when tbe country was at a lower level than at present,. Both kinds have been occupied by man, and tome of them undoubtedly at a time anterior to the Phcouician occupation pf the country, and even at a time when the animal inhabitants and geographical features of the region were different from those of the present day. They were thus of various ages, ranging from the post-Glacial or Antediluvian period to tbe time of tbe Phoenician occupation. Dr Dawson then remarked that many geologists in these days bad an aversion tq using the word “ Antediluvian,*’ on account of tbe nature of the work which, In years now gone by, unlearned people bad attributed to the Flood described In Scripture, but as the aversion to the use of that word was, he thought, not called for in these days, he hoped it would pass away. Speaking ns a geologist, from a purely geological point of view, and from a thorough examination of tbe country around, there was no doubt but what there was conclusive evidence that between the time of tbe first occupation of these oaves by moa—and they were men of a splendid physique—and tho appearance of the early Phcouician inhabitants of the land, there bad been a vast sub* mergence of land, and a great catastrophe—aye, a stupendous one—in which even tbo Mediterranean had been altered from a small sea to its present size. In illustration of this, the caverns at the Pass of Nahr-el-Kelb and at Ant Elias were described in some tale, and also, in connection with these, the occurrence of flint implements on tbe surface of modem sandstones at the Cape or R.as near Beyront ; these last were probably of much less antiquity than those of tte more ancient caverns. A discussion ensued, which was taken part In by a number of distinguished Fellows of the Royal Society, including Sir H. Barkly, F.R.S.; Professors Wiltshire, F.U.S.; Warrington Smyth, F.R.S.; Rupert Jones, F.R.S.; Colonel Herschel. F.R.S., the talented son of the late Sir John Herschel; Dr. Rae, F.R.S., the Arctic explorer; Dr, Rawson, F.R.S.; Mr D, Howard, the vice-president of the Chemical Institute, and other geologists. Tbe meeting afterwards adjourned to the museum, where refreshments were served.