developed, was obtained from an English bone-oave, and submitted to
Mr. Clift, who pronounced it to belong to a small bull-dog or large pug.
Our domestic dog has the last tubercular tooth wider than that of
the wolf; which fact, together with slighter structure of the jaw, shows
the dog to be less carnivorous. The teeth of the cave-dogs diifer
only in size io m those of the common dog, being larger; and it
appears almost certain that many of the fossil dogs were of a greater
size than any of the varieties now common among us. This circumstance,
together with their general similarity of structure, has doubtless
led to their being almost universally designated as W olves . We
read of wolves being constantly found in a completely fossilized state,
associated with numerous extinct'animals, and even with man himself
; and considering the difficulty of distinguishing skeletons of the
wolf from those of the dog, we have no doubt that many of these
fossils belonged to man’s natural companion — the dog.
Marcel de Serres observes, in reference to the large size of .the
fossil dogs which came under his observation, that they bear a stronger
resemblance to the animal such as we may suppose him to have been
before he came under the influence of man, than most of our -domestic
canes. Their stature is. intermediate between the wolf and the pointer,
their muzzle is more elongated, and all the parts of the skeleton are
proportionally stronger, But there is no ground for assuming a
specific unity among these fossil dogs, any more than among the
domesticated races. A careful examination of the bones found in
the caves has shown the existence of different sizes, and probably of
different species; and inasmuch as we find, in the same caves, remains of
animals which have suffered the greatest influence from man, e. g. the
horse and ox, so we may reasonably infer that these dogs themselves
have been contemporaneous with man; especially because no vestiges,
either of domestic animals or dogs, have ever been found in countries
uninhabited by mankind since the earliest human tradition. The
gigantic size of fossil dogs appears' less formidable to us than it probably
did to M. de Serres, since Bawlinson has figured an enormous dog,
from the sculptures of Hineveh, as large as the largest of the extinct
animals, and Yaux assures us that a similar species is still living in
Thibet. [Infra, Chap. XII.] Moreover, the skeleton of an immense
dog was recently found in a cave at the Canaries, with remains of the
extinct G u a n c h e s , and thence taken to Paris. Here, however the
man may have met his death,
His faithful dog still bears him company.”
Very distinct traces exist, then, of at least four types of dogs, in
frssilized state: the Canary dog, the pointer, the hound, and the bulldo°\
together with a smaller animal, supposed by Schmerlmg to have
Been a turnspit. As we know some of these races to be hybrids, the
list must be still ftirther enlarged; for there can be no_ doubt that
many other fossil canid® appertained to different species of dogs
These species enjoy a very respectable antiquity; sufficient, we think, to
destroy the claims of the wolf or the jackal to their common paternity;
especially, when to our list of species is added the fossil dog
discovered by Mr. W. Mantell, in the remote region of Hew Zealand,
associated with the bones of the Unarms giganteus. f We have no
doubt that M an himself existed contemporaneously with these fossilized
animals, and that both enjoyed an associated antiquity upon
earth which has not yet been g e n e r a l l y conceded, but cannot much
longer be denied. As the hound, baying in our American woods,
announces the presence of the hunter, so we may rest assured that a
palaeontological “ fidus Achates’’ noiselessly implies the proximity ot
fossil Man himself. '
Human Fossil Remains have now been found so frequently, and m
circumstances so unequivocal, that the facts can hardly be denied,
except by persons who resolutely refuse to believe anything that can
militate against their own preconceived opinions. Cuvier remarked,
long since, that notions in vogue (30 years ago) upon this subject would
require considerable modification ; and Morton left among his papers
a record of his matured views still more emphatically expressed: —
“ There is no good reasop for doubting the existence of man in the fossil state. We have
already several well-autlienticated examples; and we may hourly look for others, even from
the upper stratified rocks. Why may we not yet discover them in the tertiary deposits, in
the cretaceous beds, or even in tjie oolites? Contrary to all our preconceived opinions
the latter strata have already afforded the remains of several marsupial ammals, which
have surprised geologists almost as much as if they had discovered the bones of man
himself.” *
Human bones, mixed with those of lost mammifers, have been
found in several places,-in England, by Dr. Buckland, in the famous
cave of Wokey Hole, at Paviland, and Kirkby, The question, whether
an equal antiquity should be assigned to such remains with that of
extinct inferior species accompanying them — or, in other words,
whether man lived at the same time with rhinoceroses, hippopotami,
hyenas, and bears, whose entire species have disappeared from earth,
bequeathing but their fossil remains to tell us that they once existed—
was one of mighty import; and Dr. Buckland, Oxonian Professor,
was loth to admit that these remains, human and animal, belonged
to beings which had been swept from existence by the same catastrophe.
Instances of human fossils had often been reported, but they
* Morton: Posthumous MSS.