On the 28th of March, 1863, some navigators under the direction of M. Boucher de Perthes, were at work in the great quarries4 of Moulin-Quignon, near Abbeville, in the department of the Somme, in France. While at work, they unexpectedly came upon a human jawbone buried fourteen feet below the surface of the soil. It was the first fossil of the kind that had ever been brought to the light of day. Near this unexpected human relic6 were found stone hatchets7 and carved flints, colored and clothed by time in one uniform brilliant tint8 of verdigris9.
The report of this extraordinary and unexpected discovery spread not only all over France, but over England and Germany. Many learned men belonging to various scientific bodies, and noteworthy among others, Messrs. Milne-Edwards and De Quatrefages, took the affair very much to heart, demonstrated the incontestable authenticity11 of the bone in question, and became—to use the phrase then recognized in England—the most ardent12 supporters of the "jawbone question."
To the eminent13 geologists14 of the United Kingdom who looked upon the fact as certain—Messrs. Falconer, Buck15, Carpenter, and others—were soon united the learned men of Germany, and among those in the first rank, the most eager, the most enthusiastic, was my worthy10 uncle, Professor Hardwigg.
The authenticity of a human fossil of the Quaternary period seemed then to be incontestably demonstrated, and even to be admitted by the most skeptical16.
This system or theory, call it what you will, had, it is true, a bitter adversary17 in M. Elie de Beaumont. This learned man, who holds such a high place in the scientific world, holds that the soil of Moulin-Quignon does not belong to the diluvium but to a much less ancient stratum18, and, in accordance with Cuvier in this respect, he would by no means admit that the human species was contemporary with the animals of the Quaternary epoch19. My worthy uncle, Professor Hardwigg, in concert with the great majority of geologists, had held firm, had disputed, discussed, and finally, after considerable talking and writing, M. Elie de Beaumont had been pretty well left alone in his opinions.
We were familiar with all the details of this discussion, but were far from being aware then that since our departure the matter had entered upon a new phase. Other similar jawbones, though belonging to individuals of varied20 types and very different natures, had been found in the movable grey sands of certain grottoes in France, Switzerland, and Belgium; together with arms, utensils21, tools, bones of children, of men in the prime of life, and of old men. The existence of men in the Quaternary period became, therefore, more positive every day.
But this was far from being all. New remains22, dug up from the Pliocene or Tertiary deposits, had enabled the more far-seeing or audacious among learned men to assign even a far greater degree of antiquity23 to the human race. These remains, it is true, were not those of men; that is, were not the bones of men, but objects decidedly having served the human race: shinbones, thighbones of fossil animals, regularly scooped24 out, and in fact sculptured—bearing the unmistakable signs of human handiwork.
By means of these wondrous25 and unexpected discoveries, man ascended26 endless centuries in the scale of time; he, in fact, preceded the mastodon; became the contemporary of the Elephas meridionalis—the southern elephant; acquired an antiquity of over a hundred thousand years, since that is the date given by the most eminent geologists to the Pliocene period of the earth. Such was then the state of paleontologic science, and what we moreover knew sufficed to explain our attitude before this great cemetery27 of the plains of the Hardwigg Ocean.
It will now be easy to understand the Professor's mingled28 astonishment29 and joy when, on advancing about twenty yards, he found himself in the presence of, I may say face to face with, a specimen30 of the human race actually belonging to the Quaternary period!
It was indeed a human skull31, perfectly32 recognizable. Had a soil of very peculiar33 nature, like that of the cemetery of St. Michel at Bordeaux, preserved it during countless34 ages? This was the question I asked myself, but which I was wholly unable to answer. But this head with stretched and parchmenty skin, with the teeth whole, the hair abundant, was before our eyes as in life!
I stood mute, almost paralyzed with wonder and awe35 before this dread36 apparition37 of another age. My uncle, who on almost every occasion was a great talker, remained for a time completely dumfounded. He was too full of emotion for speech to be possible. After a while, however, we raised up the body to which the skull belonged. We stood it on end. It seemed, to our excited imaginations, to look at us with its terrible hollow eyes.
After some minutes of silence, the man was vanquished38 by the Professor. Human instincts succumbed39 to scientific pride and exultation40. Professor Hardwigg, carried away by his enthusiasm, forgot all the circumstances of our journey, the extraordinary position in which we were placed, the immense cavern41 which stretched far away over our heads. There can be no doubt that he thought himself at the Institution addressing his attentive42 pupils, for he put on his most doctorial style, waved his hand, and began:
"Gentlemen, I have the honor on this auspicious43 occasion to present to you a man of the Quaternary period of our globe. Many learned men have denied his very existence, while other able persons, perhaps of even higher authority, have affirmed their belief in the reality of his life. If the St. Thomases of paleontology were present, they would reverentially touch him with their fingers and believe in his existence, thus acknowledging their obstinate44 heresy45. I know that science should be careful in relation to all discoveries of this nature. I am not without having heard of the many Barnums and other quacks46 who have made a trade of suchlike pretended discoveries. I have, of course, heard of the discovery of the kneebones of Ajax, of the pretended finding of the body of Orestes by the Spartiates, and of the body of Asterius, ten spans long, fifteen feet—of which we read in Pausanias.
"I have read everything in relation to the skeleton of Trapani, discovered in the fourteenth century, and which many persons chose to regard as that of Polyphemus, and the history of the giant dug up during the sixteenth century in the environs of Palmyra. You are well aware as I am, gentlemen, of the existence of the celebrated47 analysis made near Lucerne, in 1577, of the great bones which the celebrated Doctor Felix Plater declared belonged to a giant about nineteen feet high. I have devoured48 all the treatises49 of Cassanion, and all those memoirs50, pamphlets, speeches, and replies published in reference to the skeleton of Teutobochus, king of the Cimbri, the invader51 of Gaul, dug out of a gravel52 pit in Dauphine, in 1613. In the eighteenth century I should have denied, with Peter Campet, the existence of the preadamites of Scheuchzer. I have had in my hands the writing called Gigans—"
Here my uncle was afflicted53 by the natural infirmity which prevented him from pronouncing difficult words in public. It was not exactly stuttering, but a strange sort of constitutional hesitation54.
"The writing named Gigans—" he repeated.
He, however, could get no further.
"Giganteo—"
Impossible! The unfortunate word would not come out. There would have been great laughter at the Institution, had the mistake happened there.
Having got over our difficulty, and getting more and more excited—
"Yes, gentlemen, I am well acquainted with all these matters, and know, also, that Cuvier and Blumenbach fully recognized in these bones the undeniable remains of mammoths of the Quaternary period. But after what we now see, to allow a doubt is to insult scientific inquiry57. There is the body; you can see it; you can touch it. It is not a skeleton, it is a complete and uninjured body, preserved with an anthropological58 object."
"If I could but wash this corpse61 in a solution of sulphuric acid," continued my uncle, "I would undertake to remove all the earthy particles, and these resplendent shells, which are incrusted all over this body. But I am without this precious dissolving medium. Nevertheless, such as it is, this body will tell its own history."
Here the Professor held up the fossil body, and exhibited it with rare dexterity62. No professional showman could have shown more activity.
"As on examination you will see," my uncle continued, "it is only about six feet in length, which is a long way from the pretended giants of early days. As to the particular race to which it belonged, it is incontestably Caucasian. It is of the white race, that is, of our own. The skull of this fossil being is a perfect ovoid without any remarkable63 or prominent development of the cheekbones, and without any projection64 of the jaw5. It presents no indication of the prognathism which modifies the facial angle.[4] Measure the angle for yourselves, and you will find that it is just ninety degrees. But I will advance still farther on the road of inquiry and deduction65, and I dare venture to say that this human sample or specimen belongs to the Japhetic family, which spread over the world from India to the uttermost limits of western Europe. There is no occasion, gentlemen, to smile at my remarks."
[4] The facial angle is formed by two planes—one more or less vertical66 which is in a straight line with the forehead and the incisors; the other, horizontal, which passes through the organs of hearing, and the lower nasal bone. Prognathism, in anthropological language, means that particular projection of the jaw which modifies the facial angle.
Of course nobody smiled. But the excellent Professor was so accustomed to beaming countenances67 at his lectures, that he believed he saw all his audience laughing during the delivery of his learned dissertation68.
"Yes," he continued, with renewed animation69, "this is a fossil man, a contemporary of the mastodons, with the bones of which this whole amphitheater is covered. But if I am called on to explain how he came to this place, how these various strata70 by which he is covered have fallen into this vast cavity, I can undertake to give you no explanation. Doubtless, if we carry ourselves back to the Quaternary epoch, we shall find that great and mighty71 convulsions took place in the crust of the earth; the continually cooling operation, through which the earth had to pass, produced fissures72, landslips, and chasms73, through which a large portion of the earth made its way. I come to no absolute conclusion, but there is the man, surrounded by the works of his hands, his hatchets and his carved flints, which belong to the stony74 period; and the only rational supposition is, that, like myself, he visited the centre of the earth as a traveling tourist, a pioneer of science. At all events, there can be no doubt of his great age, and of his being one of the oldest race of human beings."
The Professor with these words ceased his oration75, and I burst forth76 into loud and "unanimous" applause. Besides, after all, my uncle was right. Much more learned men than his nephew would have found it rather hard to refute his facts and arguments.
Another circumstance soon presented itself. This fossilized body was not the only one in this vast plain of bones—the cemetery of an extinct world. Other bodies were found, as we trod the dusty plain, and my uncle was able to choose the most marvelous of these specimens77 in order to convince the most incredulous.
In truth, it was a surprising spectacle, the successive remains of generations and generations of men and animals confounded together in one vast cemetery. But a great question now presented itself to our notice, and one we were actually afraid to contemplate78 in all its bearings.
Had these once animated79 beings been buried so far beneath the soil by some tremendous convulsion of nature, after they had been earth to earth and ashes to ashes, or had they lived here below, in this subterranean80 world, under this factitious sky, borne, married, and given in marriage, and died at last, just like ordinary inhabitants of the earth?
The question which rendered us rather uneasy, was a pertinent82 one. Were any of these men of the abyss wandering about the deserted83 shores of this wondrous sea of the centre of the earth?
This was a question which rendered me very uneasy and uncomfortable. How, should they really be in existence, would they receive us men from above?
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1
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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quarries
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| n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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hatchets
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| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
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tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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verdigris
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| n.铜锈；铜绿 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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authenticity
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| n.真实性 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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13
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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geologists
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| 地质学家，地质学者( geologist的名词复数 ) | |
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15
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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skeptical
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| adj.怀疑的，多疑的 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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stratum
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| n.地层，社会阶层 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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24
scooped
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| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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26
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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39
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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42
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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43
auspicious
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| adj.吉利的；幸运的，吉兆的 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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45
heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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46
quacks
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| abbr.quacksalvers 庸医，骗子(16世纪习惯用水银或汞治疗梅毒的人)n.江湖医生( quack的名词复数 )；江湖郎中；（鸭子的）呱呱声v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的第三人称单数 ) | |
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47
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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49
treatises
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| n.专题著作，专题论文，专著( treatise的名词复数 ) | |
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50
memoirs
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| n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数) | |
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51
invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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52
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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53
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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55
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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growls
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的第三人称单数 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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57
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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58
anthropological
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| adj.人类学的 | |
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59
controvert
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| v.否定；否认 | |
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60
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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61
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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62
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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63
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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64
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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65
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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67
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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dissertation
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| n.（博士学位）论文，学术演讲，专题论文 | |
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69
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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70
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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71
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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72
fissures
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| n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 )；裂伤；分歧；分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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chasms
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| 裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别 | |
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74
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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75
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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78
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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79
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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80
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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81
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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pertinent
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| adj.恰当的；贴切的；中肯的；有关的；相干的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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