This, however, has been attempted. From calculations of the time required to form a bed of peat, some have attempted to compute the duration of certain periods of the age of stone, of the age of bronze, and of the age of iron.
But the results have been so discordant as to throw doubt upon the method. Then the accumulations of débris thrown up by torrents of the Alps have been studied, and, in particular, an accumulation of this kind known under the name of the cone of Tinnière. A railroad has cut through these materials, which have probably been accumulating ever since the commencement of the present epoch, and in the cut there have been found débris reaching back in one case to the Gallo-Roman epoch, in others to the Roman epoch—these to the epoch of iron, those to that of bronze, and, finally, to the epoch of stone.
As we know the duration of some of these periods, it has been thought possible by a simple proportion, taking account of the thickness of the beds, to go back to the epoch of the first formation of the cone. But here again, I repeat, the results are so uncertain that we cannot give them any serious confidence.
We cannot, then, give precise figures. Yet, from all these researches, and from archæologic facts not less demonstrated, it results that it is necessary to go back much farther than we have been accustomed to, to look for the advent of man upon the earth. Let me cite you just one of these proofs.
You were at the Universal Exposition—probably you entered the Egyptian Temple. At the bottom of the hall, facing the entrance, you saw a statue—that of King Cephren. This statue goes back something like four thousand years before our era. Consequently, it was sculptured about six thousand years ago. Now, you may know that the work was very difficult, for the stone of which it is made is very hard. The statue is remarkably perfect. From this, as well as from other data, we learn that in Egypt, six thousand years ago, civilization was already much advanced. We must, therefore, date back the origin of the Egyptians more than six thousand years. But we shall presently see that Egypt was not the first inhabited country. Man must have come there from his original home. Consequently, his first appearance on the globe will be found much more remote in time.
So we are now certain of the existence of Quaternary man; we already suspect the existence of Tertiary man, and it is precisely in our country that the discoveries which led to these conclusions were made.
