works of man from undisturbed loam or clay, under stalagmite, mingled with the remains of extinct animals, and that all these must have been introduced 'before the stalagmite flooring had been formed.' He maintained that such facts could not be explained away by the hypothesis of sepulture, as in Dr. Buckland's well-known case of the human skeleton of Paviland, because in the Devon cave the flint implements were widely distributed through the loam, and lay beneath the stalagmite.
As the osseous and other contents of Kent's Hole had, by repeated diggings, been thrown into much confusion, it was thought desirable in 1858, when the entrance of a new and intact bone-cave was discovered at Brixham, three or four miles west of Torquay, to have a thorough and systematic examination made of it. The Royal Society made two grants towards defraying the expenses,[1] and a committee of geologists was charged with the investigations, among whom Mr. Prestwich and Dr. Falconer took an active part, visiting Torquay while the excavations were in progress under the superintendence of Mr. Pengelly. The last-mentioned geologist had the kindness to conduct me through the subterranean galleries after they had been cleared out in 1859; and I saw, in company with Dr. Falconer, the numerous fossils which had been taken from the subterranean fissures and tunnels, all labelled and numbered, with references to a journal kept during the progress of the work, and in which the geological position of every specimen was recorded with scrupulous care.
The discovery of the existence of this suite of caverns near the sea at Brixham was made accidentally by the roof of one of them falling in. None of the five external openings now exposed to view in steep cliffs or the sloping side of a
- ↑ When these grants failed, Miss Burdett Coutts, then residing at Torquay, liberally supplied the funds for completing the work.
