This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... except that of an "expert" is to be accepted as to the actual conditions under which objects have been asserted to have been found. The practical knowledge of a contractor whose business it is to excavate for cellars, sewers and other work necessitating removal of large quantities of sand, gravel and clay, is ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... except that of an "expert" is to be accepted as to the actual conditions under which objects have been asserted to have been found. The practical knowledge of a contractor whose business it is to excavate for cellars, sewers and other work necessitating removal of large quantities of sand, gravel and clay, is of real value and should be given the consideration which it deserves. Hypercriticism of testimony not "expert" only retards progress and is not inexorably demanded by science. It must be remembered, too, that there is never unanimity among geologists when glacial and preglacial deposits of gravel are examined. Such, at least, has been my experience. That evidence of early man in America would be welcomed by the scientific world is unquestioned, and Dr. Hrdlicka inclines to the view that the interior of the continent is more likely to produce it than anywhere along the eastern or western seaboard, but why the Missouri or Mississippi drainage areas are the more likely to reward the explorer than are the coastal plains is not apparent. While great migratory movements have followed the courses of a continent's principal rivers, and this naturally, in that an open country is more easily travelled than a forest or a waterless desert, it is to be borne in mind that all the attractions of a river valley are manifold greater along the ocean. The ever uppermost question of food supply must not be lost sight of, and surely the ocean offers greater facilities for obtaining it than does any river. We do not associate navigation even in its rudest form with primitive man, but if the ancient river-side dweller had his boats, we must consider that the Eskimo had his, and we do not know when he invented his kayak. The probabilities all seem to point in the...
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