Alfred
Russel Wallace : Alfred Wallace : A. R. Wallace :
Russel Wallace : Alfred Russell Wallace (sic)
The Antiquity of Man (S248c: 1875)
Editor Charles H. Smith's Note: Part of a letter from Wallace read at the 20 April 1875 meeting
of the Adelaide Philosophical Society in Australia; later reported under this title as part of the
article "Adelaide Philosophical Society" on pages 5 and 6 of the 21 April 1875 issue of the South
Australian Register, with the portion on Wallace appearing on page 5. To link directly to this
page connect with: http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S248C.htm
Mr. C. A. Wilson said he had received a letter from his cousin, Mr. A. R. Wallace,
concerning a question which he asked him about the fossil man of Mentone, in the South of
France. Mr. Wallace said:--"The fossil man of Mentone to which you refer did not, I believe, add
much to our knowledge of the antiquity of man. It was probably not older than other remains
found in the caves of the South of France, and it appears to have been taken away without
sufficient care having been taken to ascertain its exact position and all the minute details of its
surroundings, which might have enabled some better opinion of its age to be formed. As a perfect
skeleton of a pre-historic man it is interesting, but not as being of any remarkable proved
antiquity. I do not know if any special work has been published on it. I do not consider it nearly
so interesting or instructive as the annual reports on the exploration of Kent's cavern, given in the
Transactions of the British Association, and generally also in full in 'Nature.'"
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