Transcript 

of

William Pengelly, FRS, FGS [Part 2]

Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol. 45, (1913), illus., pp.423-444

by

Mrs Hester Forbes Julian (née Pengelly)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The paper was presented at the Association’s Buckfastleigh meeting, July 24th, 1913. It is the second in a series of memoires of William Pengelly, "Father of the Devonshire Association" by his daughter Hester. A self-taught geologist, Pengelly in 1858 first excavated a cave at Brixham. He accurately recorded the chronology of deposits, and found flint implements and extinct mammal remains comingled in the same layers. The Geological Society overseer, Hugh Falconer, saw the importance of these finds and later set up Evans and Prestwich to check the similar discounted reports of Boucher de Perthes in France. The result was a cascading and revolutionary new acceptance of human antiquity on both sides of the channel. Pengelly went on to supervise similar work at Kent's Cavern and Bovey Tracey, producing more pre-historic remains. Google with the Archive Organization has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. The Internet Archive makes available, in its Community Texts Collection (originally known as Open Source Books), books that have been digitised by Google from a number of libraries. These are books on which copyright has expired, and are available free for educational and research use. This rare book was produced from a copy held by the Princeton University Library, and is available from the Internet Archive.

Exploration of Kent’s Cavern.

The last and best-known geological work undertaken by William Pengelly, and the only one remembered by the present writer (who was the youngest child of his second family), was the exploration of Kent's Cavern, Torquay, which was not finished until 1880, having occupied between fifteen and sixteen years. The excavation commenced on March 27th, 1865, and was concluded on June 19th, 1880.
The caves at Torquay and Brixham may be compared to a palimpsest, on which is written the history of life on the globe, overlain by many subsequent writings, and frequently difficult to decipher. They afford evidence of the fact, so startling and unwelcome to certain minds, that man has gradually raised himself from a lower to a loftier level, and that he was the contemporary of several animals which cannot have existed in Britain for many thousands of years, and of a few like the Machairodus latidens, which have now disappeared from the face of the earth.
My father's Cavern researches were gratuitous; he was rewarded not indeed with money, but by discoveries of the utmost significance.
The trouble of inspecting the disinterring of the Cavern remains from their resting-place, and the patience and skill required in identifying them, can hardly be estimated by those who have not undertaken similar work.
Professor Boyd Dawkins, the author of Cave Hunting, writes thus of William Pengelly 's labours: -"Day by day, except when the work was stopped, he visited the Cave, and recorded on maps and plans the exact spot where each specimen was found, for no less than sixteen years. The vast collection of palaeolithic implements and fossil bones, each of which bears traces of his handiwork, is represented in most of the museums in this country, and the annual reports listened to with so much pleasure, by crowds at the meetings of the British Association, are the most complete that have ever been published.'
The importance of my father's discoveries in Kent's Hole of flint tools and weapons rudely chipped by prehistoric man, was increased by the evidence of a gradual advance in the character of the implements, and supplemented by the further bringing to light of bone needles and harpoons. The revolution which Darwin's theory (promulgated in 1859) made in the conception of the order and interrelation of life-forms, was scarcely more momentous than that wrought by the discoveries, to which Mr. Pengelly contributed so largely, through his work at Brixham Cave and Kent's Hole, since the old beliefs concerning man gradually gave way before these proofs of his slow advance from savagery to civilization.
The extreme care and accuracy for which the geologist was distinguished gained for the results of his work the acceptance of the scientific world, and the knowledge that he acquired in his Cavern researches enabled him to speak with authority in the various discussions which arose on the question of human antiquity.
Although a man of rapid intellectual movement, as proved by his extemporaneous speaking, he was ever on the alert lest he should fall into error either in observation or in inference, and his conclusions were the reverse of hasty.
It will be remembered by those interested in this branch of geology, that it was the remarkable results obtained from the excavation of Brixham Cavern which induced many leading geologists to desire a systematic exploration of Kent's Hole. It was therefore decided that an application for funds for that purpose should be made to the British Association at the meeting at Bath held in 1864, the response being a grant of £100 for the beginning of the work, Sir Charles Lyell, the President, taking an active interest in it. To the Bath Meeting, therefore, attaches a general interest in the history of British geology, and a fresh chapter in my father's scientific career was opened He not only superintended the excavation, but undertook its entire management, throwing himself wholeheartedly into the numerous duties which it entailed. The work was arduous, and severely taxed his energies for nearly sixteen years, but it was a congenial employment, and most carefully performed.
The partial explorations at Kent's Hole by Mr. Pengelly and Mr. Vivian in 1846, and by Mr. Godwin-Austen, and still earlier by Mr. MacEnery, have been already mentioned in the previous Paper. After undertaking the work in 1864 my father became such an enthusiast in its progress, that, when in Torquay, he never (unless prevented by illness) failed on a single week-day to visit the Cavern. He even abridged his short holidays, and finally abandoned all idea of living in London. Dr. Henry Woodward writes: "It falls to the lot of but few men, who have spent their lives in a provincial town, to attain to so eminent a position in science, and become so widely known and highly esteemed, as was the late William Pengelly, of Torquay”. It was the reality and value of his geological achievements which gained this wider fame and insured the stability of his scientific distinction.
With his friend Mr. Vivian he made arrangements for the opening of the Cavern early in 1865. This entailed much writing and thought, it being especially requisite to provide careful workmen, and two very trustworthy men were finally engaged.
Like that at Brixham, the exploration was undertaken by a Committee, but again practically the whole of the work fell on William Pengelly. At first the Committee consisted of Sir Charles Lyell, Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Evans, Sir John Lubbock (afterwards Lord Avebury), Professor Phillips, Mr. E. Vivian, and Mr. Pengelly - the Honorary Secretary and Reporter. In later years the following members were added; Mr. G. Busk in 1866, Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins in 1868, Mr. W. A. Sandford in 1869, and Mr. J. E. Lee in 1873.
Kent's Cavern is situated about a mile east from Torquay Harbour, and is in a small wooded limestone hill on the western side of a valley which terminates about half a mile southwards, on the northern shore of Torbay.
There are two entrances to the Cavern, about fifty feet apart, in the face of the same low, vertical, natural cliff, running nearly north and south, on the eastern side of the hill. Both these entrances are about six feet in height, and rather more in width, so that they thus afford an easy access to the cave.
Kent's Hole consists of a number of chambers or galleries, to which names had been given by earlier visitors, or were assigned for purposes of reference by Mr. Pengelly. These chambers formed two divisions, an eastern and a western, with two external entrances, a northern and a southern, each leading into the eastern division. My father writes: - "The northern entrance opens, through a short narrow passage, into a somewhat spacious chamber termed The Vestibule, measuring about 30 feet from north to south and 35 from east to west. From the north-western angle of The Vestibule, a gallery about 32 feet long and varying from 6 to 14 feet broad, extends north-easterly, and is known as the North-East Gallery. The Vestibule opens on its southern side into what is appropriately termed the Sloping Chamber, about 70 feet in extreme length from east to west, and 34 in greatest breadth." From the Sloping Chamber a passage, about 22 feet long and from 19 to 27 feet broad, known as the   “Passage of Urns” leads southwards into the "Great Chamber" of the eastern division, and a second passage was afterwards found connecting this with the western division.
The Great Chamber leads southwards into another chamber which measures about 40 feet from north to south, and 26 from east to west. To this was given the name of the "Lecture Hall” and from each of those chambers narrow branches, apparently parallel, lead in a south-easterly direction, whilst a passage opens south wards from the Lecture Hall, which is 17 feet wide and 50 feet long.
Although Mr. MacEnery and other explorers had broken up large portions of the deposits, much ground still remained intact. Mr. Pengelly selected for the first attempt a part of the Cavern - the Great Chamber - which not only was intact and thus virgin ground, but also seemed likely to present few difficulties in exploration. The material which occupied the floor of the cave exhibited as a rule the following succession: Blocks of limestone, some-times very large, which had clearly fallen from the roof. A layer of mould, almost black in colour, ranging from only a few inches to upwards of a foot in depth, known as the Black Mould. Beneath this was found a floor of Granular Stalagmite, firmly attached to the walls, seldom less, and frequently more, than a foot in thickness, doubtless formed by the drip of water from the roof. Then a red Cave-earth or loam, containing many limestone fragments, varying in size from bits not larger than a sixpence, to masses hardly less than those lying on the surface of the Mould; this exhibited no signs of stratification, and contained numerous interesting remains. Later, the Crystalline Stalagmite was discovered, and the oldest deposit, a Breccia detritus of Devonian Grits, containing "Nodule" tools, and bones of Cave-bear.
My father adopted the following system in the process of excavation. He first had the accessible portion of the Black Mould removed, then, after the limestone blocks on its surface had been broken up (occasionally by blasting), the remainder was taken away for careful examination. The floor of Granular Stalagmite was next stripped off, laying bare the Cave-earth, which was dug out ultimately to a depth of four feet in a series of prismatic blocks, a yard long and a foot square in sections, layer by layer. My father writes: "This material, after being carefully examined in situ by candlelight, is taken to the door and re-examined by daylight, after which it is at once removed without the Cavern. A box is appropriated to each 'yard' exclusively, and in it are placed all the objects of interest which the prism yields. The boxes, each having a label containing the data necessary for defining the situation of its contents, are daily sent to the Honorary Secretary of the Committee, by whom the specimens are at once cleaned and packed in fresh boxes. The labels are numbered and packed with the specimens to which they severally belong, and a record of the day's work is entered in a diary."
At the commencement of the explorations, only three deposits were known, namely, the Black Mould, succeeded by the Granular Stalagmite, overlying the Cave-earth. However, as the work proceeded, a section was laid bare, which clearly showed, in situ, in downward sequence, the floor of Granular Stalagmite, then the Cave-earth, next the Crystalline Stalagmite, and finally the Breccia. The accounts of the different deposits and the various remains found therein are only briefly alluded to, numerous papers on Kent's Cavern, written by Mr. Pengelly himself, having been already published in the Transactions of the Devonshire Association
In November, 1865, Sir John Lubbock, a member of the Kent's Hole Committee, came to see the Cavern, sketching many of the flint implements and taking numerous notes. The work soon aroused the attention not only of geologists, but also of other men of science.
In a letter from Edinburgh on 31 October, 1865, to Mr. Pengelly, Sir James Simpson wrote in the following appreciative manner: "You have worked more successfully on the archaeological secrets of caves than any other man living or dead."
My father had numerous friends in Scotland, where his geological work was highly esteemed, and in the following year, 1866, the Chair of Geology at Glasgow University being vacant, he was urged by some of his colleagues to become a candidate. Finding, however, from his friend Professor Joseph Lister (afterwards Lord Lister) that Zoology was also included, he renounced the idea, and as he was already reluctant to leave the Cavern, he wrote as follows to Sir Charles Lyell: "I at once decided, of course, not to become a candidate, and, truth to tell, I should regret having to leave my studies in Devonshire Geology. I wish the Government would endow a Chair (perhaps a camp-stool would be more suitable) of Vagabondage in this county and appoint me to it."
During the summer of 1867 the British Association met at Dundee, and in his account of the Geological Section, Sir Archibald Geikie writes: "Pengelly came with his annual racy account of the explorations at Kent's Cavern” In the Report for this year (the third) which he read at the meeting, my father mentioned the human jaw, in which so much interest has recently been taken by Dr. Duckworth and Professor Keith. This was found deeply embedded in the Granular Stalagmite, and Mr. Pengelly described it in the following manner: -
"The human remains are a tooth, and a portion of an upper jaw containing four teeth. They were found lying together in the Vestibule about 30 feet from the northern entrance of the Cavern, and deeply embedded in the floor, which was 20 inches thick. These interesting relics - the most ancient remains of man's osseous system which the Cavern has yet yielded - were found on the 3rd of January, 1867. The Black Band below the Stalagmite floor was extremely rich in objects, many of which are of great interest. They include bones and teeth of various animals and traces of the presence of man
"The Committee venture to entertain the opinion that the evidence which the last twelve months have put into their possession renders it impossible for anyone to doubt that man occupied Devonshire when it was also the home of the extinct lion, hyaena, bear, rhinoceros, mammoth and their contemporaries.
"Of the tools two . . . the bone awl and the 'harpoon’ [were] found in the Black Band, beneath the stalagmitic floor, in the Vestibule. ... In this same thin band there occurred, with the implements just mentioned, teeth of rhinoceros, hyæna and other of the common cave mammals, and the story they tell is at once clear and resistless. These, however, are neither the only, nor the best, bone implements which have been exhumed. Two others have been met with, and both of them in the Red Cave-earth, below the Black Band. One is a portion of a highly finished 'harpoon’, two and a quarter inches in length, and differing from that previously mentioned, in the form of its point, and in being barbed on two sides. . . . This implement was met with on March 18, 1867, in the Vestibule, in the second foot-level of Red Cave earth. Vertically above these two feet of loam, there lay the Black Band about three inches thick, and containing flint flakes and remains of extinct mammals; over this again came the stalagmitic floor, eighteen inches thick, granular towards its base, crystalline and laminated towards the upper surface, continuous in all directions, unquestionably intact, and without fracture or crevice of any kind; and superposed on this was the ordinary Black Mould, with Romano-British potsherds. . . . The second bone tool from the Cave-earth is a well-finished pin 3 ¼ inches in length."
A bone needle, partially covered with stalagmite, was also found during the year's exploration of 1866-7. There is unfortunately a fracture in the eye of the bone needle, the history of which it may be interesting to recall. When discovered it was perfect. The news of this "find" created considerable interest, and Mr. Pengelly was asked by a lady to exhibit it to her guests at a party. He consented to do so, and took much pains during the evening in showing his treasure. When the needle was again safely in his care his hostess came up suddenly, saying, "Oh, Mr. Pengelly, would you let me have the bone needle for a few minutes to show to Lord Lytton, who has just arrived?" With his customary good-nature the geologist gave it into her hands. In a few minutes it was restored to him, torn from the card on which it had been gummed down, threaded through the card, pin-wise, and the eye broken off and missing. For the short time he remained in the room, Mr. Pengelly had to conceal his distress as well as he might. As he would relate the story, "I went home, lay awake all night, and took counsel with one whose wit rarely failed to be of use to me in any difficulty - my wife." Her advice was that he should make his way to the house ere the family were astir, seek out the parlourmaid, and, explaining to her what was missing, should offer a handsome gratuity for its recovery. This was done, and he then took an anxious half-hour's stroll by the sea. On his return to the house, his inquiry was met by the production of the fragment, which he gladly exchanged for half a sovereign. Before the accident the needle had fortunately been seen by several members of the Committee and numerous other scientists.
With regard to some of the problems suggested by the Cavern deposits, the geologist wrote: "Were we to speculate respecting the probable interpretation of the Black Band found beneath the floor of the Vestibule-bearing in mind its very limited area, its position near the northern entrance of the Cavern, and within the influence of the light entering thereby, its numerous bits of charcoal and of burnt bones, its bone tools, and its very abundant, keen-edged, unworn and brittle chips and flakes of whitened flint, we might be tempted to conclude that we had not only identified Kent's Cavern as the home of one of our early ancestors, but the Vestibule as the particular apartment in which he enjoyed the pleasures of his own fireside; where he cooked and ate his meals; and where he chipped flint nodules and cut and scraped bones into implements for war, for the chase, and for domestic use."
About this time the explorer had the opportunity of conducting Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, Sir Douglas Galton, Sir Joseph Prestwich, Mr. Gwyn Jefferies, Mr. Godwin-Austen, and other scientists over the Cavern. He fully explained to them his methods of operation, and also displayed for their inspection a characteristic series of fossils and flint implements.
Professor Boyd Dawkins and Mr. Ayshford Sandford visited Torquay in the autumn of 1868 for the purpose of identifying the bones found in the Cavern, and assisting my father in their classification, these already numbering 60,000. During this year he had also the pleasure of showing Kent's Hole and explaining the work in hand to Archbishop Temple, the Duke of Somerset, Professor Tyndall, John Bright, the well-known statesman, and other friends, who were enthusiastic in their appreciation of the wonders of the Cavern, and the specimens disinterred from it.
In the following letter to my father from Sir Charles Lyell, the great geologist alludes to the visit of Professor Boyd Dawkins, and incidentally shows how careful and accurate an observer he considered Mr. Pengelly. Mention is also made of the interest taken in his work by the Queen of Holland.

73 Harley Street, London,
November 26th, 1868.

"Miss Coutts invited us last week to meet the Queen of Holland at a luncheon party at her house, and having the honour to sit next Her Majesty, she told me a good deal of her visit to Torquay, of which she had a lively recollection, especially on those points of the geology to which you had served as a guide. She said she had promised you the skull of an orang-outang, which had been sent to her and which she was told was a valuable specimen. I happened to say, ‘He will perhaps give it to the Torquay Museum'. She said, 'Why should he do that? I meant him to consider it entirely for himself.' I was glad to hear of the Beaver, but shall not be satisfied if Mr. Boyd Dawkins finds nothing new except that animal; although if such should be the case, it will prove how well you have been observing all the osteological details so that scarcely anything had escaped you."
My father was present at the British Association which met at Exeter in the autumn of 1869, and the Cathedral city being little more than an hour's journey from Torquay, the President, Sir G. G. Stokes, Lord Talbot de Malahide, Sir J. Kay-Shuttleworth, and many other men of science, assembled there, took the opportunity of visiting the Cavern under the explorer's own guidance.
At the "Red Lion Dinner," a gathering of sociability and good fellowship, a parody of Gray's Elegy was given. The last two verses being thus mentioned by Dr. Henry Woodward, who says: "But few men write their own epitaphs; here, however, is the epitaph written by William Pengelly for himself, at the British Association, Exeter, 1869."

EPITAPH.
Here rests his head on balls of album græcum,
A youth who loved Cave-earth and stalagmite;
If fossil bones they held, he'd keenly seek 'em;
Exhume and name them with supreme delight

His hammer, chisels, compass lie beside him;
His friends have o'er him piled this heap of stones.
Alas! Alas! Poor fellow! woe betide him
If, in the other world, there are no bones.

The verses amused many of his friends, and Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson wrote: - "Pray send me another copy or two of your wonderful elegy. I have learnt it already, and shall recite it at dinner to-night.”
The Cavern was now attracting great attention, being visited by various foreign celebrities, and amongst other Royal personages interested in the exploration was, as already stated, the Queen of Holland (Sophia of Wurtemberg), called by some writers "La Reine Rouge", on account of her liberal tendencies. In March, 1870, the Queen paid a second visit to Torquay, and was present at one of Mr. Pengelly's lectures. My mother describes this visit in the following letter to her sister: -

"Torquay,
"March 8, 1870.

"... I think I told you William was asked to meet Her Majesty at afternoon tea at Miss Burdett-Coutts' the day after her arrival. She talked a good deal to him, November, and had then invited William to spend the evening with her at the hotel, . . . and has given William the skull of an orang-outang which she had, and thought he would value.
"On Monday she expressed a wish to attend William's lecture at the Museum - one of a geological course he is delivering there . . . she looked very much interested, and when the lecture was over, crossed over to tell William how pleased she had been, but said it was too short. . . . We met again at Miss Burdett-Coutts', where a brilliant party was assembled. . . . The Queen talked a good deal to William about a hasty journey he had arranged for her into Cornwall, and which she found very satisfactory. She also conversed with me. . . . The Queen is delighted with Torquay and her reception here, and says she shall come again. . . ."
In the following year (1871) Professor Sir W. Dawson, who was engaged in preparing some articles on geology, wrote to Mr. Pengelly, saying: - "I propose to take your explorations of Kent's Cavern as one of the best and most instructive examples, and almost the only one deserving of much confidence."
During this summer the British Association, in its cycle of changes, assembled at Edinburgh. In the Seventh Report on Kent's Cavern, presented at this meeting, the explorer described the progress made during the last twelve months.
On his return from the hospitalities of the northern capital he was again closely occupied at the Cavern. It may be amusing to record how his servants profited by their scientific surroundings, as shown by the following account. After the Cavern exploration had continued for about six years, a neighbour called one day and said, "Mr. Pengelly, you remember that our cook once lived with you?" "Yes." "Well, yesterday she and the nurse were heard having the following discussion. Said the cook, 'Mr. Pengelly calls the bones what he finds to Kent's Cavern 'Possils' bones, but I say how can he know the bones of the 'Possils from the bones of other men?' Well,' said the nurse, 'I've heard say as he is uncommon clever; besides, nobody knows where the Garden of Eden was, and, if so, why shouldn't it be here, and if 'twas here, where else should the bones of the Apostles be? 'and expressed a wish to call on Thursday, which she did, with her suite. When I was introduced to her she . . . said how pleased she was to make my acquaintance; she took much notice of little Hettie (Lydia, being at school, missed seeing her), asking her questions and petting her. . . . The Queen had visited the Cavern when here for a few days last Later in this year Professor Roemer, of Breslau, and other German savants, with Colonel Krupp (inventor of the new gun), visited Kent's Hole and discussed the various problems raised by the excavations.
During the same autumn (1871) the ex-Emperor Napoleon III, with the Prince Imperial and Prince Murat, came to Torquay. They visited Kent's Cavern, under the guidance of William Pengelly, and seemed greatly interested, giving careful attention to all the evidences of prehistoric life pointed out.
My mother, writing to a friend, alludes briefly to the Emperor's sojourn at the watering-place.
"September 20, 1871. . . . William called by invitation on the ex-Emperor Napoleon to-day (he has been staying here for some time with his son). He was extremely pleasant, and anxious to hear all about the Cavern. ..."
A few days later she thus describes a visit paid to Lamorna.
"October 2nd. . . . The Emperor, accompanied by the Prince Imperial, Prince Achille Murat, Dr. Conneau and his son, and several members of the suite, called on us to-day, to see the fossils, etc. It was a very informal visit. He introduced his son, a nice bright, intelligent-looking boy, who seemed to take a lively interest in his father's conversation with William, relative to the various objects found in the Cavern. Speaking of the habitats of various animals the Emperor mentioned that the rat, which had entered Paris with the Allies, had quite destroyed the old rats, and supplanted them there. The party remained for some time, talking and examining the various remains. . . ."
The Emperor sent the following autograph letter to my father soon afterwards: 

"Torquay, le 17 Octobre, 1871.

"Je lirai, monsieur, avec un vif interet les livres que vous avez bien voulu m'envoyer, et qui renferment les résultats importans de vos scientifiques recherches. Je saisis cette occasion de vous remercier de l'obligeance que vous m'avez temoignée, et je vous prie de recevoir mes sentimens distingués.

"NAPOLEON.

"Je vous prié de faire également mes remerciments à votre ami, M. Vivian."
Other visitors about this time were the Prince and Princess of Oldenburg, Earl Russell, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Bishop Callaway, Sir J. Burdon Sanderson, Sir Samuel Baker, the American Ambassador, Professor W. K. Clifford, and Sir Henry Roscoe.
A well-known geologist writes: -
"The unremitting and gratuitous labour which Pengelly for many years devoted to Kent's Cavern met with a reward of a rather unusual kind. In maturer life he was positively courted by all ranks of society, from Queens and Emperors down to ordinary tourists and literary men. The simplicity of his tastes, of his mode of living, and of his general demeanour was never spoiled by the flattery, direct and indirect, of which he was so frequently the recipient."
Mr. Pengelly visited the famous Mentone Cavern during the spring of 1872, and also inspected the human skeleton found therein, which had been removed to Paris. The discoverer, M. Riviere, considered this a relic of palæolithic times, and my father was inclined to share his view. He remarked, however, that the exploration (which was still in progress at the time of his visit) was not conducted in a properly systematic manner. Considerable difference of opinion has existed amongst competent scientific experts as to whether the skeleton should be considered neolithic or palæolithic. Mr. Pengelly's experience of Cavern researches, and his philosophic acumen, rendered his elucidation of the various questions raised particularly valuable to French men of science. His advice was eagerly sought for by M. Broca, Professor Milne Edwards, and other distinguished savants. After this visit he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Anthropological Society of Paris, and this brought him into friendly intercourse with many Parisian anthropologists and geologists, men who were in the forefront of the scientific progress and endeavour of the age. Only a short interval could be spared for this continental journey, and in a fortnight the traveller was back again at Torquay continuing his explorations.
He was never willingly absent from the Cavern for more than a few days, for his self-sacrificing task was not a mere superficial superintendence of the work of the labourers, such as had previously been engaged in fitfully though with interesting results, by others. He took such precautions as secured absolute accuracy in identifying the respective positions of all the remains discovered, and the situation to which they belonged, every bone that was brought to light being washed by his own hands, and with the assistance of skilled palaeontologists carefully described. How needful was this untiring and persevering energy was well illustrated by a discovery which rewarded the labour of more than seven years' patient research. This was nothing less than the unearthing of a tooth of the sabre-toothed tiger, the Machairodus latidens, the existence of which in the Cave, as indicated by specimens found in MacEnery's collections, geologists had previously refused to believe. During the remaining eight years that the excavation was continued no second specimen was found, so that this discovery was of unique interest.
It was towards the end of this summer (1872) that my father had the satisfaction of discovering from Kent's Hole this relic of the Machairodus latidens. He announced his important find at the close of his Annual Report of the Cavern Committee, read before the Geological Section of the British Association at Brighton during August, in the following words:—
"... The other specimen is a well-marked incisor of Machairodus latidens, found July 29, 1872.
"... One of the hopes of the Cavern Committee, in commencing their researches, was that they might find some traces of Machairodus. This they have never abandoned, though year after year passed away without success ; and they cannot but express their gratitude to the body, whose patience and liberality has enabled them to continue their labours until this hope was realized. The greater part of the Report was written before the discovery was made; and had the work ceased on July 28, 1 872, those who always declined to believe that Machairodus had ever been found in Kent's Cavern would have been able to urge as an additional argument, the fact that the consecutive, systematic, and careful daily labours of seven years and four months had failed to show that their scepticism was unreasonable. This great accumulation of negative evidence has been for ever set aside, and all doubt of Mr. MacEnery's accuracy for ever removed, by the discovery the Committee have now had the pleasure to announce." An incident mentioned by the Rev. W. Harpley, which occurred during the reading of the Report, will have an additional interest, from being given in Mr. Harpley's own words. He writes that - "He had the pleasure of being Mr. Pengelly's companion at the meeting of the British Association at Brighton in 1872. While returning from the railway station, whither they had gone together to see after the safe transit of the boxes containing the bones, implements, etc., collected during the previous year's exploration of Kent's Cavern, Mr. Pengelly was suddenly seized with hemorrhage in the throat; this produced a fainting fit, from which he speedily recovered, but great weakness of the throat succeeded. Mr. Pengelly was induced by medical advice to abstain as much as possible from using his voice during the meeting, and the writer undertook to read his report for him. On reaching that portion which referred to the discovery of the 'Tooth,' Mr. Pengelly, with his characteristic enthusiasm and impulsiveness, seized the manuscript, and said, ' Oh, I must read this at all hazards ! ' and finished the reading, in spite of the pain he suffered, amid the cheers and acclamations of the savants assembled in Section C."
Mr. Pengelly's fame as a cave-hunter was not acquired without much labour and self-sacrifice. The patient and unwearied explorer visited day after day the dark recesses of the Cavern, superintending the systematic removal of the deposits layer by layer, afterwards collecting the contents, and recording every detail. These researches and the scientific spoil he drew from Kent's Hole in the shape of flint implements, and remains of vanished types of animal life, made his name renowned.
But he was not only a careful and accurate searcher after truth, he was also a most light-hearted and kindly colleague. Eminent visitors crowded to see the Cavern, and he fascinated them with his genial spirit, his readiness to explain the discoveries he had made, and his scientific enthusiasm. In fact, people seemed to think that his time was public property, and his growing reputation induced everyone of importance who visited the watering-place to call upon him. Had he been less closely occupied this would have been pleasant enough, for he was naturally sociable and fond of intellectual companionship, but being engaged in lecturing and teaching, the time spent in polite attention to visitors was a serious sacrifice.
In the early autumn of 1874, a rapid journey to Ireland enabled the explorer to attend the Association gathering at Belfast, and announce the discoveries of the year to his geological brethren of the hammer.
The British Association at Bristol in 1875 was a memorably successful meeting, and in response to a request from Professor Rolleston, of Oxford, Mr. Pengelly read a Paper before the Anthropological Department, in addition to communicating his usual Report on the Cave at the Geological Section. This Paper, entitled "Anthropological Discoveries in Kent's Cavern," was greatly appreciated by the numerous foreign savants present, and by the large gathering of British geologists also assembled at Bristol. After a year of unremitting labour he revisited the Western Highlands, and, whilst there, attended the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow in 1876 to present the Kent's Hole Report. He lectured in Scotland in December, 1875, and again in the early part of 1877 at Glasgow and Dundee, on the Cavern researches, all these rapidly succeeding northern journeys being hastily accomplished. He invariably experienced a most kindly Scotch welcome, and nowhere were his lectures and papers more warmly received than north of the Tweed. The Duke of Argyll, writing to him in 1876, says, "I have never heard a clearer lecturer, nor one with so much enthusiasm for his subject." Some working men in the audience were so deeply interested that they afterwards journeyed to Torquay on purpose to visit the Cave.
Mr. Pengelly presided over the Geological Section of the British Association Meeting held at Plymouth in August, 1877, taking for the subject of the Address "The History of Cavern Exploration in Devonshire.”
Scientific colleagues gathered round him, for he was not only interested in his own work, but had a wide philosophical outlook, and he was most warmly supported by his brother geologists. The public also were attracted by the Chairmanship of one who had taken a leading part in establishing, on a scientific basis, the belief in the antiquity of man.
His Address was listened to with close attention and spoken of as constituting one of the most interesting features of the meeting. A strong body of geologists attended, and afterwards came to Torquay, accompanied by Lord Lister and other scientists, to see the Cavern and witness the evidences of prehistoric life under Mr. Pengelly's direction.
In the following year my father revisited Ireland, and during his stay in the Hibernian capital read his annual Cavern Report to the members of the British Association assembled at Dublin.
The exploration of Kent's Hole terminated on June 19th, 1880, and the completion of these researches marked his last important geological work. It was a fitting close to his long and laborious scientific career, which was characterized by a past President of the Geological Society as leaving "a record equalled by few and surpassed by none."
But any adequate review of his labours and their value must of necessity He wholly beyond the range of the present biographical sketch. During the final year of the work the Rev. Canon Greenwell of Durham visited Torquay, and soon afterwards the distinguished archaeologist sent the following appreciative letter to Mr. Pengelly: -
"You will not, I am sure, think it impertinent in me, when I express my obligation for the most careful, patient, and scientific way in which you have conducted the exploration of Kent's Cavern. Though I was aware how thoroughly it had been done, I certainly did not rightly appreciate the wonderful effort of patience it must have been to go on year after year and inch by inch. Few persons could have put such a restraint upon themselves as you must have done, and have worked with such a singleness of purpose. Prehistoric archaeology owes you a deep debt of gratitude.”
The report of 1880, the sixteenth and last, presented at Swansea, records the completion of the work, and gives an account of a second and deeper excavation in that part of the Cavern named the Long Arcade.
This was especially interesting, being carried to an additional depth of five feet below the bottom of the four-feet excavation, making a total depth of nine feet below the bottom of the floor of Granular Stalagmite; it was thus made almost entirely in the well-known Breccia. Only eighteen finds were discovered. Three good nodule tools were met with in the eighth foot-level, and several flint chips in the ninth or lowest. Of the animal remains, two were bears' teeth and one the crown of the tooth of a rhinoceros. No animal relic was found beneath the seventh foot-level.
On June 15th, 1880 (only four days before the suspension of the work), a mass of flint, owing its irregular form to artificial chipping, was found alone, in the Breccia, in the ninth foot-level.
It is worthy of remark that this second and deeper excavation yielded a greater number of archaeological than of palæontological finds.
The Cave-earth contained remains of more than twenty important mammalian species, but the fauna of the Breccia consisted almost exclusively of remains of bear, though there were traces also of lion, fox, deer, etc.
The exploration of Kent's Cavern was the most thorough and systematic of the kind which had ever been under-taken. Work of this sort is peculiarly exacting, for it cannot be entrusted to workmen, however steady and careful, nor left to a Committee, whose members may be fitful and infrequent in their visits; as Professor Bonney has pointed out, it demands the constant oversight of one man, who thoroughly understands the subject, and knows "when special precautions must be taken in order to place some discovery of exceptional interest beyond the risk of dispute, by recognizing at once the defects in a chain of evidence, which might afford an opportunity to the critic and an excuse to the sceptic.' ' This oversight and superintendence were given by my father. The various specimens discovered, as already stated, all passed through his hands, were washed and cleaned, labelled and recorded by him. The labour was arduous, the number of the specimens being counted by thousands. He mentions in one of his Papers, that throughout all the years during which the excavation was in progress, he not only visited the Cavern almost every day, but spent over the work on an average five hours daily. A remarkable record of devotion to Science on the part of a man who was not in independent circumstances and had to earn an income by lecturing and teaching, for it was only through an inheritance that came to his wife that the last decade of his life was spent in affluence.
Calling attention to a matter of great importance in comparing the implements found in the Cave-earth and in the Breccia, my father writes: -
"A glance at the implements from the two deposit shows that they are very dissimilar. Those from the Breccia are much more rudely formed, more massive, have less symmetry of outline, and were made by operating, not on flakes purposely struck off from nodules of flint or chert, as in the case of those from the Cave-earth, but directly on the nodules themselves, all of which appear to have been obtained from accumulations of supracutaneous flint gravel, such as occur about four miles from the Cavern. There seems no doubt, then, that the Breccia men were ruder than those of the Cave-earth; and this is borne out by the fact that, whilst the men represented by the less ancient deposit made bone tools and ornaments-harpoons for spearing fish, eyed-needles or bodkins, probably for joining skins together, awls perhaps to facilitate the passage of the slender needle or bodkin through the tough thick hides, pins for fastening the skins they wore, and perforated badgers' teeth for necklaces or bracelets - nothing of the kind has been found in the Breccia. In short, the stone tools, though both sets were unpolished and coeval with extinct mammals, represent two distinct civilizations. It is equally clear that the ruder men were the more ancient, for their tools were lodged in a deposit, which, whenever the two occurred in the same vertical section, was invariably the under-most."
The deposits differing markedly in character, and being frequently separated by stalagmite, and a breaking up of this and a partial clearing out of the Breccia having preceded the deposition of the Cave-earth, my father drew the inference that there must have been a period of time between the two incapable of compression within narrow limits, and representing a great chronological interval.
Amongst those who took much interest in the explorations, and honoured William Pengelly by visiting him at his residence, Lamorna, Torquay, and inspecting the geological collections, was His Majesty the King, then Prince George of Wales. On that occasion the present writer remembers that Prince George was specially interested in viewing the bones gnawed and split by hyaenas and the flint implements found in the Cave, being reminded of similar specimens inspected in the Museum at Copenhagen. The Prince was very anxious that Mr. Pengelly should see the latter. The geologist had several friends amongst Scandinavian Professors, and he had long cherished the hope of visiting the Danish capital, and examining the interesting archaeological and anthropological collections there, but unfortunately this wish was never gratified.
After the completion of the excavation he had the full intention of publishing a book on the Cavern, and thus giving to the scientific world the results of his conclusions in a more complete form than could be found in his scattered papers to various institutions; but by degrees the conclusion forced itself upon him that the task must be given up, seeing how entirely his time was occupied with gratuitous work for local societies, with all the incidental duties and interruptions which this involved. He wrote to a correspondent in 1884, saying: - "I have more writing on my hands than I shall ever get through." Had the book which he contemplated been written, it was felt by scientists that it would have proved a really important contribution to geological literature.
His old friend Mr. A. R. Hunt, F.G.S., F.L.S., writes: - "The British Association Reports are monuments of Mr. Pengelly's indomitable perseverance and accuracy fits an observer and recorder, but the relinquishment of his intention to write a monograph on the cave as a whole, has nevertheless proved an incalculable loss to science, as the knowledge and experience gained during his sixteen years' work was absolutely unique, and this nothing can replace."
As a scientific investigator his fame is principally centred in these exhaustive explorations at Kent's Hole; but although his daily duties (as long as his strength lasted) were of too engrossing a character to enable him to realize his intention of writing a comprehensive work on the Cave, yet the activity of his pen is sufficiently attested by the fact that in the Catalogue of the Royal Society considerably over a hundred Papers are placed to his credit.
The interest of the discoveries which rewarded his untiring devotion to science should serve as a stimulus to the struggling student of other days, for almost the whole of his long and laborious life was passed in the prosecution of geological researches, without any idea of advantage or benefit to himself. He willingly abandoned all thought of wealth or hope of advancement in life in order to devote himself wholeheartedly to the work which he loved so well He was not only an ardent geologist but also a devout believer, and never distressed by the alleged antagonism of religion and science, convinced that if the facts surely revealed to us by the investigations of Nature are at variance with certain preconceived dogmas, we must reconsider the latter in the light of the former.
After the meaning of his discoveries had been fully recognized, few candid inquirers could refuse to accept the new teaching as to the antiquity of man. His own faith as a Christian had not been in the least shaken by these changes in the scientific view of the history of the world. The Bible was, he thought, "Wise unto salvation," other wisdom he sought elsewhere.
His conclusions involving a belief in the great antiquity of the human race, and the existence of palaeolithic man in the pleistocene age, were exceedingly repugnant to many people, and he and those who shared his views were assailed with an outcry which the temper of the present day can scarcely understand, much less appreciate.
But these controversies had no effect upon the firmness of his religious convictions. He lived and died a sincere and simple-minded Christian.
He was a man of liberal views, broad sympathies, and many interests, and his scientific pursuits represented only a part of his activity, so that he never lost touch with contemporary life and thought. Political and social subjects claimed his attention, and also those questions of practical philanthropy, which appeal so strongly to a sympathetic nature. Personal renown was a matter of indifference to him, but he greatly appreciated the warm regard of the friends whom he loved. After my father's death, which occurred in 1894, Sir Archibald Geikie, the Director-General of the Geological Survey, wrote: - "I know how entirely he deserved to be loved and honoured”.
Another eminent geologist, the Rev. Professor Bonney, also wrote: - "Full of years, much beloved, and with his scientific work widely recognized, he has gone to his rest. It will be long before his work is forgotten, for his name is inseparably linked to the history of caves and the annals of primæval man. We, his friends, in our turn must cease from labour and pass within the veil, but till that hour comes, one memory will remain ever quick in our minds. It is that of the genial presence, the kindly spirit and the playful wit, which could brighten every gathering, and give a zest even to the driest subjects."
The centenary of William Pengelly's birth found his name firmly enrolled amongst famous English geologists, but his reputation was not British only, for in the words of his friend the late Lord Lister, "The importance of his acutely planned and perseveringly conducted cave exploration is recognized throughout the scientific world."