It is easy now, from this view, to understand why the presence of fossil remains in such places as this, may prove nothing respecting their remote antiquity. Neither does the nature of the stratum do that ; as the bones of the Irish deer, to recur to the presnt question, may be found in gravel, in sand, in indurated mud, or even in a very compact marl, without, nevertheless, being of a higher antiquity than those which occur in the peats.
Such cases are instances, however, of recent and loose alluvia only. But there are many, in which alluvia of a date quite as modern may form solid rocks ; whether in lakes, or during the courses of rivers merely, or on sea shores. The Italian travertine is an example of this par ticular case, and a very striking one ; since, while it forms a solid rock, fitted even for building, it contains organic substances even of the most recent origin, and the species or kinds of which, both animal and vegetable, are still in habitants of the surrounding country. The rock of Guadaloupe, embodying human skeletons, and mentioned in another part of this article, is a noted instance of an analogous nature. Remembering the error to which this at first gave rise, we must be cautious lest we decide on the remote antiquity of fossils, except after a thorough knowledge of the nature of the including strata. We thought it necessary to introduce these remarks in this place, because they apply to other cases of fossils of doubtful high antiquity, as well as to the elk in question ; and, among the rest, to some of the species of ox.
The horns of the Irish elk are more frequently found than any other part ; a remark generally to he made re specting the whole genus when in a fossil state. The cause is sufficiently obvious ; as it being a property of all the deer tribe to reproduce those parts once a-year, it is evident, that there may be twenty, thirty, or more sets of fossil horns for every fossil skeleton, or head, or single bone. It is probable also that the horns are more durable than the bones, when thus imbedded. The skull, with the horns attached, has, however, been occasionally found, as have many other bones; and, of the former, a very large specimen is now in the British Museum. From the dimensions of this, and, indeed, from others that are known, we may conclude that this elk has been a very large, as well as a very powerful animal. The length of the spinous processes of the last cervical and first dorsal vertebrae in other specimens is well adapted to bear the enormous weight of the head. The length of the horns in question is five feet two inches, and the greatest breadth of the palm, independent of its branches, is one foot eleven inches; its length being two feet six inches. The space between their extremities is nearly eleven feet. The length of the skull is two feet, and its breadth one.
Cuvier remarks that the horn of this deer does not cor respond either to those of the elk or the rein-deer. In the latter, the brow antler is palmated; but in this fossil animal it is simple, though somewhat flattened. With respect to the elk, the fossil horns are not only much lar ger, and have also fewer branches ; but there are other differences, which could not be rendered intelligible with out comparative plates. It is remarkable in the fossil animal that the head does not keep pace with the enor mous size of the horns. The resemblance to the moose deer is equally imaginary ; nor, in fact, is there any real difference between that animal and the European elk.
The same elk, as it occurs in the Isle of Man, where it appears to be abundant, is found under circumstances of considerable geological interest, although these are not very easy to explain. Their position, in this case at least, seems to suggest a much higher degree of antiquity, and one, indeed, that ought to he beyond the reach of his torical record ; of European history at least. It appears that these are limited to that alluvial tract called the Curragh, which lies on the north of the Island, and that they occupy but a small space even here. They appear, in fact, to he collected, as it were, into a herd ; and gen erally the skeletons are entire, or, at least, if bones are wanting, there is no dispersion of them. Farther, it has been remarked, that they are generally in an erect posi tion ; and the common people of the country who have dug them out, and who have no hypothesis to serve, as sert that their noses, when thus erect, are elevated as high as possible. The natural conclusion from these facts is, that this has been a herd suddenly surrounded by the materials in which the specimens now lie, so as to have been inclosed and preserved in their living attitudes. An inundation of water and gravel, or sand and mud, would explain this, when favoured by peculiar circumstances in the form of the land ;, while the preservation of the erect posture, no less than the very singular position of the nose, proves that the operation must have been gradual ; the animal's last efforts having been those of keeping its head as long as possible above the flood.
If these facts have been correctly stated, and, from the simplicity of the evidence and of the witnesses both, we see no reason to doubt them, they serve to establish a very important fact in geology respecting local deluges or inundations. Dr. Macculloch has noticed, in his descrip tion of the Isle of Man, the probability that the alluvial tract in question has been the result of a current direct ed towards the north ; and that opinion is strongly corro borated by these facts, which had not at that time been brought to light.