Archaeology at St. Germain, beneath the shelves
bearing the remains which he discovered, which mark the beginning of a
new epoch in science, are drawers containing specimens hardly worthy of
a penny museum, but from which he drew the most unwarranted inferences
as to the language, religion, and usages of prehistoric man.

Boucher triumphed none the less. Among his bitter opponents at first was
Dr. Rigollot, who in 1855, searching earnestly for materials to refute
the innovator, dug into the deposits of St. Acheul--and was converted:
for he found implements similar to those of Abbeville, making still more
certain the existence of man during the Drift period. So, too, Gaudry a
year later made similar discoveries.

But most important was the evidence of the truth which now came from
other parts of France and from other countries. The French leaders in
geological science had been held back not only by awe of Cuvier but by
recollections of Scheuchzer. Ridicule has always been a serious weapon
in France, and the ridicule which finally overtook the supporters of
the attempt of Scheuchzer, Mazurier, and others, to square geology with
Genesis, was still remembered. From the great body of French geologists,
therefore, Boucher secured at first no aid. His support came from the
other side of the Channel. The most eminent English geologists, such as
Falconer, Prestwich, and Lyell, visited the beds at Abbeville and St.
Acheul, convinced themselves that the discoveries of Boucher, Rigollot,
and their colleagues were real, and then quietly but firmly told England
the truth.

And now there appeared a most effective ally in France. The
arguments used against Boucher de Perthes and some of the other early
investigators of bone caves had been that the implements found might
have been washed about and turned over by great floods, and therefore
that they might be of a recent period; but in 1861 Edward Lartet
published an account of his own excavations at the Grotto of Aurignac,
and the proof that man had existed in the time of the Quaternary animals
was complete. This grotto had been carefully sealed in prehistoric times
by a stone at its entrance; no interference from disturbing currents of
water had been possible; and Lartet found, in place, bones of eight out
of nine of the main species of animals which characterize the Quaternary
period in Europe; and upon them marks of cutting implements, and in the
midst of them coals and ashes.