530 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



obtained, triangular in section, with a single broad face on one 

 side and two narrower ones on the other. As might be 

 -expected, they vary considerably in form : some are broad and 

 lanceolate, others narrow and elongate, but all are used for the 

 same purposes. 



These flakes resemble in every respect those which we shall 

 encounter later on in the Magdalenian stage ; but the Australians 

 make other flaked implements, which strongly recall the still 

 later Solutrian. 



Spencer and Gillen, in describing the manufacture of the 

 Australian stone implements, remark that " some men are much 

 more skilful than others." To this it may be added that measure- 

 ment of the skull shows a wide range in cerebral capacity : there 

 is a difference of at least 400 cc. between the highest and 

 the lowest examples. But when we turn to palaeolithic man 

 similar differences as regards workmanship reveal themselves. 

 No one can look through a collection of implements from the 

 same locality, even when these are Chellean or Acheulean 

 bouchers, without being struck with their extraordinary 

 difference in style and finish : in some cases we seem to have 

 before us the work of a novice or mere bungler, in others our 

 admiration is aroused by truth in form and accuracy in detail, 

 where every stroke speaks of the master hand. Thus the 

 earliest records of our kind, as much as the facts of daily 

 experience, offer a contradiction to that amazing doctrine which 

 asserts the equality of individual men. Not equality but in- 

 equality is the universal and constant law ; and it is this 

 variation in endowment which lies at the base of all progress, 

 whether in the human or the animal world. 



The same observers also inform us that there are certain 

 localities where the best knives are made, and that for every 

 flake considered good enough to use at least a score are dis- 

 carded. This also finds a parallel in palaeolithic times ; for in 

 several localities, both in England and abroad, factories of 

 bouchers and other implements have been unearthed, where 

 every stage, from the rough nodule to the finished product, have 

 been observed, as well as abundant wastrels. 



Some of the Australian axes, made of a close-grained diorite, 

 are ground down, after they have been chipped into shape, 

 on a flat slab of sandstone, with the aid of sand and water. 

 Polished implements such as these are supposed to be the 



