"2 Amials of the South African M/tsciivi. 



they that it is difficult to beheve they could have evolved inde- 

 pendently, but it is probable that the African examples had their 

 origin in fragments due to accidental fracturing of rocks. 



The proposition that their evolution took place in Africa, and 

 perhaps South Africa, seems to me quite plausible. Were it possible 

 to postulate for man (whether anthropomorphous ape or not) a very 

 ancient origin — ancient in a geological sense — it is certainly to Africa 

 that one would turn to find his original home, because for incalcu- 

 lable time a large part of Africa has been uncovered by the sea. 

 'This is, however, a hazardous plea, because the existence of Ter- 

 tiary man has hitherto not been asserted with any likelihood of 

 probability. 



The type aforesaid consists of massive fragments of rock trimmed 

 sometimes on one, sometimes on both sides, into cleaving, digging, 

 or smiting artefacts, which, whether found in Europe, Asia, Central 

 America, &c., bear such an extraordinary resemblance to each other 

 that one is forced to the conclusion that the type could not have 

 been invented in places so far apart in a spontaneous manner. 

 Although it is quite possible that stone implements of a different 

 character may have evolved from the growing intellectual power 

 of man, it seems impossible that a uniform shape could have resulted 

 from what must of necessity have been rude, uncouth methods, and 

 from material differing in composition. To intercourse or migration 

 of races this result is probably due. On the other hand, if the natural 

 •texture of the material used allows under any kind of concussion the 

 preliminary fracture that leads to the evolution of the finer artefacts, 

 then, of course, w^e may dismiss from our mind these important 

 factors — immigration, emigration, or intercourse. 



Professor W. J. Sollas has proposed lately the term " boucher " 

 for this type, which I should have otherwise dubbed " palaeolith," 

 in honour of Boucher de Perthes, the French savant who was, if not 

 the first discoverer, at least the first interpreter, of the occvirrence of 

 implements of that type which he found in the gravels of the river 

 Somme. 



It is highly desirable that this term should be adopted, because 

 ithe other appellations either mean nothing, or imply a purpose for 

 which they were probably never intended. 



One point, however, cannot be disproved, and that is, the South 

 African paleeoliths, other than the ubiquitous and probably surviving 

 type of knife-scraper, correspond to the " celt " of the English, the 

 " coup de poing " or the " hache a talon " of the French, the " beil " 

 -of the German, the " hachas " of the Spaniard, &c., &c. Of the 



