the president's address. 335. 



valley of the Sommeof flint implements, which were well illus- 

 trated. An old friend of mine, an eminent antiquary, Charles 

 Roach Smith, F.S.A., also a close personal friend of the dis- 

 coverer, showed the book tonie, expressing his perfect belief in 

 the genuineness of the objects represented. But it would be 

 inaccurate to suppose that this view was general, as the follow- 

 ing anecdote may show. A year or two later, I was at Hart- 

 well House in company with a banker of Aylesbury, with whom 

 I was staying, and amongst others was an active professor of 

 geology, who had recently visited M. de Perthes. A conversa- 

 tion took place between them, in which I noted considerable 

 reserve on the part of the professor ; and at the same time it 

 was depreciatory, showing that he doubted to some extent what 

 he had seen. Upon which my host said to him, " Is he a 

 rogue?" "No," he replied, "he is not a rogue." "Well, 

 then," was the rejoinder, "Is he a f ool ? " The answer was 

 "Yes ; perhaps he may be a fool." But we were now in days 

 of inquiry. The subject was taken up by those qualified both 

 as antiquaries and geologists, the localities in the valley of the 

 Somme were thoroughly examined, with a verdict that was abso- 

 lutely conclusive. Subsequently we know that large collections 

 of flint implements, from all sorts of deposits, have been made, 

 all of them declaring the same problem, w T hich cannot be 

 approached without some solemnity. 



One cannot, however, be without sympathy for those who 

 hesitate to take up with ideas that are new to them. Few, in* 

 deed, are the minds that, thinking themselves safe in old 

 traditions, like to leave that shore for the boundless sea of 

 inquiry. But when science has advanced as in these days, and 

 has been so universally acknowledged, one was startled by the 

 issue of such a work as that entitled " Prochronism," and by one 

 who did good service on marine organisms by the microscope, 

 wherein fossil remains of extinct creatues are pronounced to be 

 delusive, as having had no real existence ; and also-, that another 

 should go about lecturing to prove that the world was not glo- 

 bular, one can only apply what Luther is said to have uttered, 

 " that the human mind was like a drunken man on horseback, 

 prop him up on one side and he tumbles on the other." But, 

 indeed, the received truth of to-day may be the error of to- 

 morrow, and the converse.. To many its pursuit is that of an 



