Journal of Proceediiuis. xxvii 



about them ; but directly they got a manufactured one the signs would be 

 so clear that there could be no difficulty in saying whether it was natural 

 or artificial. Mr. Ilobarts concluded by stating that he had found what 

 he believed to be a very good flake in the brickfield at Honey Lane, and 

 he thought that if the members of the Society would work that field they 

 might obtain good results. 



Mr. Henry Walker said, if he understood the drift of Mr. Robarts's re- 

 marks at the commencement, it was really to minimise the antiquity of man. 



Mr. Robarts — Not at all. 



Mr. Walker said he thought he detected in the speaker's reference to 

 the Hochelaga implements of the 16th century a following of the line 

 which Professor Dawson had taken since he had become a "reconciler." 

 But a Stone Age was to be found in our own days without going back two 

 hundred years. He held that there was an enormous gap between the 

 Palaeolithic and Neolithic Ages in Western Europe, as evidenced by the 

 excavation of valleys and other great physical changes, and especially by 

 the great change in the fauna. With regard to the social condition of 

 Paleolithic man, he thought it was a great mistake to look upon him as 

 a savage. Those who had read Darwin's ' Voyage of the Beagle' would 

 recollect the author's description of certain native tribes in South America 

 who might properly be so designated. They wore no clothing, had no 

 habitations, they fed on worms, and lay down on the bare ground in all 

 weathers. Now Pala3olithic man was more than this. He was at least a 

 manufacturer ; he made implements, and for all we know to the contrary 

 might have had a social and tribal polity. He had left no structures* 

 behind him, and his habitations were probably wattles. The country had 

 been submerged since the time of Paleolithic man, as was shown by the 

 beds of alluvial gravel which overlie the beds containing the old 

 Mammalia. It was remarkable how the once-despised gravel had come 

 to the front lately in geological enquiries. Everywhere now the talk was 

 about the gravels, their age, and conditions of deposit. The reason why 

 the gravels were found in the valleys was obvious. In times of flood and 

 submergence everything on the surface was liable to be washed down to 

 the lower levels, and hence the valleys had become the repositories and 

 museums of the drift of the landscape. They must make up their minds 

 to hear more and more of the gravels and their contents, for they would 

 long continue to be the geological topic of the day. With regard to the 

 so-called " Dane's holes," it was agreed by the best observers that they 

 were artificially made, and had served as places of refuge, perhaps when 

 the old Norse pirates were ravaging the shores of the Thames. 



Mr. Robarts explained that he did not wish to throw any doubt upon 

 the great age of man. On the contrary, he believed man was here at the 

 Glacial epoch. His remarks went only to the manner in which the 

 different periods overlapped each other. 



Mr. Meldola — If he were here at the Glacial epoch he must have been 

 here at least two hundred and forty thousand years ago. (Laughter.) 



