364 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



tlie atmosphere or tbo eartli, or with the water which has percolated 

 tlirougli the earths iu the neigliborhood, generally those containing- 

 iron, and these have changed the chemical combination of the flint on 

 its surface. This change sometimes extends deep into the stone, and 

 in small specimens under favorable conditions may pass entirely 

 through it.^ In the United States all this might be called weathering; 

 in France it is called patine. The objection to the former word is that 

 it conveys, possibly involuntarily, some relation to the weather, while 

 the patine may be formed on specimens deep in the earth. Dendrites 



are also formed on the speci- 

 mens. These changes are evi- 

 dences of antiquity of the 

 specimens, and to the experi- 

 enced eye become testi- 

 monials of its genuineness. 

 Fig. 5 (Cat. No. 99457, U.S. 

 N.M.) represents a slightly 

 different form. It is longer, 

 narrower, thicker, and is more 

 pointed. Its length is 6i 

 inches, width 2| inches, and 

 thickness 1^ inches, or 71 i)er 

 cent. It comes from the forest 

 of Othe, department of Aube 

 or Yonne, eastern central 

 France, and is one of the 

 many surface finds of France. 

 It has been strongly objected 

 to similar specimens found in 

 the United States that, being 

 found practically on the sur- 

 face, they are not evidence of 

 a Paleolithic period; and the 

 force of this objection is ad- 

 mitted. However, many such 

 implements have been found 

 on the surface of the high plateaus of western Europe, and they have 

 always been considered as true paleoliths. This question is not to be 

 argued here; those interested in it are referred to the handbook^ pre- 

 viously cited, where some of the instances are stated and authorities 

 quoted. 



It has already been remarked that most of the Paleolithic imple- 

 ments from western Europe are of flint, but all are not so. An exten- 



Pig. 5. 



PALEOLITHIC CHELLliEN IMPLEMENT OP CHIPPED FLINT 



From tlie (surface) forest of Othe, eastern central 

 France. 



Cat. No. 9a457, U.S.N.M. ii natural siie. 



' Geo. P. Merrill, A Treatise ou Rocks aud Rock-weathering, U. S. National Museum, 

 New York, 1897. 

 2 Page 611. 



