PREHISTORIC ART. 425 



sonrs. or one like music and anotlier not, or like painting, or senlpture, or 

 riclies, or science, or literature, or niatlieinatics, or law, tlieology, med- 

 icine, bankino', business, war, etc. All we know is tliat on these sub- 

 jects (and many others) mankind lias an ideal wbicli lor the time cre- 

 ates his standard and forms his taste; in time man, through study and 

 contemplation, finds his old ideal fall short of his expectations and he 

 becomes dissatisfied with it; by study and contemplation he conjures a 

 new ideal; a new ideal in art establishes a new standard of taste, and 

 by this he tests his new eftbrt. The argument of condition or environ- 

 ment usually applicable to man's industry and sociology has slight 

 application to his art. His art is for his pleasure, not for his necessity; 

 therefore, the foregoing statement relates only to art objects and not to 

 those of utility. The evolution of utilitarian objects as distinguished 

 from art objects is governed by man's needs, but he has no need, or but 

 little need, for art objects. They are solely for his pleasure, and their 

 evolution or change is only to gratify his changed ideal or standard of 

 taste. 



The primary and principal implement required for this art work is 

 the hammer (fig. 78 n, />), by which the blow is struck and the flake or chip 

 knocked off. Rude pieces of hard stone, usually tliiit, quartz, or 

 quartzite, were used for hammers, their sharp corners serving to increase 

 the j)recision of the blow. When their corners were worn away so that 

 an accurate blow could not be given they were doubtless cast away or 

 used for other purposes. Practically there is no difference between the 

 stone hammers of different countries in the two ages of Stone. 



The successful manipulation of the operation of flint chipping as per- 

 formed by prehistoric man entitles it to be classed among the fine arts, 

 and requires a few sentences of description. As to material, flint best 

 answers the requirements. It should be homogeneous in substance and 

 crystalline or cryptocrystalline in formation. When properly treated 

 it can be struck off into long flakes or blades, producing a keen, smooth 

 edge much the same as slivers of broken glass. The nodules of flint 

 having been prepared, the art of the operation consists in judging the 

 force of the blow and determining accurately the point of impact; then 

 follows the successful manipulation in carrying out this good judgment. 

 In justification of the claim that this is fine art it can be said that no 

 historic or modern individual has ever attained the success acquired 

 by the artist of prehistoric times. 



During the progress of this paper the author has received letters 

 from different parts of the United States giving currency to the report 

 that it was the belief of scientists that the art of flint chipping was a 

 lost art, and that the Smithsonian Institution had offered a reward or 

 bonus to anyone who should make the discovery of how it was done. 

 This report is entirely without foundation. The art of flint chipping, 

 so far as it ai>plies to the small flint or glass arrowheads, or the chip- 

 ping of these uuiterials, is well known and is or has been practiced by 



