BY FKITZ NOETLING, M.A., PHD., ETC 3 



2. HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 



As far as niv knowledge goes, the first who studied 

 the mechanics of the fracture of flint was a Frencliman, 

 M. Jules Thore, who published in 1878 a paper in the Bull, 

 de la Soc. de Bord., JJax. on this subject. Unfortunately 

 this journal is not available in Hobart, and it may be that 

 much of what I am saying here has already been ex- 

 pounded in this paper. 



Many authors, particularly Mortillet (1), Skertchly (2), 

 and Sir John Evans (3), have given essays on the manu- 

 facture of gun flints, and the connection between this craft 

 and the manufacture of stone implements. However vahi- 

 able these observations may be, there is a great diflference 

 between the equipment of a modeim gun flint manufacturer, 

 and that of neolithic or palaeolithic man, and it is more 

 than probable that implements of the gun flint maker con- 

 siderably differed from that of a Tasmanian, for instance. 

 With regard to the latter, we know that his 

 only implement for detaching a flake from a parent block 

 was another stone, and even the more delicate wox'k of 

 marginal chipping was done by means of a stone, as the 

 invention of pressing off small flakes by means of a piece 

 of bone or stag s horn had not been made by the Tas- 

 manians. The most important fact we can glean from all 

 these accounts is the statement (-4) "that success de- 

 pends a great deal upon the condition of the flint as re- 

 gards the moisture which it contains, those which have been 

 too long exposed upon the surface becoming intractable, 

 and there being also a difficulty in working these that are 

 too moist. I can fully confinn this from my own ob- 



sovations and experiments. A pebble of chert taken from 

 the gravel deposits, which still retains its mois- 

 ture, flakes much better than the same kind of rock 

 when found on the surface of an old camp. The next 

 important observation is the statement that the surface 

 must be struck at an angle of about 45deg., and that a 

 spherically-ended hammer was used. All these accounts 

 deal, however, more with the art of manufacture than with 

 the mechanical effects of percussion, and even Sir John 

 Evans has devoted only a few lines to this important sub- 

 ject. (5) 



(1) Musee Prehistorique, pi. II. 



(2) Memoir, Geologica.l Survey of England, 1879. 

 (S) Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain. 



(4) Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain, page IS. 



(5) Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain, pages 273-274. 



