32 NATUllAL SCIENCE [Januaiy 



Harrison's, and in no instance can I find a hollow the edges of 

 Avhich have been chipped. In some instances they were battered, 

 but never chipped. We are further told that " the earliest 

 chippings are the largest, as might be expected, since the condi- 

 tions were the most rigorous. As the climate became milder, 

 the forces that acted on the Hints became feebler, and the chips 

 removed were therefore smaller." This appears to me to be the 

 opposite of what one ought to expect. The lirst chips would be 

 small ; they would increase in size as the temperature was lowered, 

 until the maximum cold was reached, and they would decrease in 

 size as the cold diminished. 



Mr Cunnington, however, sees that it is of no use invoking the 

 aid of river action to account for the flakings, so he postulates a 

 frozen gravel, for which seemingly he invokes the remarkable pro- 

 perty of softening flints. For we read that " pebbles in the gravel 

 would be pressed against the upper edges of the flint slabs, and 

 force off small flakes " ; and then we are informed that " the 

 chipping was due to pressure by some yielding material." The 

 means, however, by which Hint pebbles were converted into yield- 

 ing material are not stated. Nor are we enlightened as to how a 

 " yielding material " could exert sufficient pressure to chip so hard 

 a substance as flint. Especially when it has to be borne in mind 

 that the amount of force l)rought to bear in the form of simple 

 pressure in order to effect such an object must be vastly greater 

 than that which would be required in the form of a blow or tap. 

 The action of this frozen gravel, moreover, we are asked to believe, 

 was even yet more remarkable for having chipped the flints on one 

 side ; it turned them over and chipped them on the other, whilst it 

 removed flakes from the thicker parts, and left the thin edges 

 untouched. It made bulbs of percussion, and then by another 

 pressure produced an eraiUnrc. It chipped dozens of flints into 

 exactly the same form ; it carefully avoided breaking the pointed 

 portions of these flints, however delicate they might be ; and it 

 even produced forms which experts have pronounced to be genuine 

 implements. Lastly, this yielding material completely disappeared, 

 leaving its work as the sole evidence of its existence, and no man 

 has ever seen its like on this earth since ! 



There are thus two views between which to choose. The one 

 held by the larger number of observers that these flints have been 

 chipped by a reasoning being for a definite purpose, is proved by the 

 fact that they admit of being grouped according to certain patterns. 

 On the other hand there is the view advocated by Mr Cunnington, 

 that they are the chance products of natural forces acting in a 

 manner which cannot be matched at the present day. I for one 

 certainly hold that the former is the more reasonable view. No one 



