TransKctiom. 49 



endeavour to prevent the demolition of these interesting relics 

 of our foi'efathers, it should at any rate preserve as complete a 

 record as possil)le of their situation, dimensions, and characteristics. 

 A map with (heir positions accurately and carefully marked and 

 numbered, and a book in which, under the number of each, all that 

 could be ascertained regarding them should be set down, would be 

 of great permanent value. The compilation of such a work would 

 reflect credit on the Society. 



What may be done in collecting tools and implements has been 

 fully demonstrated by the Rev. G. Wilson, Glenluce. That 

 gentleman, by careful search among the Sandhills near the mouth 

 of the river Luce, has made a most instructive collection of flint 

 tools and implements, including saws, chisels, knives, an-ow- 

 heads, scrapers, ifec. The greater number of them is now in the 

 Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh. As to the significance that 

 attaches to these articles let me remark that flint implements 

 have been found at such a depth in the crust of the earth — in the 

 " boulder clay " — as to lead geologists to conclude that man has 

 existed in the world for 200,000 years. Indeed remains have 

 been found of such a character, and in such cii'cumstances, as to 

 give rise to the opinion that man is of even greater antiquity, and 

 that there were two other kinds of men in the world before the 

 present species came on the scene. Every now and then we read 

 of the finding of flint and stone implements, especially in Gallo- 

 way. What becomes of them ? A few we have rescued from the 

 coal house. Some find their way into local museums, but in many 

 cases they might as well be in the pawnshop. Articles of the 

 kind we refer to lose much of their value unless the precise history 

 of their discovery is known. An arrow-head found in an ocean- 

 fronting cave on the coast of Galloway several feet below accumu- 

 lated debris and soil, and beside the bones of long extinct animals 

 and human teeth, is much more interesting than one picked up in 

 the open fields on the farm of Glengyre, Wigtownshire. Our 

 Society therefore should not only foster the collection and pre- 

 servation of tools and implements, but should studiously ascertain 

 and record the history of those found in the district. Upon the 

 promoters of j^nblic and jiossessors of private museums they 

 should impress the fact that a mei-e collection of pre-historic tools 

 and implements without any history of the circumstances under 

 which the articles have been found is of comparatively little 

 scientific or educational value. 



4 



