126 The Fourteenth General Meeting. 



of trutt, at least as much as those whose prejudices set in the 

 contrary direction. But "if thine eye be single thy whole body 

 shall be full of light," fearlessly pursue truth. It can never be 

 inconsistent with itself, and the parts of it which may for a time 

 seem to conflict, will assuredly ultimately be reconciled. Whether 

 we may live to see this is far less important. 



To return. We have in a great part of our county those for- 

 mations, somewhat indeed different in feature, in which the earliest 

 traces of men are believed to be found. It is the proper function 

 of the local investigator to learn whether researches (for instance) 

 in the gravel and peat of the Kennet may not be as fruitful as 

 in those of the Somme. 



I entirely agree with Sir J. Lubbock ^ on the claims of pre-historic 

 archseology to the rank of a science. These primaeval antiquities 

 too, the transition from geology to human history, are the bond 

 between the two objects of our society. With him, " I care less 

 about the facts than about the method. For an infant science, as 

 for a child, it is of small importance to make rapid strides at first, 

 and I care little how far you accept our facts or adopt our results, 

 if only you are convinced that our method is one which will event- 

 ually lead us to sure conclusions," &c. 



I am not deeply read in these things. But while many matters 

 in this and in all science must be disputable, some may be taken as 

 certain even by one whose knowledge is as superficial as my own. 



1. The fact that investigators and reasoners, some of whom 

 would be under no prejudice from any desire to adjust their facts 

 to our understanding of the Mosaic Record, have greatly confirmed, 

 by failing to find anything conflicting with it, the opinion that 

 man is the final work of creation. The progressive character of 

 creation, a progress from the inorganic to the organic, and a progress 

 not indeed uniform, but very general, from the lower to the higher 

 types of organism, is attested by the first chapter of Genesis, the 

 testimon}' of the rocks, and (if we accept it) the Darwinian theory. 



2. That man was co-existent with some of the large extinct 

 pachyderms is proved. In this I see no diflSculty whetever. The 



1 Archaeological Journal, 1866, p. 190. 



I 



