36 
arrived on the northern range of downs which did not exist on 
the southern range, and vice versa. Remarking that every drop 
of rain that fell affected the shape of a chalk hill, though the 
change worked slowly, Mr. Jenner said it had been calculated 
that a drop of rain falling on a chalk hill to-day would not reach 
the usual depth of the springs for a hundred years. He did not, 
of course, refer to rain falling into a fissure, but to the slow 
percolation of rain drops, and he suggested that the people of 
Brighton might be now drinking water which fell a hundred years 
ago,—quite a ‘‘ Vintage Water.” 
After vegetation came animals and man,—man, probably, 
in the condition of the lowest savages of the present day; 
certainly with no ideas of machinery or motors, but with a 
perception of form and usefulhess, as implements of the early 
stone age in the Brighton Museum would show. It was once 
thought there were no men of the Paleolithic age in Sussex, 
but the discoveries of Mr, R. Garraway Rice had provided 
evidence of his existence both at Portslade and Chichester. 
Neolithic man was known by his weapons, and these, Mr. Jenner 
reminded his hearers, occurred in enormous numbers on the 
Downs, and were much more carefully and finely made than 
those of the Palzolithic age. He recalled the paper Mr. Toms 
had read on discoveries of flint instruments, observing that the 
great “Sheffield” flint knife and hammer factory of the South 
appeared to have been at Cissbury, from which site there were 
many specimens in the Museum. At Cissbury the chalk was 
tunnelled to obtain the fresh flint, which chips so much more 
easily than that which has been lying on the surface. Other 
centres he had found were one west of Newhaven, where the 
flints were evidently obtained from the sea cliffs as well as from 
some pits, and the well-known district near Eastbourne. These 
flints appeared to have been bartered with natives of other parts, 
but from the amount of remains and débris that could even now 
be found, the business must have spread over many thousands of 
years. Mr. Jenner also quoted from Professor Boyd Dawkins’ 
‘‘ Early Man in Britain” a reference to the activity and fine 
workmanship at Cissbury. 
What language these people used, continued Mr. Jenner, 
we know not, but it is probable that they tilled the ground to 
some extent, and the Downs furnished suitable light soil for this. 
The Weald being covered with forest, they also hunted game and 
wild animals, as evidenced by their arrow-heads and spearheads, 
and as, occasionally, some of these have been found as far away 
from the chalk as Crawley, they must have had an off-day’s 
hunting and shooting at times. The question how these early 
peoples lived on our Downs without a water supply had always 
been a puzzle, but, probably, said Mr. Jenner,—as is well-known 
of South-African tribes, such as the Zulus,—they were exceed- 
