10 



point of view, but he should not on this occasion enter into 

 any discussion as to their age or the date of their formation, 

 because on this point there was a great deal of mystery. 

 Excavations on a large scale had recently taken place at 

 Abbeville, and a great many of these flints had been found. 

 They were called by the workmen cats' tongues, on account 

 of the similarity they exhibited to those objects. An ex- 

 amination of them would prove that they were artificial, 

 but the deposit was so ancient that their existence 

 excited the attention of learned men in various parts of 

 Europe. The subject had been carefully studied, and in the 

 course of the investigation attention was drawn to a 

 specimen in the British Museum, which had been found in 

 digging a well in Gray's Inn Lane. They were also found 

 in what is called the drift above the Thanet sands, 

 and in other parts of England similar objects had 

 been found. It was ascertained that at a place called 

 Noxne, in Suffolk, the workmen had discovered similarly 

 shaped stones, and the attention of Messrs. Evans, 

 Falconer, and Prestwich, having been called to the French 

 excavations, they went over, and endeavoured to discover if 

 there was any probability of these objects having been 

 manufactured. After spending much time and research in 

 the matter, these gentlemen came to the conclusion that 

 these flints were authentic— in fact, some of these objects 

 were taken out of the Abbeville excavations by themselves. 

 Certain flint implements had been associated with our Celtic 

 ancestors, and had been classed as being identical with the 

 stone period. [Mr. Brent then showed the specimens, 

 some of which were very fine, and described each of their 

 peculiar characteristics in a very pleasant manner.] 

 Some specimens lent him he said were Mexican, others 

 came from the South Sea Islands, and others again 

 from Sweden. It was believed that from these im- 

 plements our ancestors designed the weapons called 

 " celts," which had been discovered almost in every 



