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must have been in existence a vast number of years indeed 

 to have become so much " weathered " as that was. The 

 flints in Richborough Castle, built during the Roman period, 

 were so little weathered that the chipped surfaces presented 

 quite a fresh appearance. The peculiarity of the flints 

 produced was that they were all chipped in such a manner 

 as to form a particular arrow-head, showing that they were 

 formed with some design. The idea was entertained by 

 some people that the flints were chipped by being rolled 

 about by the action of the water ; but some of the ablest 

 geologists, who had handled the hammer all their lives — 

 men who had picked up flints in all parts of the world, 

 told them that when flints were fractured by ac- 

 cident they never assumed the particular form of 

 those produced. It was quite evident that the collection 

 before them had been chipped in a particular manner. The 

 supposition that flints were cut in this way was strength- 

 ened by the fact that when Capt. Cook discovered New Zea- 

 land he found the natives used arrow-heads cut out of stone 

 in the same manner as the flints before them. Looking at 

 all these facts he thought they could come to no other con- 

 clusion than that these flint arrow-heads were manufac- 

 tured by men who existed at a very remote age, and some 

 of whose remains had been found in the same drifts from 

 which the flints were taken. Mr. Dowker ob-served that at 

 different depths and associated with different deposits had 

 been found weapons, first of flint, secondly of bronze, and 

 thirdly of iron, and some antiquaries maintained, man in 

 advancing towards civilization had made use first of one 

 and lastly of the other materials ; and from the fact of a 

 skull having been found with the earliest the flint of a 

 very low type, had maintained that the earliest races of 

 mankind were possessed of little cerebral development. But 

 there wa.s a great difference of opinion amongst authorities 

 on this subject. In conclu.sion Mr. Dowker, said he could 

 not, without having made any preparation to address 



