proceedings of this Society, the most important account 

 will be found in Johnston's admirable G-eology of Tas- 

 mania. Mr. Johnston was the first who definitely settled, 

 the question of the nature of the stone which the Abori- 

 gines used for their implements- He proved that this 

 stone was in most cases a metamorphosed sedimentary 

 rock which, by the outbreak of Diabas, had been altered 

 into cherts, homstones, and porcellanites. Mr. Johnston 

 was also the first to recognise that one side of the imple- 

 ■ments was invariably flat, while the opposite only was 

 "wrought, and that the chipping was always directed away 

 from the flat side, and he particularly dwelt on their un- 

 symmetrical shape. In none of the subsequent books on 

 Tasmania has the subject of the stone implements received 

 the same amount of scientific treatment as in Johnston's 

 Geology. 



Another name I wish particularly to mention in con- 

 nection with this subject is James Scott, once surveyor 

 at Launceston. In a memorandum sent to R. Gunn, Secre- 

 tary of the Royal Society, written in 1873, Scott makes 

 the following most important statement: — 



"In using the flints the thumb was placed on the 

 flat surface, and held by the other fingers resting m tlie 

 palm of the hand." 



To my knowledge this is the only definite statement 

 that has been delivered to us, as to the way the Aborigines 

 held their implements when using them, and as it is made in 

 such a simple, clear and concise way. it is of greater value 

 than a much longer, but hazy description. There can be 

 no mistake as to how the Aborigines held their imple- 

 ments, and all other opinions advanced are not of. the 

 slightest value, in face of the statement made by this 

 keen observer. It is most fortunate that this observation 

 has been recorded, but I fairly doubt whether Scott had 

 ever any idea as to its extreme importance, as we will pre- 

 sently see. 



I need not dwell on the accounts contained in 

 Brough Smyth "s account of the Tasmanian Aborigines, nor 

 on the same subject mentioned in Ling Roth's book on the 

 Aborigines of Tasmania, both are mostly extracts of the 

 papers previously mentioned. The most important refer- 

 ence to this subject is contained in the introduction to 

 Ling Roth's book, written by Professor Edward B- Tylor, 

 who also published a short paper in the Journal of the 

 Anthropol. Inst, of London. 



