November i 



1915J 



NATURE 



Z^l 



brought to the surface and chipped into imple- 

 ments on the spot, as indicated by the numerous 

 spoil heaps or "floors," of which fourteen were 

 examined. 



Both in the spoil heaps and in the earth filling- 

 the shafts numerous flint imple- 

 ments were collected, and the 

 chief forms are described, with fine 

 illustrations, by Mr. Reginald A. 

 Smith. None are polished, but 

 some of them (Fig. 2) are of the 

 typically Neolithic pattern, while 

 others (Fig. 3) are more suggestive 

 of the Palaeolithic period. One is 

 noted as being " a not uncommon 

 type in the period of La Made- 

 leine " ; one resembles " the taper- 

 ing portion of a Chelles ficron " ; 

 another has a " facetted butt in the 

 Northfleet style"; others "can- 

 not be matched anywhere but in 

 Le Moustier deposits " ; while at 

 least two can only be compared with imple- 

 ments from St. Acheul. A typical Celt-like Neo- 

 lithic implement "might well be regarded as an 

 intruder" if the position of its discovery had not 

 been known, and if a second exactly similar speci- 

 men had not been met with. 



pottery, with human remains of present-day type, 

 with bones of animals which have either survived 

 in this country until historic times or are still 

 living, and with shells which are all of existing . 

 species. The charcoal found in the same deposits 



Fig. 3.— Disc-shapei fl'nt implemsnts.lb^th faces,"one-ha!f natural siz 



includes wood of the beech, which Mr. Clement 

 Reid has never found in any undoubted Pleisto- 

 cene formation in Britain. Local circumstances 

 may have changed a little since the mines were 

 worked, as suggested by the shells, which seem 

 to indicate a moister climate than that of the 

 present day ; but the whole assemblage of 

 remains is such as might have accumulated 

 at any time between the Neolithic and the 

 Historic period. A valuable account of 

 similar flint mines in Sweden, appended 

 to the report by Dr. N. O. Hoist, leads to 

 the conclusion that they were " worked, 

 with or without a break, from the later por- 

 tion of the Neolithic Age down to the 

 Early Iron Age." The new excavations 

 thus confirm and extend the results of 

 Canon Greenwell already mentioned. The 

 Prehistoric Society of East Anglia is to be 

 congratulated on the thoroughness with 

 which it has accomplished its task, and on 

 the admirable manner in which it has pub- 

 lished its detailed report. A. S. W. 



T' 



Fig. 2.— Cell-shaped flint implement, both faces and section, two-thirds natural size. 



A geologist examining these implements would 

 date them by the latest or Neolithic types which 

 have never hitherto been found in Europe with 

 the Pleistocene fauna. It is therefore very in- 

 teresting to note that they are associated with 

 NO. 2403, VOL. 96] 



THE UNIVERSITIES AND THE 

 WAR.-^ 

 O discuss the principles and results of 

 British education is perhaps not in- 

 appropriate at a time when the Empire is 

 on its trial. For, next to racial soundness, 

 education is an Empire's greatest asset. 

 The issue of this war will certainly bring 

 out new features of difference between the 

 educational ideals of the chief groups of 

 belligerents, and will develop no less cer- 

 tainly new cultural values. What those 

 who take an interest in education probably 

 look for most is a strengthening and 

 broadening of its scientific basis. No lesson 

 has been more forcibly inculcated by the 



1 "The Yearbook of the Universities of the Empire, J915." Published for 

 th« Universities Bureau of the British Empire. Pp. xiv + 717. (London : 

 Herbert Jenkins, Ltd. , n.d.). Price 7^. 6//. net. 



will 



