CHAP. vr. INVESTIGATIONS MADE AT ABBEVILLE AND AMIENS. 105 



1797, found flint weajoons, of the same type as those of 

 Amiens, in a fresh-water formation in Suffollv, in conjunction 

 with elephant remains; and nearlj^ a hundred years earlier 

 (1715), another tool of the same kind had been exhumed from 

 the gravel of London, together with bones of an elephant; 

 to all which examples I shall allude more fully in the sequel. 



I ma}" conclude this chapter by quoting a saying of Pro- 

 fessor Agassiz, ''that Avhenever a new and startling fact is 

 brought to light in science, people first say, ' it is not true,' 

 then that 'it is contrary to religion,' and, lastly, 'that every- 

 bod}' knew it before.' " 



If I were considering merely the cultivators of geology, I 

 should say that the doctrine of the former coexistence of 

 man with many extinct mammalia had already gone through 

 these three phases in the progress of every scientific truth 

 towards acceptance. But the grounds of this belief have not 

 yet been fully laid before the general public, so as to enable 

 them fairly to weigh and apj^reciate the evidence. I shall 

 therefore do my best in the next three chapters to accomplish 

 this task. 



