APPENDIX. 343 



before. On the contrary, it is in every way likely that it was 

 much more rapid previously. 



JADE IMPLEMENTS. 



There has been some discussion respecting the alleged jade 

 found in Swiss lake habitations. It seems that there is a 

 probability that it is not the Oriental jade, but the Saussurite 

 which is found in Switzerland itself. In fact, the so-called 

 jades are not all of one composition, and are found in various 

 countries. A recent writer informs us that while jade imple- 

 ments occur in America, the rock itself is not known ; but 

 Dr. G. M. Dawson informs me that it occurs in British 

 Columbia, and therefore not unlikely in various parts of the 

 metamorphic districts of the Pacific border. Perhaps the 

 most interesting fact respecting it is that it has been utilised 

 in so many parts of the world, from New Zealand to Tartary, 

 and that like other green stones, it has been an object of 

 superstitious veneration. 



MAKING OF FLINT ARROWS. 



Mr. Eedding, of San Francisco, has contributed to the 

 American Naturalist an interesting paper on the manner of 

 making flint implements in Alaska. It seems that obsidian 

 is used, that a flake is struck off with a stone hammer, and 

 chips are then pressed off the edges with a pointed bone, till 

 it is worked into shape. The notch is made by similar pres- 

 sure with a more finely pointed bone. An arrow-head of 

 perfect workmanship can be made in forty minutes. It is 

 evident that this method has been nearly universal, as almost 

 all well-made implements of so-called chipped flint bear 

 evidence of being worked by pressure on the edges. Chipping, 

 properly so-called, would suffice only for ruder implements, 

 or for the first blocking out. The art of making flint imple- 

 ments by pressure must have originated at a very early period, 

 and in the cradle of the human race. 



PALAEOLITHIC IMPLEMENTS IN AMERICA. 



In the Eeports of the Peabody Museum of American 

 Archaeology, Abbott has published two papers on the imple- 



