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considerable period must have elapsed before the great change thus noted took 

 place. Yet that time, although considerable, need not be indefinitely great, nor 

 even so large as it is .sometimes assumed to be, in order to account for the 

 break Mr. Mello supposes. We find that the palaeolithic period comes to a 

 sudden stop as far as we at present know, and that these paleeolithic imple- 

 ments also come to a sudden end. This break, accompanied by the physical 

 changes which are evident, must have required time ; but I do not know 

 that it required a very great amount of time. It would, however, be a 

 time that could be measured by centuries. I do not assume it to have 

 required anything like a thousand years. It may certainly, have in- 

 volved such a period ; but it does not necessarily require it. There is also 

 another point which these implements bring before us. It may be considered 

 pretty well established that the newer implements belong to the beginning 

 of an age which practically comes down to historic time. The implements 

 of this class before us are neolithic, and are similar to those found in the 

 British islands and other localities. They may, from this point of view, be 

 said to connect themselves in some measure with the known monuments of 

 history, — I will not say with quite modern history ; but still, with history 

 that may be termed modern, as compared with geological periods. We 

 do, therefore, attain an advance of knowledge by the discovery of such 

 implements as these, especially when they are found on so extensive a scale, 

 and are brought before us in so admirable a way. We cannot be too loud in 

 expressing the obligations of this Institute, and of all who are concerned in 

 the elucidation of so interesting a subject, to Mr. Mello for the able manner 

 in which he has been good enough to place his conclusions before us. 

 (Applause.) 



Mr. E. Charlesworth, F.G.S. (a Visitor). — I feel very grateful for the 

 invitation to be here this evening, as it has enabled me to hear the very able 

 paper read by Mr. Mello. My own studies have been directed, not so much 

 to the evidences of human handiwork in the early history of mankind on this 

 planet, as to the faunas which have accompanied these implements ; but, at 

 the same time, I think it impossible to study the ancient fauna of the globe, 

 as evidenced in what are called pleistocene times, without feeling the deepest 

 interest in the great question so ably brought before us to-night. One of the 

 lessons, and a very important one, we ought to draw from the history of this 

 subject, and the connexion between these human evidences and the mammoth, 

 is, that nothing which has been brought before the scientific and intellectual 

 world, which for a time may seem to be utterly incredible, is therefore to be 

 scouted as utterly false. Mr. Frere, a gentleman who lived in the county of 

 Norfolk, nearly a hundred years ago, laid a paper before the Eoyal Society, in 

 which he stated that he had found at Holme, or Hoxne — a village not far from 

 Thetford,— unquestionable human implements in association with the remains 

 of the mammoth, and clearly proving that that animal and man were con- 

 temporaneous. The Eoyal Society paid Mr. Frere the compliment of pub- 

 lishing his paper ; but the learned world of that day discarded and altogether 

 scouted his conclusion as utterly unworthy of further investigation. For 



