238 THE EEV. J. MAGENS MELLO, M.A., F.G.S., ETC.j 



of the Argentine Republic by M. Ameghino. To discuss in 

 detail all these alleged discoveries of man's presence during 

 the Tertiary period, would occupy too great a space on the 

 present occasion, but we may take note of one or two 

 important facts bearing on the question. 



With regard to the cut bones it has been shown by 

 Professor McKenny Hughes, in a valuable paper brought 

 before the Victoria Institute, and also by others, that these 

 cuts could have been produced by natural causes, or by the 

 sharp teeth of such animals as some of the Tertiary 

 squaloids. M. de Mortillet even says that in some of these 

 cuts the traces of the delicate serrations of then- teeth can 

 actually be seen. M. de Quatrefages, however, maintains 

 that the incisions could not have been produced by any other 

 agency than the hand of man, adducing, in support of his 

 view, the opinion that the semicircular form of some of the 

 cuts, and also their crossing and massing on the bone, shows 

 that they could not be teeth marks, and he also asserts that 

 whilst one side of the cut is smooth, the other is rough, an 

 effect which he argues could only be produced by an 

 obhquely applied cutting instrument. He observes in addi- 

 tion that the cuts appear on one side of the bone only, 

 whereas, had a fish grasped the bone, marks should appear 

 on both surfaces ; but this is an error, the sharks in question 

 have two sets of teeth, differing in character, one set sharp 

 and delicate simply seizes the flesh, whilst the powerful teeth 

 of the other jaw do the cutting. Another point to be noted 

 is that the whales' remains bearing incisions were not found 

 in littoral but in deep water deposits, in Avhich not only 

 sharks but sword-fish abounded. 



With regard to the supposed worked flints, and also the 

 calcined ones from Thenay and other localities, and those 

 also from S. Symphorien, what must we say? It is true 

 that numerous flints, which bear a resemblance, more or less 

 great, to those which are clearly of human origin, have been 

 found in these localities ; but a careful examination of the 

 conditions under which they occur has resulted, if not in 

 absolutely discrediting the theory of their human origin, a 

 theory still maintained by some persons, yet in rendering- 

 such an origin highly questionable. With regard to the 

 supposed implements from the Eocene beds of S. Symphorien, 

 apart from the extreme improbability of an intelligent being, 

 whether man or M. de Mortillet's anthropopithecus having 

 existed at a period when most of the mammalia were 



