260 THE EEV. J. MAGENS MELLO^ M.A., P.G.S., ETC., 



This was a Quaternary later skall and it has been accounted for 

 on the supposition that tliese savage tribes had some sort of idea 

 that when they were mentally afflicted, or when children had 

 convulsions, there was an evil spirit in the brain, and they cut a 

 hole for the spirit to escape by, and. that has been taken, there- 

 fore, as an example of their belief in demons. That is a French- 

 man's account of the matter, but whether it is accepted by 

 Mr. Mello, or whether he thinks anything of it, I should be 

 glad to hear. 



Those are the only points that I can bring foi-ward. We must 

 all accept Mr. Mello's statements as being unbiased, and carefully 

 drawn up, and as giving us a good idea of the nature and antiquity 

 of man, and I thank him very much for his paper. 



Mr. J. Allen Brown, F.G.S. — I ought not at this late hour 

 to take up much of your time, and yet I feel it is impossible to 

 pass by this very able and elaborate paper without a few remai-ks. 

 First, let me observe that it is a very useful contribution to the 

 subject, inasmuch as it refers to the papers of continental geolo- 

 gists and other works which are not generally known to English 

 readers. The special remarks I wish to make to-night have 

 no reference to the points raised by those who have already 

 spoken. I would state briefly the effect which a long study of 

 the Thames YalYej and other valley deposits, which contained 

 implements, has had upon me ; and herein I find myself some- 

 what differing from many of those who have written upon the 

 subject. 



It has generally been understood that a great gap or hiatus 

 lies between the Palaeolithic people and those we call N'eolithic ; 

 that opinion, I think, is now becoming untenable. I think further 

 investigations will soon bring us to the conviction that man has 

 occupied, continuously, parts of England and N'orth-West Europe 

 for a very considerable period and without break between the 

 Palaeolithic period and that of polished stone, a period which may 

 be indicated as commencing with the epoch at which the rudest 

 chipped flints, discovered by Mr. B. Harrison on the Chalk range 

 or plateau in Ken± overlooking the Thames Valley, were made, and 

 continuing through the relics found in the valley drift, and into 

 still more recent times, by the contents of such superficial deposits 

 as rubble, head, etc., the i-esult of the latest physical alterations 

 in the surface of the land. 



In all these changes there is evidence of the continuity of the 



