6 Notes and Comments. 



A REPLY. 



But we did read Mr. J. Reid Moir's paper and have read 

 it again. We have read dozens of Mr. J. Reid Moir's notes 

 in various and numerous publications, and we are still, in 

 many cases, unable to understand his object in writing them^ 

 as very often the same statement occurs time after time in 

 different journals. From the quantity of his notes, we have 

 almost got the impression that possibly their publication was 

 to advertise Mr. J. Reid Moir. Possibly we are wrong. But 

 we leave our readers to read the paragraph headed ' Pointed 

 Palaeoliths ' on page 339 of our journal. The paragraph is 

 Mr. J. Reid Moir's, not ours. And if they can then see what 

 his object is, we are satisfied. 



MAN AND MR. MOIR. 



Mr. J. Reid Moir continues : — "Then again, on page 341, 

 where your reviewer criticises my note which appeared in 

 last month's issue of Man, it seems that an attempt has been 

 made to fog the issue. In this note I made it quite clear 

 that Mr. Warren, whose paper I was criticising, stated that 

 he could not imitate the flaking upon the sub-crag flints, 

 because it was not possible to use such an amount of pressure 

 experimentally. This, as I demonstrated, is incorrect, as 

 I have seen flints flaked by pressure in a press which showed 

 flake-scars quite as large as those exhibited by the sub-crag 

 specimens. I stated also that I have proved by experiments, 

 which your reviewer can easily repeat if he wishes to do so, 

 that no flint will stand any very great pressure without suffering 

 disintegration. This being so, it follows that those specimens 

 in the boulder clays which are striated, are those to which 

 this maximum pressure has not been applied. The other 

 specimens which were subjected to the maximum were, no 

 doubt, ground up and have disappeared. And this would 

 inevitably be the fate of any flint subjected to the amount of 

 pressure which Mr. Warren had in mind and which he said he 

 could not imitate experimentally, and which ' obtains beneath 

 an ice-sheet.' " 



FLINTS UNDER ICE-SHEETS. 



Basing his remarks on his experiments, Mr. J. Reid Moir 

 distinctly states in Man, page 156, that " Flint of even the 

 best quality and greatest hardness will stand only a limited 

 amount of pressure before fracturing, and the pressures ' that 

 obtain beneath an ice-sheet ' would undoubtedly reduce it 

 to powder." Now as there are tons upon tons of flints of all 

 sizes in boulder clay, a deposit undoubtedly formed beneath 

 an ice-sheet, we must conclude either that the ice-sheet has 

 acted in an improper way and contrary to Mr. J. Reid Moir's 

 laws, or that Mr. J. Reid Moir's experiments are not reliable. 

 Personally, we should put our money on the ice-sheet. 



Naturalist, 



