8 REPORT — 1897. 



to his assistance. The evidence that Man had already appeared upon the 

 earth is afforded by stone implements wrought by his hands, and it falls 

 strictly within the province of the Archaeologist to judge whether given 

 specimens were so wrought or not ; it rests with the Geologist to deter- 

 mine their stratigraphical or chronological position, while the Palaeonto- 

 logist can pronounce upon the age and character of the associated fauna 

 and flora. 



If left to himself the Archseologist seems too prone to build up theories 

 founded upon form alone, irrespective of geological conditions. The Geo- 

 logist, unaccustomed to archteological details, may readily fail to see the 

 difference between the results of the operations of Nature and those of 

 Art, and may be liable to trace the effects of man's handiwork in the 

 chipping, bruising, and wearing which in all ages result from natural 

 forces ; but the united labours of the two, checked by those of the Palae- 

 ontologist, cannot do otherwise than lead towards sound conclusions. 



It will perhaps be expected of me that I should on the present occa- 

 sion bring under review the state of our present knowledge with regard 

 to the Antiquity of Man ; and probably no fitter place could be found 

 for the discussion of such a topic than the adopted home of my venerated 

 friend, the late Sir Daniel Wilson, who first introduced the word ' pre- 

 historic ' into the English language. 



Some among us may be able to call to mind the excitement, not only 

 among men of science but among the general public, when, in 1859, the 

 discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes and Dr. Rigollot in the gravels of 

 the valley of the Somme, at Abbeville and Amiens, were confirmed by 

 the investigations of the late Sir Joseph Prestwich, myself, and others, 

 and the co-existence of Man with the extinct animals of the Quaternary 

 fauna, such as the mammoth and woolly-haired rhinoceros, was first 

 ■vartually established. It was at the same time pointed out that these 

 relics belonged to a far earlier date than the ordinary stone weapons 

 found upon the surface, which usually showed signs of grinding or polish- 

 ing, and that in fact there were two Stone Ages in Britain. To these 

 the terms Neolithic and Palaeolithic were subsequently applied by Sir 

 John Lubbock. 



The excitement was not less, when, at the meeting of this Association 

 at Aberdeen in the autumn of that year. Sir Charles Lyell, in the presence 

 of the Prince Consort, called attention to the discoveries in the valley of 

 the Somme, the site of which he had himself visited, and to the vast lapse 

 of time indicated by the position of the implements in drift-deposits a 

 hundred feet above the existing river. 



The conclusions forced upon those who examined the facts on the spot 

 did not receive immediate acceptance by all who were interested in Geo- 

 logy and Archaeology, and fierce were the controversies on the subject 

 that were carried on both in the newspapers and before various learned 

 societies. 



