Chituary — Sir WoUaston Franks. 429 



In March, 1864, Mr. Henry Christy invited a party of his friends, 

 interested as antiquaries and geologists, to examine some of the 

 bone-caves on the Vezere, Dordogne district, in the south of France, 

 which, with his friend Edouard Lartet, he had for some time been 

 investigating with great care and at considerable expense. The 

 party comprised Mr. W. J. Hamilton (President of the Geological 

 Society), Professor Rupert Jones (Assistant Secretary of the 

 Geological Society), Sir Douglas Galton, Sir John Lubbock, Sir 

 John Evaus, and Sir A. W. Franks.^ Not only had the last-named 

 already interested himself in Henry Chi'isty's researches in the 

 ethnographic relationship of various textile fabrics, which had led 

 him to Mexico, and in that country to the observation of stone imple- 

 ments, but Sir A. W. Franks heartily joined Christy in the study 

 of stone implements, and of those who made and used them, whether 

 ancient peoples, recent savages, or living workmen in some modern 

 trades and manufactures. Together with Dr. Hugh Falconer, he 

 aided H. Christy and E. Lartet in planning their great work, 

 " Reliquias Aquitanicee," which was intended to comprise descriptions 

 of all the Dordogne caves and their contents. Unfortunately the 

 death of both Christy and Lartet circumscribed the work within 

 smaller limits, for no more caves were worked out by them, and but 

 few plates were subsequently added to the eighty or more already 

 lithographed for its illustration. It is noticed, we see, in the preface 

 of the book that, " In bringing together and arranging the varied 

 materials supplied by friends at home and abroad desirous of making 

 the 'Eeliquia3 Aquitanic^ ' useful in Archaeology and Anthropology, 

 the directing counsels of Mr. A. W. Franks, F.R.S., have been 

 constant and efficient, like his courtesy and knowledge." 



He took charge of the " Christy Collection " at 103, Victoria 

 Street, S.W., for some time before it was transferred to the British, 

 Museum ; and he individualized the specimens with accurate 

 drawings by his talented assistants — first, Mr. T. K. Gay and 

 subsequently Mr. Charles Read. The latter worthily succeeded 

 Sir Wollaston on his resignation, in 1894, as Keeper of British 

 and Medigeval Antiquities and Ethnography in the British Museum. 



It was with great caution that Sir Wollaston exercised his judg- 

 ment as to the authenticity of implements of stone and their relative 

 age. He was not an enthusiast in the subject of the great antiquity 

 of the Human Race. Possibly, had he been induced to give more 

 leisure to the study of the geological aspect and details of the 

 subject, he might have become cognisant of the value of Sir Joseph 

 Prestwich's researches in the geological age of some of the older 

 groups of flint implements, especially of those collected with earnest 

 and intelligent care at Ightham, in Kent, by Mr. Benjamin Harrison.^ 



Sir A, Wollaston Franks contributed largely to scientific literature, 

 especially by memoirs and notices in the Transactions and Proceedings 



^ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xx, 1864, p. 444; and " Eeliquise Aquitanicse," 

 partxii, 1873, p. 161. 



'•* See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, xlv, 1889, pp. 270-297, pis. ix-xi ; and Natural 

 Science, vol. v, p. 269, Oct. 1894. 



