OcToBER 27, 1899. ] 
of the effect of an earthquake upon former 
scientific conclusions. One, the origin of 
the human species through evolution, by 
Darwin ; and the other, the acceptance as 
artificial of the paleolithic implements 
found by M. Boucher de Perthes in the val- 
ley of the Somme. Boucher de Perthes 
had, as early as 1836, but seriously since 
1841, been investigating the peculiarities of 
certain chipped flints found at Abbeville, 
France, as far south as Amiens, along the 
line of the canals and railroads then in 
course of construction. These he had 
recognized as the work of man, and claim- 
ing for them the highest antiquity, he as- 
serted them to be antediluvian. His dis- 
covery was at first unfavorably received. 
In 1853 Dr. Rigollot announced his adhe- 
sion to the theory ; in 1859 Dr. Falconer 
discovered the presence of the bones of 
Elephas antiquus at St. Acheul, and their as- 
sociation more or less intimate with the 
chipped flint implements of Boucher de 
Perthes. In 1859 numerous geologists of 
England visited the locality and some of 
them, especially Mr. Arthur J. Evans, now 
Curator of the Ashmolean Museuin, Oxford, 
then a lad accompauying his. father, Sir 
John Evans, had the good fortune to find 
one of the chipped flint implements in situ. 
There was much contention over the propo- 
sition connecting man with these imple- 
ments, and there were many unbelievers. 
Some disputed the antiquity of the deposit, 
others the human manufacture of the im- 
plements and, curiously enough, the great- 
est Opposition came from the French geol- 
ogists and the greatest support from the 
English. It is not here declared that 
the geological formation was not early 
understood by eminent scientists who vis- 
ited the locality, but there does not appear 
to have been any publication in eaxtenso of 
that formation and the strata of which it is 
composed and the fauna found therein, 
until that of M. D’Ault Du Mesnil in the 
‘SCIENCH. 
589 
Revue Mensuelle de Ecole d’ Anthropologie 
(Sixieme Année, IX., 1896), and of which 
I translated and published the general por- 
tions in the American Antiquarian (Vol. 
XXI., No. 3, 1899, pp. 137-145). 
There were found to be several geologic 
and paleontologic strata. In the lower 
layers the bones and teeth of Elephas merid- 
ionalis were found associated with the Rhi- 
nocéros merkii; in the middle strata the 
Elephas primigenius and the Elephas antiqusu 
were mingled ; while in the upper layers 
the Elephas primigenius alone appeared. 
The implements in the lower strata were 
large and rude, while in the upper they be- 
came smaller and finer and better made, 
forming the type called by M. D’Ault Du 
Mesnil, St. Acheulléen. The surface layer 
contained objects belonging to the later 
ages, and does not here concern us. The 
discussion over the theory of the human 
origin of these implements soon came to a 
close by its general acceptance. There 
have been continuous and almost illimit- 
able discussions over details, but none over 
the general proposition. ‘One swallow 
does not make a summer,’ and a single 
discovery, either of an implement or a lo- 
cality, is of slight value in the establish- 
ment of any general proposition in prehis- 
toric anthropology. If the discovery of 
chipped flint implements had been confinec 
to those of Boucher de Perthes, they never 
would have made any headway. But the 
attention of those interested in the subject 
having been attracted to these chipped flint 
implements, they were, as the polished 
stone hatchets in the Neolithic period had 
been previously, found in greater or less 
numbers in many localities throughout the 
principal countries of western Europe. 
Then came a comparison of the same im. 
plements from different localities, and it 
was decided that they were related and 
formed a stage of culture so different from 
that of polished stone as to show that they 
