828 
those students who have held to their origi- 
nal views and especially against such 
scholars as Topinard, Boulé and Keane, 
who accept without serious scrutiny any 
evidence that tends to confirm accepted 
theories with respect toa uniform history of 
the race on both sides of the Atlantic. 
Fortunately opportunities for a re-exami- 
nation of the evidence have arisen in several 
eases. The principal discoveries of shaped 
stones attributed to the gravels were made 
in the slope of the bluff facing the river at 
Trenton (A in the section, Fig. 1) and in 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. VI. No. 153. 
mile or more in length, are indicated at e- 
Identical results have been reached on 
the river front A. In 1892 a great sewer 
trench, C, 33 feet deep, was cut, parallel 
with the river bank, at the very point where 
so many shaped stones had formerly been 
found. Though we kept up the search in this- 
trench for five weeks as the work of excava- 
tion went on—the whole body of gravel be- 
ing subjected to rigid examination—not a 
chip was found, nota trace of man. No 
other examination has been made that com- 
pares with this for thoroughness and length: 
Has Cj, ge nA 
Fia. 2. Portion of section of gravels exposed in sewer trench, fac-simile of the original notes by 
Mr. Wm. Dinwiddie. 
the banks of Assanpink Creek at the point 
where the Pennsylvania railway makes its 
way from the station near the creek level 
to the terrace above (6 in the section). 
Finds continued to be made in the crumb- 
ling river bank at A until accumulating 
city refuse covered up the deposits. 
They ceased to be made in the creek 
banks at B as soon as the cutting extended 
fairly into the gravels in place ; and when, 
in 1889, I asked the principal explorer of 
this locality why the finds had ceased, he 
replied that when the railway cutting was 
made the excavations were carried up 
through a depression that must have been 
an old stream bed, and that the finds were 
in the filling of this channel. I do not 
think he understood the significance of 
the admission, but the statement must 
have been true, as nothing whatever is 
to be found in the present excellent ex- 
posures of the true gravels. The position 
of his finds are indicated at d on the 
dotted original profile in the section, and 
the present utterly barren exposures, half a 
of time involved. The evidence thus fur- 
nished has been spoken of as negative and’ 
hence as unsatisfactory, but, in the con-— 
tinued absence of finds of implements at. 
this and other points, it seems positive and 
convincing. The conclusion reached is.that. 
there must have been an error in the ob- 
servations that could produce hundreds of 
flaked stones from obscure or partial out- 
crops at a given spot in a crumbling bank 
when not a trace can be found at the same: 
point when the beds are fully exposed. 
Geologists will be interested in seeing the 
detailed section made by my assistant in: 
the trench. It tells the story of the de- 
posits better than any other section that. 
has been or probably ever will be made. 
Considering the foregoing facts, it may 
be regarded as substantially proved that 
the glacial gravels proper contain no relics. 
of art, and it would appear that now very 
few persons, indeed, expect them to yield 
any evidence whatever on the subject of 
human occupation. Five years have passed 
since the earlier observations and finds. 
