M. BOUCHER DE PERTHES. 269 



that lie had found human implements in beds unmistakeably 

 belonging to the age of the drift. In -his "Antiquites Cel- 

 tiques et Antediluviennes" (1847), he also gave numerous 

 illustrations of these stone weapons, but unfortunately the 

 figures were so small as scarcely to do justice to the originals. 

 For seven years M. Boucher de Perthes made few converts ; 

 he was looked upon as an enthusiast, almost as a madman. 

 At length, in 1853, Dr. Bigollot, till then sceptical, examined 

 for himself the drift at the now celebrated St. Acheul, near 

 Amiens, found several weapons, and believed. Still the new 

 creed met with but little favor; prophets are proverbially 

 without honor in their own country, and M. Boucher de 

 Perthes was no exception to the rule. At last, however, the 

 tide turned in his favor. Dr. Falconer, passing through 

 Abbeville, visited his collection, and made known the result 

 of his visit to Mr. Joseph Prestwich, who, with Mr. John 

 Evans, proceeded to Abbeville. I have always regretted 

 that I was unable to accompany my friends on this occasion. 

 They examined carefully not only the flint weapons, but also 

 the beds in which they were found. For such an investiga- 

 tion our two countrymen were especially qualified : Mr. 

 Prestwich, from his long examination and great knowledge 

 of the tertiary and quaternary strata; and Mr. Evans, as 

 having devoted much study to the stone implements belong- 

 ing to what we must now consider as the second, or at least 

 the more recent, Stone period. On their return to England 

 Mr. Prestwich communicated the results of his visit to the 

 Royal Society,* while Mr. Evans described the implements 

 themselves in the Transactions of the Society of Anti- 

 quaries, f 



* On the Occurrence of Flint Implements associated with the Remains of Ex- 

 tinct Species, in Beds of a late Geological Period, May 19, 1859. Phil. Trans. 

 1860. 



f Flint Implements in the Drift. Archseologia, 1860-62. 



