278 THE FORGERIES. 



but dull and lustreless, and they have no dendritic markings 

 or incrustations. Nor .would it be possible for an in- 

 genious rogue to deceive us by taking a stained flint and 

 fashioning it into a hatchet ; because the discoloration of the 

 flint is quite superficial, seldom more than a quarter of an 

 inch in thickness, and follows the outline of the present 

 surface, showing that the change of color was subsequent to 

 the manufacture ; while if such a flint was tampered with, 

 the fraud would be easily detected, as each blow would 

 remove part of the outer coating, and expose the black flint 

 inside, as may be seen in pi. 1, fig. 11. 



Moreover, it must be remembered, that when M. Boucher 

 de Perthes' work was published, the weapons therein de- 

 scribed were totally unlike any familiar to archaeologists. 

 Since that time, however, not only have similar implements 

 been found both in England and France, but, as already 

 mentioned, it has since come to light that similar weapons 

 were in two cases actually described and figured in England 

 many years ago, and that in both these instances they were 

 found in association with the bones of extinct animals. On 

 this point, therefore, no evidence could be more conclusive. 



We may, then, pass on to the second subject, and consider, 

 Whether the Flint implements are as old as the beds in 

 which they occur, and as the remains of extinct mammalia 

 with which they are associated. 



It has been suggested by some writers, that though they 

 are really found in the mammaliferous gravel, they may be 

 comparatively recent, and belong really to the Neolithic or 

 later Stone age, but have gradually sunk down from above 

 by their own weight, or perhaps have been buried in artificial 

 excavations. There are, however, no cracks or fissures by 

 which the hatchets could have reached their present positions, 

 and the strata are "altogether too compact and immoveable 

 to admit of any such insinuation or percolation of surface 



