DISCOVERY OF REMAINS OF PRElIISrORIC MAN G9 



If this is the case, if man existed in the preceding geological 

 period, it is natural to suppose that some traces of him might 

 be found ; that if he aided himself by the use of stone imple- 

 ments as he would be likely to do, these tools, however crude, 

 would some day come to light to reward the efforts of the ar- 

 chaeologist and bear mute testimony of man's existence at that 

 almost unthinkable antiquity. And already quite a series of 

 objects have been discovered which although not yet distinctly 

 proved, seem to give this looked-for evidence. Certain flints, 

 thought by some to be the work of man, have been found in 

 Tertiary deposits, notably those discovered by M. I'abbe Bour- 

 geois, in 1867, at Thenay, in the department of Loire-et-Cher, 

 France, and those brought to notice in 1877, by M. Rames, 

 from a formation of similar age at Puy-Courny, Cantal, in the 

 plateau region of Central France. These flints are very rough, 

 and it has not yet been determined whether the chippings 

 which they show are the results of intelligent work or are sim- 

 ply due to natural causes. Some of these flints show the action 

 of fire as if they might have lain in old hearths as is often the 

 case with worked flints of undoubted authenticity, but here 

 again, there is no way of proving that the fire which has pro- 

 duced the calcined effect on the flint was not caused by some 

 natural agency. 



These tertiary flints which are sometimes known under the 

 name of eoliths, have, on account of their uncertain character 

 been the subject of considerable discussion and controversy. 

 That they show human workmanship and are not simply natural 

 forms is still undetermined. Flints showing undoubted traces 

 of human agency in their shaping have been found in England, 

 in Kent, in such positions or in such apparent relations to 

 ancient deposits, as to make it possible that man may be cer- 

 tainly proved to have existed in times far more remote than 

 those which saw the formation of the river drifts and cave de- 

 posits of western Europe. But the correlation of these flints 

 with the more ancient deposits has not been certainly proved, 

 and further investigation and detailed study of the question will 

 be required. 



