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a means of attack and defence, our modern gun-flints superseded 

 the flint arrow-heads. We grind our corn with stone as the 

 ancients did : and like them use stone as sharpening implements : 

 the finger-ring, the breast-pin, and the pendant of diamonds, 

 amethyst, agates, and other forms of stone, are but the survivals 

 of those personal ornamental embellishments that, with other- 

 wise scanty apparel, were supposed to add dignity and grace to 

 the charms of primitive man, attractions which, no doubt, were 

 largely availed of by the ladies of the period. 



In a general sense, what is known as the Stone Period is 

 divided into the earlier or Palaeolithic, and the later or Neolithic 

 ages. Such terms are, however, indefinite ; we should therefore 

 rather divide the Stone Period into three stages — the Palaeolithic 

 or earliest stage ; the Neolithic or pre-historic stage, and the 

 Modern or historic stage. These three culture stages will 

 embrace the entire Stone Age, or Ages, during which stone was 

 used for implements, weapons, personal ornaments, or any other 

 article complete in itself. Accepting this as the most correct 

 subdivision, we will consider the Palaeolithic, the Pre-historic, 

 and the Modern stages respectively. 



THE PALAEOLITHIC STAGE. 



The Palaeolithic implements are peculiar in many respects — 

 they are almost exclusively formed from flint nodules, and are 

 invariably rudely chipped into form, and never artificially 

 polished. They do not include anything like the variety of 

 forms that subsequently came into use in Pre-historic times. 

 They are rude, lumpy, and weathered, and often rounded 

 and glazed by friction. They are found in river-gravels, and so 

 distributed through the gravels as to indicate that they existed 

 before the formation of the deposits, and in many instances prior 

 to the excavation of the valleys in which the gravels are now 

 found. Such flints are the only evidence of the existence of man 

 at the period when the physical changes which originated the 

 gravels took place, and they are the first evidence of man's 

 manipulative skill as a manufacturer. 



