ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. lui 



tile origin, due to freshwater currents flowing down the valley in 

 some ancient period. It contains land and freshwater shells of 

 species now living, and in some places bones of Elephant, lthinoceros, 

 Hippopotamus, Cervus, Pos, Equus ; so that here appear in one 

 deposit bones of various mammals, some of them extinct, and what 

 appear to be the instruments employed by a being of intelligence 

 superior to theirs, however inferior to that which Ave recognize even 

 among the rudest tribes of mankind. Of these flints very large 

 numbers have been collected since 1849, when M. Boucher do 

 Perthes first made them known at Abbeville, in his work entitled 

 ' Antiquites Celtiques,' — several of them collected by the personal 

 exertions of the many geologists who have visited the localities. 

 Among these our own Prestwich is pre-eminent, alike distinguished 

 for extensive and accurate knowledge of gravel-deposit. At St. 

 Acheul, near Amiens, passing downwards from the brick-clay, 10 to 

 15 feet thick, in which appear many old tombs and some coins, he 

 found whitish marl, sand, and small fragments of chalk, with land 

 and freshwater shells (all of recent species) (mammalian teeth and 

 bones are also occasionally found), 2 to 8 feet ; and under this, 6 to 

 12 feet of coarse subangular flint-gravel (with ochreaceous scams), 

 tertiary flint-pebbles, and small sandstone blocks ; remains of shells 

 of land and fresh water in patches of sand ; teeth and bones of 

 Kit phas primigt nius, Horse, Ox, and Deer, generally near the base. 

 In the lower part of this bed, 17 or 20 feet from the surface, are 

 found the flints which arc regarded as rude works of art. 



At Menchecotirt, near Abbeville, under 2 to 12 feet of brown sandy 

 clay, with angular fragments of flint and chalk-rubble, appear light- 

 coloured sandy clay, with land shells of existing species (and it is 

 said, " flint axes and mammalian remains" occasionally occixr), 8 to 

 25 feet ; next white sand : land and freshwater shells abound in 

 this bed, which is from 2 to 6 feet thick, and contains remains of 

 Elephas primigenhu, Bhinoe. tichorkmtu, Bos, Cervus, Ursus, Hycena, 

 Felis, Equus, and. it is said, flint implements. At the base, and 

 forming part of the bed, is a layer of 1 to 2 feet of subangular flint- 

 gravel. Amongst these Hints are some marine shells mixed with 

 freshwater kinds; above them lie most of the bones, and, it is said. 

 the greater number of the worked Hints. At the bottom is light- 

 coloured sandy marl, with land shells. This occurrence of marine 

 shells was naturally to be expected in the part of the valley near the 

 sen. without supposing any remarkable change of level of land. The 

 flint implements wear a different aspecl in the different sorts of 



deposit which enclose them — being pure and bright in the clean 

 sandy part-, but ochre-stained and dull in the ferruginous gravel, 

 and coated with carbonate of lime where calcareous solutions have 

 affected the onworked flints. In bet, •• the Hint implements firm 

 just as much a constituent part of the gravel itself exhibiting the 



same later influences, and in the same force and degree as the rough 

 mass of Bint fragments with which they are associated*." 



* Prestwioh, in Royal Boo. Proa 1869. 



