1859.] FLOWER AMIE.VS GRAVEL. ]!>! 



been found twenty feet from the surface. These were but little 

 rolled or broken ; and it seems probable, therefore, that the same 

 forces that transported these Hint implements to their present position 

 may also have deposited these remains of the Hippopotamus. 



The first discovery of these Hint instruments, as well in this quarry 

 as in other localities in the Valley of the Somme, is due to M. Boucher 

 de Perthes, of Amiens. It was with a view to verify by personal 

 observation the result of his researches that our visit to St. Aeheul 

 and the neighbourhood was undertaken. Mr. Prestwich had, indeed, 

 previously visited the spot, and had embodied the result of his re- 

 searches in a paper which was read before the Royal Society in May 

 last. He had not, however, succeeded in finding one of these imple- 

 ments in situ, although he hail procured several of them from the 

 labourers. It was only after labouring for several hours that I suc- 

 ceeded in disinterring the specimen in question. 



The result of our examination perfectly satisfied us, as it had 

 already satisfied Mr. Prestwich. of the frequent occurrence of these 

 weapons or implements beneath the beds of loam, sand, and gravel 

 which 1 have described. We not only found two good specimens of 

 these implements, but we brought away upwards of thirty others, 

 taken from the same pit ; several of them are on the table. Some 

 of these were found at about the same depth as that which 1 dis- 

 covered, and some about four feet lower down. They were pro- 

 cured without difficulty from the labourers and their children. Mr. 

 Prestwich, on the occasion of his first visit, in company with Mr. 

 Evans, brought away aboul twenty specimens; and many others are 

 to be seen in M. Boucher de Perthes's Museum. They are bo common 

 in the pit in question as to have acquired a trivial name, and are 

 known by the workpeople as langues de chut. 



There is one peculiarity in these implements which appears to 

 deserve particular notice ■ they were evidently water- worn and 

 rounded pebbles before they were formed into weapons or tools; and 

 this, indeed, is jusl such a condition as we ahould expect to find. 

 None but people destitute of iron would have been content to Use 



Buch rude and uncouth instruments as these; and a people unprovided 

 with iron would also have been unable to quarry the chalk for the 

 sake of the tiint imbedded in it, but would have been forced to 

 content themselves with those fragments which lay scattered upon 

 the surface, or bul a little below it. [f we examine the specimens 

 closely, we find that, while the manufactured or worked surfaces 

 (namely the cutting edges and the point i are uearly as sharp and 

 clear as if worked yesterday, the portion left of the original, or, it' 

 we may so call it, the natural surface (thai which has nol been 

 Btruck off in the course of manufacture) is often veiy much water- 

 worn; and it also presents that peculiar discoloration usually found 

 in flints long exposed to the influence of the atmosphere, extending 

 to the depth of a quarter or an eighth of an inch, and probably due 

 irae chemical change resulting from mechanical f i 

 It 



