888 Reports and Proceedings. 



quently cut into segments by geological changes ; and that the makers 

 of the quartzite implements came from the same stock as both these 

 recent tribes, which present the most rudimentary civilization known. 



Professor Kupert Jones called attention to the similarity in the 

 type of these quartzite implements and that of the flint implements 

 of Europe. 



Sir Roderick Murchison doubted whether the laterite was a marine 

 formation, as neither in it nor in the lacustrine deposits alluded to 

 had any organic remains been found. 



M. de Normand stated that Obsidian knives, like Mexican types, 

 were found by him, with domestic implements cut out of volcanic 

 stone, under 70 feet of tuff of the primitive volcano of Santorin ; and 

 he considered that before the formation of the first volcano Ceramic pot- 

 tery was brought to Santorin from foreign shores, and, of course, by sea. 



Dr. Meryon remarked that the occurrence of the same type of 

 implement in Europe and Asia proved a dispersion of the human 

 race in very ancient times, and that man originated from one centre ; 

 while in later times a divergence of type in the worked objects was a 

 result of the dispersion. 



Mr Prestwich was inclined to believe that greater physical 

 changes had occurred in India since the Pliocene period than in 

 Europe. The implements were so like those of Europe, that their 

 fabricators seemed to have been taught in the same school. 



Mr Foote, in reply, stated that he regarded the laterite as a marine 

 formation, because it occurred all round the coast. All the imple- 

 ments were quartzite, with perhaps one doubtful exception, which 

 was formed of basalt. Stone circles and kistvaens had been found 

 on the surface of the laterite in some localities. 



2. '' On worked Flint flakes from Carrickfergus and Lame." By 

 G. V. du Noyer, Esq. Communicated by Sir E. I. Murchison, Bart., 

 K.C.B., F.G.S., etc. 



These flakes have been found by the author in two very distinct 

 positions, namely, the older in the marine drift (sand and gravel) 

 skirting the shores of the county Antrim and the county Down, the 

 maximum elevation being about 20 feet above the sea ; and the more 

 recent in the subsoil clay at all elevations up to 600 feet, near Bel- 

 fast, Carrickfergus, Lame Lough, and Island Magee. The former 

 are of the rudest forms, highly oxidized or white on their entire 

 surface ; but, though imbedded in marine drift, having the chippings 

 around the sides and angles generally sharp. The latter have a 

 comparatively fresh look, though still possessing the characteristic 

 porcellanous glaze ; they are regarded by Mr. Du Noyer as possibly 

 the rough materials out of which the historic races in Ireland manu- 

 factured the spear and arrow-heads which are found with their 

 sepulchral and other remains. 



3. "On the Diminution in the volume of the Sea during past 

 Geological Epochs." By Andrew Murray, Esq., F.L.S. Communi- 

 cated by the President. 



In opposition to Sir Charles Lyell, the author submitted that, 

 instead of the proportion of dry land to sea having always been the 



