16 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



It required no knowledge of that art for Man, as soon as he 

 became "erectus," to fling stones at other animals whom he 

 wished to kill or to frighten. The significance of the erect 

 position of Man was ably shown by Dr. Munro, in his address at 

 Nottingham in 1893. Its mechanical and physical advantages, 

 the differentiation of the limbs into hands and feet, and the 

 relation between the more perfect condition of those organs and 

 the development of the brain, were pointed out. The difference 

 between the semi-erect attitude of the anthropoids and the per- 

 fectly upright position of Man represents a wide gap. The chief 

 movement in the act of progression in Man is performed by an 

 enormously developed group of muscles known as the calf of the 

 leg. In the upper limbs the hand has become the most complete 

 and perfect mechanical organ ever produced. From the first 

 moment that Man recognized the advantage of using a club or a 

 stone in attacking his prey or defending himself, the direct 

 incentives to a higher brain-development came into existence. 

 What a memorable event in the history of humanity (continues 

 Dr. Munro, whose argument I have briefly summarized) was the 

 manufacture of the first sharp stone implement ! 



How long it took Man to make the discovery and acquire the 

 art, who can say ? Even now, the human mind works slowly. 

 May it not have worked even more slowly in that time of Man's 

 infancy ? It seems not unreasonable to conclude that this great 

 discovery may have come upon him by degrees, and that the first 

 step in it — the ascertaining that a stone with a sharp edge was 

 more effective than a smooth one, and that such a sharp edge 

 might be produced hy smartly knocking one stone against 

 another — would give rise to a rude and simple implement, to 

 which a single knock had given all the effect desired. We may 

 therefore expect that, if any remains of Man's work at this stage 

 are found at all, they would be in such a form as to be scarcely 

 distinguishable from stones which had suffered a natural fracture. 



When, therefore, the lamented Sir Joseph Prestwich asserted 

 that there are to be found, on the chalk plateau of Kent, a 

 number of flint implements of rude primitive form, in which the 

 trimming is often very slight, made on the edges of rude natural 

 flints, besides others which, though not the result of chance, 

 show no special design, he stated that which is not in itself 



