lxviii PEOCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 19OO, 



At the other end of the geological scale the advance of knowledge 

 has also been very marked, as before mentioned, when noticing the 

 Drift-work of the Geological Survey. Especially, however, has this 

 been the case in regard to a subject perhaps of more general interest 

 than any of those great questions to which I have already alluded 

 or others to which I am about to refer ; and naturally so, as it 

 has a much more apparent connexion with ourselves. I mean the 

 Antiquity of Man. 



It was not until 1859 that the first of the great papers on this 

 subject by Prestwich and by Evans were read, and these were not 

 published in full until 1860 and 1861. Then first did we realize 

 that it was distinctly proved that implements made by man occurred, 

 associated Avith the remains of extinct mammals, in beds of un- 

 disturbed gravel and loam belonging to a late Drift age, both in 

 Erance and in England. Other papers by each of the above-named 

 authors soon followed, and the question was prominently brought 

 before the public in 1863 by Ly ell's ' Antiquity of Man,' of which 

 three editions appeared in that year. The lately published ' Life 

 of Prestwich ' contains much interesting correspondence on the 

 subject. 



Much and sharp discussion arose, as is right ; but what geologist 

 now feels any doubt on this subject ? Many, on the other hand, 

 would feel no surprise at the age of our species being pushed some- 

 what further back in the world's unwritten history : indeed several 

 zealous workers are trying so to push it. 



Of course the area over which discovery has been made has been 

 greatly extended, and a voluminous literature has arisen, a most 

 able summary of which, so far as these islands are concerned, has 

 been given in the great work of our Foreign Secretary. 1 Probably 

 it is the high interest felt in this matter that has intensified the 

 attention bestowed on the Drift. 



As the discovery of stone-implements in the Drift has served to 

 link our science with anthropology and with the study of prehistoric 

 antiquities, so has geology been brought into contact with geography 

 by the great amount of work that has been done on the existing 

 features of the earth and their origin. This work includes those 

 speculations, in which our American brethren are pre-eminent, as to 

 former topographical features and their gradual change into those 

 of to-day, another example of evolution. 



1 Sir John Evans, ' The Ancient Stone Implements „ of Great Britain ' 



(1872) & 2nd ed. (1897). 



