1882.] 99 [Abbott. 



it is of this material that the ancient and extremely rude imple- 

 ments found in New Hampshire by Professor Haynes, are made. 

 Whatever may be the final judgment as to the age of these New 

 Hampshire specimens, it is interesting to know that the ancient 

 dwellers in the valley of the Delaware likewise used this mineral, 

 although but rarely, and fashioned from it, at least in this instance, 

 a better implement than the majority of those discovered by Pro- 

 fessor Haynes. 



If judgment as to age is passed solely upon the relative merits 

 of the workmanship in the case, this would lead to the conclusion 

 that the New Hampshire specimens ante-dated those found in the 

 gravel deposits of the Delaware River — but is this warrantable ? 

 Are there not very many other conditions to be considered ? If 

 the character of the implement alone is indicative of antiquity, 

 then we can draw no distinction, in America, between a palaeo- 

 lithic and a neolithic age. 



Again, the rude implements found near Little Falls, Minnesota, 

 and which Professor Winchell, Geologist of that State, claims are 

 of palaeolithic age, are likewise of this same material, although 

 the Minnesota specimens, as a class, are considerably smaller. 



While the European palaeolithic implements, as a class, are 

 made of pure flint, I find on examining the series in the collections 

 of the Peabody Museum, that specimens made of other minerals 

 are not wanting ; and so, while in the Delaware Valley the typi- 

 cal implement is of argillite, there do occur others of a different, 

 and in some cases less easily worked, material. 



Such instances as this confirm the impression that all who 

 examine the localities receive : that the evidences of man, in the 

 so-called palaeolithic or river-drift age, is essentially the same 

 both in Europe and America. 



As most of those who live in New Jersey have good cause to 

 remember, there occurred, late last month (Sept., 1882), a very 

 remarkable rain-storm ; in sixty hours, there fell at Trenton, the 

 enormous rainfall of eleven and one-half inches. The cut through 

 the gravel through which the railroad passes, was in part converted 

 into a river. A short-lived stream, to be sure, scarcely holding its 

 own for forty-eight hours, but it made good use of its time, and 

 spread out hundreds of tons of gravel over a level space, and thus 

 rendered less difficult the task of determining what treasures it 

 had concealed for centuries. 



