Abbott.] 424 [Dec. 21, 



I will close my comparison of these implements, although it 

 could be carried much farther with the specimens in the Peabody 

 Museum, by calling your attention to these two large pointed im- 

 plements, one of flint from the gravel of the Somme valley at St. 

 Acheul, and the other of argillite from the gravel of the Delaware 

 valley at Trenton. This is a form of palaeolithic implement which 

 is common to the gravels of France and England and they are gen- 

 erally of large size, like those before you. In both these speci- 

 mens the original surface of the stone is left untouched at the large 

 end and forms a smooth rounded portion which is perfectly adapt- 

 ed to be grasped and held by the hand. From this thick end the 

 stone is regularly chipped on all sides until a long slender point 

 is produced. 



In the several instances to which I have called your attention, 

 you can but perceive that man in this early period of his existence 

 had learned to fashion the best available material, be it flint, ar- 

 gillite, quartz, chert or other rocks, into implements and weapons 

 suitable to his requirements. You will also have noticed, during 

 this comparison of the forms of the implements, that his require- 

 ments were about the same on both sides of the Atlantic, when he 

 was living under conditions of climate and environment which must 

 have been very near alike on both continents, and when such ani- 

 mals as the mammoth and the mastodon, with others now extinct, 

 were his contemporaries. 



Was he of one race on the two continents? Has he left de- 

 scendants or has he passed out of existence with the mammoth and 

 the mastodon ? These are questions we hope may be answered in 

 the near future. 



Papers were then read by Dr. Abbott, Professor Wright and 

 Mr. Upham. 



ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN THE VALLEY OF 

 THE DELAWARE. 



BY DR. CHARLES C. ABBOTT. 



Dr. Abbott began his remarks on the evidences of the Antiq- 

 uity of Man in the Valley of the Delaware, and of his own more 

 recent discoveries, by reading an abstract of a communication read, 



