564th OKDINAEY GENERAL MEETING, 



HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM B, THE CENTRAL HALL, 

 WESTMINSTER, ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15th, 1915, 

 AT 4.30 p.m. 



Mk. David Howard, D.L., F.C.S., Vice-President, 

 took the Chair. 



The Minutes of the preceding Meeting were read and confirmed. 



The Secretary announced the election of Mr. William Doman as an 

 Associate of the Institute. 



The Chairman called upon the Secretary to read the following paper 

 in the unavoidable absence of the Author. 



TRACES OF A RELIGIOUS BELIEF 

 OF PRIMEVAL MAN. 



By the Rev. D. Gath Whitley. 



BEFORE beginning this investigation, I feel it is necessary 

 to define the sense in which I use different terms, and to 

 explain the signification of words and phrases which will 

 often occur in the course of this paper. There is so much 

 loose writing and loose thinking prevalent, owing to the hasty 

 manner of much of the modern writing, that unless clear 

 definitions are laid down at the beginning, nothing but con- 

 fusion is likely to follow. 



Let me say at the very commencement, that by Primeval 

 Man I mean Palaeolithic Man who lived in the early Stone Age. 

 I have nothing to do with the men of the Neolithic Period, nor 

 of the ages of Bronze or Iron. With these later archaeological 

 eras I have no concern in the present paper. Next, I must 

 explain the meaning which I attach to the term Palaeolithic 

 Age. It was invented by the late Lord Avebury to signify the 

 time when Man used only stone weapons, which were not 

 ground or polished, but only rudely chipped.* This definition 



* Prehistoric Times, 1st Edition, p. 3. 



