370 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



GEOLOGICAL TOPICS. 



THE TIB.ST TRACES GE MA^' OX THE EAETH. 

 ((hntim(ed from vol. ii., x^age iS2J 



The first person to verify the geological age of the flint -implement strata of 

 the TaUeyof the Somme^vras Dr. RigoUet, who in IS 54 published his "'Memoire 

 sur des Instrnments en silex trouves a Saint Aclieul prt-s Amiens, et consideres 

 sons les rapports Geologique et Ai'clitk'loginue/"" * illustrated by five sections 

 of the beds by M. Dutilleiix, and v,-iTh dravrings of the vrorked flints. After 

 stating that on many occasions the ]}oncs and teeth of fossil elephants had 

 been met with in the same beds, he adds — " My ciu'iosity was strongly ex- 

 cited in the month of August last 1 1^54 when M. Dutilleux, Member of the 

 Society of Antiquaries of Picardy, informed me that he had found there also 

 axes or insTrur!it--n-s of flint evi'- ://.y Avorked by the hand of man. This fact, 

 hovrever ^.-i' aL-Li:ig, was the - M. Boucher de Perthes had announced 



the like discoveries at Menchecoiut and at the mill at Quignon, near the gates 

 of Abb e wide. '"'"t 



Peeling that these discoveries supported the statements of M. de Perthes, 

 Dr. Pvigoilet thought the geological cpie^tion the mo-t important, and the first 



to b ■ ' --L'T.^edr 



.\ 1 by AI. Buteaux, member of the Geological Society of Prance, 



and L. : m r::: >vxr-r IL-nt memoir '''On the Geology of the Department of the 

 Somme," Dr. liir i ^ iii-pected the beds themselves. He induced also M. E. 

 Heb---ry. 'i ; t • . •• < : i---- i' ry A rhr- Z.;':lo Xormal Superieure of Paris, 

 who . - . - ; : v?l in the special study of the 



qu;- : ---- ' • - ■ 'i :^ >amt Acheul and Saint Poch, 



and -its at Abbevdle, and to m-pic-: the rich and curious collection of 



axe- : iked flints of M. Boucher de Peiihes. 



"'•'At Abbeville, as at Amiens,''' says Dr. PigoUet, "'the worked flints ai'emet 

 with solely at the lower part of the diggings, in the midst of the sand and 

 gravel. Some of those foimd at Saint Acheul are still covered with a 

 calcareous coating that at certain places envelopes the boidders and gravel, and 

 which adherent gangue is met vrith only in this stratum, and is not seen in any 

 of the overlyhig beds. At Saint-Acheiil, from the same place where these pro- 

 ducts of hnmam industry are met with, M. Dutilleux obtained the tusk of an 

 elephant, and Ijoiies and teeth of extinct species of horse, ox, and deer, the 

 sub-- ' Avliich is dense, and heavy, as if impregnated with calcareous and 



peri ■ us matter, and totally unlike the bones of men, oxen, or horses 

 founu in - i|.Lrficial deposits, which are porous and light, even when they date 

 back for fifteen or sixteen himdred years.'*' 



'"' Thus it is well estabhshed," M. PdgoUel: adds, "that these flint objects are 

 not found in the brick-earth which forms the uppermost stratum, nor in the 

 intermediate beds of clay, sand, and small pebbles, but are met with exclusively 

 in the veritable diluvium." M. PdgoUet collected upwards of four hundred of 



* Amiens, 1554, Duval et Herment. 



+ Part of M. Boucher de Perthes book was translated and embodied in " The Sione Period," 

 V'T Dr, A. Hume, of Liverjiool, in 1851. 



