342 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



the neck ; the texture of the brain is, I think, generally darker, and the 

 white part more strongly fibrous ; but I speak from extremely limited 

 experience." Speaking of the Hindus, he states (' Eaces of Men,' p. 246), 

 that two young Brahmins which he saw had "heads peculiarly formed 

 — hammer-sliaped, in fact — set on the neck difierently from the Euro- 

 pean." 



It is to be hoped that the forthcoming detailed examination, by Dr. 

 Knox and Mr. Garter Blake, of a large series of recent skulls in the Eth- 

 nological Society's collection, may lead to some satisfactory result on this 

 interesting question. — I am, etc., 



POLYGENIST. 



Flint Implements. 



SiE, — One or two statements made in an article which appeared in the 

 * Geologist ' of last month, on M. Gras' attack on the evidence of the 

 Elint Implements in respect to the antiquity of man, seem to me to re- 

 quire correction. 



In touching upon one of the points of M. Gras' attack, viz. " the as- 

 tonishing multitude of these axes," the following interrogative is put and 

 answered: — " But, in reality, liow common are the true worked flints? 

 We have seen one only from all the great gravel-beds round and under 

 London ; and miles of them have lately been cut through for the sewer- 

 works. We have seen, may be, half-a-dozen from Suffolk, a like number 

 from Bedford, two or three from Kent, and less than a dozen from all 

 parts of England. As to the Yorkshire specimens, we must know more 

 about them, and where they come from, before we can say much about 

 them. I suppose, however, whether ancient or modern, not more than a 

 hundred exist from that, the largest county in England, and numbering 

 as many acres as there are words in the Bible." 



From the above extract it appears that considerable doubt exists as to 

 the genuineness of the numerous collections of flint-implements made by 

 various individuals in the last-named county. About twenty years ago, I 

 casually saw at Boynton Hall, which is situate a few miles from Bridling- 

 ton, and which belongs to Sir George Strickland, a small but interesting 

 collection of flint arrowheads, axes, etc., made previous to the year 1800. 

 It was after my inspection of this collection that I was induced to search 

 in the same localities ; and during the period above-mentioned, I have 

 accumulated several thousands ; nine-tenths I have picked up myself, and 

 the rest have been brought to me by men and children who have found 

 them while working in the fields. I beg to refer your readers to a lecture 

 delivered by the Rev. T. Wiltshire to the Geologists' Association at the 

 beginning of the year, on the " Ancient Flint Implements of Yorkshire, 

 and the Modern Fabrication of similar Specimens." On this occasion the 

 reverend gentleman exhibited two hundred and sixty-eight specimens. To 

 show, however, with what facility spurious flint weapons could be manu- 

 factured, a person was in attendance who, Avith only a small piece of iron 

 rod, bent at the end, produced by a little dexterous manipulation almost 

 any shape required. The forged implements, however, may be detected 

 by (he ])ractised eye, as there are certain peculiarities about them which 

 make \\\cm differ from the authentic ones. Those interested in such 

 mat ters I would refer to a report of my collection, which appeared in the 

 third volume of the Proceedings of the Leeds and West Biding of York- 



