:386 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
of seventy. Tlicir shapes vary considerably, and no doubt tliev ^vcre made for 
varions special jnirposcs. One of llic hammers in my collection has been so 
well preserved deep in the earth (overlying the chalk in the township of Jkid- 
liug'ton) that it shows the mode in which it was nuule. It is five and three- 
quarter inches long, two and a-quarter wide, and about five inches in circum- 
ference; an oblong oval, inclined to be flattened on the sides. Along and 
across the whole of the exterior it shows the indentations and lines of shaping 
by the tool with which it was made. It has no hole to hold a sliaft. The form 
of this hammer is, as before stated, oblong, and tapering towards one end of it, 
as are some of the tools or weapons called " celts." 
Lign. 1. — Sandstone hammer with gi'oove. 
The outlines of the hammer in question are as above. The mode in which 
the handle was fastened to this instrument was no doubt by having a pliable 
stick wound round the smaller end, and the two ends brought into juxta- 
position and tied fast together, as a smith fastens a rod round the chisel with 
which he cuts hot iron. It will be seen at a glance that when the instrument 
was thus fastened, and the thick end was struck ■ against any object, that the 
wedge-like form of the hammer would no doubt cause it to be held tight, and 
the oftener it was used the tighter it would be held, by the mode used in 
fastening it. This hammer is of sandstone, of a rather fine grain. 
liign. 2.— Sandstone hammer with drilled hole. 
Another hammer in my collection, made of sandstone, having a hole in it for 
a handle, and is made in shape somewhat like the sketch (Fig. 9.). The hole is 
deeply splayed, and was no doubt made by rotatory friction, as rubbing with 
another harder stone and the use of sand and water ; yet as the stone hammer 
descended to nuieh more modern times than weapons of the same material, 
metal may have been employed in making the aperture. 
Several examples of hammers having t he holes for the handle made by a 
metal drill have come before my notice; and others are mentioned at page'78 
of the Catalogue of the Musen'm of the ]{oyal Irish Academy, which museum 
contains the greatest quantity of implements in stone and flint of any public 
