SPIEIT OF GOOD BOOKS. 
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the evidence derived from the deposits in caverns, owing to the })Ossibility of 
the relics of two or more entirely distinct periods becoming intermixed in such 
localities, either by the action of water or by the operations of the primitive 
human occupants of ths caves, vvhich prevented any judgment being firmly 
founded upon it. 
"At the end of April, 1859, I joined Mr. Prestwich at Abbeville, and with 
him inspected the collections of M. de Perthes, to whose courtesy aud hospi- 
tality we were largely endebted, and also visited in his company several of the 
pits worked for gravel and sand in the neighbourhood of both Abbeville and 
Amiens, in which the flints in question were asserted to have been found. 
" The drif^-beds occurring in different localities in the neighbourhood of 
Abbeville and Amiens, do not appear to have been all deposited at the same 
time, but to be of at least two distinct ages; "the series on the lower level 
being distinguished by the occurrence within it of the bones and teeth of the 
Mephas primigenius, or Siberian mammoth, and of other extinct animals. These 
mammaliferous beds of sand, loam, and gravel extend over a considerable tract 
of country on the slopes of the valley of the Somme, and are worked in several 
locahties for the repair of the roads and for building purposes. 
" One of the pits at St. Acheul occupies the site of a Gallo-Eoman cemetery, 
which appears to have continued in use for some centuries : large stone coffins, 
and the iron cramps of those in w^ood, are of frequent occurrence, but personal 
ornaments are rarely met with. Roman coins are found from time to time, 
some as early as the reign of Claudius, and I purchased from one of the work- 
men a second-brass coin of Magnentius, with the letters amb in the exergue, 
showing that it had been struck at " Ambianvm," the name given in late Ptoman 
times to the neighbouring town of Amiens, which by the Gauls was known as 
" Samarobriva." 
" Let us now turn our attention to the flint implements alleged to have been 
discovered in the drift in company with the remains of what has usually been 
regarded an older world ; and consider, first, how far in material, form, and 
workmanship they agree with or differ from the stone weapons and implements 
so commonly found throughout Europe ; and then enter upon an examination 
of the evidence of the circumstances of their finding, and the means at our 
command for ascertaining their degree of antiquity. 
" That they really are implements fashioned by the hand of man, a sinc:le 
glance at a collection of them placed side by side, so as to show the analogy of 
form of the various specimens, would, I think, be sufficient to convince even 
the most sceptical. There is a uniformity of shape, a correctness of outline, 
and a sharpness about the cutting edges and points, which cannot be due to 
anything but design ; so that I need not stay to combat the opinion that might 
otherwise possibly have arisen that the weapon-like shapes of the flints were 
due to some natural configuration, or arose from some inherent tendency to a 
peculiar form of fracture. 
" The material of which they have been formed, flint derived from the chalk, 
is the same as has been employed for the manufacture of cutting implements 
by uncivilized man in all ages, in countries where flint is to be found. Its 
hardness, and the readiness with which it may be fractured so as to present a 
cutting edge, have made it to be much in request among savage tribes for this 
purpose ; and in some instances flint appears to have been brought from a dis- 
tance when not found upon the spot. There is, therefore, nothing to distin- 
guish these implements from the drift, as far as material is concerned, from 
those which have been called celts, except, perhaps, that the flints have not 
been selected with such care, nor are they so free from flaws as those from 
which the ordinary flint weapons of the Stone period were fashioned. There 
is, however, this to be remarked, that the aboriginal tribes of the Stone period 
