260 
Mr. Conyers should ha^e lain unnoticed for more than double 
that time ; that the discoveries by M. Boucher de Perthes 
have been ignored for fifteen years ; that the numerous cases 
in which caves have contained the remains of men together 
with those of extinct animals, have been explained away ; 
are facts which show how deeply rooted was the conviction 
that man belonged altogether to a more recent order of 
things, and, whatever other accusation may be brought 
against them, geologists can at least not be said to have 
hastily accepted the theory of the co-existence of the human 
race with the now extinct Pachydermata of Northern Europe. 
The questions to be decided are as follows : — 
1st. Are the so-called flint implements of human work- 
manship, or the results of physical agencies ? 
' 2ndly. Are the flint implements of the same age as the 
bones of the extinct animals with which they occur ? 
3rdly. Are we entitled to impute a high antiquity to the 
beds in which these remains occur ? 
4thly. What are the conditions under which they were 
deposited ? 
To the first three of these questions an affirmative answer 
would be given, almost unanimously, by those geologists 
who have given any special attention to the subject. " For 
more than twenty years," says Prof. Ramsay, " I have daily 
handled stones, whether fashioned by nature or art, and the 
flint hatchets of Amiens and Abbeville seem to me as clearly 
works of art as any Sheffield whittle."* Still it might be sup- 
posed that they were forgeries, made by the workmen to entrap 
unwary geologists. They have, however, been found in situ 
by Messrs. Boucher de Perthes, Henslow, Christy, Flower, 
Gaudry, Pouchet, Wyatt, and others. One seen, though not 
found, in situ, is thus described by Mr. Prestwich. ** It was 
lying fiat in the gravel at a depth of 17 feet from the 
* Athenaeum, July 16, 1859. 
