13 
flint from which the casts were taken ivas not found in Brix- 
ham Cavern, but in a barrow in the north of Ireland, and was 
lent to the owner of the cavern in 1860, with a stipulation that 
he would engage to state, whenever the cast was exhibited, 
that it was not a cast of one of the flints found in the cavern.* 
Thus for the past fifteen years this cast of what was probably a 
Celtic flake-knife of most perfect form and size, has been placed 
amongst some of the bones of the extinct mammals and other 
relics exhibited in the cavern, and no doubt has been seen by 
numerous visitors without any account of its origin being given, 
and most probably also sold to a considerable number without 
the stipulated explanation. It is therefore not surprising that 
the evidence of the “ flint-knives ” should have been so gene- 
rally received as a satisfactory proof of the co-existence of man 
with the extinct mammalia. 
The Duke of Argyll having expressed the opinion “ that a 
whole group or fauna of great quadrupeds have utterly perished 
since man appeared,” adds, “ I know no better example of the 
evidence to this effect than one which is very easily accessible 
in our own country. We have only to go down to the pleasant 
shores of Devon, and in one of the pleasantest spots upon those 
shores, the south-western promontory of Torbay, overhanging 
the little harbour of Brixham, where two hundred years ago 
William of Orange landed, there is a steep limestone hill, at 
the foot and on the face of which the houses of the town are 
built. Close to the summit, a few years ago, a cavernous hollow 
was discovered. ... in this cave the works of man, flint arrow- 
heads and knives, were found, along with the bones of the 
elephant, the rhinoceros, the bear, the hytena, and the rein- 
deer. If the Duke is correct in this, that no better evidence 
than that of Brixham Cavern can be adduced to prove the 
antiquity of man, then Palseolithic man is doomed — • 
“ And, like a demon of the night, 
Will pass and vanish from our sight.” 
Thus much for the flints themselves. I proceed to examine the 
additional evidence which has been put forward of the indica- 
tions of man's presence in the cave, by which the claim of the 
flints to be implements has been bolstered up. 
The Ivory Bod . — We are informed by Mr. Evans, “that a 
portion of a cylindrical pin or rod of ivory was found in the 
cave, being the only object wrought from an animal sub- 
* Western Daily Press, August 28, 1875. 
t Primrtval Man, pp. 116-8. 
