27 
I, however, quite agree with Mr. Clodcl that the question of the antiquity 
of man cannot be judged from Brixham Cavern alone, for that is an 
isolated case, and the only way by which we can arrive at satisfactory 
results, is to judge all the cases as they arise. Mr. Row has spoken of the 
immense number of flints found in the South Downs, and I can fully 
confirm his statements. On Cissbury Hill, north of Worthing, you may 
shovel up the split flints and flakes by cart-loads ; and from thence to 
Eastbourne they are abundant everywhere on the surface, but more 
especially on the high ground ; and where the down land has recently 
been brought into cultivation, they are turned up from the subsoil to the 
surface by the plough. On the chalk high lands of Central France, the 
flakes and the so-called tools are even more numerous, especially in the 
provinces of Poitou and Perigord ; and what is still more remarkable, 
they occur in similar quantities in wide-spread deserts, where man, savage 
or civilized, never could have made his permanent home. Canon Tristram 
found them on the northern part of the Great Sahara. Eastward they 
occur in vast numbers on the Libyan Desert, and close up to the rich 
alluvial deposits of the Nile; but on the productive soil of the Egyptian 
"Valley, which at all times supplied the means of life to a large population, 
they are not found ; and the antiquaries who have observed and described 
them, mainly favour the opinion of their natural formation. M. Chabas 
says that the Egyptian stone implements are comparatively of modern 
date, and asks with surprise what could have been the use of the small 
flakes found in Egypt. Dr. Lepsius considers that most of them have 
been naturally formed, and has expressed his opinion that the flint flakes 
found in such abundance are natural flint fragments, splintered by the 
alternation of temperature ; and M. Pruner-Bey considered that the 
‘ are pure inventions, and intentional deceptions.’” I may add that it was 
announced, some little time ago, that the skeleton of a man had been found 
“ 600 feet below the surface of the earth at the delta of the Mississippi,” 
and Sir C. Lyell calculated therefrom, that man had existed there 57,000 
years ago. On inquiry, it transpired that, in excavating for the New Orleans 
gasworks, some burnt wood and the skeleton of a man, the cranium in 
good preservation, had been found at the depth of sixteen feet. To the 
foregoing I would add an extract from No. 323 (November, 1876) of 
the Abstracts of the Proceedings of the Geological Society of London : — 
“ Professor Ramsay said that there was a growing opinion that 
the forest-beds were interglacial, and remarked that traces of man 
had been found in interglacial deposits in Switzerland.” 
“Professor Hughes, referring to the statement of Professor 
Ramsay, thought that the discovery referred to was probably that 
of Dr. Scheuermann, recorded by Professor Rutimeyer, of sticks 
apparently artificially pointed, which had been found in lignite, and 
were considered to be of the age of the Diirnten Coal. He thought, 
however, that there were many sources of error in the observations, 
and was not inclined to accept the facts as recorded until further 
evidence was produced.” — Ed. 
