Thus, rejecting secondary and inferential evidence as in- 
conclusive, the only direct evidence in support of the high 
antiquity of man, is limited to one single inquiry, — Are 
these rough- splintered flints from, the drift gravel implements 
made hy_ man ? 
This question is more fully answered by the discoveries 
made in the valley of Axe than by any heretofore, the 
main object and point of this paper being to show that 
these supposed implements had a geological and not an an- 
tiquarian origin ; that they have been fractured in the same 
manner as the angular gravel in which they are found, nnd 
by the same natural cause ; and that there is in addition a 
preponderating weight of evidence against the assumption that 
they are implements made by human hands. 
The two Greological Sections illustrate the effects of what 
appears to be glacial action in North Devon. 
No. 1 is a section of the side of a lime quarry across the 
strike of the beds at Bickington, near Barnstaple. It shows 
that the former surface of the land has been denuded and 
rasped down by glacial action from the north, and drift gravel 
deposited on the south slope of the hill. (From my Sketch 
Book, 1852.) 
No. 2 is a section of the cliff near Westward Ho ! Bideford 
Bay. It shows the effects of the pressure of land ice in its 
progress down the slope of the hill, bending and crushing the 
upper ends of the perpendicular carboniferous beds ; and in 
particular splitting and faulting along the lines of lamination, 
a large boulder of blue carbonaceous grit. The broken and 
bent edges of the up-turned strata throughout Devon and 
Cornwall show similar evidence of ice-action. (The section 
is from my Sketch Book, 1868.) 
The Chaieman. — I have to return the thanks of the meeting to the author 
of this interesting paper, aud to his son, who has so ably read it. 
Mr. J. Kendall. — There are one or two questions which I should like to 
ask. With regard to the first paragraph on page 2, I would say it strikes 
me that, when engaged in investigating the authenticity of these flints 
as being implements, it is rather a dangerous plan to apply to the work- 
men engaged in the places where such things are found, to furnish them, 
