45 
remote as some people imaglue ; but that it is actually withiu the know- 
ledge of the Arctic Expedition of only a few years back in the present 
century. 
Mr. S. R. Pattison, P.G.S. — My old friend, Mr. Whitley, appears to 
perform the same functions in regard to this branch of science and 
knowledge that Lord Eldon did in regard to the law. I have some know- 
ledge of what Mr. Whitley has done in other fields and, about two mouths 
ago, I went to the place mentioned in this paper — Broom, in the valley 
of the Axe, — ^with the object of endeavouring to discover some of those imple- 
ments, or tools, supposed to have been fashioned by the hand of man. I was, 
however, wholly unsuccessful. I spent a long afternoon, and think 
I thoroughly investigated the deposit, which is accurately described in this 
paper as a tumultuous assemblage of chert, split into small junks and angular 
fragments, and admirably adapted for that kind of nature’s cutlery which 
people use when they are driven to the necessity by not having metals 
ready to hand. Just such a place and deposit would be selected by any of us 
if we wanted a sharp implement, for digging or other purposes, supposing we 
had no other material. There is a tall cliff, forming the end of a plateau 
above the valley, projecting just where one of the side valleys comes into 
that of the Axe. It is extremely difficult to understand how the accumu- 
lation could have been formed by present causes, unless we included an 
almost inconceivable amount of time, of which there is no evidence. 
I was quite of Mr. Whitley’s opinion that there were no flint imple- 
ments visible. A remark has been made in reference to the workmen, and 
I remember saying to those I saw, '‘I am very desirous of getting one 
of these things.” They said, “ We cannot furnish you with one, because 
there have been none found for nearly twelve months.” I said, could you 
not make them ? ” The answer was, “ Oh, no ! ” I asked, “ Don’t you think 
some of them were made ? ” and the reply was, “ I dare say it would be very 
easy to make them ; but those we found were not made. We had no time to 
make them, but we did find a good many of them ; they have not, however, 
been found lately.” The flints referred to were found in the lower 
stratum, and they showed me where. Now, this is some slight proof as taken 
from the men who handled these things, that there is a difference between 
the things to which human origin was assigned and the mere flakes and 
pieces naturally fractured. I can therefore accept all that Mr. Whitley 
states, without accepting his conclusions. It is just as if he were playing a 
game at skittles, in which he undertook to knock down every pin, but in 
which, according to the laws of the game, unless he succeeded in knocking 
down every pin, he really accomplished nothing. If one of the stones brought 
from the Valley of the Axe exhibited undoubted proof of design, and there- 
fore of the mental application by man, his whole argument at once becomes 
utterly worthless, and, so far as it tries to prove a negative, is fallacious. 
I did not go on to Exeter, where I before saw rough flints said to have 
come from the Valley of the Axe, and attested by Mr. Evans, who is the 
prime expert in these matters, and by others who have made observations 
