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the wants of nature to make implements of stone ; that, being unable to 
obtain bronze, or iron, or wood, they, therefore, fashion the flints into such 
forms as are useful for the purposes of their daily life. It is a reasonable 
analogy that in the glacial periods of former times, if men were then in 
existence, the same process would take place. The answer given is 
this : many stones that have been found in the Valley of the Axe are not 
really stone implements, but have been formed by nature in such a way that 
some persons choose to call them stone implements ; therefore, we are to 
reject all the evidence produced by geologists and scieutiflc men, and to say 
that stone implements were not used in times past. It seems to me that the 
evidence for this is too weak. The British Museum authorities have made 
an extensive collection of these implements, and the authorities at the Exeter 
Museum have also an extensive collection. There is likewise a collection in the 
Blackmore Museum, and at Bouen I was struck wnth the collection I saw in 
the Museum there ; so that we have not only those of our own nation, but the 
scieutiflc men of Erance also, — men of practical experience, — besides naval 
officers who have travelled in the northern regions, testifying to the fact that 
stone implements have been in use from time immemorial, and are still in use 
in the glacial regions. Well, then, it is said that the other evidence 
as to man’s existence in pre-historic times, — at so remote a period, — is 
almost conclusive in an opposite direction; that that evidence adduced 
in favour of a very great antiquity fails. Whether this be so or not, 
I do not think much affects the question. We have scientific men saying 
that stones have been used as implements in times past, and that they are still 
so used by men who have to make the implements themselves. It is possible 
that a stone may be naturally split into particular forms ; but it is very 
difficult to conceive that a number of angles of a given shape will be caused 
in a stone so split. If we take a piece of flint we find that it will split 
angularly ; and, if we find a great number of angles shaped into a specified form 
and not rounded off as in other flints by the constant friction of rolling over and 
over among other stones, it is probable that the angles made on that flint are 
of human origin. If we look at the evidence presented to us, it is, I think, 
in favour of the supposition that stone implements have been in use from time 
immemorial ; and this, certainly, is an interesting fact, because it shows that 
the earliest man did possess intelligence. 
Sir Joseph Eayeee, K.C.S.I., M.D., F.B.S., &c. — I have no intention of 
discussing this subject, as I do not understand it sufficiently well to do so, 
but rise merely to ask a question. It is said that some of the pieces of chert 
now on the table are in their present form the productions of nature. 
Would the reader of the paper be kind enough to say whether there is any 
recent instance on record of pieces of chert or flint being chipped and fonned 
into the axe-like shape assumed by many of the stones lying on the table ? 
The last speaker has alluded to the impossibility of nature producing 
a number of angles and points in a given form. I do not know whether 
this is so or not, but I believe that many of these stones are wont to 
divide with conchoidal fracture or cleavage, and I can understand that many 
