14 
And now let me make an admission to avoid a misconception, It is not 
mv contention that a stone has never beeD used as a scraper ; that a disc has 
never been hurled as a sling-stone ; that a flint-flake has never been used as 
a knife, or never manufactured by man : for both written history and archaeo- 
logical research testify to the contrary. But my contention is, that e 
shattered flints and simple flakes found in the soil, and more abundantly in 
the sub-soil, have been formed by natural causes, and unless the so-called 
implements which have been picked out from the mass of these shattered 
flints bear other and distinct marks of having been made or used by man, 
they afford no proof whatever of his workmanship or presence. 
I will take an illustration from ancient history. In a journey through the 
desert of Sinai, the wife of Moses in her haste took a “ sharp stone (a flake ?) 
J chcumcise her son, and afterwards it is said that Joshua “ tZ 
knives” (in the margin, knives of flints) for the performance of the same 
rite ; and at his bnrial these knives were placed m his tomb. The late 
geological survey of the Peninsula of Sinai shows . large devebpm«rt of 
cretaceous rocks near the line of the journey from Sinai to 
natural flint-flakes are abundantly scattered over the surface of the ground 
of which a sample may be seen at the Jermyn-street Museum. H*nce 
highly probable that the natural flake was used by Zipporah, and the fla e 
knife manufactured by order of Joshua, 
THE “ IMPLEMENTS ” OF THE DRIFT. 
T T is not too much to assume that there are elements of weakness about 
I the claim of the flakes to be Implements, which lead some of their 
stoutest defenders at times to express their doubi ts, and confirm o era ni 
absolute disbelief ; and that there is a rebound of opinion from the dogmat 
assertion that “ a flint-flake is to an antiquary as sure 9 ' °* 1 ““ T 
footprint in the sand was to Robinson Crusoe. Thus, Mr. Hughes, F.G.S., 
says “We must allow that flakes with bulbs of percussion, or even 
flint’s with faces due to several different blows, are not m themselves 
sufficient evidence of the existence of man.”* The late Hon. Sec. of he 
Cambrian Archeological Association has thus recorded his opinion 111 
Transactions : “ I had long ago come to the totally independent »P®° n * 
these so-called implements are not made by man, but have resulted from 
natural operations.” Mr. Godwin- Austin, F.G.S., refers o e a j 
base of the glacial drift of Belgium as being naturally formed (W 
of Geo. Soc., Aug. 1866, p. 249) ; and even Mr. Evans says. Mere flakes of 
flint, however analogous to what we know to have been made by human art, 
can never be accepted as conclusive evidence of the work of man. {Ai clu.o 
*Tut™urtZrZ P dltinction between “High” and “Low-level” gravel, 
* Geological Repertory, vol. ii. p. 131. 
