36 
of objects like those Mr. Evans has produced, than that they have been the - 
work of human design, and intended for special purposes. (Hear.) It is 
true that each individual blow upon one of these flints, taken by itself, 
might be regarded as an accidental fracture ; but when we take up one of 
the implements and see the definite and symmetrical contour that has 
been given to it, the manner in which the different blows have been 
made in succession so as to produce a regular and uniform edge, and 
when in addition to this, we see that several of these tools are declared 
to have all been taken out of the same gravel-bed, and when we observe 
the same general conditions attaching to all of them, and especially 
when we find them made out of different materials, it certainly does 
appear to me that common sense can only point to the one conclusion— that 
they have had a human origin. (Hear.) And here I wiHgive you an 
example as to the value of common-sense judgment, which I think every one 
will be able to appreciate. I remember hearing, a few years ago, a state- 
ment of the circumstances under which a man was enabled to trace a lost 
purse. He was robbed of his money, and the man who committed. the theft 
ran away. The supposed thief was caught, and a purse was found upon him, 
which, however, he declared was his own. The man who had lost the purse 
could not swear to it, as it was of a common type, but he was able to say 
exactly how much money was in the purse of which he had been robbed, and 
he named the precise sum. He was further asked, “ Do you know what form 
the money was ini* and he replied, “Yes ; there were a half-sovereign, a 
half-crown, a florin, three shillings and two sixpences.” He happened to 
remember, having taken some change not long before, that that was the 
precise amount of the money, and the precise form in which he had received 
it The jury found unhesitatingly and upon the moment that the purse and 
the money were his, and I think that any one I am now addressing would 
have done the same. Now, I apply the argument I have been using to 
this case ; for although any individual sixpence, or shilling, or halt- 
crown mioht have been in another purse than that of which the man had 
been robbed, yet the concurrence in this case of the precise number and 
amount of the different pieces in the purse, and their identity in these 
respects with what the prosecutor had lost, were so convincing that the 
conviction could not be resisted. It appears to me that this is pre- 
cisely the kind of judgment on which we should come to a decision on 
such a subject as we are now discussing. I cannot myself conceive any other 
conclusion that is to be drawn from the premises. I do not lay the least 
stress on the general question to which Mr. Whitley has directed attention 
to-night, as to whether certain flint-flakes are natural or artificial ; for it never 
appeared to me that they had anything like the same amount of evidence in 
favour of their human origin, as is furnished by the more perfect implements. 
* With regard to what has been said as to the flint flakes I would remark 
that before we can form any definite conclusion, wjrmust ieira ot 
the supposed flint implements against the supposed indications that they have 
