39 
plant 75 ? (Laughter.) I can assure this meeting that there never was a 
question more thoroughly and completely sifted by arguments, coolly and 
dispassionately, but earnestly advanced. For two whole days this question 
of the jaw was discussed, and the whole subject of these flint implements 
was brought up ; but not a single scientific man belonging either to England 
or to France contested the human origin of those implements, or had the 
smallest doubt of it. A set of flint implements were produced, which there 
were strong reasons to believe had been made by modern workmen, and 
planted in the bed to give authenticity to the jaw. Those flint implements 
were carefully washed and examined, and compared with the undoubtedly 
genuine implements, which had been taken out of undisturbed gravel-beds, 
and which showed the most unmistakable evidence of age.' 35 ' The fictitious 
* J)r. Dawson, F.R.S., remarks, in his work, Archaia : — “ It may be antici- 
pated that almost every year will produce supposed cases of human remains 
or works of art in the later tertiary deposits. There are so many causes ol 
accidental intermixtures, and ordinary observers are so little aware of the 
sources of error against which it is necessary to guard, that mistakes of this 
kind are inevitable. Even geologists are very likely to be misled in investi- 
gations of this nature. A remarkable instance of this,, in the case of the 
delta of the Nile, has been already noticed. Another discovery, which has 
lately made some noise in the scientific world, is probably referable to the 
same category. I refer to the supposed occurrences of implements of flint in 
the gravel at Abbeville, in France. This was first maintained by M. Boucher 
de Perthes in 1849; but his statements appeared so improbable that little 
attention was given to them. More recently, Mr. Prestwich and Mr.. Evans 
have brought the subject before the Royal Society and the. Society of 
Antiquaries in England, in connection with the discovery of flint weapons 
with bones of extinct animals in a cave at Brixham. 
“ 1. The implements found are described as follows by Mr. Evans, as 
reported in the Athenceum : — 
iit l. Flakes of flint, apparently intended for knives or arrow-heads. 2. 
Pointed implements, usually truncated at the base, and varying in length 
from four to nine inches — possibly used as spear or lance-heads, which in 
shape they resemble. 3. Oval or almond-shaped implements, from two to 
nine inches in length, and with a cutting edge all round. They have 
generally one end more sharply curved than the other, and occasionally even 
pointed, and were possibly used as sling-stones, or as. axes, cutting at either 
end, with a handle bound round the centre. The evidence derived from the 
implements of the first form is not of much weight, on. account of the extreme 
simplicity of the implements, which at times renders it difficult to determine 
whether they are produced by art or by natural causes. This simplicity of 
form would also prevent the flint-flakes made at the earliest period from 
being distinguishable from those of a later date. The case is different with 
the other two forms of implements, of which numerous specimens were 
exhibited ; all indisputably worked by the hand of man, and not indebted 
for their shape to any natural configuration or peculiar fracture of the flint. 
They present no analogy in form to the well-known , implements of the so- 
called Celtic or Stone period, which, moreover, have for the most part some 
portion, if not the whole, of their surface ground or polished, and are 
frequently made from other stones than flint. Those from the Drift are, on 
the contrary, never ground, and are exclusively of flint. They have, indeed, 
every appearance of having been fabricated by another race of men, who, 
