216 
mitic floor, but they were all from nine inches to upwards of 
twenty feet below its nether surface; whilst nearly forty per 
cent, of all the bones met with in the Cavern were above the 
uppermost implement or flake. Taken as a whole, the imple- 
ment zone was lower than that of the bones.” ( The Ancient 
Cave-Men of Devonshire, p. 5.) - 
From these descriptions it will be seen that the. evidence of 
the presence of man rests only on the “ hint knives , 3 a flint 
core, and some imperfect flint flakes. Now it is obvious that 
the so-called knives are only ordinary flint-flakes, and Sir John 
Lubbock describes them as such in his account of this cavern; 
andhefurther says in explanation, “Flakes mightbe used as knives 
—they are indeed so named by some arch geologists— but it seems 
to me more convenient to call them simply flakes, t But to 
call these splinters of flint from Brixham Cavern “ flint knives, % 
“flint implements/’ § “manufactured tools,” § and “relics of 
man/’ || is to put words in the place of arguments, and to decide 
the vital point of the case by an assumption of authority, with- 
out even the shadow of any proof. 
You will not fail also to observe that m the work entitled 
The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, no evidence 
whatever of a geological nature has been adduced as to the 
origin of the knives, but the burden of proof rests, on an 
antiquarian fancy. Had geological evidence of the origin of 
the flints been sought, it would have been forthcoming, but 
thus far it has been either overlooked or ignored. ^ 
I have, however, made a searching investigation oi the surface 
geology of the ground adjoining the Cavern, in the expectation 
of finding some clue which would lead me up to the source of 
at least some of its contents ; and in this expectation I was not 
disappointed, for I found similar shattered flints in the section 
of the soil exposed in the low cliff on the east of Brixham 
harbour. On the top of the table-land of Berry Head, where 
the soil has been so weathered off that the bare limestone pro- 
trudes at the surface, from the crevices of the rock I gathered 
pebbles of drift gravel, flint flakes, and nodules of iron ore. 
The subsoil of Windmill Hill above the Cavern yielded me two 
typical flint cores showing the loss of flakes from their sides. 
Southward to Sharpham Point I obtained several flint flakes, 
and three feet under the surface of the soil I found in situ a 
very symmetrical “ scraper.” And sparingly scattered over the 
* Pre-historic Times, p. 260. 
X Antiquity of Man, lsted., p. 100. 
|| The Geologist, vol. iv. p. 154. 
t Ibid., p. 67. 
§ Ibid., p. 101. 
