IN BEDS OE A LATE GEOLOG-ICAL PEEIOD. 
279 
position of these flint-implements. After taking every care to avoid error, the con- 
clusion these gentlemen arrived at was, that, although it appeared to them that the 
cave had been inhabited by man at a comparatively recent period, his remains of this 
latter date were distinct and confined to near the surface or to the upper part of the 
stalagmite, whilst certain flint arrow-heads of an anterior period were certainly found in 
the red loam, containing the bones of extinct animals, which underlies the stalagmite. 
Such instances might be multiplied, but this at present is not my object. I now Avish 
to draw attention to the particular and remarkable case which has led to this communi- 
cation, and to give the geological CAidence bearing upon the question. 
In the year 1841, M. Boucher he Perthes, of Abbeville, an antiquary distinguished 
by his A’aried researches, his large and valuable collections, and by an indefatigable zeal 
and perseverance, discovered in some sand Avith mammalian remains from the village of 
Menchecourt, near AbbeAille (Plan A, Plate X.), a flint rudely fashioned into a cutting 
instrument, somewhat resembling the old flint weapons known by the name of celts, 
yet haAing a peculiar type of its owm ; shortly afterwards two other specimens (each 
aboA’e 8 inches long) were brought to him, and subsequently a considerable number have 
been, from time to time, obtained from the same locality. In 1844 some excavations 
near the hospital of AbbeAille exposed a fresh section of the drift. Following up the 
work, M. HE Perthes discovered, at various depths of from 9 to 16 feet, in a bed of sand 
and graA^el, from which he obtained specimens of the teeth of the MepJias 'primigenius^ 
seA’eral flints more or less worked ; and on the 7 th of August the Avorkmen found at a 
depth of 14 feet 4 inches a still more perfect specimen, 6f inches long by 2f broad, — 
a fact he had certifled by an official “ proces-verbal” (p. 263). At the end of 1844 
similar discoA’eries Avere made at Moulin Quignon ; and at a later period M. he Perthes 
obtained specimens of the same character from Mautort, Mareuil, Drucat, and St. Piquier, 
in the neighbourhood of AbbeAille ; AAdiile at AbbeAille itself some excavations at the 
Champ de Mars furnished a much larger number of specimens. An account of these 
discoA'eries and of his general investigations Avas published by M. Boucher de Perthes 
in 1847, in a Avork entitled ‘Antiquites Celtiques et Antediluviennesf,’ in Avhich he 
announced his belief that the flint-implements occurred in beds of undisturbed sand and 
graA’el in true association Avith the bones of extinct animals. This work abounds in 
illustrations ; and sections of the beds, diuAvn by Dr. Bavin, a most competent geologist, 
are given to shoAv the position in Avhich the flint-implements were found ; Avhile the 
eAidence regarding this singular occurrence of Avorked flints was conscientiously discussed 
by the author, wBo concluded that they Avere the AVork of man, and that they Avere 
entombed, together Avith the remains of the great mammafs, by the Deluge. 
In 1854, Dr. Bigollot J of Amiens, Avhose attention had been directed to the subject 
* The possibility of sucb discoveries is stated by M. B. de Peetues to have occurred to him as early as 
1826, and he broached the question in his work ‘ Sur la Creation’ (Antiq. Celt, et Anted, vol. ii. p. 359-61). 
t The work was originally published in 1846, under the title of “ De I’lndustrie primitive.” A second 
volume of the “ Antiquites” was published in 1857. Paris : Treuttel et Wurtz. 
X Memoire sur des Instruments en Silex trouves a St. Acheul pres d’ Amiens. Amiens, 1855. 
2 p 2 
