1882 .] 
383 
[Haynes. 
tinent, so that the phrase “the new world” may become a 
mere misnomer, when applied to us ? 
Prehistoric archaeologists, it is true, have generally claimed 
that the St. Acheul axe is the oldest form of stone implement 
hitherto recognized as of human fabrication. But anthropolo- 
gists have never supposed that this St. Acheul axe was actually 
man’s first tool. They have argued that man at first made use of 
any simple, natural object that he could lay hands upon to sup- 
ply his pressing need. A sharp stone, or the branch of a tree, 
would naturally be his first weapon or tool. From a simple 
sharp stone to the St. Acheul axe is such great progress and 
development as to make it highly improbable there were no 
intermediate stages, when simpler, ruder types of implements 
were used. But so simple were they, so slightly different from 
the natural forms of stones broken by accident, that hitherto they 
have been Overlooked and disregarded. Certainly it is not 
strange that this should have been the case in Europe, where the 
surface soil in all inhabitable places has been subjected to such 
constant overturning through cultivation for so many centuries. 
But may it not be different in this country where the surface has 
remained to so great an extent undisturbed ? Is there not 
more probability that these simple relics of primeval man may 
have been uninterfered with here than there ? Does the mere cir- 
cumstance that they have not been discovered in Europe disprove 
their existence ? I think not, and I claim to have found them, .and 
to have them here for your examination. 
But I can scarcely expect that the objects I shall exhibit to 
you and the few very simple types under which they tend to 
range themselves, will be readily recognized at once by the 
unpractised eye. Slight differences of shape and structure, mi- 
nute evidences of use, those little marks of rubbing and wear, 
shown by the “ secondary chippings,” or “ retouches,” as the 
French term them, which may be detected upon one edge of a 
stone object, while the other edges still remain in their natural 
state, all these, which to the experienced eye are very plain indica- 
tions, may be scarcely discernible at first by those who have had no 
similar training and practice. If then I venture to bring forward a 
new discovery and claim to have detected types of primitive 
