Man and the Ghirial J^efiod. 183 
my ej-e at least resembled those from Trenton, though none of them 
are so artificial in appearance as the specimens from that locality. 
Finally in the washed gravels of Nantucket I came upon a field 
where chipped stones were numerous and they seemed to me 
essentially like those from New Jersey. There were diflerences in 
the artificial looking bits from the two districts but these varia- 
tions could, it appears to me, be accounted for l)y the unlikeness 
of the rocks whence the materials come. 
Approaching the problem with some care I at first made a col- 
lection of the artificial looking stones which I found on Nantucket, 
endeavoring to ascertain the range in size and in the departure 
from perfectl}- normal pebbles. The results of this inquiry are set 
forth in Bulletin 53, of the V. S. Geol. Survey'; briefly stated they 
are as follows: The apparenth' washed bits of this section var3' 
in size from those less than half an inch in diameter to those 
weighing man)' pounds, and a foot or more in length. The varia- 
tion in the measure of departure from the form of the ordinary 
pebbles is great: some of the fragments showed only a trace of 
fracturing on the edges and would not arouse any suspicion of 
artifice, others were so shaped that it is diflScult to resist the con- 
clusion that the}' have been deliberately shaped by man. 
It became evident to me that if one searched these deposits of 
washed drift with the eye prepared to find implements, an uncon- 
scious choice was made of those having forms which would place 
them in this category: if, on the other hand, ever}' chipped stone 
was taken the variety thus gathered was so great that it soon be- 
came at once embarrassing and instructive. It was made plain that 
somewhere near one per cent, of the flatter pebbles in certain 
parts of the deposit were thus chipped. The specimens were not 
(exactly similar to those which I found in place at Trenton, but the 
dift'erence was apparently due to diversity in the nature of the 
materials of which these fragments were composed. Tli" evi- 
dence seemed to me irreconcilable with the supposition that these 
fractured stones vvere due to the work of man. They were too 
numerous and too varied in form, man}' of them could not have 
been chosen by the most primitive man with the intention of 
adapting the original form to any use. The only reasonable ex- 
planation seemed to be that which 1 offered in the above men- 
tioned report. Bulletin No. 53, U. 8. Geol. Survey. This is in 
effect as follows: When pebbles of any rock which contains 
