334 ^/^^ American Geologist. June, i898 
But the fundamental distinction above mentioned, to ex- 
press which the terms were invented, has been supplemented 
by several other secondary ones of almost equal importance. 
Some of these are obvious, others can scarcely be detected 
save by an experienced eye. Space will not allow a lengthened 
explanation here. A mere mention must suffice. Then the 
material of the palaeolith is almost always flint of some kind; 
in the neolith other stones are employed; the pattern of the 
former is heavier and coarser than that of the latter; the edge 
shows little or no secondary chipping; the implement was 
often made by a single stroke and is triangular in section ; and 
last, though not least, the surface shows a peculiar luster or 
"patina" due to age and secondary deposition of silica tliat is 
never seen on newly chipped flints and which it is impossible 
to imitate. 
By the consideration of these characters or of such of them 
as may occur in any specimen it is seldom difficult to deter- 
mine whether a collection of flint weapons is of palseolithic or 
of neolithic age. At the same time it must be borne in mind 
that implements showing some palaeolithic characters fre- 
quently occur among others decidedly neolithic, a circum- 
stance which need cause no surprise. On the other hand neo- 
lithic implements cannot of course be met with at truly palseo- 
lithic stations. The obvious signification of this is that the 
older pattern and material survived into the later time and 
were still employed for certain purposes after the newer fash- 
ion of grinding had been introduced and other materials than 
tfint had been adopted. 
Slight as the difiference may seem between chipping and 
grinding it implies nevertheless an immense advance in art 
and an immense lapse of time. The intensely slow progress 
of man in those early days can scarcely be realized by any who 
have not studied the vast time-intervals of even Quaternar}- 
geology and the stereotyped, non-progressive condition of 
savage life. The arts possessed by neolithic man, of which his 
palseolithic predecessor in England was ignorant, implicitly 
prove to the student of anthropology the passage of almost 
countless years or even centuries during which the race was 
groping in the dark along the rough, steep path of progress, 
profiting by accidents, led by curiosity and taught by bitter 
