XVI 
Journal of Proceedings. 
two instruments of this class are figured, one being larger and the other 
smaller than the Enfield example ; neither, however, exactly resembles in 
form the specimen here illustrated. 
Instruments of this class were doubtless used for light domestic work, 
for the manufacture of neat things in wood and bone, for skinning dead 
animals, and probably also for removing the flesh from the bones. 
It is difficult to quote an age for an instrument of this class. Stone 
was used for the manufacture of weapons and tools prior to the discovery 
of bronze and iron. The Bronze Age was passing or had passed away at 
the time of the Roman Conquest, and iron was coming into use. It is, 
however, certain that in places where metals were only procurable with 
difficulty stone remained in use for axes, adzes, knives, &c., long after the 
knowledge of bronze and iron was spread over Britain. Judging from its 
lightness, beauty, and precision of make, the Enfield celt or chisel probably 
belongs to a more recent period of the Neolithic Age. Some of these very 
neat tools were probably made and used by women and girls. 
Mr. Worthington Smith then read a paper entitled “ Primaeval Man in 
the Valley of the Lea ” [see ‘ Transactions.’] The paper was illustrated 
with diagrams and specimens, the result of Mr. Smith’s long-continued 
attention to the subject; the specimens in most cases were found by him¬ 
self, some in situ. 
The President said they had all listened—and no one more than him¬ 
self—with the very greatest interest to this paper, for Mr. Worthington 
Smith spoke with the authority of an investigator who had personally 
examined their river-gravels for many years ; and any one who had had 
the privilege of seeing his splendid collection of implements must know 
what a large amount of time and thought he had given to the subject. 
By his habit of labelling every specimen, and taking notes of the precise 
conditions under which each had been found, he had rendered a great 
service to the archaeological part of anthropology ; and they knew that all 
observers were agreed in giving to Mr. Smith the credit of being the most 
active and successful finder of these weapons in the London district. Mr. 
Smith had found weapons and tools of three distinct types ; he would like 
to ask whether there was any advancement of skill displayed in the three 
successive periods. He also desired to know whether Mr. Smith recognised 
the view put forward by Mr. Alfred Tylor, who introduced what he called 
the Pluvial Period immediately after the Glacial Period, and if so whether 
this would not take off something from the date of the river valleys by 
indicating that the rate of excavation was considerably more rapid then 
than at present. Those who were familiar with the speculations of Mr. 
Croll on the Glacial Period knew it was deduced from astronomical 
calculations that the necessary combination of events to bring about the 
last Glacial Period—for there had been several of them—occurred about 
two hundred and forty thousand years ago. If that calculation were 
correct, and if Mr. Croll’s speculation were admitted, it seemed to fix 
some kind of date for Palaeolithic man, for they knew for certain that 
man was post-glacial, and there was some evidence to show that he was 
possibly pre-glacial in this country; he referred to Mr. Skertcliley's 
