300 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
borders of Dozmare Pool, Cornwall, more than nine dozen in the 
course of a few hours. However, it mnst not be supposed that 
many of these are perfect \ on the contrary, for the most part they 
are merely fragments, and the percentage of even nearly perfect 
flakes is very small indeed ; such, at least, is the case with those I 
procured myself. This broken state may be accounted for in many 
ways. In the first place, with such a brittle material as flint, and 
with a primitive mode of operating, many doubtless were broken 
during the process of manufacture, and were at once thrown away ; 
others were used up, and broken even after they were perfectly 
turned out ; and again, during the old tinder-box days, before the 
introduction of lucifer matches, the larger pieces were used as 
" strike-a-light " stones, or were converted into rude gun flints by 
the peasants. With all these causes of destruction, it is not 
surprising that so large a number are broken ; but it is to be 
wondered at that so many are to be found in a semi-perfect or 
perfect condition. The material itself is almost indestructible, and 
we can form no idea as to the commencement of the period when 
these little articles were first used ; and scarcely any of the time 
when their use was discontinued, varying so much, as this must 
have done, according to the degree of civilization to which nations 
had advanced, or to the discovery and adaptation of metals to the 
uses to which stone had hitherto been applied. 
