THE FOUNDATIONS OF PREHISTORY. 91
in most other sciences this attitude would be justifiable ; or again
it may be partly because the matter concerns the evolution of
mankind and the appeal of the more romantic interpretation
is too strong to be resisted, in other words because the whole
situation is too intimate to ourselves to be viewed with detach-
ment ; or yet again it may be partly because everyone leaves 
the drudgery of the subject to everyone else and no one does it.
Some avoid the subject for personal reasons, namely to escape
the resentments that arise when cherished beliefs are called in
question.
But as I remarked to you last year the swing of the
pendulum, which we find in science no less than in any other
human interest, has definitely set in, and has even shown some
acceleration since then.
In past years the two most prominent opponents against
my critical point of view were Mr. Reid Moir and Professor A. S.
Barnes. At the conclusion of my last public discussion with
the latter I said, "Time will prove who is right." Shortly
after that he commenced a detailed and prolonged investigation
of flint flaking, both by human work and under mechanical
force, with the result that he confirmed my previous conclusions,
and has now become the leading exponent of the critical side.4 The
implied prophecy of the judgment of time is being fulfilled. It
is also within my knowledge that others, even if they have not
vet made a public statement upon the matter, have similarly
changed their views, although there still remains a formidable
mass of opinion on the other side.
In the prosecution of flint studies, as in other scientific
enquiries, experiment and the observation of Nature need to
go hand in hand, the one supplementing the other.
But experiments may easily be approached in a wrong-
headed manner. Flint experiments are mainly of value in
elucidating the flaking properties of flint, but they cannot be
expected to be an adequate imitation of the agencies of Nature;
they cannot directly reproduce all that Nature can do. Natural
agencies are too big to be imitated; prolonged periods of time,
and vast quantities of material to be operated upon, would be
essential to a useful imitation.
4 Barnes, A. S. "Les Outils de l'Homme Tertiaire en Angleterre. Etude Critique."
L' Anthropologie, 1938, p. 217. "The Differences between Natural and Human Flaking on
Prehistoric Flint Implements." American Anthropologist, 1939, p. 99.