Journal of Proceedings. xxvii
about them ; but directly they got a manufactured one the signs would be
so clear that there could be no difficulty in saying whether it was natural
or artificial. Mr. Robarts concluded by stating that he had found what
he believed to be a very good flake in the brickfield at Honey Lane, and
he thought that if the members of the Society would work that field they
might obtain good results.
Mr. Henry Walker said, if he understood the drift of Mr. Robarts's re-
marks at the commencement, it was really to minimise the antiquity of man.
Mr. Robarts—Not at all.
Mr. Walker said he thought he detected in the speaker's reference to
the Hochelaga implements of the 10th century a following of the line
which Professor Dawson had taken since he had become a "reconciler."
But a Stone Age was to be found in our own days without going back two
hundred years. He held that there was an enormous gap between the
Palaeolithic and Neolithic Ages in Western Europe, as evidenced by the
excavation of valleys and other great physical changes, and especially by
the great change in the fauna. With regard to the social condition of
Palaeolithic man, he thought it was a great mistake to look upon him as
a savage. Those who had read Darwin's ' Voyage of the Beagle' would
recollect the author's description of certain native tribes in South America
who might properly be so designated. They wore no clothing, had no
habitations, they fed on worms, and lay down on the bare ground in all
weathers. Now Paleolithic man was more than this. He was at least a
manufacturer ; he made implements, and for all we know to the contrary
might have had a social and tribal polity. He had left no structures
behind him, and his habitations were probably wattles. The country had
been submerged since the time of Palaeolithic man, as was shown by the
beds of alluvial gravel which overlie the beds containing the old
Mammalia. It was remarkable how the once-despised gravel had corne
to the front lately in geological enquiries. Everywhere now the talk was
about the gravels, their age, and conditions of deposit. The reason why
the gravels were found in the valleys was obvious. In times of flood and
submergence everything on the surface was liable to be washed down to
the lower levels, and hence the valleys had become the repositories and
museums of the drift of the landscape. They must make up their minds
to hear more and more of the gravels and their contents, for they would
long continue to be the geological topic of the day. With regard to the
so-called "Dane's holes," it was agreed by the best observers that they
were artificially made, and had served as places of refuge, perhaps when
the old Norse pirates were ravaging the shores of the Thames.
Mr. Robarts explained that he did not wish to throw any doubt upon
the great age of man. On the contrary, he believed man was here at the
Glacial epoch. His remarks went only to the manner in which the
different periods overlapped each other.
Mr. Meldola—If he were here at the Glacial epoch he must have been
here at least two hundred and forty thousand years ago. (Laughter.)