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 "Primeval 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. Skertchley's