The discovery of these interesting stones by Mr. Benjamin Harrison on the high plateau of Kent, as long ago as 1885, their endorsement by Sir Joseph Prestwich, and the controversy about them which has since ensued, are, no doubt, known to all.

An eolith, in the strict sense of the word, is usually understood to be a flattish piece of flint, naturally fractured as to its plane surfaces, but chipped or hacked around its edges, in a direction more or less approaching a right angle to those surfaces. In some cases the piece of flint is not flat, and the chipping may then have been applied in a rather different manner. It should be noted that sarsens and other stones were used, as well as flint.

Not a few persons are dissatisfied with the word “eolith.” It bears an awkward resemblance to “neolith.” Moreover, it has begged the question, before exhaustive evidence has been forthcoming, of the position in prehistoric time of this particular series of chipped flints.

Even supposing that the eoliths ought to be placed (as has been taken for granted by some) before the Palaeolithic industry, our present knowledge would not be sufficient to enable us to assert, without fear of contradiction, that these are man's first efforts in chipping flints.

Contributions to the general study of Prehistory have accumulated of late years, but the methods of cooking in early times have received but little attention. This, then, must be my excuse for bringing this subject to your notice to-day.

Prehistoric man has unwittingly divulged the course of his wanderings over continents, not only by the implements which strew his path, and with which we are familiar, but by the burnt stones which mark his simple hearth.

These eloquent but unattractive little relics have a significance equal, if not exceeding that of the artifacts themselves. For their advent coincides with one of the leaps and bounds of man's evolution, when goaded by his sufferings, to crave artificial warmth, he caught at the vagrant spark inadvertently struck from a flint, or produced by the friction of wood, and prisoned it for his use and comfort. How early he became a fire-maker we have yet to determine, but the insignificant heating-stone (so largely used in primitive cookery), as we trace it back to the horizon of its first appearance, may presently teach us.

In discussing the points of contact between Neolithic Britain and the Continent, it is desirable from many points of view to begin at the beginning, and to conclude with the introduction of metal. I prefer this to the method adopted in our leading text-book, even though it brings us at once into an area of conflict, where nothing should be taken for granted, and general agreement is not yet in sight. In Scandinavia there seems to be a definite terminus a quo, though even there some elements of doubt can be detected. It is generally assumed that human life began in the peninsula soon after the last or Baltic glaciation came to an end; and the first question is whether the same holds good for Britain, and if so, to what extent, for an ice-free area in the south of England is recognised by most authorities even during the severe glaciation that accounted for boulder-clay at Finchley, only three miles north of the Thames.

As will be seen later, intercourse with Scandinavia was lively during two phases of the Megalithic period, but there is nothing to shew that the Neolithic civilisations east and west of the North Sea had a common origin or began at the same date.

Highly as I feel the honour of having been asked to occupy this Presidential chair, I accepted that honour with some diffidence, for I recognise that my studies in Pre-history.have not been carried very far. As, however, these studies have convinced me that the application of geology to prehistoric problems is even yet fraught with many difficulties, it appears to me desirable in this address to call special attention to some of these difficulties.

Having devoted nearly half a century to geological researches of various kinds, I can state with confidence that those geological problems with which we are concerned are among the most difficult with which the geologist is confronted, and their investigation cannot be lightly undertaken.

At present, what we above all require is the collection of facts, and I therefore hailed with pleasure the foundation of this Society, and congratulate its members upon the amount of valuable work which they have already performed. Among these members the name of Dr. Allen Sturge stands out pre-eminent. He may be regarded as the Father of the Society, and all members must deeply deplore the loss which the Society has sustained by his death.