This paper is a key record of the early recognition of the antiquity of man by the scientific establishment. Having returned from a visit to Abbeville, France, in May 1859, where he viewed the evidence for the antiquity of man collected by Boucher de Perthes, Prestwich delivered a convincing argument for the validity of Boucher de Perthes’ discoveries of flint implements in association with the remains of extinct animals. Prestwich also showed that the flint implements and bones from Abbeville were found in and contemporaneous with deposits laid down at an early stage in the development of the Somme Valley, and were thus of an age to be measured in tens of thousands of years. Digital facsimile from the Royal Society at this link.