Aechæolog Y.

evidence of four , if not more , distinct deluges—namely , that which washed from the chalk , and strewed over the surface , tho flint stones from which these implements were fashioned ; next , that which carried them into their present position ; afterwards , those several changes by which large portions of the first deposit of gravel were removed , and the beds of sand , with the remains of laud and freshwater shells were depositedand lastl the

; y , formation of a thick bed of solid brick earth . Above all arc seen the tombs , and coins , and weapons of those who , although they lived two thousand years since , seem , when compared with these relics of a far more ancient period , to be but of yesterday . Tin ' s view of the subject appears to be in accordance with many of the phenomena which tire presented in our own and other countries . The chalk seems to have been a vast quarry , from

which , by means of various dynamical changes , occurring at distant epochs , vast quantities of material have been extracted . The lime has been used up , and merged in various combinations , but the more enduring flint has remained hi various distinct conditions , each of which seems to indicate some partial breaking up of the great chalk quarry—the trophies won by a successful invasion—the wrecks left after some great storm . Thus we have the coated flints

green lying at the base of the Reading sands , which evidentl y have hardl y been stirred since ' they were first torn from their chalk matrix . Above these we find large masses of hi g hl y rounded flint pebbles , which form the base of the London clay , and above the London clay numerous extensive accumulations of coarse chalk flint gravel and silicious sands . It remains onl y to notice the occurrence of mammalian remains in these beds

. In the pit from which these implements were taken we procured a few small and indistinct fragments of bone , and Mr . Prcstwich , in his former visit , obtained part of an elephant ' s tooth , and some teeth of the horse , probably of an extinct species . At St . Roch ( distant from St . Acheul about a mile ) wc obtained two very fine and perfect hippopotamus ' s tusks . These were discovered a few days before our visitat depth of twent

, a y feet from the surface , in a thick bed of gravel , exactly resembling in every respect that of St . Acheul , save onl y that at St . Roch wc did not meet with any flint weapons , and the bed of coarse white sand , with land and fresh water shells , was wanting . Like the flmt celts , these tusks appeal- to have undergone hardly any injury from the contact of the coarse heavy gravel in which they are imbedded , from which circumstance ire may conclude that they did not travel

together lor any lengthened period . The discovery of these relics of a race which seems to have been of fin- greater antiquity than any that has been hitherto supposed to have inhabited our planet , involves many interestiii " and difficult questions . AVe feel as much at a loss to imagine who those were who were thus contemporary in Fraucc with the mammoth and the hippopotamus , as Robinson Crusoe was perlexed the of his

p by seeing footprints mysterious visitor in the sands of his desert island . Nor is this the only perplexity in which wc are involved . How are we to account for the circumstance that no trace of human hones , or of any other work of art has been found associated with these implements ; and how has it happened that several hundreds of them have been accumulated m a single gravel pit ? These questions , which still remain unsolved , may well deserve the attention of philosophers and naturalists .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

NUMBERING OF THE LODGES . IT would be a very desirable piece of information if some one would communicate the exact times at which tiic alterations of the numbers of the Lodges have taken place by authority ; so that it would be known when such changes took place in the whole body of the Lodges on the registers of the Grand Lodges , both of Antient and Modern Masons ; for without a clue of this kind it is almost to trace the

impossible antecedents of a Lod ge having no records , and yet acknowled ged to be of some antiquity , which is the case with the Lodge of— -CIIUOXOLOGUS . DKS . iriCMMIXG AND OLIVE ]? . _ Taking up , by chance , Dr . Oliver's Star in the East , it opened m my hand at page 120 , where I read in a note— " It will have been observed b

y our well instructed brethren , that I have cited the Lectures as they existed before their revision by Dr . Hemming , under the authority , I believe , of the Grand Lodge . Such a revision would depend in a great measure on the personal taste of the brother commissioned to effect the alteration ; and it must be confessed that many passages have been retained which arc comparativel y worthless , and others omitted which were highly

illustrative and useful . The worthy Doctor indeed had a task imposed on him of no common interest . His path was beset with difficulties ; and it is to be feared that a slight feeling of prejudice was one of them , arising out of a circumstance thou existing , which was extremely unfavourable to his labours . " Was this so ? And if so , what was the prejudice , and the circumstances out of which it arose ?—VERAX .

SOCIETY OF . 101 IX . An old friend of our famil y lately put into my hand the accompanying curious paper , adding , — "As you are a Freemason this may interest you , take a copy and return it to me again ;" I did so ; and enclose the same for insertion among the Masonic Notes and Queries of the Freemasons' Magazine . The document is as follows :

| "S . M . O . D . O .- AVe , the Elect Mas tore of the Venerable Society sacred to John , or of the Social Order of Freemasons , Killers of the Lodges or Tabernacles , constituted at London , Edinburgh , Vienna , Amsterdam , Paris , Lyons , Frankfort , Hamburgh , Antwerp , B , otterdam , Madrid , Venice , Ghent , Regiornonte , Brussels , Dantzic , Middlebnrgh , and in Chapter assembled in the said city of Cologne , in the year , month , and days aftermentioned : our Proses being the Master of the Lodge established in this city—a venerable brother , and most learned , prudent , and j udicious man ,

called to preside over these deliberations , by our unanimous vote—Co , by these letters , addressed to all the above-mentioned Lodges—to our brethren present and future , declare , that forasmuch as we have been considering the designs , which in these calamitous times embroiled , by civil dissensions and discord , have been imputed to our foresaid society , and to all the brethren belonging to this Order of Freemasons , or of John , opinions , machinations , secret , as well as openly detected ; all which are utterly foreign to usand to the iritdesignand ts of the

, sp , , precep association . It moreover appears that we , the members of this Order ( chiefly because we are bound by those inscrutablo secrets of our connection and covenant which are most sacredly kept by us all ) , in order that wo may bo moro effectually vilified among the uninitiated and profane , and that we may be devoted to public execration , are accused of the crime of reviving the Order of the Templars , and commonly designated by that appellation , as if wc had combined and conspired for the purpose of recovering ( as members of that Order ) its property

and possessions , and avenging tho death of the last Grand Master who presided over that order on the posterity of the kings and princes who were guilty of the c-rimo , and who were the authors of the extinction of tho said Order ; as if , with that view , we were exciting schisms in the churches , aud disturbances and sedition in the temporal government and domiuions ; as if we were influenced by hatred and enmity against the Pope , the Chief routiil ' , the Emperor , and all kings ; as if obeying no external power , but only the superiors aud elected of our own association

, which is spread throughout the whole world , wo executed their secret mandates and claudestine designs , by tho private intercourso of correspondence and emissaries ; as if , in fine , wo admitted none into our mysteries but those who , after being scrutinized and tried by bodily

tortures , became bound and devoted to our conclaves : THEREI-OISK , having all these considerations in view , it bath seemed to us expedient , and even absolute ) } ' necessary , to expound the true state and origin of our Order , and to what it teuds , as an institute of charity itself , according as these principles arc recognized and approved by those who mo most vcrsant in the highest Craft , and by masters enlightened in tho gonnino sciences of the institution , and to give forth to the Lodges or conclaves of our society the principles thus expounded , digested , and

organized , as an exemplar authenticated by our signatures , whereby a perpetual record may remain o £ this our renewed covenant , and the unshaken integrity of our purpose ; aud also in case , through tho daily increasing propensity of tho people to animosities , enmity , intolerance , and wars , this our society should hereafter be more and more oppressed , insomuch as to be unable to maintain its standing and consolidation , and thus be dispersed to some distant regions of the earth ; and iu ease , through lapse of timethe society itself should become less observant of

, its integrity , purity , and incorruptibility . Nevertheless , iu bettor times and more convenient circumstances , there may remain , if not tho whole , yet perhaps one or other of the duplicates of these presents , by which standard the Order , if subverted , may be restored , and if corrupted or estrange /! from its purpose and designs , may be reformed . For these causes , by these our universal letters , compiled according to tho context of tho most ancient monuments which are extant , concerning the objects of the institution—the i-ites and customs of our most ancient

order—AVe , Elect Masters , influenced by the love of the true light , do , by the most solemn sanctions , adjure all fellow-labourers , to whom these presents now or in time hereafter may come , that they withdraw not themselves from the truth contained in this document . Moreover , to the enlightened , as well as to the darker world , whose common safety concerns and strongly interests us , we announce and proclaim . ( A ) That the Society of Free Masons , or Order of Brethren attached to the solemnities of StJohnderive not their oriin from the Knihts

. , g g Templars , nor from any other order of knights , ecclesiastical or secular , detached or connected with one or more , neither iiave any or the least communication with them , directly , or through any manner of intermediate tie ; that they are more ancient than any order ot knights of this description , and existed in Palestine aud Greece , as well as iu every