322 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



admirably set forth. For the laws which govern the organic creation and 

 the inorganic world are as invariable as the results of their combinations 

 and permutations are infinitely varied; science revealing to us everywhere 

 the perfect stability of the causes with the diversity of the forms. 



So, to understand the past ages of our species, we must first begin by 

 examining its present state, following man wherever he has crossed the 

 waters and set his foot upon dry land: the different nations, which inhabit 

 our earth at present, must be studied with respect to their industry, their 

 habits, and their general mode of life. We thus make ourselves acquainted 

 with the different degrees of civilization, ranging from the highest summit, 

 of modern development to the most abject state, hardly surpassing that of 

 the brute. By that means ethnography supplies us with what may be called 

 a contemporaneous scale of development, the stages of which are more 

 or less fixed and invariable, whilst archaeology traces a scale of successive 

 development, with one movable stage passing gradually along the Avhole 

 line. 



Ethnography is, consequently, to archaeology what physical geography is 

 to geology, namely, a thread of induction in the labyrinth of the past, and 

 a starting point in those comparative researches of which the end is the 

 knowledge of mankind and of its development through successive genera- 

 tions. 



In following out the principles above laid down, the Scandinavian savans 

 have succeeded in unravelling the leading features in the progress of p re- 

 historical European civilization, and in distinguishing three principal eras, 

 which they have called the stone-age, the bronze-age, and the iron-age. 



The earliest settlers in Europe apparently brought with them the art of 

 producing fire. By striking iron-pyrites (sulphuret of iron) against quartz, 

 fire can be easily obtained. But this method can only have been occasion- 

 ally used, and seems to be now confined to some native tribes in Terra 

 del Fuego. The usual mode had evidently been that of rubbing two sticks 

 together. But on further reflection it is easy to perceive that this was a 

 most difficult discovery, and must at all events have been preceded by a 

 knowledge of the use of fire, as derived from the effects of lightning or from 

 volcanic action. 



The stone-age was, therefore, probably preceded by a period, perhaps of 

 some length, during which man was unacquainted with the art of producing 

 fire. This, according to Mr. Flourens, indicates that the cradle of mankind 

 was situated in a warm climate. 



The art of producing fire has been perhaps- the greatest achievement of 

 human intelligence. The use of fire lies at the root of almost every species 

 of industry. It enables the savage to fell trees, as it allows civilized nations 

 to work metals. Its importance is so great, that deprived of it man would 

 perhaps scarcely have risen above the condition of the brute. Even the 

 ancients were sensible of this, as is witnessed by the fable of Prometheus. 

 As to their sacred perpetual fire, its origin seems to lie in the difficulty of 

 procuring fire, thereby rendering its preservation essential. 



In Europe the stone-age came to an end by the introduction of bronze. 

 This metal is an alloy of about nine parts of copper and one part of tin. 1 It 



1 Bronze is still used for casting bells, cannon, and certain portions of machinery. 

 It must not be confounded with common brass, which is a compound of copper and 

 zinc, much less hard, and appearing only in the iron-age. 



