GEOGRAPHY AXD ANTIQUITIES. 3c)9 



braced nearly all the animals still in Europe, and it would be 

 therefore remarkable indeed if man had not coexisted with them. 

 The existence of man was proved in these early ages by certain 

 flint implements which were found to be associated with certain 

 o^roups of animals not now existing in this part of the world. 

 Tiien he would come to the Neolithic or Polished Stone Age. The 

 evidences connected with this period were derived from Denmark 

 and Switzerland. It was said that some of the great tumuli in 

 which these polished implements were found were made by people 

 in possession of metal, because the hard stone was engraved with 

 fij2:ures : but it had been shown that these eno^ravinojs could be 

 made with flint implements, and not with those of bronze. They 

 diff'ered from those of the first age partly in form, and partly from 

 the fact that they were polished. There were also other indica- 

 tions that they belonged to a people further advanced than the 

 former. They had pottery in use among them, and some spindle 

 whorls had been found. When the fauna also was compared, it 

 was found that the elephant, the rhinoceros, the reindeer, etc."*, had 

 disappeared. In these facts we had all the necessary materials 

 for separating this age from the paleolithic. But how should we 

 separate this age from the Metal Age ^ We were enabled to do 

 this by the same kind of evidence. The tumuli and the Swiss 

 lake villages of the Bronze Age were conclusive proofs on this 

 point. If the knowledge of metal had been gradually and slowly 

 introduced by its discovery on the spot, then copper would have 

 preceded bronze, the latter being a compound of the former with 

 tin. As far, however, as Western Europe was concerned, while 

 we had thousands of bronze implements we had hardly one of 

 copper. Then it might be said that the only difi'erence was, that 

 the inhabitants who dwelt where the metal was found were 

 rich, while those where the stone was found were poor. But when 

 we found such thinofs as awls and fish-hooks made of bronze, we 

 knew that the people who used them were not very rich ; and then 

 surely those who were in the stone villages would have possessed 

 themselves of some of the bronze implements of their richer 

 neighbors. There were, moreover, several indications that the 

 people who used the bronze were in a higher state of civilization 

 than those who used the stone. We find the pottery better, and 

 the ornaments better, and more skilfully made, and the animals 

 and plants different. 



As soon as iron was introduced it would replace bronze because 

 it was a better cutting substance. Tiiere were weapons made 

 partly of bronze and partly of iron, and in the cases in which they 

 were mingled, the handle was made of bronze and the blade of 

 iron. Of course there must have been a period when the use of 

 bronze was gradually giving way to the use of iron. 



lie thought these facts clearly proved that they had suffi- 

 cient reason to believe that there were four great pre-historic 

 periods. 



Pre-historic Remains in the West. — Within the last 20 years, 

 scientific men have collected a vast amount of evidence tending 

 to prove man's existence for more than 6,000 years. To say 



