704 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



weapons of stone which have been dug up 

 in Sweden, and tells how archceologists have 

 proved that such articles could be made with- 

 out the use of metals. He sets forth also 

 what information these relics afford as to 

 the customs and habits of the people who 

 made them. The graves belonging to the 

 same period are also described. It appears 

 that the Swedish common people of later 

 times, finding these stone implements, called 

 them " Thor's bolts," and regarded them as 

 a sovereign protection against lightning- 

 strokes and other disasters. " Even at the 

 present day it is often impossible to induce 

 people to sell antiquities of stone, because 

 they believe that by so doing they lose a 

 protective amulet." The articles which 

 characterize the bronze age, extending from 

 about 1500 to 500 b. c, were nearly all 

 formed by casting ; it is only toward the 

 close of this period that traces of the use 

 of the hammer in working the metal are 

 found. While some effort toward ornamen- 

 tation appears in the relics of the stone age, 

 much more scope was given to this taste 

 when metal came into use. The works of 

 the earlier part of the bronze age are deco- 

 rated with fine spirals and zigzag lines ; those 

 of the later part of this period do not display 

 spirals of the same shape, but the ends of 

 rings, knife-handles, etc., are often rolled up 

 in spiral volutes. Prof. Montelius, in another 

 work, has distinguished six subdivisions of 

 the bronze age, but does not take space 

 here to state the data on which they are 

 based. Articles of horn, bone, wood, and 

 leather, belonging to this period have been 

 found, and even woolen clothing which had 

 been buried in oak-tree coffins. The iron 

 age is reckoned from 500 b. c. to near 1100 

 A. D., and is treated in four subdivisions. 

 The author is convinced that the arts of 

 working both iron and bronze were learned 

 by the inhabitants of Sweden by intercourse 

 with other nations, and not brought into the 

 country by any immigration of a new people. 

 The relics of this age which have been found 

 are of great variety, and many of them bear 

 decorative figures much more elaborate than 

 those on the bronze implements, and in- 

 clude some very pleasing designs, while in- 

 laying and plating with silver and gold were 

 also practiced. A large number of stones 

 bearing inscriptions in Runic letters date 



from this period. A map and two hundred 

 and five cuts illustrate the text. Both this 

 work and Dr. MoUoy's " Gleanings in Sci- 

 ence " would be more valuable to students 

 if they were provided with indexes. 



The Home-Maker. A Monthly Magazine. 

 Edited by Marion Harland. Vol. I, No. 

 1. October, 1888. New York : The Home 

 Maker Company. Price, 20 cents a num- 

 ber ; $2 a year. 



"The Home-Maker" has an honorable 

 and important field, A moment's reflection 

 will call to mind a host of ways in which the 

 character of the home acts upon the comfort, 

 habits, health, dispositions, manners, mor- 

 als, and culture of the inmates — directly by 

 its effect upon them while at home, and 

 perhaps indirectly by driving them to seek 

 pleasure away from home. Much can be 

 done to improve the character of the home 

 by the teachings of a good magazine. A 

 home modeled after the pattern of "The 

 Home-Maker " would be a nice, comfortable, 

 pretty, refined place, with much leisure and 

 little care. Such a place would insure the 

 wife and mother being always happy ; would 

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 ings to grow up in, and would offer to the 

 husband the most complete contrast to the 

 hard, anxious struggle of his daily business. 

 This magazine is adapted especially to ladies 

 in comfortable circumstances who wish to 

 know how to beautify their homes, and how 

 to free housekeeping of its inconveniences. 

 Nearly all the articles are adapted for their 

 guidance or entertainment. But not all. 

 The editor says that the masculine element 

 is essential to the right composition of a 

 home, and, beginning in the second num- 

 ber, this element is represented by a series 

 of " Talks about Photography," by Mr. Alex- 

 ander Black. The contents of the first num- 

 ber comprise editorials, an illustrated de- 

 scription of " Some Old Virginia Home- 

 steads," two stories, a charade, some poet- 

 ry, practical articles on "Birds and their 

 Care" and "Cheap Living in Cities," and 

 departments of house -work, fancy-work, 

 games, the nursery, the care of the aged, 

 household health, fashions, window-garden- 

 ing, and book notices. The third issue is 

 a Christmas number, and its contents are 

 adapted to the season. Christine Terhune 

 Herrick and Grace Peckham, M. D., are as- 



