Lubbock's pbehtstoetc times. 517 



*' Prehistoric Times," as we have ah-eady said, is founded on the 

 basis of five articles which have appeared in different volumes of 

 this Journal from 1861 to 1864. The author, as we are informed in 

 the preface, was encouraged to reprint them in a separate form, mainly 

 by the fact, that most of them had reappeared either in France or in 

 America in the pages of other periodicals. At first, a simple reprint 

 of the articles in question was only contemplated. It was, however, 

 subsequently determined to add to them the substance of a course 

 of lectures on the " iVntiquity of Man," delivered at the Royal 

 Institution, and to remodel the whole, so as to lay the principles of 

 Prehistoric Archaeology before the reader in a more complete and 

 more connected form. In order to gain a more perfect knowledge 

 of the subject, our author made personal visits to the gravel-pits of 

 the Somme, the shell-mounds of Denmark, the lake-dwellings of 

 Switzerland, and the bone-caves of Dordogne, besides minutely ex- 

 amining a host of public and private collections, in which the 

 archaeological objects disinterred from these different localities have 

 been deposited. Finally, in order to point out the parallelism 

 between ancient and modern barbarism, Sir John Lubbock has added 

 to his work some valuable chapters on the manners and customs of 

 modern savages. Nor has he hesitated in conclusion, as we shall see 

 presently, to point out the necessary deductions concerning the past 

 and future of mankind which follow from these premises, convinced, in 

 the words of the Bishop of London, " that it would be treason to the 

 majesty at once of science and of religion, if he sought to help 

 either, by swerving ever so little from the straight rule of truth." 

 But before more is said upon this part of the subject a few para- 

 graphs must be devoted to the former portion of the work. 



The study of the remains of the ancient peoples of Europe, so 

 far as it has hitherto progressed, seems to indicate that four succes- 

 sive epochs preceded what is commonly called the historical period 

 of mankind in this continent. These were, 



(1.) The period of the " drift," when the Mammoth, the Cave- 

 bear, the Woolly-haired Ehinoceros and other animals now extinct, 

 were existing along with mankind. This our author proposes to call 

 the " Palaeolithic " period. 



(2.) The " Neolithic" period, or "polished stone age," the im- 

 plements of which are distinguished from those of the first period 

 by their superior beauty and polish. 



(3.) The " Bronze age," in which a compound of copper and tin 

 was generally employed for arms and implements. 



