39 I 3 



duced in America, and was consequently used by the 

 Peruvians and other nations. 



The discovery of the modes of reducing iron ores 

 placed in the hands of man the best material for bring- 

 ing to a shape convenient for his needs the raw ma- 

 terial of the world. All improvements in this direction 

 made since that time have been in the quality of iron 

 itself, and not through the introduction of any new 

 metal. 



The prevalent phenomena of any given period are 

 those which give it its character, and by which we dis- 

 tinguish it. But this fact does not exclude the coexist- 

 ence of other phenomena belonging to prior or subse- 

 quent stages. Thus, during the many stages of human 

 progress there have been men more or less in advance 

 of the general body, and their characteristics have given 

 a peculiar stamp to the later and higher condition of the 

 whole. It furnishes no objection to this view that we 

 find, as might have been anticipated, the stone, bronze 

 and iron periods overlaping one another, or men of an 

 inferior culture supplanting in some cases a superior 

 people. A case of this kind is seen in North America, 

 where the existing " Indians," stone-men, have succeeded 

 the mound-builders, copper-men. The successional re- 

 lation of discoveries is all that it is necessary to prove, 

 and this seems to be established. 



The period at which the use of metallic implements 

 was introduced is unknown, but Whitney says that the 

 language of the Aryans, the ancestors of all the modern 

 Indo-Europeans, indicates an acquaintance with such 

 implements, though it is not certain whether those of 

 iron are to be included. The dispersion of the daughter 

 races, the Hindoos, the Pelasgi, Teutons, Celts, etc., 



