UNITY AND CONTINUITY. 331 



tioned in Genesis. Meteoric iron, a literally heaven- 

 descended gift, first made man acquainted with that 

 metal ; but the step from the native iron to the richer 

 ores resembling it somewhat in aspect, was so long 

 and difficult, that it is likely a vast lapse of time inter- 

 vened before it was made. Some old metallurgist 

 working in a region like Cornwall, where the ores of 

 copper and tin occur together, mixed them and pro- 

 duced bronze, just as the Chinese are said to have 

 originated nickel silver by smelting mixed ores con- 

 taining copper, zinc, and nickel. It follows, from 

 these considerations, that after the invention of a few 

 arts, indefinite periods of stagnation might ensue, and 

 the same arts and customs might be stereotyped for 

 many generations. It follows also that these arts 

 and customs might be propagated among numerous 

 nations and tribes without material modification ; 

 everywhere, as we have seen, bearing evidence at once 

 of the unity of man and of his comparatively short 

 residence on the earth. 



If we ask how an impetus is to be given to human- 

 ity, so that change and movement shall occur, history 

 gives us two answers only, and these closely allied to 

 each other. One of these we obtain in a very definite 

 form in sacred history, which we are sometimes apt to 

 forget represents primitive man, while innocent and 

 happy, as destitute of even the rudiments of material 

 civilization. Its story is, that certain gifted men, in 

 a very primitive age, made the great discoveries on 

 which material progress has ever since been based. 



