464 
cognised two centuries ago by Eckhart, the continuator of 
Leibnitz, and by other eminent German scholars. But the 
extension of it into a system attempted to be founded upon 
history is due to the present race of Danish archeologists, 
and it is to their conclusions, in as far as these are of a special 
nature, that I refer, and against which I feel bound to enter 
my public and energetic protest. There is no doubt, Gentle- 
men, that in the earliest ages of culture, weapons and imple- 
ments are formed of the rudest materials accessible to man ; 
that he is acquainted with wood, and horn, and stone, before 
he obtains a sufficient mastery over the metals to convert them 
to the purposes he desires; and accordingly, we do find im- 
plements or weapons both of horn and stone, to the exclu- 
sion of the metals, at periods which the lessons of Geology 
compel us to place at an almost infinite distance from our 
own. I would remind you only of the operations of the 
Commissioners for the improvement of the navigation of 
the river Shannon. The men of science connected with that 
great undertaking will assure you that the lowest stratum 
bearing marks of human life contained implements of stone 
and horn so far below the first appearance of implements of 
metal as to imply an almost incalculable lapse of centuries be- 
tween the two deposits. It is true, that the rudeness of those 
implements has been and is a cause of great difficulty to the 
archeological inquirer. It has long been found one of the 
most difficult problems, how these instruments were to be 
made use of, and it is only of late that discoveries have been 
made which enable us to form a distinct opinion on the subject. 
Let me call your attention to some of these rude prisms of 
flint contained in the cases in the next room. ‘They seemed 
incapable of being turned to any use; but in excavations of 
recent date lately made in the valley of the Somme, in strata 
upwards of twenty feet below the present level of the surface 
of the earth, in company with the bones of the rhinoceros and 
other animals extinct in these parts of the world, there have 
