474 
the earliest attention of the Academy. The ornamentation 
is different in principle; and in this difference of principle, 
unless I greatly err, we should be led to detect some ethno- 
graphical and historical facts of very great importance to our 
study. 
‘* The ornamentation which prevails upon almost all the 
bronzes of the Continent consist ofa spiral line, which, to the 
best of my knowledge, is never found upon works of Irish art 
at this early period, but is invariably replaced by ornaments 
of concentrical circles. The spiral line to which I allude is, 
however, not a single one, but a double spiral, by means of 
which alone it is possible they could become continuous. A 
single spiral line drawn down from a point, and turning on 
itself, ends with a second circular figure, and goes no further. 
But ifa second spiral spring from the centre, in a common 
point, in which the second follows the windings of the first, it 
escapes, and so renders it possible that a constant succession 
of this figure may be upon the same plain surface. Now, this 
figure is essentially and peculiarly Greek; it is found on the 
friezes of Greek temples; it is found in the monuments of 
Ktruscan art, but it is not found upon the art of England and 
Ireland: and in this, I believe, lies the key to a historical dis- 
tinction, which it is of great moment for us fully to compre- 
hend and study. It bears upon a fact which has long become 
clear to me from a comparison of many other cognate facts— 
namely, the two great streams of culture that enrich the north 
of Europe: one, passing along from Upper Italy, over the 
Alps, into Slavonic lands; thence following the spurs of the 
Carpathians, spreading through Styria and Transylvania, 
through Moravia and Bohemia; next following the line of the 
Elbe, and flooding the countries between its banks and the 
southern coast of the Baltic—nay, even crossing the Baltic 
itself, to take in the south of Sweden and the Danish islands, 
ended, at last, in Holstein and Ditmarsh. While the second 
stream, coasting the north coast of Africa, ran westward and 
