BRONZE IMPLEMENTS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 33 



of smelting and casting copper ore, and the introduction of 

 tin, and subsequent manufacture and use of bronze ; or from 

 the probability of nearly all such articles having been re- 

 cast and converted into bronze, subsequent to the introduc- 

 tion of tin, which renders them harder, sharper, and more 

 valuable."* 



There is, however, another circumstance which strongly 

 militates against this theory of a gradual and independent 

 development of metallurgical knowledge in different coun- 

 tries, and that is the fact which has been broadly stated by 

 Mr. Wright, and which I may, perhaps, repeat here, that 

 whenever we find the bronze swords or celts, "whether in 

 Ireland in the far west, in Scotland, in distant Scandinavia, 

 in Germany, or still further east in the Sclavonic countries, 

 they are the same not similar in character, but identical." 

 The great resemblance of stone implements found in dif- 

 ferent parts of the world may be satisfactorily accounted 

 for by the similarity of the material, and the simplicity of 

 the forms. But this argument cannot be applied to the 

 bronze arms and implements. Not only are several varieties 

 of celts found throughout Europe, but some of the swords, 

 knives, daggers, etc., are so similar, that they seem as if they 

 must have been cast by the same maker. Compare, for 

 instance, figs. 1, 3, and 9, which represent Irish celts, with 

 10, 12, and 11, which are copied from Danish specimens ; the 

 three swords, figs. 14, 15, and 16, which come respectively 

 from Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the two, figs. 

 17 and 18, of which the first is Swiss, the second Scandi- 

 navian. It would have been easy to multiply examples of 

 this similarity, and it is not going too far to say that these 

 resemblances cannot be the result of accident. On the other 

 hand, it must be admitted that each country has certain 



* Wilde, /. c. p. 357. 



