62 STONE USED AFTER DISCOVERY OF METAL. 



when society was in so barbarous a state that sticks or 

 stones were the only implements with which men knew how 

 to furnish themselves/' doubts "if the antiquary has yet 

 found any evidence of such a period. " And though the 

 above figures are sufficient to prove that stone was at one 

 time used for many implements, which we now make of metal, 

 this is not in itself a conclusive answer to Mr. "Wright, nor 

 in fact would it be denied by that gentleman. Moreover, 

 there is no doubt, that in early ages stone and metal were 

 used at the same time, the first by the poor, the second by 

 the rich. 



If we consider the difficulties of mining in early days, 

 the rude implements with which men had then to work, 

 their ignorance of the many ingenious methods, by which 

 the operations of modern miners are so much facilitated, 

 and, finally, the difficulties of carriage either by land or 

 water, it is easy to see that bronze implements must have 

 been very expensive. 



In addition, moreover, to the a priori probability, there is 

 plenty of direct evidence, that bronze and stone were in use 

 at the same time. Thus, Mr. Bateman records thirty-seven 

 instances of tumuli which contained objects of bronze, and 

 in no less than twenty-nine of these, stone implements also 

 were found. At the time of the discovery of America, the 

 Mexicans, though well acquainted with the use of bronze, 

 still used flakes of obsidian for knives and razors, and even 

 after the introduction of iron, stone was still used for various 

 purposes. 



Still, however, there appears, to be enough evidence to jus- 

 tify us in believing, not only that there was a period "when 

 society was in so barbarous a state that sticks or stones," (to 

 which we must add horns and bones) " were the only imple- 

 ments with which men knew how to furnish themselves," but 

 also that the antiquary has found sufficient "evidence of such 



