422 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
I venture further to put forward, based on careful scrutiny, and 
therefore capable of better support than mere conjecture, the state- 
ment that these decorative and other markings should be interpreted 
as evidences of progressive efforts at improvement in the workman’s 
art, and not regarded as mere secondary modifications im details. In 
this statement I would lay special stress on these constructional varia- 
tions of form, ribbings, &c., which are recognizable when we inspect 
any extensive series of bronzes; they give us a clue worth unravelling 
by which we may obtain, at least, some approximate classification of 
the successive stages of development in bronze castings possibly ex- 
tending over many centuries. 
A similar line of evidence is accepted by the numismatist when 
endeavouring to classify the first rude attempts of the earlier primitive 
coinages in metal; and we must hope that a mode of investigation 
which has afforded good results in the one case will not altogether fail 
us in the other. It requires wide and patient research, not only as 
to our own bronzes, but also those of other countries, especially on the 
Continent, before we can hope to obtain the material for definite gene- 
ralizations. Some day their study will explain away our present diffi- 
culties, and clear up the questions as to both the race and age when 
bronze became discovered and utilized, and also the interesting inquiry 
I have ventured to indicate—W ho were the great pioneers of trade and 
civilization by whose efforts bronze implements were spread through 
every district of Ireland, and equally important, demonstrate the varied 
stages in the progressive development of this special department of 
art manufacture. I have already mentioned, that whatever may be 
the case elsewhere, in Ireland at least there are no satisfactory reasons 
for the so-called bronze age being separated into two subdivisions— 
that of red copper and of true bronze. It is quite possible certain red 
copper daggers may be older than many cast in bronze, but the 
reverse holds equally true. Copper celts, for example, are often ob- 
tained of rude fabrication, the result of coarse workmanship and of 
unskilful workmen. We know when the best bronze is remelted, under 
such circumstances it will part with its tin, and if remelted frequently 
or without proper precautions, the removal of this oxidized tin will 
leave behind a residue of copper in a condition of more or less purity. 
I will conclude with a final suggestion about the tempering of 
our bronze implements, a matter on which various opinions have been 
advanced—some explaining it by a process of hammering of which 
there are no traces on the weapons themselves. Many of our leaf- 
shaped swords and daggers of bronze have keen cutting edges almost 
as perfect and sharp as those now made from fine steel. One of the 
results of modern chemistry shows that a peculiar compound. obtained 
by uniting phosphorus with bronze possesses in an eminent degree 
the property of extreme hardness, on account of which it is utilized 
for forming the bearings of heavy machinery, steam carriages, &e. 
May not our bronzes have received their fine tempering by being an- 
nealed in the ashes of turf or peat, which afford a remarkable amount 
