appearance ; but setting aside the fact that its age is not so 

 well authenticated, we have no evidence to prove it was not 

 an exceptional skull and might very likely have belonged to 

 an idiot, at any rate none other has been discovered at all like 

 it, nor have any transitional forms ever been brought to light, 

 as we might have reasonably expected. We may then, I 

 think, take it as proved that primitive man was what we shall 

 now term a savage of a very low type, and whom we can well 

 picture to ourselves by comparison with many of the existing 

 savage races. There is no evidence of any race ever losing 

 its natural mechanical contrivances, such as the use of flint 

 and steel, spinning, &c., and although nations may have de- 

 generated from over civilisation, it is not likely that any race 

 of men would ever forget what contributed to their material 

 comfort and support. From this argument it follows, says 

 Sir John Lubbock, "The lowest races of existing savages 

 must, always assuming the common origin of man, be at least 

 as far advanced as were our ancestors when they spread over 

 the earth's surface." The history of Primitive Man has been 

 conveniently divided into two great periods. The Stone Age 

 and the Metal Age. These have been again subdivided into 

 I. The Rough Stone Age, or that of the Drift, when the 

 mammoth, great cave bear, hairy rhinoceros, and other extinct 

 animals existed, when, of course, no metal was in use and 

 the stone implements were unpolished. II. The Polished 

 Stone Age, or Reindeer Epoch, when the stone implements 

 were polished, and vast herds of reindeer roamed the land ; 

 and towards the latter end of which domesticated existing 

 animals begin to appear. The Metal Age, may be divided 

 into — I. The Bronze Age and II. The Iron Age. In the 

 first of these bronze (an amalgam of tin and copper) was in 

 sole use while stone implements were still in existence ; in 

 the second iron superseded bronze for tools, &c., while the 

 latter was used for ornaments, &c. During the first part of 

 the Stone Age man's life must have been indeed hard and 

 savage, his food could have consisted only of roots and fruit ; 

 in constant danger from the attacks of enormous and savage 

 animals, among which the huge cave lion and the vast and 

 savage cave bear were prominent; without weapons to defend 

 himself, and forming but a very small minority of existing 



