256 Original Articles. [April, 



it is said that everything of iron manufacture bears an impress, more 

 or less distinct, of the influence of Roman civilization. We know 

 not whether the same may be true of England or not ; but it is certain 

 that iron was in use, though tolerably scarce * and valuable, at the time 

 of Cassar's invasion. The perishable nature of this metal has pre- 

 vented many articles manufactured of it from being preserved to our 

 day. We consequently are less acquainted with this Age, so far as it 

 is prehistoric, than with those that have preceded it. The introduc- 

 tion of iron, like that of bronze, was of course gradual. In Denmark 

 bronze axes with iron edges, and in Scotland a bronze spear head 

 with an iron core mark this stage. Two distinct differences are to be 

 marked as coincident with the introduction of iron. As with bronze 

 we find golden ornaments, so with iron do we find for the first 

 time silver used for articles of decoration. And again, as with the 

 introduction of a new race, or the development of a new stage of 

 civilization in the Stone Age, we first come upon the use of cremation 

 and funereal urns, so at this new stage we observe a return to the old 

 mode of burying the dead out of their sight ; but not as formerly in a 

 couching posture, but at full length. The man returns not to the 

 womb of his mother-earth to be again absorbed into her substance, 

 but he lies like a warrior taking his rest, awaiting the trumpet that 

 shall again summon him to perform his duty much as it had been per- 

 formed here, either renewing the conflict as of old or sharing in some 

 way the triumph for victory won. 



These are the principal divisions of the Prehistoric Times, as far 

 as science has as yet been able to decipher the records of these early 

 races from the language, the antiquities, and the monuments of much 

 that is anterior to all written records. Whether further researches 

 will tend still more to subdivide these we know not. Within the last 

 few years much has been revealed. The Swiss savans are on the alert, 

 the Danish and Swedish archaeologists are translating Sagas and 

 rummaging kitchen-middens and cromlechs, our own antiquarians are 

 not a whit behind, but flock to every new discovery, comparing, 

 measuring, and describing with an accuracy and a care which must in 

 the end produce some considerable result. 



We append a classified table of the Fauna of the Swiss Pfahlbauten, 

 taken originally from Rutimeyer's monograph on that subject, and 

 enlarged by Lubbock from other works of the same author. It shows 

 the wild enemies with which these early people had to contend, and 

 also exhibits how far they had subdued these enemies and turned 

 them into useful assistants. 



* " Nascitur ibi. . . . regionibus in maritimis ferrum sed ejus exigua est copia." 

 — Caesar, De Bell. Gall. lib. v. c. 12, § 5. Herodian speaks of the Britons wearing 

 " iron about their stomachs and necks, which they esteem as fine and rich an 

 ornament as others do gold." 



