Archceology : Ages of Metal. 25 



phy are referred to in explaining geological forma- 

 tions; natural physics and terrestrial physics; min- 

 eralogy and chemistry; botany, zoology, physiology; 

 comparative anatomy. Geology, in fact, is a sci- 

 ence of induction which bases itself on all the or- 

 ders of facts and on all the laws in the boundless field 

 of nature. 



No doubt, within the restricted limits of the pres- 

 ent question, that of the prehistoric antiquity of 

 man, it does not lie open to all these uncertainties, 

 because it does not appeal to so many exact sci- 

 ences. Still, not being exempt from a limited sum 

 of the scientific references, it remains liable to a 

 moderate sum of the consequent uncertainties. In 

 brief, geology is not the science to arrange an exact 

 chronology for the prehistoric periods. Let us see 

 if archaeology has done so, or palaeontology, or 

 anthropology, strictly so called. 



18. The archaeological results are as follows. 

 Prehistoric articles of industry have been found in 

 great numbers; and numerous, too, are 



the localities in which they have been 

 unearthed. There are stones, and bronzes, and cop- 

 per; tools, chips and flints; there are places called 

 Danish kjokken-moddings, and there are Swiss lake- 

 dwellings; besides old hearths and camping-grounds, 

 and caves and other holes in the earth. 



19. The reports from these and about them are 

 summed up in the theory of what are called the 

 ages of iron, bronze, copper, stone. Supposing 



