The Stone Period. 



25 



this system that made it instantly popular. Every one could dis- 

 tinguish between stone, bronze, and iron implements, and as this 

 was all the knowledge required to determine the relative age of any 

 ' find/ or of any monuments, it was universally adopted/'' 1 Now, 

 although these passages form strictly a criticism of the Danish 

 system of classification, yet many readers of the article would be led 

 to suppose that they really express the present views of archaeologists, 

 or at all events of Sir J ohn Lubbock, whose work, " Pre-Historic 

 Times," is the first upon the list which heads this article, and is 

 supposed to be, although it actually is not, reviewed by the writer 

 of " Non-Historic Times." But in order to prove that Sir John 

 Lubbock does not hold these opinions, it is only necessary to turn 

 to the third page of " Pre-Historic Times/'' where we find this pas- 

 sage : — " Stone weapons of many kinds were still in use during the 

 age of Bronze, and even during that of Iron, so that the mere 

 presence of a few stone implements is not in itself sufficient evidence 

 that any given ' find 3 belongs to the Stone Age." 2 Had this pas- 

 sage been written, purposely, in refutation of the views ascribed to 

 archseologists by the writer of the u Quarterly Review " article, the 

 wording could scarcely have been more precise and to the point ; 

 and yet this passage was in print five years before the article in 

 question was published, and in a book which is supposed to be 

 reviewed in this very article. If, therefore, the passages I have 

 cited from " Non- Historic Times " are not wanton perversions of 

 Sir John Lubbock's views, it is clear that the reviewer either did 

 not read, or did not read aright, the book he professed to review. 

 And yet statements such as these are frequently allowed to pass 

 unchallenged, and become articles of faith with such as are either 

 too indolent, or too careless to examine into the subject for 

 themselves. 



The writer of u Non-Historic Times " notwithstanding, the Stone, 

 Bronze, and Iron Periods, do afford us valuable tests of human 

 culture, although they are, even at best, no more than rough tests ; 

 for, whether in ancient or in modern times, it will be found that 



1 " Quarterly Review," No. 256, 1870, pp. 433, 434. 

 2 " Pre-Historic Times," 1st edition, 1865, p. 3. 2nd edition, 1869, p. 3. 



