437 
the Vulgate translation of Job xix. 24 — Celte sculpantur 
in silice, and translated in our version, " Graven with an 
iron pen in the rock;" and it is very probable that 
implements of flint or stone were used in the very earliest 
ages for various purposes, as we find Joshua made knives 
of stone to circumcise the children of Israel (Joshua v. 2). 
There is, however, a presumption that the period of the 
manufacture of bronze implements in Europe is at least a 
thousand years before the Christian era, as Worsaae says 
that there are geological reasons for believing that the 
bronze period must have prevailed in Denmark five or six 
hundred years before the birth of Christ; and as he sup- 
poses that the bronze was obtained from England, it is fair 
to infer they were of higher antiquity in Britain than in 
the north of Europe. For, although the stone and bronze 
periods may have been coeval in different and distant coun- 
tries, the first attempt at the construction of such objects in 
each would, doubtless, be to form them of stone, and even 
when the use of metal was partially discovered, the opera- 
tion at first would be slow, and, like that of the Indian of the 
present day, by beating out a lump of copper or other metal ; 
which mode would continue for a long period before the art 
of casting or ornamentation was arrived at, and probably 
centuries would elapse unless the above manufacture was 
introduced by a more advanced or civilized people. 
That they have been native manufactures in most 
instances is, I think, evident ; for not only have large num- 
bers been found together in one spot, but also the moulds 
from which they were cast. Is ow, as copper or bronze are 
the materials or metals of which they are usually made, a 
question has been raised — From whence have 'all these early 
people obtained their metal ? I have already given Worsaae's 
opinion that it was Britain ; and it is most probable that Corn- 
wall has been the locality, as we know that a very extensive 
