160 
LUKIS : GEOLOGY AND AECH^OLOGT. 
grain and fruits of the earth were cultivated; what animals were 
bred ; what were the horse trappings and chariots ; what the design, 
materials, and fabrication of personal ornaments ; of what kind were 
their dwelling-houses and fortresses ; and even the materials and 
construction of their coffins — all these matters, which belong to the 
domain of archasolog-y, are yet legitimate branches of scientific study 
which no Polytechnic Society can fairly exclude, for in tracing out 
the development of industry no hard and fast line could be drawn 
beyond which research would be unnecessary and uninstructive, not 
to say unattractive to some among us. 
These remarks will also apply to the Roman, Saxon, Danish, 
and Norman occupation of Yorkshire, and to the influences which 
the productions of these invading races have exercised upon the 
modern industries of the county, and of the country generally. 
There is no doubt that each of these peoples have left some traces 
of their skill and ingenuity in manufacture among the subjugated 
and oft-times cruelly oppressed inhabitants, of which we are reaping 
the benefit now ; and if it had not been for arch^Bological researches, 
and the publication of those researches, many amongst us would 
never have known to what extent we are indebted to them for 
much that we may have vauntingly and in our ignorance taken 
credit to ourselves for having originated. The explorations of anti- 
quarians have been instrumental, not only in bringing to light 
numerous articles of various kinds which for honest purity of materi- 
als, elegance of form and design, and excellence of workmanship 
cannot be excelled in the present day, but which on being reproduced 
by our manufacturers have found a ready sale, because the public 
eye has been captivated, and public taste educated. Thus, moderns 
have imitated the works of the ancients, by doing which, they have 
to some extent confessed their own inferiority ; and this has been 
the humbling but beneficial result of archaeological investigation. 
