492 
POPULAE SCIENCE EEVIEW. 
pleased to see the volnnie which he now addresses to general readers, and 
that is that we wish to see its author as thoroughly appreciated and admired by 
those external to scientific circles as he is by those within them. His book is a 
combination of reprints and original matter, and cannot fail to be of interest 
to both naturalists and archaeologists. It differs from Sir Charles Lyell’s 
treatise, in containing less geological matter, and in embracing a more com- 
prehensive and accurate account of those deposits in which fiint weapons 
have been discovered. Firstly, he treats of the use of bronze in ancient times, 
and the bronze age ; then he passes on to the consideration of the stone age, 
of tumuli, the lake habitations in Switzerland, the Danish shell-mounds, 
North American archseology, cave-men, the antiquity of the human race, 
modern savages, and, finally, he concludes with a most philosophic and 
deeply-thought dissertation upon the primitive condition of man, and the 
advantages of science. Not having space enough to review Mr. Lubbock’s 
book, we must content ourselves with a few extracts from those portions of 
the text which strike us as most interesting. Imprimis^ we must state that 
the author’s classification of pre-historic ages is somewhat different from 
that usually adopted. He divides pre-historic archeeology into four great 
epochs : 
“ Firstly, that of the Drift ; when man shared the possession of Europe 
with the mammoth, the cave-bear, the woolly-haired rhinoceros, and other 
extinct animals ; this we may call the ‘ palaeolithic ’ period. Secondly, the 
later or Polished Stone age ; a period characterized by beautiful weapons and 
instruments made of flint and other kinds of stone, in which, however, we 
find no trace of any metal excepting gold, which seems to have been some- 
times used for ornaments. This we may call the ‘ Neolithic ’ period. 
Thirdly, the Bronze age, in which bronze was used for arms and cutting 
instruments of all kinds. Fourthly, the Iron age, iu which that metal had 
superseded bronze for arms, axes, knives, &c. ; bronze, however, being still 
in common use for ornaments, and frequently also for the handles of swords 
and other arms, but never for the blades.” 
Mr. Lubbock does not appear to agree with those who think that stone, 
bronze, and iron weapons were in all periods of man’s history used contem- 
poraneously, and he brings forward powerful arguments in opposition to this 
creed. ‘‘ Conversely,” says he, “ as bronze weapons are entirely absent from 
the great ‘ finds ’ of the iron age, so iron weapons are equally wanting in those 
instances where large quantities of bronze tools and weapons have been found 
together.” That the art of working in bronze had reached a very high degree 
prior to the introduction of iron is evident from the numerous sketches of 
beautifully designed swords and daggers which adorn the pages of Mr. Lub- 
bock’s book. It is strange too to find what a similarity there is between the 
weapons of different nations which could have had at the period do connection 
with each other. This is especially striking in the case of the Danish and 
Irish ^ Celts,’ which seem as though they had been cast in the same mould. 
In touching upon the gravel deposits of the valley of the Somme, our author 
concludes, that they afford proof of the existence of the human race at the 
time of their formation ; and although he questions the authenticity of the 
Moulin-Quignon jawbone, he considers that the reason why human bones are 
absent from these deposits is not because man did not then exist. 
