TIIK ROYAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 398

The crypt was next inspected, and on returning to the choir the Kev. W. Collier took the op[»<irtunity of referring to the mortuary chests contain- ing the remains of the early kings; and the Kev. J. G. Joyce at some lengtli urged strong objections against the late removal of the tomb of William Hufns. This led to a somewhat animated discussion, in which the President of the meeting, Archdeacon Jacob, tlic Kev. W. (Jollier, and Mr. Parker took part. The ])eraml)ulation of the Cathedral being after- wards com])lotcd, the party retui-ncd to Southampton. A Conversazione was afterwards held in the ^[useum, in which Mr. E. T. Stevens, of Salisbury, read scnne observations upon " Flint Implements." " Although much has been written about the three Human Culture- Periods — the Stone Period, the Bronze Period, and the Iron Period — yet there still appears to be some misconception on the subject. " For instance, the Stone Period is regarded by many as a mere mea- 8iu*e of time, — as aft'ording us the first glimpses of man's existence, — and as giving us an insiirlit into his first eftoiis to learn the mechanical arts, to be followed in due and regular succession by the discovery of the use of metals, antl the conse(pient advent of the Bronze and the Iron Periods. It cannot, however, be too often repeated, that the Stone Period, as a whole, does not attbrd a measure of time. The Stone Period is a thing of the present as well as of the past; it exists to-day in some countries — it is actually being watched as it expires in others — and it existed elsewhere thousands of years since. " Peopl.' living in their Stone Period are those, who, being wholly unacquainted with the arts of metallurgy, use, and use exclusively, natural substances, — such as wood, stone, shell, bone, horn, and the teeth and claws of animals, in the manufacture of weapons, and cutting instruments. " Tiie one great characteristic of the Stone Period is a total ignorance of the arts of metallurgy. Native copper and meteoric iron to men living in their Stone Period are but malleable varieties of stone, cap- able of being hammered into convenient forms without the labour of grinding. " Following upon the Stone Period there appears to have been in some countries an actual Copper Period — a period when native copper was melted and cast into tools and implements. Then came the Bronze Period, when the discoveiy was made that by adding tin to copper a valuable alloy was produced, much harder than copper. Finally, there is the Iron Period, wlien the art of reducing iron from its ores was dis- covered, and this metal supei-seded the use of both stone and bronze in the manufacture of cutting instruments, and for many other pniposes. " Let it not be imagined, however, that the use of stone implements ceased during the Bronze and the Iron Periods; so far from such having been the case, some forms of stone implements, and certain methods of working stone are actually considered to be typical of these more advanced culture-periods. "As regards the .sei]uence of the Stone, the Bronze, and the Inai Periods, it would seem that the use of this or that substance w;vs dis- continued the moment any other substance better adapted for the special work to be done w:s discovereil; thus the Australian discitrds his knife- blade of quartz, so soon as he finds that a blade of Kuropean glass has a keener i:d<xe, and this glass blade in its turn is superseded by some stray