immigrants from the south-east of Europe, where we should expect considerable advance to have been effected in civilisation. It is extremely probable and generally admitted that man became civilised in oriental countries, and made his way northwards and westwards, gradually covering the whole of Europe; so that we should expect the races of Egypt, Persia, and India to be far more highly cultured than those who were establishing themselves in the west at the same time. It would take a very long time indeed for people to spread themselves from Egypt and Persia over the whole of Europe, and during all this time they would naturally, owing to their wandering habits, advance in civilisation far more slowly than those who remained in their original homes. At the time, therefore, that Neolithic man had become a settler in Europe and Britain we may fairly suppose that Egypt, Persia, and India were great, powerful, and prosperous states, well advanced in civilisation and art, and, perhaps, even the tail-end of a mighty and prosperous civilisation that had preceded them long ages before. It was probably from these highly-civilised centres that the discovery of bronze was carried into Europe, which marked the commencement of what is called the Bronze or Prehistoric Age, during which period the use of bronze implements almost entirely superseded that of polished stone weapons. Before the Bronze Age had fairly commenced the last of the Pleistocene deposits had taken place, and the recent layers of earth had begun to distribute themselves upon the older strata; but how long a time has actually elapsed since the completion of the Pleistocene stratification has not been accurately ascertained. A rough approximation to the relative length of the Pleistocene and Prehistoric periods may be obtained from the fact that the valleys were cut down by streams flowing through them as much as a hundred feet deep in the former period, while the work done by the rivers during the latter period is measured by the insignificant fluviatile deposits close to the adjacent streams. We may, therefore, conclude that the Pleistocene era was, beyond all calculation, of longer duration than the Prehistoric. It must not be imagined from this that the Prehistoric period was a short one, for there have been a series of changes in the fauna, and a series of invasions of different races of men into Europe, which must have required a very long time to have been brought about, judging from similar changes recorded in history.