This instrument was found at Kinleith,[782] near Currie, Edinburgh, and has been described and commented on by Dr. John Alexander Smith. The blade, besides being perforated in an artistic manner and having a ring at the end of the handle, is of larger dimensions than usual with instruments of this kind. The metal of which it is composed consists of copper 92·97 per cent., tin 7·03 (with a trace of lead). [Illustration: Fig. 276.—Nidau.] It affords the only instance of a razor of this shape having been found in the British Isles. The form much more nearly approaches one of not uncommon occurrence on the Continent than any other British example, and Dr. Smith has illustrated this by the accompanying figure of a razor from the Steinberg, near Nidau,[783] on the Lake of Bienne (Fig. 276). I have a razor of nearly the same form from the Seine at Paris, and others have been found in various parts of France.[784] The nearest in character to Fig. 275 is perhaps one found in the hoard of Notre-Dame d’Or,[785] and preserved in the museum at Poitiers. Instead of the blade being a single crescent, it consists of two penannular concentric blades with a plain midrib connecting them, which has a ring at the external end. An instrument with the blade formed of a single crescent was found at the same time. A German example is in the Museum of the Deutsche Gesellschaft, at Leipzig. In the next chapter I shall treat of those blades which appear to be weapons rather than tools. CHAPTER X. DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS.—RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. AMONG all uncivilised, if not indeed among all civilised nations, arms of offence take a far higher rank than mere tools and implements; and on the first introduction of the use of metal into any country, there is great antecedent probability that the primary service to which it was applied was for the manufacture of weapons. So far as there are means of judging, a small knife or knife-dagger appears to have been among the earliest objects to which bronze was applied in Britain. Possibly, like the Highland dirk, the early form may have served for both peaceful and warlike purposes; but there are other and apparently later forms made for piercing rather than for cutting, and which are unmistakably weapons. The distinction which can be drawn between knives, such as some of those described in the last chapter, and the daggers to be described in this, is no doubt to a great extent arbitrary, and mainly dependent upon size. In the same way the distinction between a large dagger and a small sword, such as some of those to be described in the next chapter, is one for which no hard and fast rule can be laid down.