But whatever may be the value of this system when applied to the elucidation of early European civilisation, one thing is certain--that it was the means of evoking throughout the entire world an enormous amount of interest in archæological pursuits. Henceforth primeval antiquities of every description, the merest "waifs and strays" of humanity, things which previously were utterly ignored, were now eagerly collected, described, and catalogued; and in every centre of intelligence societies and journals were founded with the express object of following up the new found trail of prehistoric man. Since then the problem of man's place in nature has come largely to the front, and now appeals for its solution to all departments of science, and to all legitimate processes of reasoning. Among those who devoted their energies to the study and elucidation of the archæological phase of this problem was the learned Ferdinand Keller, President of the Antiquarian Association at Zürich, to whom the world is indebted for one of the most remarkable archæological discoveries of this century--a discovery which in its consequential results is unique for the variety and wealth of materials with which it has illustrated that singular but long unknown and forgotten phase of prehistoric civilisation in Europe, which found its outcome in the habit of constructing dwellings in lakes, marshes, etc. This discovery of Dr. Keller was not of the nature of a lucky find, but was the result of a purely mental process--a spark of superior intelligence--fostered, I have no doubt, by his knowledge of these very Scandinavian doctrines to which I have just referred.