The origin and early history of the Swastika are lost in antiquity. All the author has been able to find on these subjects is set forth in the preceding chapters. It is proposed to examine the possible uses of the Swastika in an endeavor to discover something of its significance. The Swastika might have served: I. As a symbol-- 1, of a religion, 2, of a nation or people, 3, of a sect with peculiar tenets; II. As an amulet or charm-- 1, of good luck, or fortune, or long life, 2, of benediction, or blessing, 3, against the evil eye; III. As an ornament or decoration. It may have been (1) originally discovered or invented by a given people in a given country, and transmitted from one generation to the next, passing by migration from one country to another, and it may have been transmitted by communication to widely separated countries and among differently cultured peoples; or (2) it may have appeared in these latter countries by duplicate invention or by accident, and without contact or communication. Positive evidence concerning its origin and earliest migration is not obtainable, and in its absence we are driven to secondary and circumstantial evidence. This will consist (1) of comparison of known facts directly concerning the subject; (2) of facts indirectly concerning it, and (3) reason, induced by argument, applied to these facts, presenting each truly, and giving to each its proper weight. The possible migrations of the Swastika, and its appearance in widely separated countries and among differently cultured peoples, afford the principal interest in this subject to archæologists and anthropologists. The present or modern scientific interest in and investigation of the Swastika as a symbol or a charm alone are subsidiary to the greater question of the cause and manner of its appearance in different countries, whether it was by migration and contact or by independent invention. In arguing this question, we must keep continually in mind the rules of reason and of logic, and neither force the facts nor seek to explain them by unknown, imaginary, or impossible methods. There must be no dogmatic assertions nor fanciful theories. If we assume certain migrations of the Swastika, we must consider those things which might have (or must have) migrated with it; and we must admit the means necessary to the assumed end.