specular pig-iron have been produced at the Frodingham furnaces. The district is also favourably placed with reference to its geographical position: its distance from the Yorkshire coal-field is small, so that while it is within easy reach of fuel, it can send large quantities of the ore into the Yorkshire coal-field for mixing with the argillaceous iron-stone, and this is now practised to a large extent. For shipment it is being placed, by the construction of new lines, in communication with the ports of Goole and Grimsby, while it is also favourably situated for sending supplies into Staffordshire and other inland markets. The metal possesses the qualities of extreme fluidity when melted, and is tenacious in a manufactured state; so that it answers well for hoops and boiler-plates. For general purposes, however, it is improved by the mixture of either Cleveland or hæmatite pig-iron.

The Middle Lias of Northamptonshire has not as yet (as far, at least, as I am aware) yielded iron-stone. The formation is doubtless there, lying about 120 feet under the Northamptonshire iron-stone, which, as already stated, occurs at the base of the Great Oolite. The richness and abundance of this latter ore have probably diverted attention from the former, for it ought not to be forgotten that these Jurassic ores do not force themselves on men's attention, but have rather to be sought for. As I have already described the oolitic iron-stone of this county, I shall therefore pass on to the consideration of the Oxfordshire iron-stone, at the southern extremity of our district.

*

The iron-field extends over a hilly tract of ground, extending from Edge Hill, near Banbury, on the north, to the valley of the Evenlode, near Charlbury, on the south, near which place it has as yet alone been worked. The ore belongs to the Middle Lias, and is similar in appearance to the Lincolnshire, and sometimes to the Cleveland stone. It consists of olive-green oolitic rock, more or less calcareous, and weathering rusty-brown. At Fawler the thickness is twelve or fifteen feet, and this may be taken as the average over that part of the field where the iron-stone is richest. Towards the western escarpment of the hills, overlooking the vale of Moreton, the rock decreases both in thickness and quality as an iron-stone; as it does also to the eastward, along the valley of the Cherwell, as far south at least as Aynho. Around Bloxham, Deddington, Great Tew, Hook Norton, and Swalcliffe, it appears to be of good quality, and generally forms nearly level terraces, intersected by narrow valleys-a position peculiarly adapted for economical working and drainage. New lines of railway are now being constructed across the richest portion of the district, placing it within reach of South Wales and South Staffordshire; and,

At Fawler quarries, the yield of which, in 1861, was 6,666 tons. The ironstone has also been worked at Steeple Aston.

judging from the experience of Northamptonshire and the adjoining county, it seems probable that a few years hence furnaces will be erected in this district. The quality of the pig-iron produced, as tested by the trials from the Fawler quarries, has been pronounced good, though the yield is variable, as the rock is often superabundantly calcareous, and the average yield of metallic iron will probably not be found to exceed thirty per cent.; on the other hand, it will require little or no admixture of limestone for fluxing.

The rapid increase of iron-smelting in the new districts may be judged by the following statement:-We learn from the Mineral Statistics of Great Britain,' compiled by Mr. R. Hunt, F.R.S., that in 1864 the total quantity of pig-iron smelted in the United Kingdom was 4,767,951 tons, from 10,064,890 tons of ore. Of this, the North Riding, Lincolnshire, and Northamptonshire produced 431,929 tons. What the total produce for 1865 may be we are not yet informed, as the statistics for this year have not yet been published; but we shall probably not be far wrong if we estimate it at 6,000,000 tons of pig-iron, of which the Cleveland district, Lincolnshire, and Northamptonshire will have yielded 1,100,000 tons. The proportions therefore of the yield from the New Fields to that of the United Kingdom will have been, in 1864, nearly one-tenth, while in the following year it will have been more than one-sixth of the whole. Considering the rapidity with which new furnaces are being erected in these districts, I shall not be surprised if it should turn out that in the present year the proportion will be one-fourth of the produce of the entire kingdom, and this is exclusive of the large quantities of iron smelted from ores sent into other iron districts.

We have now completed our survey of the New Iron-fields of England through a tract of country ranging from north to south for a distance of 200 miles. The survey might be still further extended if we included the Wiltshire ores, which are of limited extent, and belong to a still higher geological horizon. Enough has probably been stated to show the enormous extent of our resources in this mineral, which is sufficiently abundant to use up the whole of our available coal for its conversion into metallic iron. As regards the quality of the iron produced, it is confessedly inferior to that derived from the clay iron-stones and black bands of the coal measures, still more to that from the hæmatites of Ulverstone and Furness; but for ordinary purposes and for mixing with the finer classes, it is of great value. It is, moreover, supplying the enormous demand of the present generation; and, looking to the future, there can be no question that the Middlesborough district is destined to have no rival in any part of the world.

III. ON THE HABITS AND CONDITION OF THE TWO EARLIEST KNOWN RACES OF MEN.

By W. BOYD DAWKINS, M.A. Oxon, F.G.S.

In this age of steam-engines, and electric-telegraphs, and printingpresses, surrounded by all the appliances of modern civilization, with the hum and stir of commerce in our ears, and with our eyes accustomed to the rich cultivated fields, or the densely-populated towns, we find it very hard to realize to ourselves the England or the Europe of 500 years ago, when all these things were not, and when the habits of life which these things have naturally developed, were altogether different. So difficult is it, that with all the old chronicles at hand to furnish a true picture of the life and modes of thought of those times, Lord Macaulay is the only English historian who has attempted to give them even in outline. Still further back the materials for the social history of Western Europe grow more and more scant, and anterior to the time when the Romans conquered Gaul and obtained a foothold in Germany, there are none whatever. Of the social condition of the people who dwelt in Britain, from Cæsar's landing down to the invasion of the Saxons, we know historically next to nothing; the accounts left by Tacitus and other writers recording merely the movements of the Legions, and the establishment and maintenance of the Roman Imperium, with but incidental notice of the habits and customs of the vanquished. But where History is silent, Archæology steps in and wrests from the "speechless past" evidence of the existence, and an outline of the habits of races of mankind that have disappeared. The caves and rock-shelters of Dordogne afford the first traces of the dawn of sculpture and engraving in Western Europe; the tumuli of Scandinavia, Germany, France, and Britain rival the tombs of Etruria in the knowledge they yield of their makers; the Pile-dwellings of Switzerland tell their own story, as well as the buried cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. In a review of history we realize that nations, like individuals, die, and that from time to time great migrations have destroyed the very existence of certain European peoples. In the Pre-historic times we also see that tribe drove out tribe, and race succeeded race, each bringing with it peculiar customs and habits. In both there is a gradual progress traceable in the arts and sciences, and in all that now makes life worth the living. In carrying man back into the most remote past to a point where Archæology dies away-so to speak-into Geology, we shall be compelled to acknowledge the truth of the saying of the great Pascal, that "the entire succession of men through the whole course of ages must be regarded as one man always living and incessantly learning." The very first man who lifted himself above