, 1876-06-17
prenIs,nric SErYlyaIS.

British antlquary, has been deilVerln9
in Elinbnrrh course of lectures on
the question. " Do we possess the
means Of determining scientifically
( the age OF the earth 2" In them he has
described some archaic customs with
wEicn be had come in contact ii the
remoyer districts Of Scotland. In Fet-
lar, for instance, his ii"ding a boy
carving whorl' ont of soapsioRe
led 20 the discovery that the primitive
mode Of spinning by a spindle weigh
ei with a stone whorl was still the
oulg method in use in the island, al
though in certain parts Of The mains
lard Of Shetland, and quite within
hail Of Fetlar, there remained no
knowledge among the people either
of the existence or use Of the spindle
or wh0rl. At Daviot, in Inverness.
shire, he found a woman spinning
WITH spindle weighted with po'atoe
instead of a whorl. This most prlmi
tive form of the earliest of the indus
trial arts was thus at this day holding
is ground among 4 people who had
been spinning for generations by
means Of the most complex machinery.
The art in its ruiest state existed
side by .ide with the same art in iIs
greatest perfection, AMI both were
prac,iced by people the same IN
capacity and, from some points of
view, the same in culture. On the
other hand, there were districts where
the use of the whorl had become eX
:inct for a generation or two, and in
these districts, though only thls short
period had elapsed since it was the
commonest Of all common impIe~
ments in their households, the people
now regard stone whOrlS with super
slitious yeneration, and had not the
remoleSt idea Of their true character
and use. It did not require more
than a century for this.
DR.. Mitchell was led to the knowI-
edge Of the existence in the Lewis Of
another Of the primitive arts in lis
primitive form 10y inlius stone
breaker sitting in ditch on the road
side eating his dinner ont of what
seemed a seyuIcEraI urn. Ga closer
inspection the vessel proved to be
specimen Of the hand made pottery
which was found 20 be in general use
on the west coast of the island. Il
was made by women from clay with
out any special preparation, shaped
entirely 10y the hand, burned in an
open peat fire, and It's roro>ijy was
corrected by a bowlful Of milk being
parred over it when sliIi red-hot
Neither The ruaest pottery OF the Stone
Age nor Of modern savage life was
rider than this. Yet the hnuse in
which the woman lived whose pots
terry ware he saw manufactured.
though built with unquarried and un
cemented. stones, contained cotton
from Manchester, cutlery from Shef
Gell, pottery from S,atord>hiTc, tea
from China, and sugar from the y est
Indies. She was sArewd and intelli-
gent, we,I-yCr,ei in ccc!e-ias.icai and
poor law questions. Yet a digging
on the site Of her hut some cenru-ies
after would show To'hiug Of ali this,
except The pottery OF Der own rude
manufacture, and a few fragments q
the Statfuri>hire ware, which mighI
be accounted for by an early and late
occupation OF the hat by Successive
peoples at long Intervals and in differ
ent ages Of civilization. The infer
euceS he deduCed from these and 9th
er facts of a similar nature which he
had observed were: ~ That the
very rudeSt known form OF an art may
co exist in a nation wiih the highest
(2) that it would he wrong to con-
clude from this that she nation must
be composed partly Of savageS and
partly of civilized people; and (3l
that persons capable Of receiving the
highest culture might practice an ar;
which belonged to the most paieoIilh
iC men.