19 MARCH 1904, Page 25

A Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age. (The

British Museum. ls.)—This is the sequel of the "Stone Age Guide," published in 1902, and, like that, an excellent piece of work. It bears no name, a fact that suggests a highly satisfactory con- clusion as to the efficiency of the Museum staff. That a book of this kind should be produced in the course of the day's work, as it may be said, means much. To the average observer metal- work is a much more satisfactory object than the stone-work which went before it. Palaeoliths, and still more eoliths, often require a certain amount of imagination, not to say faith, when we regard them as human handiwork ; the rudest shaping of metal speaks for itself. We cannot go into any detail in noticing this book ; but we may say that it covers a wide range. It is, of course, strictly concerned with objects found in the British Isles; but it takes in finds 'made in other regions. The questions that are suggested are sometimes obscure. Bronze proper, as distinguished from what is really brass, occurs in places where it is difficult to account for the presence of tin. We know now of tin existing over a fairly extended range, but the ancients did not. The volume is copiously illustrated, and a very good value for the price, not only as a guide-book, but for the information which it conveys.