ll of
excellent specimens both of true spear-heads and the copies "made to
meet the demand," and I may fairly say that the ordinary observer would
be utterly incapable of distinguishing the slightest difference between
the two.

The genus "cutting instrument," then, has for its archetype the sharp
flint, which was fashioned by dint of hard labour in the very early days
of man's existence on the face of the earth.

When metals were discovered and their malleability had been tested by
the application of fire, not only spear and javelin-heads were formed
from the new material, but short swords, consisting entirely of metal,
were first constructed; and this departure marked a new era in the
civilization of the world, termed by geologists and antiquarians the
Bronze Age.

In a very short treatise on a cut-and-thrust weapon like the
broad-sword, it would be out of place to enter into any speculations as
to the probable dates at which the stone, the bronze, and the iron ages
commenced their respective epochs. It seems sufficient to give the
_order_ and to mention a few of the early weapons with which we are
acquainted, either through actually finding them, or by seeing
representations of them on early works of art, such as alto-relievos or
frescoes.

One of the earliest forms of sword was the leaf-shaped blade of the
early Greeks. It properly belongs to the Bronze Age, as it is found
amongst the human remains of that period. It was a short, heavy-bladed
weapon, with sharp point and double edge, used, it appears from ancient
monuments, for cutting purposes.

[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Early Greek sword.]

No doubt the weight of the blade, increased by the heavy deep ridge
running almost from point to hilt, made it very serviceable for cutting,
but it seems more than probable that the point was also used, and that
the idea of the edge was handed down to us because the ancient sculptor
or delineator, in his battle-piece representations, placed the swordsman
in the most spirited positions he could think of. A figure in the act of
delivering a slashing cut, say cut 1 or cut 2, looks much more
aggressive and eager for the fray than a similar figure about to give
the point.

I only advance this as a suggestion, for it seems hard to believe that
people who must have been well acquainted with the use of the point at
the end of a pole or staff--as in the case of the spear, which was the
very earliest form of thrusting weapon