CELT  , a word in

common use among British and French archaeologists to describe the hatchets, adzes or chisels of chipped or shaped stone used by primitive man . The word is variously derived from the Welsh cellt, a flintstone (that being the material of which the weapons are chiefly made, though celts of basalt felstone and jade are found); from being supposed to be the implement peculiar to the Celtic peoples; or from a Low Latin word celtis, a chisel . The last derivation is more probably correct . The word has come to be somewhat loosely applied to metal as well as stone axe-heads . The general form of stone celts is that of blades approaching an oval in section, with sides more or less straight and one end broader and sharper than the other . In length they vary from about 2 to as much as 16 in . The largest and finest specimens are found in Denmark: one in an English collection being of beautiful white flint 13 in. long, 12 in. thick and 32 in. broad . Those found in Denmark are sometimes polished, but usually are left rough . Those found in north-western Europe are ground to a more or less smooth surface . That some were held in the hand and others fixed in wooden handles is clear from the presence of peculiar polished spaces produced by the friction of the wood . In the later stone adzes holes are sometimes found pierced to receive the handles . The bronze celts vary in size from an inch to a foot in length .

The earlier specimens are much like the stone ones in shape and

design, but the later manufactures show a marked improvement, the metal being usually pierced to receive the handles . It is noteworthy that the celtmakers never cast their axes with a transverse hole through which the handle might pass . Bronze celts are usually plain, but some are ornamented with ridges, dots or lines . That they were made in the countries where they are found is proved by the presence of moulds . A point worthy of mention is the position which stone celts hold in the folk-lore and superstitious beliefs of many lands . In the West of England the country folks believe the weapons fell originally from the sky as " thunderbolts," and that the water in which they are boiled is a specific for rheumatism . In the North and Scotland they are preservatives against cattle diseases . In Brittany a stone celt is thrown into a well to purify the water . In Sweden they are regarded as a protection against lightning . In Norway the belief is that, if they are genuine thunderbolts, a thread tied round them when placed on hot coals will not burn but will become moist . In Germany, Spain, Italy, the same beliefs prevail . In Japan the stones are accounted of medicinal value, while in Burma and Assam they are infallible specifics for ophthalmia .

In

Africa they are the weapons of the Thunder-God . In India and among the Greeks the hatchet appears to have had a sacred importance, derived, doubtless, from the universal superstitious awe with which these weapons of pre-historic man were regarded . See Sir J . Evans's Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain; Lord Avebury's Prehistoric Times (1865-'goo) and Origin of Civilization (187o) ; E . B . Tylor's Anthropology, and Primitive Culture, &c . For the history of polished stone axes up to the 17th century see Dr Marcel Bandouin and Lionel Bonnemere in the Bulletin de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, April-May 1905 .