No conclusion is attempted as to the time or place of origin , or the primitive meaning of the Swastika, because these are considered to be lost in antiquity. The straight line, the circle, the cross, the triangle, are simple forms, easily made, and might have been invented and re-invented in every age of primitive man and in every quarter of the globe, each time being an independent invention, meaning much or little , meaning different things among different peoples or at different times among the same people ; or they may have had no settled or definite meaning. But the Swastika was probably the first to be made with a definite intention and a continuous or consecutive meaning, the knowledge of which passed from person to person , from tribe to tribe, from people to people , and from nation to nation, until, with possibly changed meanings, it has finally circled the globe.
The simple cross made with two sticks or marks belongs to prehistoric times. Its first appearance among men is lost in antiquity. Onemay theorize as to its origin , but there is no historical identification of it either in epoch or by country or people . The sign is itself so simple that it might have originated among any people, however primitive, and in any age , however remote . The meaning given to the earliest cross isequally unknown. Everything concerning its beginning is in the realm of speculation . But a differentiation grew up in early times among nations by which certain forms of the cross have been known under cer tain names and with specific significations. Some of these, such as the Maltese cross, are historic and can be well identified .The principal forms of the cross, known as symbols or ornaments, can be reduced to a few classes, though when combined with heraldry its use extends to 385 varieties." It is not the purpose of this paper to give a history of the cross, but the principal forms are shown by way of introduction to a study of the Swastika
Of the many forms of the cross, the Swastika is the most ancient. Despite the theories and speculations of students, its origin is unknown. It began before history , and is properly classed as prehistoric. Its description is as follows: The bars of the normal Swastika ( frontispiece and fig . 9 ) are straight, of equal thickness throughout, and cross each other at right angles, making four arms of equal size, length , and style. Their peculiarity is that all the ends are bent at right angles and in the same direction , right or left. Prof. Max Müller makes the symbol different according as the arms are bent to the right or to the left . That bent to the right he denominates the true Swastika, that bent to the left he calls Suavastika ( fig . 10 ), but he gives no authority for the statement, and the author has been unable to find , except in Burnouf, any justification for a difference of names. Professor Goodyear gives the title of “ Meander ” to that form of Swastika which bends two or more times ( fig . 11). The Swastika is sometimes represented with dots or points in the corners of the intersections ( fig . 12a ), and occasionally the same when without bent ends ( fig . 126), to which Zmigrodzki gives the name of Croix Suasticale. Some Swastikas have three dots placed equidistant around each of the four ends ( fig . 12c).
https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_Swastika/ZSMVAAAAYAAJ
The author brings up a good point here.