vi TIIE ARYAN QUESTION. 309 



for various parts of Europe and made it probable 

 for others, that though the old order of succes- 

 sion is correct it is incomplete, and that a copper 

 stage must be interpolated between the neolithic 

 and the bronze stages. Bronze is an artificial pro- 

 duct the formation of which implies a knowledge 

 of copper; and it is certain that copper was, at a 

 very early period, smelted out of the native ores, 

 by the people of central Europe who used it. 

 When they learned that the hardness and tough- 

 ness of their metal were immensely improved by 

 alloying it with a small quantity of tin, they for- 

 sook copper for bronze, and gradually attained a 

 wonderful skill in bronze-work. Finally, some of 

 the European people became acquainted with iron, 

 and its superior qualities drove out bronze, as 

 bronze had driven out stone, from use in the manu- 

 facture of implements and weapons of the best 

 class. But the process of substitution of copper 

 and bronze for stone was gradual, and, for common 

 purposes, stone remained in use long after the in- 

 troduction of metals. 



The pile-dwellings of Switzerland have yielded 

 an unbroken archaeological record of these changes. 

 Those of eastern Switzerland ceased to exist soon 

 after the appearance of metals, but in those of the 

 Lakes of Neuchatel and Bienne the history is con- 

 tinued through the stage of bronze to the begin- 

 ning of that of iron. And in all this long series of 

 remains, which lay bare the minutest details of 



