284 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



per which compose it must have been brought from a great distance, 

 and their presence singularly confirms Sir G. C. Lewis's theory of the 

 antiquity of the overland trade from Britain through Gaul, more par- 

 ticularly as ornaments of coral and amber are found in villages of the 

 same apparent age. The last of the eras indicated is that of iron. 

 Ancient tools and other articles of iron are abundant in Western 

 Switzerland, and exactly resemble those found in Gaul. 



There is a fair probability that the three ages succeeded each 

 other in the order in which they are usually placed. It is likely that 

 human skill was first exercised on stone, and more than probable 

 that the metals earliest used were copper and tin, both of which are 

 distinguished for the ease with which they are obtained, particularly 

 until the surface supply is exhausted. The difficulty arising from the 

 fact of their being found in very few localities is diminished when the 

 antiquity of the trade in them is assumed on independent grounds. 

 The uses of iron, the most widely diffused but the hardest to work of 

 the metals, might be expected to be last of all discovered by mankind. 

 The heroes of Homer, for instance, lived chiefly in the age of bronze, 

 but had hardly entered on that of iron. Whether, so far as the 

 Swiss races are concerned, the three eras succeeded each other ab- 

 ruptly, or melted gradually into one another, is a question which there 

 is little or no evidence to decide. The antiquaries of Switzerland in- 

 sist that they can trace two great revolutions. The men of bronze sud- 

 denly invaded the country and extirpated the men of flint, to be after- 

 wards in their turn extinguished by the men of iron. No doubt most 

 of the villages were violently destroyed when they ceased to be inhab- 

 ited ; but why attribute to enemies with iron weapons what may quite 

 as well have been done by foes armed with flint ? In justice, how- 

 ever, to the Swiss theory, it must be added that the men of iron ap- 

 pear from their instruments to have been a Celtic race from Gaul, and 

 from the size of their ornaments to have possessed larger and stronger 

 frames than the earlier populations. As the Helvetians of history 

 are known to have been a Celtic race, they may have been the in- 

 vaders in question, who, after extirpating an aboriginal people, may 

 have continued to occupy the country down to Roman times. 



THE ANTIQUITY OF THE "STONE," "BRONZE," AND "IRON" 



AGES OF EUROPE. 



Some attempts have recently been made by the Swiss archaeologists 

 to estimate the duration and antiquity of those periods in the history 

 of man which have been respectively designated as the " Stone," 

 " Bronze," and " Iron" ages or periods of Europe. 



The torrent of the stream Tiniere, at the point where it falls into 

 the Lake of Geneva, near the town of Virlleneuve, has gradually 

 built up a cone of gravel and alluvium. In the formation of a railway 

 this cone has been recently bisected for a length of 1,000 feet, and to a 

 depth in the central part of about 32 feet above the level of the rails. 

 The section of the cone thus obtained shows a very regular structure, 

 which proves that its formation was gradual. It is composed of the 

 same materials (sand, gravel, and larger blocks) as are even now 

 brought down by the stream. The detritus does indeed differ slightly 

 from year to year, but, in the long run, the differences compensate 



