ARCHEOLOGY. 375 



It is especially our duty to complete the nationul antiquities, wliich, 

 as regards Switzerland, may supply the lack of written documents. 

 When the pecuniary resources of a country do not allow of its pro- 

 curing the beautiful productions of ancient art, that country should 

 at least, to the fullest extent, avail itself of the resources which it 

 can command. Had the State consented to examine by means of the 

 dredge, or, still better, by means of the diving-bell, some of the 

 lacustrian sites, which are so numerous on our shores, there would, 

 undoubtedly, have been recovered very many objects which are 

 imbedded in the mud and slime of our lakes, and, from one or 

 more points, we should have recovered relics of the age of stone, 

 Avhich at present is represented by only a very small number of spe- 

 cimens. 



If our collections are really and considerably to be extended, re- 

 searches should also be made at points where we find burial places 

 or ruins, which hitherto have been but superficially examined; but I 

 am well aware of the difficulties which present themselves to this 

 class of researches. 



As relates to foreign antiquities, of which we already possess some 

 specimens, opportunities occasionally present themselves for pur- 

 chasing, at a moderate price, articles which, though of not the very 

 first importance, would serve to complete series. As relates to this, 

 we should offer proper inducements to our compatri.ots abroad to 

 come to our aid. 



I will suggest two other methods Avhich, beyond all doubt, 

 would contribute to the increase of our collections. The first would 

 be to open rooms for systematic exhibition, so that the intelligent 

 public should be not only interested but instructed. It is especially 

 necessary that the cabinet of antiquities, too often a mere scaled hook, 

 should be more freely thrown open, and not kept, as it is now, more 

 frequently closed than the other collections. More than once I have 

 heard, from both compatriots and learned foreigners, complaints 

 of the close of the cabinet of antiquities, even when the other de- 

 partments of the museum have been open. No doubt the difficulty 

 arises from the lack of a sufficient surveillance over all the rooms 

 when open, a point upon which great improvement is very much 

 needed. That surveillance could be maintained on open days by two 

 or three gendarmes, who might be taken either from the military 

 post or from the town sergeants, under the authority of the munici- 

 pality of Lausanne. 



Finally, if we would induce donations, we must not only exhibit 

 our treasures properly, and make them to the utmost extent 

 accessible, but we must impress upon the public the true end pro- 

 posed in forming national collections. There are various means by 

 which this object may be secured. We may insert in the public 

 journals reports both more frequent and in greater detail, or we 

 may publish a small and popularly written work on the present 

 condition and contents of the museum, which work would be greatly 

 aided and facilitated by the reports which are required from the con- 

 servators of the cantonal collections. The better and thje more 



