AECHiEOLOGY. 377 



of relics which it had previously afforded. There was j'et another 

 consideration to recommend it had any such been required. The 

 fabrication of counterfeits invited by the great prices obtained by the 

 railway laborers for the antiquities which they found at Concise, had 

 caused much doubt alike as to the authenticity of many articles, and 

 even as to the scientific value of the discovery. Those counterfeits, 

 distributed in great numbers, are the more to be regretted, because 

 the lacustrian site of Concise presents specimens of a peculiar indus- 

 try, among which working tools of wood and stags' horn occupy an 

 important place. In spite, however, of the existence of these nu- 

 merous counterfeits, it is possible to distinguish the authentic types; 

 but this being a business of appreciation it is not to be wondered at 

 that opinions differed very much in regard to it. It was important 

 therefore to undertake new researches at Concise and to adopt all 

 possible precautions against counterfeits, so as to restore this locality 

 to the place that it deserves to hold in the history of the discovery 

 of lacustrian antiquities. 



One of the best means for working with but limited resources, in 

 sites covered Avith water, is the employment of the dredge or drag, 

 which I have already described in my report to the commission of 

 the museums of the 27th of December, 1858, of which subsequent 

 experience has established the utility. Professor Gay, vice-presi- 

 dent of your commission, and M. Bridel, engineer at Yverdon, have 

 had an armed drag constructed which perfectly answers our purpose. 

 The directors of the West Switzerland Railway Company on their 

 part ver}^ kindly placed at our disposal a raft and the other things 

 needful for our enterprise. Three laborers were sufficient to work 

 our drag, which they did under the inspection of a person charged 

 with that duty, and enjoined to place the produce of every haul into 

 a chest furnished with a padlock. Two theological students in suc- 

 cession exercised this surveillance of the laborers, M. Alexis de Loes 

 and M. Auguste Buttin, both of whom deserve our .thanks for the 

 conscientious manner in which they performed their fatiguing task. 

 M. de Loes. having during the first fortnight superintended the works 

 with much zeal, was, at the end of that time, succeeded by M. But- 

 tin, who, with like zeal, superintended during the next fortnight. I, 

 also, went several times to Concise to inspect the works and to make 

 various observations. The dredging continued from the 23d of Sep- 

 tember to the 19th of October, but bad weather limited the actual 

 Avorking time to nineteen days. The care and precautions bestowed 

 upon these researches left no room for the slightest doubt as to the 

 authenticity of the articles obtained from the dredge. 



The lacustrian deposit of Concise, notwithstanding the considera- 

 ble amount of detritus removed by the steam dredge in 1859, is still 

 very far from being exhausted. It forms a submerged hill or mound of 

 four hundred and sixty feet in length by two hundred and fifty feet in 

 breadth, its greatest diameter being almost parallel to the railway. 

 The bed of materials accumulated above the primitive bottom of the 

 lake is about four feet, consisting of mud, sand, gravel, and stones, 

 varying in diameter from a few inches to one or two feet, and con- 



