OP THE LAKE OF NEUCHATEL. 409 



metala "woiild be gradually introduced, witiiout there being need of having 

 recourse to violent invasion. A little more time would have been required for 

 this knowledge to penetrate into eastern Switzerland and Germany, but it 

 would arrive there nevertheless, as certain objects of bronze found at MeUen 

 and those of the lakes of Bavaria attest. Thanks to the more energetic means 

 of defence afforded by the new arms, a residence on the water would be no 

 longer so indispensable. The population would by degrees become established 

 on terra firma, while preserving the lacustrian constructions only for magazines 

 or places of assemblage. 



On this hypothesis, the passage from the epoch of stone to that of bronze 

 would be effected without overthrow or violence. It would be the expression 

 of a slow and gradual progress, such as humanity is naturally inclined to realize 

 when untoward circumstances do not intervene. This view is strongly coiTobo 

 rated by the new discoveries made in Italy, where we find the two ages inti- 

 mately associated, especially in the sepultures of the Milanese. We may also 

 invoke in its favor the similarity of form of certain customary objects, notwith- 

 standing the fundamental difference of material. Thus the arrows of the age 

 of bronze have remained the same with those of the age of stone ; the large- 

 headed pins of the former age are evidently an imitation of those of the latter ; 

 the pottery has not changed, any more than the manner of preserving fruits 

 and provisions ; finally, the lacustrian constructions have continued, although 

 with some modifications, as above shown. It would result, then, that it was 

 the same people who inhabited our soil during the ages of stone and of bronze, 

 and UD to -the time of the invasion by the Helvetians. 



