34 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[March, 1S90. 
p:kTRAORDINARY HAILSTONES. 
On the 9th of June, 1867, there was a fall 
of hail at Bjeloi-Kliutsch, a village lying to 
the southwest of TiHis, in which the hail- 
stones occurred in the remarkable crystalline 
forms shown in their natural size in the 
engraving, (first published in the London 
Nature.) The drawings were made by 
a Russian professor residing at Tiflis, but, 
for some reason, have only recently attracted 
the attention they deserve. They consist of a 
central nucleus, sinrounded by large nce- 
crystals somewhat resembling those of (^lartz, 
and, like that mineral, belonging to the hex- 
agonal or rhombohedral system of crystalliza- 
tion. It has been suspected tiiilt water is 
dimorphic, and sometimes crystallizes in the 
trimetric system, but the supposition has not 
as yet been confirmed. 
The most remarkable point in connection 
with the hailstones, is the fact that, judging 
from our present knowledge, a very long 
time must have been 
iii 
occupied in their 
formation. As a 
general rule, the 
larger and more 
pei-fect a crystal, 
the more slowly it 
must be formed ; 
and we cannot un- 
derstand how so 
heavy a body as a 
hailstone can be 
supported in the air 
long enough for the 
crystallization to 
take place so per- 
fectly. We must 
admit either that 
these stones were 
formed under the 
influence of natural 
[Original in Popular Science New$.] 
.THE PROTO-IIELVETES, OR LAKE- 
DWELLERS OF SWITZERLAND. 
BY ADA M. TROTTER. 
PART II. 
THE BRONZE AGE. 
In the Bronze Age we have no longer to deal with 
villages, whose people depended on the products of 
the lake or woods for a living. On the contrary, 
we find flouri.shing cities and organized towns, where 
a certain degree of luxury obtains, characterizing 
a civilized community. The palafittes were no 
longer modest huts, but good wooden cabins, large 
and firmly constructed, judging from the quality 
and quantity of beams found among the piles. 
They were spacious enough to find lodging place 
for the domestic animals, as is proved Ijji the 
remains of oxen, pigs, goats, and dogs gathered 
from this archieological bed. 
Round the palafittes a large esplanade must have 
extended, iipon which certain kinds of work could 
be done which could not easily be executed in the 
dwellings. It is evident that all the work was done 
practice of building on the water continued into the 
beginning of the Iron Age. The number of sta- 
tions, however, diminished. Proof is given in the 
Lake of Bienne of thirteen villages of the age of 
Stone to two of Bronze. The same comparison 
exists is the lakes of Moral and Neufchatel. But 
the stations of the age of Bronze, if less numerous, 
are far more extensive than those of the Stone 
periods. They are constructed farther from the 
bank, — two or three hundred yards, instead of one 
to two hundred, — and occupy a large area. The 
piles are larger, better preserved, higher above the 
level of the soil, and cut into form— often square. 
Between these piles is a treasure trove of pottery, 
fine vases having been found entire. 
The discovery of the first bit for a horse, at 
Moerigen in 1872, was a great event in the archaeo- 
logical world. At first its authenticity was doubted, 
but when the same station produced a bit made in 
one piece, — a true chef d'ceuvre of metallurgy, — 
further incredulity was impossible. At Cortaillod, 
in 1862, a very large bronze wheel was found. 
Archivologists looked upon it as a symbolical 
on the lake, as in the Stone Age, indubitable proof, object, considering it unlikely that a people dwell- 
of this being found in the debris of workshops, 
where, besides tlie moulds and the tools used for 
ing on lakes would have use for chariots. How- 
ever, as the Bronze stations were further developed, 
_ the richest beds fur- 
nished skeletons of en- 
tire horses and more 
than twenty bits. The 
museum of Lausanne 
has one of these bits 
— a particularly fine 
specimen — among its 
treasures. 
The moulds in which 
the various bronze ob- 
jects were made are 
almost as interesting 
as the objects them- 
selves. The m.njority 
are made of gray mo- 
lasses stone. They are 
double, and have the 
pattern traced on each 
part. Some are found 
in cl.iy, and a few of 
bronze. The swords 
and knives of bronze 
are not onlv elegant 
forces or conditions still imknown to us, manufacturing the arms, etc., broken objects are 
or that, in certain circumstances, aqueous i °"^" '°""'' "^^'"^ '"''''= ''^^" brought to the spot to 
, ,. ,.^ ? . ' be mended. Only, in order to diminish the risks of 
Tapor or water mav be solidified into ! ^ j • .. .• c i.- • 1 
' " [ nre durmg the operation of smelting, an especial 
large crystals, with the rapidity which •■ pjace outside the palafittes was reserved for this 
we should naturally expect to occur in ! work. At Moerigen and at Auvernier Dr. Gross 
in shape, but are covered with graceful designs, all 
of which, however, are more or less geometric, for 
the Lacustres do not seem to have taken any ideas 
/rom the kingdom of Nature nor from the animal 
kingdom. 
It is certain that they knew steel, since some of the 
the sudden condensation of moisture in the found all the apparatus of workshops in a space of I arms are made of this metal, and they made use of 
upper air. The genesis of hail is still an ! " ''^^^ square metres. ! it in engraving patterns on the hammered jewelry. 
. ,„„i„„j ™„t 1 „• 1 ui 1 The discovery of the workshop foundries of the ' Lead, almost unknown hitherto in a pure state, has 
unsolved meteorological problem, and pre- , . •' ,, ^ . ,,.,(, »- , . » . .u r r t 
. ° ^ ' Lacustres is recent. Until this time it was believed ! been found at Auvergne, m the form of a granulous 
gents so many difficulties that one scientist ^^^^ j,,^ ^1^^^^^ „l,j^^j^ i„ ^^^^^^ ^^.^^^ imported; | mass weighing 1,700 grammes; while a large mass 
was driven to the theory that hailstones were but gradually, as the archaiolbgists pursued their of tin, suspended by a ring of bronze, and weighing 
of interplanetary origin, like meteors. This | researches, Moerigen and Auvernier, then Esta- 1,800 grammes (about four pounds), was discovered 
remarkable hypothesis, however, only brings vayer, Cortaillod, and Carcelettes, one after another, at the same spot. Hence it is proved that metals— 
up the still greater problem as to how repealed the presence of the foundries on the pala- 
fittes. The moulds for the objects we see in the 
museums, of pins, bracelets, hammers, rings, 
pendants, lances, and knives, are found in these 
workshops; also the tools used for hammering the 
the hailstones could enter and pass 
through the atmosphere without being 
instantly dissipated in vapor by the heat 
evolved, as shown by the extreme tempera- ^ metal. The stations of the age of Bronze, unlike 
ture to which the meteors themselves are 'hose of Stone, all existed at the same time. Ham- 
raised in the passage. The actual cause '"^""« '"'"'' ^'"elting of metal belong to the same 
, ^t 1 c .\ r ,■ .- 1 -1 ' period, some objects being found which unite the 
and method ot the formation of hailstones!' ^, , r" 1 \.- 
I two methods of, workmanship. 
must be left for future students of mctcor-l with the introduction of bronze, palafittes ceased j the sun;" they are made of a hollow bowl of bronze 
ology to discover, _ I to exist in the eastern lakes; but in the west, the 'or '^'a.v. <" .which are bits of metal or stone, the 
copper and tin especially— were imported by the 
Lacustres, and used by them for the manufacture 
of their bronze objects. 
Among the curious articles that this period fur- 
nishes are tubes of bronze, which remained an 
enigma to the savants until the discoveries on the 
Tene — the great station of the Iron Age — proved 
these tubes to be needle-cases, some being found 
there enclosing the needles. The rattles for babies, 
too, remind us that "there is nothing new under 
