CHAP. II. DATE OF BRONZE AND STONE PERIODS. 27 



So far, therefore, as we can draw safe conclusions from a 

 single specimen, there has been no marked change of race 

 in the human population of Switzerland during the periods 

 above considered. 



It is still a question whether any of these subaqueous 

 repositories of ancient relics in Switzerland go back so far 

 in time as the shell-mounds of Denmark, for in these last 

 there are no domesticated animals except the dog, and no 

 signs of the cultivation of wheat or barley; whereas we have 

 seen that, in one of the oldest of the Swiss settlements, at 

 Wangen, no less than three cereals make their appearance, 

 with four kinds of domestic animals. Yet there is no small 

 risk of error in speculating on the relative claims to an- 

 tiquity of such ancient tribes, for some of them may have 

 remained isolated for ages and stationary in their habits, 

 while others advanced and improved. 



We know that nations, both before and after the intro- 

 duction of metals, may continue in veiy diffei'ent stages of 

 civilization, even after commercial intercourse has been es- 

 tablished between them, and where they are separated by 

 a less distance than that which divides the Alps from the 

 Baltic. 



The attempts of the Swiss geologists and archaeologists to es- 

 timate definitely in years the antiquity of the bronze and stono 

 periods, although as yet confessedly imperfect, deserve notice, 

 and appear to me to be full of promise. The most elaborate 

 calculation is that made by M. Morlot, respecting the delta 

 of the Tiniere, a torrent which flows into the Lake of Geneva 

 near Villeneuve. This small delta, to which the stream is 

 annually making additions, is composed of gravel and sand. 

 Its shape is that of a flattened cone, and its internal structure 

 has of late been laid open to view in a railway-cutting one 

 thousand feet long and thirty-two feet deep. The regularity 

 of its structure throughout implies that it has been formed 



