358 LECTURE XII. 



manufactured of it not only thread, lines, and ropes, but by 

 means, probably, of a very simple loom, various textures, as 

 well as mattings. Hemp was unknown to tbem, anotber proof 

 against the introduction of cultivated plants from the East. 

 They may have used skins, but the preparation of leather 

 seems to have been unknown, as but few badly-preserved 

 pieces are found in the pile-buildings. Boats made from 

 single large trunks prove that they navigated the rivers and 

 lakes, whilst the position of the pile -buildings on the lakes 

 shows that they were acquainted with the prevailing winds. 



That the introduction of metals, though it took place very 

 gradually, must have been productive of an essential progress 

 in civihsation is clear enough. But what has been stated con- 

 cerning the stone-period shows that we have to do with a race 

 capable of every mental efibrt — a race which effected with 

 small means all that acuteness, patience, and industry could 

 effect. The analysis of the remains of a skull of Meilen, the 

 only one found in a pile-work belonging to the stone-pei-iod, 

 confirms this view. The piece consists of the roof of the cra- 

 nium, the frontal bone, the parietal bone, the occipital squama, 

 and a fragment of the temporal bone ; the lower part of the skull 

 and face and all the facial bones are wanting. The dimensions 

 of the parts agree exactly with those of the present Swiss 

 skull of a youth j it belongs evidently to the same stock and 

 the same race. It is also remarkable that this cranial type 

 persists through all subsequent periods, though other cranial 

 types from the pre-Roman period down to the middle ages and 

 the present time coalesce with it. 



No trace of a copper age, which, according to some archae- 

 ologists, always precedes that of bronze, has hitherto been 

 found in Switzerland. The copper for Swiss bronzes has 

 undoubtedly been obtained from Alpine copper-ore, that is to 

 say, on the spot, as, according to Fellenberg^s researches, it 

 contains nickel, which always occurs in these ores, but is 

 absent in northern bronzes. Since in eastern Europe, espe- 

 cially in the Lower Danube districts, copper implements 

 abound, the bronze cannot have been imported from the East, 

 otherwise copper would also have been imported ; nor would 



