360 LECTUEE XII. 



Those discovered by Gastaldi and Strobel testify that also in 

 the ancient district of civilisation there existed in pre-historical 

 times a stone and a bronze period, of which the oldest Italian 

 authors and the Romans had not the least idea. My friend 

 Desor justly observes, that garrulous Pliny, who had a villa on 

 the Lake of Como in the immediate vicinity of such pile- 

 works, would certainly have noticed them had any tradition 

 respecting them existed among the people. But every trace of 

 such a tradition had already disappeared when the Etruscan 

 pre-Roman civihsation unfolded its blossoms in Italy. I regret 

 that I cannot enter into further particulars with regard to 

 Italian researches, which have fui'uished us with relics and 

 skulls from the stone and bronze periods, and well deserve an 

 attentive study. 



Attempts have been made to determine the period in which 

 the pile-works of the stone period have been erected ; but, as 

 we have already observed, it is impossible to find in tradition 

 and legend any starting points leading to historical dates. It 

 is, therefore, only feasible to proceed as in geology, namely, 

 by taking into account the relative position of the strata. 

 Whilst in historical chronology years, months, and days are to 

 be determined, geological chronology lays no claim to such 

 exactness, as it embraces periods of time in which 'such dates 

 are mere vanishing points. Still, attempts of this kind deserve 

 acknowledgment, though they repose upon a fluctuating basis, 

 and yield results which cannot be determined exactly within 

 thousands of years. 



Morlot was the first who made such an attempt. In the 

 vicinity of Yilleneuve, on the lake of Geneva, the mound 

 formed by a torrent, la Tiniere, was opened in a railway cut- 

 ting one thousand feet in length and thirty-two and a half feet 

 deep. The internal structure was thus laid bare, and appeared 

 perfectly regular. In the centre lie lai'ge rolled blocks, some 

 as much as three feet in diameter ; on both sides the alluvial 

 material becomes thinner and finer. Three layers of vegetable 

 soil were cut through at different depths, which must at one 

 time have formed the surface of the cone ; they were inter- 

 posed at regular intervals, between the alluvium, pai'aUel to 

 each other and the present surface of the cone. 



