BOOKS.
is increasing by leaps and bounds. When we contrast our present historical knowledge with that of, say, fifty years ago, we are struck with the mighty difference. We can speak now with a fulness and a precision and an assurance of knowledge of which the men of a former generation had no conception. The history of the past was to them measured by the scanty fragments of Greek, Roman, and Hebrew literature which had escaped the ravages of time. Where there was no written record, there was absolute darkness. The literature of Egypt lay locked in a lan- guage of which the key bad not been found, the voluminous records of Assyria were buried under the rubbish of two thousand years, and the sacred books of India were still unknown to the scholars of Europe. It is scarcely possible for us to conceive, so rapid has been the advance of science, the narrow circle of his- torical knowledge within which our forefathers were confined. But written records are only a small part of the traces of human life in the past history of the earth. For while writing implies that some progress in civilisation has been made, and some control over the means needful for existence has been won, the mere existence of the human race on the earth necessitates a certain amount of art and contrivance, traces of which must inevitably survive. For men must have food, and must have weapons and tools, in order to procure food and shelter. When food and shelter are provided, then will come the desire for ornament. The daily struggle for daily bread, and the ways by which this was gained, and the gradual advance until art, science, civilisation were reached,--to understand how this was and is being accom- plished, is one of the tasks set to science to-day.
The endeavour to work out this problem has given a new method to science, and added a new department to our literature. In their persistent search after facts, men of science have long since passed beyond the narrow bounds of written records, and have collected a vast amount of relevant fact. From the bottoms of lakes, from underneath the surface-soil, which has kindly pre- served so many priceless specimens of the work of human bands, and from caves, tombs, forts, there have been gathered many facts which now await the shaping hand of science to sift and to mould them into a harmonious whole. As yet, true theory lags far behind, and the vast accumulation of fact remains, for the most part, simply an accumulation. Nor is this a matter of wonder or regret. For nothing is more disastrous to the progress of true science than a partial, or one-sided, or inadequate explanation of the facts. Tentative explanations very readily grow absolute, and exercise a deadly power of fascination over the mind which formed them. And more than anywhere else, in science is the tale of Frankenstein true. It is more needful to be wary and cautious in the formation of theories, when we pass beyond the
• The Lake Dwellings of Switzerland, and other Parts of &trope. By Ferdinand lieller. Tranelated and Arranged by John Edward Lee, F.S.A. 2 vole. London: Loogmana and Co. 1874.
bounds of strict historic time. When we deal with such a subject as that in the book under review, we must not expect to be able to speak of time with the precision attained in written records. We are in a larger tract altogether, where the history of man unites and is blended with the geologic history of the earth, and we cannot use the language of years, centuries, or of dynasties and empires, but only the vaguer speech of the geologic period.
In all respects, however, we have nothing but praise to give to the admirable volumes of Dr. Keller. The work is admirable alike in what it does, and in what it refrains from doing. The service done by Mr. Lee, in the clear and able translation of a book so full and ample, is very great. It has clearly been a labour of love. He has conferred a boon on all archwological students in this country, which we are sure they will gladly acknowledge. For this second edition is, to all intents and purposes, a new work. Since the publication of the first edition, now nearly a dozen years ago, many new discoveries have been made, and Dr. Keller has made many new contributions to the literature of the subject. These Mr. Lee has translated, and incorporated into the work. We have thus a complete account of all the facts relating to the Lake dwellings of Switzerland and other parts of Europe. Mr. Lee has also added translations of papers by French, German, and Italian writers, together with notices by competent writers on Irish, Scotch, and Welsh crannoges, and on lake dwellings in Asia Minor and elsewhere. A complete and exhaustive index adds much to the value of the work. As we turn the pages of the second volume, which is composed altogether of illustrations, we seem to be passing through a well-ordered museum, in which all the objects are carefully described, numbered, and catalogued, and a full and particular account given of the place where each was found, of the other objects found with them, and the probable nature, history, and use of every one of them.
What these volumes profess to do, then, is to make known the results of a series of discoveries regarding the families, or per- haps tribes, who dwelt in huts built not on dry land, but on a series of piles, in the shallows near the shores of the Swiss Lakes. And this work it does very thoroughly. With the help of wood- cuts, a general description is given of the form and structure of these dwellings, of the material of which the superstructure was made, and of the probable conditions under which the inhabitants lived. We have, next, a wise and guarded statement regarding the division of prehistoric time known as the ages of atone, bronze, and iron. The value and general scientific truth of the division is admitted, but there is a much-needed caution given,—that we ought to be careful lest in determining isolated cases the general rule should lead us to false conclusions and errors. For these ages overlap each other,—one people may be using implements and weapons of iron, another may be in the very first stages of the stone age, and another may be in the midst of the bronze period. The method taken in the present volumes is "first to describe the settlements more known and more typical of the stone, the bronze, and the iron ages, and then to give a geo- graphical list of the whole of the lake dwellings hitherto dis- covered, including those of which all that we know is their existence." The description and the geographical list extend over more than six hundred closely printed pages, and it is evident that we cannot enter with any fullness into a detailed criticism. We do, however, say that on the part of author, translator, and publishers, it is faithful work, accurately and thoroughly done. And the careful reader will find himself on the high level of the latest information on the whole subject.
One great advantage is that the facts are given, and the reader is left to draw his own inferences and to frame his own theory. And the facts have a great deal to do with many current scientific views. Darwin and Huxley will have to examine them, because they really have a most important bearing on evolution. Sir John Lubbock, Mr. Tylor, and others will find facts which may help to modify some of their views on prehistoric man, and unsettled questions in geology will receive varied illustration from these important volumes. One thing is abundantly clear, that the tribes who built and inhabited these lake dwellings were not the rude savages they are sometimes said to be. The earliest settlers appear to have been not only fishermen and hunters, they were also shepherds and agriculturists. No doubt the idea of such buildings arose out of the necessity of securing the lives and pro- perties of the people from the attacks of enemies. But advancing civilisation has not made such necessity superfluous. Within historic time, men have been led to settle on inaccessible heights, and in other places to surround themselves with stone walls ; and the huge standing armies of the present time reveal to us the pad fact that universal brotherhood and the reign of law, unaided by
force, is an ideal of the distant future. The fact, then, that these lake dwellings were strongholds, which could with ease be defended against an enemy, in itself proves nothing against the comparative civilisation of the lake-dwellers. The large numbers of skeletons of fish, and specially the skulls of very large pike, which have been found buried among the piles, prove that they were expert and skilful fishermen ; the bones, which lie about in the lake dwellings in astonishing numbers, of stags, roes, wild boars, beavers, otters, squirrels, and other animals, are an evidence of the abundance of game, and of the ability of the settlers to bring down even the higher description of wild animals. They, however, did not de- pend on the precarious and uncertain produce of hunting and of fishing. Many of the animals which are still the companions of man, such as cows, sheep, goats, and pigs, had already been domesticated by them ; and the keeping of cattle necessitates an amount of forethought and of provident care for the future which raises those who are capable of it above the level of the savage. Where we see so many manifest signs of foresight, it is evident that the lake dwellers were far removed from the condition of those who depend on the uncertain results of the chase. A great variety of seeds and plants were also cultivated, for their own use and for the use of their cattle. They possessed and cultivated flax of excellent quality, and the state of the industrial arts among them showed considerable proficiency and skill, and proves that even their society was so advanced and settled as to demand a division of labour and fixed lines of occupation. They were in the habit of housing their cattle and swine in the, winter-time, of laying up stores of acorns, beech-nuts, and fodder for their use.
There is no sign of change by natural evolution since the time when the inhabitants of the lake dwellings pursued their varied occupations, in their huts in the Lakes of Switzerland. What evolution there has been has been effected by the influence, not of natural selection, but of selection by man. The seeds of the plants under cultivation have been improved by man, but the wild plants at the present day grow in the same forms as they did three or four thousand years ago, and do not exhibit the slightest change. The skeletons of fish and the remains of wild beasts and birds are such as are to be met with in the same countries to-day. And for the period which has elapsed since the time when the lake dwellings flourished, natural selection seems to have been in abeyance. Virchow has declared that as regards man himself, the skulls of the lake dwellers might pass muster with the average skulls of the present generation. A question full of interest to science is, who were these ancient peoples ? Of what race were they ? Were they one people through the suc- cessive ages, of stone, bronze, and of iron, or was each age heralded by a new invasion ? The evidence goes to prove that it was one race who successively advanced from one stage of civilisation to another, who, when by accident their houses were burnt down, again rebuilt them on a higher level. Were they Celtic, or were they of the non-Aryan race, said to be repre- sented by the small, dark Basques, the swarthy Iberian ? Other questions also arise which cannot yet receive a positive answer. By what means were the weapons and implements of bronze sub- stituted for those of stone, and how did iron supersede bronze ? Did the superior implements supersede the inferior by the slow results of trade, or were they discovered by the lake dwellers themselves ? Our readers will find light cast on these and other related questions in the pages of the volumes before us. We take leave of them with hearty thanks for the information and the stimulus they have given us, and for the sober, wise, and cautious manner in which they convey a severe and accurate. account of the facts and discoveries made regarding the Lake dwellings. Would that all scientific books were as accurate and trustworthy.
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