During the last few years, scientific research has revealed to mankind the presence of remains which prove beyond a doubt that, during the age known as the Stone Period, there were already colonies of partially civilised men whose dwellings were built upon piles driven into the beds of certain lakes then existing in Switzerland and other parts of Europe. The age of those lake-dwellings—“Pfahlbauten,” as they are called in Germany—is variously estimated at from three thousand to seven thousand years;[18] and with the piles upon which they were constructed, and some of which are in a good state of preservation, there have been found associated various substances which prove, as just stated, that the lake-dwellers had already attained a certain standard of civilisation. If our space permitted, and if it fell within the scope of this treatise, nothing would be more interesting than to study fully the character of those remains. All we can do here, however, is to point out some of the evidences they afford of the condition of the colonists, so as to enable the reader to judge for himself whether or not they were likely to have been acquainted with the use of intoxicating beverages. That they lived contemporaneously with the urus, the wild progenitor of our domesticated cattle, and that they waged constant war with the bear and the wolf, is proved by the remains of those animals being found in considerable quantities. They had already acquired, too, the art of cooking food, as is testified by charred bones, grain, and fruit. They tilled the ground; for amongst the numerous remains of cereals some are undoubtedly cultivated varieties.[19] They possessed domesticated animals, such as cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. Their rude dwellings, built upon piles in the lakes, to protect them from the attacks of wild animals, and from races of men more untutored than themselves, had some architectural pretensions. Their implements for domestic use, especially the pottery, were truly works of art, however primitive their manufacture, and those, along with their clothing, which was made of textile fabrics, point to a long antecedent experience in the industrial arts. But this is not all; for they knew how to utilise seeds from which oil is produced. A whole cake made from the seeds of the garden or opium poppy has been found at Robenhausen, in a lake-dwelling in the peat moor on the southern side of the Lake of Pfäffikon,[20] which had been pressed for oil, and was probably intended to be used by the inhabitants themselves, or else given to their domesticated cattle. And those ancient people, who lived in wooden houses, habited themselves in woven cloths, practised agriculture, and possessed some acquaintance with a rude kind of art, were also well acquainted with the grape, with various other descriptions of fruit, such as apples, pears, plums, and cherries, and with more than one variety of barley; for charred and dried apples and pears, stones of grapes, as