Editing Three-age system (section)

=== The usages of Mahudel and de Jussieu ===
On 12 November 1734, [[Nicholas Mahudel]], physician, [[antiquarian]] and numismatist, read a paper at a public sitting of the [[Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres|Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres]] in which he defined three "usages" of stone, bronze and iron in a chronological sequence. He had presented the paper several times that year but it was rejected until the November revision was finally accepted and published by the academy in 1740. It was entitled {{lang|fr|Les Monumens les plus anciens de l'industrie des hommes, et des Arts reconnus dans les Pierres de Foudres}}''.''<ref>{{harvnb|Hamy|1906|pp=249–251}}</ref> It expanded the concepts of [[Antoine de Jussieu]], who had gotten a paper accepted in 1723 entitled {{lang|fr|De l'Origine et des usages de la Pierre de Foudre}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Hamy|1906|p=246}}</ref> In Mahudel, there is not just one usage for stone, but two more, one each for bronze and iron.

He begins his treatise with descriptions and classifications of the ''{{lang|fr|Pierres de Tonnerre et de Foudre}}'', the ceraunia of contemporaneous European interest. After cautioning the audience that natural and man-made objects are often easily confused, he asserts that the specific ''figures'' or "formes that can be distinguished" (''{{lang|fr|formes qui les font distingues}}'') of the stones were man-made, not natural:<ref>{{harvnb|Hamy|1906|p=252}}</ref>
<blockquote>It was Man's hand that made them serve as instruments (''{{lang|fr|C'est la main des hommes qui les leur a données pour servir d'instrumens...}}'')</blockquote>

Their cause, he asserts, is "the industry of our forefathers" (''{{lang|fr|l'industrie de nos premiers pères}}''). He adds later that bronze and iron implements imitate the uses of the stone ones, suggesting a replacement of stone with metals. Mahudel is careful not to take credit for the idea of a succession of usages in time but states: "it is Michel Mercatus, physician of Clement VIII who first had this idea".<ref>{{harvnb|Hamy|1906|p=259}}: "c'est a Michel Mercatus, Médecin de Clément VIII, que la première idée est duë..."</ref> He does not coin a term for ages, but speaks only of the times of usages. His use of ''{{lang|fr|l'industrie}}'' foreshadows the 20th century "industries", but where the moderns mean specific tool traditions, Mahudel meant only the art of working stone and metal in general.