The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-09-19

The Rev. Charles Kingsley on the
~. Origin Of Man.
The Rev. Canon Kingsley presided on
August 10, at the inaugural meeting Of
the Deyonshire Association Tor the Ad-
vanCement of Science. In the course Of
his address The President said;
~ fully accept the immense antiquity
OF the human race. l even accept as
possible the guess OF certain very dis.
iinguished scientific friend OF mine, that
before all ia done We may stumble
vet on the remains Of SiluriRn man.
But say, the older man is proved to be,
the more likely he is to have changed
meanwhile. As for the EsquimAux like
savages, whose implements OF flint or
bone arc found in caves and river graves,
they may have been the earliest human
race which appeared, or reappe,ared, N
Europe, when it recovered from the great
catastrophe OF the glacial epoch lhat
Il seems TO me, Is all that we can say OF
them, As Tor their being the original
ivpe of man, as for our being able 10 ar
one from their habits what were the hab'
fts on our remOtest ancestors, that must
DENY, US utterly rs deny it Of any and
every savage now existing.
"In the first place, man, hairless, feeble,
and possessed OF no natural weapons,
must have begun his career in the tropics,
probably ip some part Of the tropics where
there were no large or dangerous beasts
Of prey, and no violent inclemenClcs OF
weather. In word he must have com.
menced his career, as Mr.. Darwin allows,
In some earthly paradise. But once being
there, with food and comfort ready 10 his
hand, he would stay there as long as he
could The hunters Of reindeer, and bison,
and lrhinocer0s, and mammoth, on tho
then barren mOOrs Of France, Belgium,
and England, must have come lhiLher
against their natural inclination, Not of
uIuir own choice did they face the lion,
The bear, and the hygna, but because they
were driven north, as their probable de.
scendants, the Itaplanders and Esquimaux,
the SawOiedes and TungOOs, have been
dfiVdl noTthward since into the arctic Ice.
II ID they. were probably Of lower type,
For h Is q general rule that In the ex-
treme north and sonth OF continents, or
amid the most Indictment mountain ranges
the10wer and older races OF country are
To DO found. Stronger and more courageous
invaders take possession Of the rich and
warm lowlands, and drive them TO the
mountains or to tho arctic shores.
should say, therefore, that the mere fact
of these poor people having pushed north.
ward Is firm reason for suppOsihg that
there were even then, down south OF them,
strong and, II may be, civilized races,
from the lace Of whom they were fleeing,
10 take refuge among the northern SHOWS,
And II Is on the ground Of this very pos.
aibflity that ! am led more and more to
doubt whether we can lever know any.
Thing certainly about prImeval man at all,
FIR see the more ancient yon confess the
human race TO be, the more time You al
low for whole peoples TO have risen, be.
come great, strong, civilized; and the
more time TOO for whole peoples TO have
fallen again, and become weak, base, bar.
bRrOus. Ni'' OH. '''.'
"For civilization may fall as well as
rise. Those who talk Of continual pro
gfess upward In man forget how many
facts are aGaiIst them. Has Greece risen
OF fallen III Tie last two thousand years 7
HastEe Whole East risen or fallen In the
last Thousand yGarst Has Spain rieen OF
lSlleh In the last two hundred yearsi In
America alOno have not two great civil.
zatlUIS, tliat Of Mexico and that Of Peru,
SGHk lHt6shYagery again during the last
three hundred yeirsS And how many
times may not the same thing have hap.
pencl on The earthp II am TO believe
las think we must now believe that the
human race 10 Of immense antiquity, then
! shall see more likelihood, more reasona.
bleheSs, In those magnificent Arab 10.
gends Of whole dynasties Of pre-. Adamlte
s1Itans, and oil the gorgeous fables of van.
lsh0d greatness and glory Of which the
East IS flill; than in the theory That man
ctAwled on as . savage, or sOlnisayagc,
fqtcOlmtlgss ages" IT