Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-03-04

ANNNt'sAsf
eagle, humuing bird, a lion, or an elephant
as it is to explain those first forms of life Even
the development theory itself can not attempt
to explain the beginning of a new order OF
creatures, without assuming what is equivalent
to creation, something, in fact, which can not be
explained without supposing the action of crea-
tive power.
In this work, Mr.. Darwin assumes all he hos
undertaken to establish in his work on species,
and proceeds TO apply his doctrine of develop
ment to the human race The first man, he
thinks, was developed from some pre-existing
creature, and came gradually to be what he is
at present. An improved hypothesis necessarily
deals in assumptions; hence, Mr.. Darwin fire.
quently assumes what can not be demonstrated.
He and all who follow him do this in regard to
the earliest communities of men, They assume
long progression from the lowest conceivable
| point of savagery to intelligence; and they have
acustom of doing this as if it was an undenia-
bic truth Nevertheless it is very far indeed
from being proved. Nothing in history indi-
Gates it. Nothing in geology makes it even
plausible. There is no proof whatever to sus-
tain it. The oldest known human skulls, at
tributed by biologists TO the "age of stone" in
western Europe, are not materially different
from those of modern times. There is nothing
but pure assumption to encourage the be-
lief, that men ever were much different,
in natural characteristics, from what they
are at present. OF course, there is always
difference between the civilized man and the
barbarian; and we know why; but the begin
ming of civilization is as much hidden in the
deeps of antiquity, as the beginning of man
himself. Civilized peoples, in various parts of
the earth, may have been contemporaneous
with, and even anterior to, the barbarans of
the oldest age Of stone in western Europe. 1t
is unwarranted by fact, and therefore ineXcusa-
Bile, to assume that there was nothing but saw
agery in the condition of the human race, pre-
vious to ages comparatively recent and almost
within the reach of history. But we leave MIR.
DIrwin's book to its readers They will find it
worth reading. It's for sale at BiEeloA's.
The RECOVERY OF JERUSALEM: A Narrative
Of Exploration and Di >covery in the CITY and
the Holy Land. By Capt. Wilson, Capt Warren,
and others. With an Introduction by Dean
Stanly. Edited by Walter Morrison, NJ. P. New
| York: D. Appleton & Co., publishers This
volume contains very important contributions
to our knowledge of Palestine, and, especially,
of Jerusalem, all due to English enterprise and
interest. First, there is an "0rdnance Survey
| of Jerusalem" by Capt. Wilson of the royal
| engineers; and next long account of "Excava-
tons at jerusalem" by Capt Warren of the
royal engineers, which fills about 225 pages of
the book. To these are added "The Sea of Cali
lee," by Capt. Wilson; Architectural Remains
of Palestine" by R. Rhene Spiers; "The Hau-
ran" by Count de Vogue; "The Survey of
| Palestine" by Lieut.. Anderson; paper "0n
the Pottery and Glass found in the Excava-
tions," by Rev. Greville J. Chester; an account
of the "Moabite Stoue;" and paper on Sinai,
by Rev. F. W. Holland. In a word this book
gives an account of the latest researches in Pal
estine, and records abe results. Much is added
TO what was previously known, and several dis
puted points are settled. These excavations in
Je usalem, made between February, 1867, and
April. 1870, are of great importance, and the ac-
count of them will be read with profound inter.
est. 1t is known that Jerusalem is situated
among mountains some 23OO feet above the
level of the sea, and that it can be approached
only by wild mountain roads. 1t was a city
long before the time of the Israelites. 1t was
the Salem where Melchisedek reigned in the
time of Abraham. In the time of Joshua it was
a strong city of the Jebusites, and its king was
Adoni-zedek. Its stronghold was not captured
until the time of David, who took it from the
Jebusites and made it his capital. Doubtless,
some of the walls and foundations brought to
light by excavation belong to its earlier his
tory; but much more excavation needs to be
done before we can have complete knowledge
of its antiquities. For sale by Sanford Co.
| WONDERFUL ESCAPES. Revised from the
French of F. Bernard, and original chapters adj
ded; by Richard Whiteing With twenty-siX
plates. New York: Charles Scribner & Co.
This publication adds another volume to Serb
ner & Co.'S Illustrated Library of Wonders"
1t contains fortY-six stories of wonderful es-
capes from DEATH prison, or arrest, beginning
with Aristomenes the Messenian and ending
with James Stephens, the Fenian &c head CENTER"
OF course, Baron Frenck, Charles Edward, and
Lavalette are not forgotten. These narratives
will entertain young readers, and give them an
interest in the chapters of history with which
the escapes are connected. This Library of
Wonder" deserves place in every family,
where it will promote a taste for more instruc-
tive reading than is furnished by many of the
books written and published for young readers.
There is, in our time, too much fiction and too
little interest in acquiring knowledge. In fact,
many persons writ, stories, because they know
too little to write anything else. For sale at
BigelOw's.
History OF GREECE, by Professor DR.. Ernst
Curtius. Translated by Adolphus William Ward,
professor in Owens college, En- gland. Vol l.
New York, c. Scribner & Co. This work bears
a similar relation to other hstoriels of Greece
with that which Mommsen's recently published
volumes do to other histories of Rome. Its
author stands in the very foremost rank of Ger
man scholars, and his work bears throughout
the unmistakable impress Of sound learning
and phil, sophie method 1t is In five volumes,
of which only the first has yet appeared in this
edition This includes the first two books of
the original work, bringing the history down 10
the beginning of the Persian wars. The first
book deals with the long and imperfectly known
period before the Dorian mgratIon and show
the authors careful scholarship and sound iudy-
ment in deducing his conclusions from all the
sources Of information which modern learning
has at its command. A comprehensive descrip-
ton of the land and the people is followed by an
account Of the prehistoric ages of Greece and the
Hellenes to which the fragments of ancient
MYTHS, the developments of comparative philoo-
| gy, the remains of monuments and inscriptions,
as well as the earliest writers, contribute mater
ais. DR.. Curtius does not accept the theory of
some modern writer's that the mythical heroes of
antiquity were only personifcations of natural
forces and phenomena, but holds that they were
actual persons whose deeds were distorted and
magnified by tradition, but whose existence and
inhnence on the fortunes and character of their
people must be acknowledged by the historian.
A brief account of the earliest states and of the
wanderings of the Greek tribes concludes the
first book. The second is occupied with the
times from the migration of the Dorians to the
Persian wars. Its sub-titles are a History of
Peloponnessus, History of Attica, and an &C
count of the Hellines beyond the Arcbinelooo