New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-09-03
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
BUCHNERS MAN IN THE PAST PRESENT,
AND FUTURE.

GSD PROSPECTS or THE HUMAN RACE FROM TIE |
GERMAN OF DR. l. BucHNEh BY W. : DALLAS
Among the Psychologists OF the extreme matefai- |
istie school Dr. Bdchner has gained a certain degree
ofcelebrity bv the freedom of his specuatons and
the audacity of his theories rather than by any pre-
tensions to accuracy of learning or soundness Of
INDICTMENT The present work, like the productions
nv which he is already known to the public, bears
the marks of crude and superficial reflection us
method is loose and deSultOry, its reaSonngs are
plausible rather than convincing, and ITS statements
appear 10 aim st popular effect rather than at pre-
cision and exactness of information, or soDney Oh
inference As a writer DR.. Bichner has no mastery
of ease or elegance of expression ms sentences are
framed after the most confused models OF German
construction and the lack of flow ana neatheSs III
his Vie makes the perusa OF his dlsqulSltohs more
Of task than a pleasure. Inc interest oI .l's
volume consists in being one of the latest and, IN
some respects one of the most complete accounts oil
the results of modern research with regard 10 'he
nbvsical history aud development of the human
race Few of our readers we imagine, VIII care 10
exnlore the contents of his rambling treatise IN per-
son bnt a bref analysis of its prominent conclusions
NAV be welcome as an illustration OF the present
condition of thought in very considerable portion
of the scientific world.
According to DR.. Biichner. the antiquity OF the
human race upon the earth is no longer subject OF
legitimate doubt The prehistoric existence OF man
has been established by chain Of irresistible proofs
that have been brought TO light IN the course OF
modern research. Although probably the youngest
member Of the organic creation, he has already
lived upon the earth during period compared WIN
which the few thousand years OF history ana
tradition shrink almost to a single moment.
In support of this position, DR.. Bdchner ap-
peals in the first place to the discovery OF human
bones in the celebrated cavern OF Aurlgnac on the
southern slope Of the PyTenees IN France. In TINS
cavern which was closed by heavy slab oil sand
stone were found the skeletons OF at least seventeen
bumap being, as long ago as 1852 Eight years after,
the bones which had at first been neglected were
submitted 90 thorough examination, by an eminent
French palaontologst, NJ. Lartet. He discovered
thai the cave of Augnac an ancient sepulcher OF
a primeval age Beside the human remains there
were found a great quantity of the bones of animals
andmany articles of human handiwork, as knives ar
row-headS hammers and OtherlmplementSo OF lint ana
stone The animal bones for the most part belonged
II species which lived in the dluvial period OF geo.
LOGICAL history Immediately preceding our own epoch
Everything indicated people who lived pIlor TO
any recognized period of European history but
the cave of Aurinac is not the only evidence OF the
aptiouity of man. Similar discoveries have been
made in England, France, Italy, Spain, Germany,
Belgium and even in America Asia and Australia,
in fact. in nearly every part of the world. Every
where the same or very similar conditions have been
found 10 prevail showing that men and the supposed
pTe-human animals must have beeu cOtemporares.
The state OF prehistoric man, DR.. Buchner argues
was one Of primitive and natural barbaISm lie
neither felt the necessity, possessed the means
of handing down traditions to pOsterity. The art OF
writing was the invention of much later period
In his rude natural state, indeed man was wholly
incapable of having a history His lie was one Oh
the utmost uniformity and simplicity. lhere was
an upceasinc strife with savage animals and the
hardships OF the external world Naked OF poorly
clad IN the skins of animals or the bark of trees,
living sincv or in isolated families, in forests, cav
erns and the clefts of rocks, armed only with his
v-letched stone weapons, the primitive man was
doomed TO a perpetual contest with the forces OF
nature Inferior in corporal attributes to the men
of the present day. he was still more inferior IN IN
teIectual capacities. The ancient skulls that nave
been discovered in various parts Of the world show
a small development of the brain.
In REGARD 20 the relation of man to the lower AMI
mails Dr. BUchner takes strong ground in favor Of
the identity of their origin. Man, he contends Is
intimately allied 10y his bodily structure to the or
ganic world which surrounds him. He obeys the
same organic laws Of form, structure, adaptation
and REPRODUCTION. He is an integral constituent OF
one GEOLOGICAL system. The structure of the bones
of the skull and OF the BRAIN the formation OF the
hands and feet the teeth. muscles, vscera are all
founded on the principles III man and the ape
The separation Of man, accordingly, from the nam
malta which approach him most closely, cannot be
maintained in the present position OF science. Inc
entire conception which this separations founded
must be rejected from the point Of view opened to US
by systematic zoology.
The first step IN The production Of man, Is assumed
by the author 10 have been the long since extinct
animal, described by Haclel, as the primitive or
ape-man. This was produced from the anthropoid
apes by complete habituation to an erect gait The
consequence of this the development OF the fore
limb into the true hand and of the hind limb into
the true foot. He was still destitute Of artculate
speech, and Of the conscious thought from which II
proceeds. There are many reasons for supposng, as
we are informed, that the primitive man must have
been q wooIy-haired long headed being, of dark
brown OF black color. The hairy covering OF his
body may have been stronger and thicker than
in any other species of man, his arms probably
longer and stronger in proportion and his legs
shorter and thinner with undeveloped calves. His
gait would be half erect, with iDbent knees. His
home NAV have been in southern Asia or eastern
Africa or perhaps a continent now submerged.
From this primitive man, there was developed by
natural selection in the struggle for existence, the
true OF speaking man, distinguished from his pre-
decessors by the greater differentiation OF the
limbs. the larynx and the ceTebrum and by the
possession Of artculate speech 1t Is probable, how
ever that the corporal changes were completed
long before the production of vocal language. This
which must have been accompanied by correspond
ING improvement of the brain, probably did not
take place until period when the primitive speech
less man had already become sabdiyided into
number Of species. Still even these must converge