The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-12-10

CONSTITUTIONAL Cuan any huUW Ill
Europe, and other indications of per- t
lection in the arts and sciences" Those i
holding the degradation theory must !
answer these questions; A per cent. of l
the population Of the globe hold to the
doctrines of Buddha. Then there are
the followers of Zoroaster, Of Confu-
cius. and the innumerable savage tribes.
Now the question is, are these hun
dreds of millions of souls degraded from
a higher standard, or are they strus-
Cling upwards from lower level. The
progressive theory encounters no such
i'm passible obstacles. It has the sci.
ence of astronomy, which for myriads
Of ages has been true to itself; it has
the science of geology which reveals
the formation of the globe, and it has
the science of man, who, from the first
dawn of his formation has been pro-
crossing to reach his present level.
SO slowly that the four, five, or six
thousand years which history may
mark the residence of man on earth, is
by comparison to the entire period Of
his existence as grain of sand upon
the sea shore, or a drop in the wide
ocean. The Aryan race for some rea-
son outstripping the Semitic and Tu.
ranian, and still he goes upward and
Toward.
have given but few points of the ar
eument, for the reason that l wish to
couple with it this evening some facts
proving the great age Of the human
race. Time is an essential element IN
the progressive theory of development,
and we are entitled to all that we can
prove fairly belongs to US.
When biologists in a hesitating and
almost timid way first began to point
out the evidences of the great age of the
world, and paleontologists to furnish
fossiliferous proof of already existing
animal life, theologians warned them of,
and forbid them poaching upon such
: forbidden ground, indicating thereby
2 that the subject of dates was matter
4 Of faith, not of proof. But as in the
= DAVIS of Gallileo, the world of thought
moved onward until the proofs became
so abundant and self evident that the
: wiser of the theological writer's review
Y ed the subject and freely admitted that
a their chronological record rested only
!. upon human calculations, since which
r time biologists and theologists have
gone along tremendously together.
The archeologist in estimating tim'
. finds all our ordinary methods use
g less. We can no longer calculate by
e wears, centuries or olympic periods
IS but by periods Of incalculable length
# There was time when the North pos
: sessed tropical climate, covered with
wild profusion Of the heaviest and rich
D est yegetation,-theg great coal fields wer
n formed from the forest growth of un
Ia measured ages. Now change too
d. place. Nc untains were ground dow
r. by the lslow sprocess of glacial attr
ton. and the coal fields buried h:r
III dreds and thousands Of feet beneat
~ the LAYERS of stratified rocks. Myriad
as of ages passed and another change. Veg
ne citation reappears and with it faun
such as historical man never locke
# upon. The huge king of the fores
e. the mastadon-judging comparatlvel
q. by skeletons have seen, the ordinar
ce elephant was to him as yearlingcalf
be its mother. The bear
IS. the caves; the huge lior
IN the rhinoceros with chambered no
M trils. Another change, and these t.
Oh disappear; but as they fade away 9th
ST animals take their place, fauna no
he familiar to man.
These changes were produced wit
ct. out any sudden commotion or Violate
70. of planetary laws, but by causes in q
ed tim at the present moment. +
ire causes which increasingly are distur
Av ing the earth's surface change its al
;ch of inclinations daily, so that
he myriads Of ages hence, what has be
Mt. may again recur. Now when
ON. think that these causes Of action dr
tai ing all the centuries known to histo
me have produced no appreciate chanI
his we find how impossible it is to concie
Of a period Of time sufficient to COZ
his what is termed a single geology
de- period.
the When mentioning above the mo-
,ut- tous fauna Of the quaternary geole
no cal period, l remarked that no n
hey within the historic period had lool
lex upon it, but yet the prehlste
low man already existed amid the frig
fix full elements and scarcely less fright
h a beasts. The proofs of this fact
&C. now so abundant that the paleont'
,ery gist is for ced to stratify the history
will man with the history Of the early
n to now almost extinct fauna, and l
civ. upon him as . survival with the no
liza the reindeer, &c.
van The earliest vestiges Of the existe
heo- Of man is in the condition Of tro
the dyte. Accident has discovered
light long concealed caves, and the be-
pop- huts he had erected upon poles {
tate. the water as security from wild be
= up and enemies. Various arguments
Nor been invented to dispose Of the I
deg. dwellers, but none Of them satisfact
I'm a The fact still remains that At one pc
able OF time the caves were occupied;
tart the people we're Of . primitive r
INTEL that their implements or weapons
pro- of the earliest and rudest age Of
made stone period; that they subsisted
Mt Of waging an unceasing conflict with
we'll animals about them; that by :
the methods they obtained as food the
.eally todon, the great cave bear. &c,
pow and at this day. deep beneath
vable floors Of these caves, are collected
must only the stone implements, and
# ad- of the extinct animals they deyo
udest but an almost entire human ske
now Of that original race
II -