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

Europe, and other indications of per-
lection in the arts and sciences" Those
holding the degradation theory must
answer these questions; A per cent. of
the population Of the globe hold to the
doctrines of Buddha. Then there are
the followers of Zoroaster, Of Confu.
Gus, 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 strug-
Cling upwards from lower level. The
progressive theory encounters no such
impossible obstacles. 1t 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 drop in the wide
ocean. The Aryan race for some rea-
son outstripping the Semitic and Tu.
ralAian, and still he goes upward and
onward.
have given but few points of the ar
lgument, for the reason that | 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 hesitating and
almost timid way first began to point
out the evidences of the great age of the
world, and psychologists to furnish
fossiliferous proof of already existing
animal life, theologians warned them off,
and forbid them poaching upon such
forbidden ground, indicating thereby
that the subject Of dates was a matter
of faith, not of proof. But as in the
days 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
ed the subject and freely admitted that
their chronological record rested only
upon human calculations, since which
time biologists and theologists have
gone along tremendously together.
The archeologist in estimating time
finds all our ordinary methods use
less. We can no longer calculate by
years. centuries or olympic periods,
but by periods Of incalculable length.
There was time when the North pos
sessed tropical climate, covered with a
wild profusion of the heaviest and rich.
est vegetation,- great coal fields were
formed from the forest growth of I'M.
measured ages. Now a change took
place. Nc untains were ground down
by the !slow sprocess of glacial attri.
ton, and the coal fields buried hun-
dreds and thousands of feet beneath
the layers Of stratified rocks. Myriads
ofages passed and another change. Veg
citation reappears and with it fauna
such as historical man never looked
upon. The huge king Of the forest,
the mastadon-judging comparatively
by skeletons have seen, the ordinary
elephant was to him as yearling calf to
its mother. The bear of
the caves the huge lion;
the rhinoceros with chambered nos
trils. Another change, and these too
disappear, but as they fade away other
animals take their place, fauna now
familiar to man.
| These changes were produced with
out any sudden commotion or violation
of planetary laws, but by causes in ac-
tiUn at the present moment. The
causes which increasingly are disturb
ing the earth surface change its axis
OF lncllnaiions daily, so that in
myriads of ages hence, what has been
may again recur. Now when We
think that these causes of action dur
ing all the centuries known to history
have produced no appreciate change,
We find how impossible it is to conceive
OF period of time sufficient to cover
what is termed single geological
period.
When mentioning above the mons
tous fauna of the quaternary geolosi-
cal period. | remarked that no man
within the historic period had looked
upon 1t. but yet the prehistoric
man already existed amid the fright
full elements and scarcely less frightful
beasts. The proofs of this fact are
now so abundant that the paleontolo-
gist is for ced to stratify the history of
man with the history of the early and
now almost extinct fauna, and look
upon him as survival with the horse.
the reindeer, &c.
The earliest vestiges Of the existence
of man is in the condition of troglo-
dyte. Accident has discovered his
long concealed caves, and the beaver
huts he had erected upon poles over
the water as security from wild beasts
and enemies. Various arguments have
been invented to dispose of the cave
jewellers. but none Of them satisfactory.
The fact still remains that at one period
OF time the caves were occupied, that
the people were Of primitive race :;
that their implements or weapons were
of the earliest and rudest age of the
stone period that they subsisted by
waging an unceasing conflict with the
animals about them: that by some
methods they obtained as food the mas
todon. the great cave bear. &c, &c.
and at this day. deep beneath the
floors of these caves, are collected not
only the stone implements, and bones
of the extinct animals they devoured
but an almost entire human skeleton
of that original race.
These facts. collected from various