National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-16
gatiauaI Republican.
THE OLDEST NEW

The oldest races Of men OF which traces haze
yet been discovered are known as the Stone-foIk,
because they fashioned their implements out Of
stone, and seem to have been unacquainted With
the use Of metals. These Stone-folk are clearly
dtstnguishable into two classes-the older. known
as Palaolithic, merely clipped stones into shape;
the later, or Neolithic, had advanced step FUR;
tner, and constructed tools highly polished and
Otherwise more finished than those Of their prede-
SCISSORS. We also ind associated with the traces
VI ialeolithie man 9 group Of materials now
"noiiy or locally extinct, while the mammals ac-
eompAnying the remains Of Neolithic man ara
many Of them sttll indigenous to the country. In
eonneetion win this subject, Mr.. J. Geikis has
Drought prominently into notice fact which had
not received the attention which IL deserves-that'
nowhere have any signs been detected of araduaI
improvement on the partor Palaolithte man. bv
which he may have passed from abioct BARBARIAN
TO the more advanced skill OF his Neolithic suc-
cessor, but that, on the contrary, the two races
are everywhere sharply marked Of from one
another. In the same way the accompanying
groups Of mammals are essentially distinct and
we nowhere ind traces OF the dying out Of the
one and the gradual coming In Of the other But
one inference can be drawn from these facts: be-
tween the time when the Paleolithic race inhab-
tied Britain and the coming in Of the Neolithic
race long interval must have elapsed, during
which man was by some means or other driven
out Of the country, and went through elsewhere
the long series Of notifications by which he Was
himself advanced IN vilizatiou, while st the
same time the group OF animals associated with
MN became totally changed. Now We know Of
no PHYSICAL change since the second glseIation Of
the country which could have been the cause of
such migration, for all the evidence both here
andelseBhere tends TO show that whatever chan0e
Of climate has occurred between that event and
the present day has been steadily in the same
direction-that Of improvement. But the great
submergence, and severe period which followed 1t,
would exactly bring about the required result, If
It can be only shown that the age of Paleolithie
man preceded these occurrences.
There Is no antecedent improbability IN such .
superstition; the mild periods that required dur
ing the formation Of the TIL may well lave been
warm enough to allow Of northern mammals, and
subsequently,, as the climate improved ofPslao-
lithic man and southern forms migrating into
British, to be again driven out each time . return
Of cold brought the sheet-ice down over the low
lands and finally expelled, mover again to return
by the great submergencs. But more than thisi
our author has shown how anamaliss, hitherto
inexplicsbls, receive an easy solution on this by
pothesis; how, for instance, It accounts for the
mingling ofnorthern and southern forms Of nam
mails In the Palaolithic beds; and how It gives o
reason for the fact that Pslaolthtc river grayels
are confined to those parts Of Britain which were
not covered Dy the ice-eheet, while the Paloeos
thic deposits found in caves are not 50 restricted
The hypothesis therefore stands On o firm basis,
and the conclusion Is irresistible that PaloIIthio
man was OF intergiacial-msy Of preglacisl-'
date. This much had been dimly felt rather than
demonstrated BY previous thinkers: but Mr.. Get
kie has shed . food Of light 90 the subject BY
pointing out that man was driven out Of their coun-
try by the great submsrgence;t that Britain Wasnot
again peopled until the elevation that followed
connected 1t with the continent; and that the COL
onists belonged to the NeoIIthic race In this way
he has satisfactorily accounted for the great gap
that exists between the two divisions of the Stone
folk