Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-12-12
What Man Was in the Past.
ACCORDING TO PROF. DENTON.

We see as we 60 farther and farther
back that the age Of man il immense.
Lort, French scientist, considers
that we may make four divisions of
human beings. These are not my
statements, they are those of scientific
men of weight. These periods are
those of the cave bear, the mammoth
and rhinoceros, the reindeer, the two
former animals being gone, and lastly
the great fossil OK or aurochs. The
men in the first period were cave
dwellers. They were naked, power
full, hairy savages, pursuing their
food with no weapons but clubs and
eating it raw, as they had no knowl-
edge of fire. They lived in caves,
which were cool in summer and warm
in winter, and from which the wild
beasts were easily barred out. There
is no question but that they were
cannibals, for the bones OF men, wo,
men and children are found in these
caves, among those of animals, and
cracked so that we see they extracted
the marrow from them. Some of the
caves have been used for burial places,
and by the skeletons of men are found
those of animals evidently placed for
food for the departed, thus showing
that even these early savages had rude
ideas of future state. These men
were larger than we are. They were
from sly feet four to six feet six inches
high. From them have come the
polished men of to-day. Then comes
the age of the rhinoceros, when the
men were still cave dwcllerS. But
they had lire now and cooked 'helr
food. They took the hair from the
skins of beasts and with rude avis
made from the bones, aud thread
from the sinews, they sewed them,
selves garment. Do you think these
men must have been uncomfortable ?
Not so, they had all they wanted to
sustain life, were strong and healthy,
and their sleep was not disturbed by
dreams of the tax gatherer. Now
comes another period in which the
caves became too few to support the
increasing human race. On the Swiss
lakes they drove piles and built rude
huts thereon. There are found there
many flint weapons. We know more
to-day Of the manner of life of these
people than we do of many nations of
the historic period. They knew how
to grind wheat and make kind of
bread. We have found the very kind
of cloth they wove. Tools by the
hundred thousand give very life like
conception of this ancient people,
Step by step we come down to his.
toric times. Step by step we emerge
from that primitive darkness TO the
light of today what lessons do these
facts teach us First, the vast antiq-
uity of man. Second, his brute origin.
II he came from the hand of God per-
feet, how can we account for such
brutal beings as we have seen these
men to be by the specimen skulls
have shown you? AS we go back in
the history of humanity, we come
nearer to the brute. The front brain
grows smaller and the back brain
larger. These facts demonstrate that
the brute is the father to the man.
But we learn more. We learn that
man is not only Of brutal but of divine
origin What developed this hairy
savage? l answer spiritual causes
| cannot believe that he could have
done it. In the heart of this planet
as in the heart of the universe is a
spirit which looks after the growth
of man. These things demonstrate
an infinite God, but, not jehovah
Men must modify their ideas before
they are in harmony with the facts. -
The spirit that has cared for man in
the past cares for him still. Do not
despair. Do not believe that death
will hurt you and you 60 down to the
blackness of darkness. Death hurts
no one. The same kind father and
mother watches over us in the life
beyond this. Do not then be dis
couraged. The meanest of us is under
the care of God. Let us feel the
magnificence of our position, the
grandeur of our destiny, aud by the