Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-02-22
Primitive Man.

Frof. Cunning, in course of lee
lures, recently delivered in Milwau.
zee, on "PIimitive Man :"
Taking up the petrified formation,
he drew a cuttle-fsb, gave him a
long conical shell, and constructed q
marine monster which existed mil
lions of years ago, of which this was
a specimen, turned TO stone.
He then gave few words of ad-
vice to the young people, aud turned
his attention to his lecture. Science
is sublime, be said, when it touches
man. His theme would be man, as
E-itten in fossils. The past holds
Us by spell. Push our way back,
beyond the border land of fable, and
we find fossil speech. Far into tho
night, geology will take ue. History
in despair cries we must give up the
speechless past Lest is forever lost.
But where the historian cannot see,
the man of science may soc. China
aud Egypt are possible, though his.
tory takes us back but few thous-
aud years. The sphynx and the
pVramiGs exist. From the study OF
The Indian tribes ard the wild Asiat-
irs much of the past was TO be learn
ed. There is similarity of custom
among them, VIII ch leads to the be-
lisi that the American Indian indeed
came from India In the islands of
The sea, you can get man down to a
Vefy low ebb in the scale Of human.
ity.
The lecturer spent some time III
depicting the way in which modern
customers developed from ancient
ones, claiming that by this develop
ment'it could be shown that lost was
not lost, and that from bones, ruins,
fossils, you could find man, under
the shadow of the pest, gone, But
not lost forever.
Wha' determined the first abode
of man was the stomach. Before he
penetrated forests, he prowled along
the shores of lakes. Long before
there was this Milwaukee the mound
builder had his little Milwaukee
here. After him came one race OF
Indians after them another. Who
was the mound-builder Little is
known of him, but it is certain that
DO built many little villages along
the region of Wisconsin.
The lecturer drew on the black
board a representation of the skull
of q mound builder, and the head of
one of the most ancient races. The
oldest races have form of head
oval, and the down slanting eye. He
did not believe the mound builders
tho oldest race that lived here.
They could not have persisted less
than 1000 years ago. Before these
wele other races, Of whom there is
no 1ata. But man must have existed
in California, before the birth oil
many OF the mountains. Prof. Gun
ming next showed how river beds
write their history. BY the gravel
deposits along the banks of tho great
rivers it will be found that at one
time the river flowed at heigat OF
$50 feet higher than now. They
that provided along the stream a,
that time have passed away, with
everything except the flints and
stone tools they used, fer the stone
age existed before the iron. How
long ego was this :?
The lecturer sketched o cave, re-
Gently explored in England, show
ing that three changes have passed
over that country, from tropical to
polar, thence TO temperate The
time represented from these changes
could not have been less than 500, 600
years, and man existed through each
period. England was again changed
going down down, with portion OF
North America, under the great sea
that covered it once before.