New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-04-22
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
HOW OLD Is CIVILIZATION


civilizations on Eihnic hflntcs, etc ny &C., s,,
R,wIISsoN NJ A. Camctn PTe;. .'.c, Of I,oo
IIistory. oxford. AID Canon "f t"h'F'uI'' i"'''
pp. 2s1. Charles scribners Sons
The nurpose of Canon Raw nsOn's little book Is I"
show that civilization is not n old ~ most n"ci'
writers are disposed To assume ami I" rePei a'''S
nnon the crcdibility of the Bible based upon thr
sunposed g Existence of civilization al an carrier "a''
than can he rccOnciled with S'rpturai chr"-
noloqv. His manner Of treating the sn'ncf
Ia cminently fair and candid. and reader"
whose minds are fully committed Z" the c'i''"'
idea Of the great antiquity Of civilization 'a"-
NOT fail In he impressed with what he GAYS.
Taking up one after the other the cl'ihf"''""'' -,
Fpyn Babylon. PhUnicia. Asia Minor 'chirai
Asia. China and Etruria. and giving To ca'h "'''
.onact chanter he finds rs the result at his inquiry
,ha, 40 far AZ civilization can he traced hack ms
,oricollv there is only one country where 'n'
critical Judgment of the present day - ~ S'iSI"nS
That is Egypt. The many myrlad> "i years l"H'"-
lated for their pnst history hy the lahvlonian~ ana
Assvrians the lindoo,. the Chinese and Others nave
heen shown Ia Ice pure fiction. Cnn' norm ~'h""I"
place the beginning of Babylon about B.C. %oo' "i
Assyra about BIC. 1900. The best ArA an scholar
Mace the dawn Of Iranic civilization about B.C.
100 and of India about BE. 1900. Chinese in
v.stipators can find nothing solid ar substantial M
the pn.t of the "Cclcstial-" earlier at the furhct
tbon BC. 1851. For PhGnicia the date assigned
bv tbe latest English investigator, kcndrick. II the
sixteenth or seventeenth century before Christ.
DR. Schcmann's Investigations IN the Tread show
the existence of Il low type of ciNilaiI"h III th'i
region. which may reach back to BIC. 2ooo Ia tine
rest of Asia Minor have no certain knowl"HR'
NJ any civilization that has II greater antiquity
than about BE. 800. In Europe the ncirrn' CIV
ization dclincntcd by Homer must have existed
before his time, aud may have commenced a.
1. l.. ,r.,l,al lX ala,
re. 200. No other European civilization can
conpetc with this. the Etruscan not reaching back
further than about &c. 700. II rccns, therefore.
thai general agreement of SCHOLARS aud intcstiga
tors limit. the past history of civilized man {"
date removed from our own time 10y less Than
A 100 years except IN single instances. lhrn are
writer's of high rcpuie who place the dawn ol EH'p'
tiau civilization NJ about B.C. ZOO OF only Tour
centuries before that of Babylon. while ih"r" are
,th,rs who claim for II antiquity exceeding Tins
by above 400 years. Marcttc and lcm"rmnnt
give the date ~ Mcucs the first Egyptian king ~
Mauctho's list. AT BE. j0Oi. Brdgsch at iluo,
Lepsins at 1892. Bun-cn at 30i' Stuart Poole at
17i7 and g. Wilkinson at 2G9i. All 'lhesr
authorities reason from the same daa-tlc monu-
meuts. the Manetho chronology and the Turin papy-
RUS and they reach their varying conclusions bN
disavr,emrnts on the important point of whether
the dynasies of kings recorded were all successive
and continuous. whether some were contcnl"-
rancous Thus Marictte denies that any two "i
Mancthos thlrty-onc dynastics were contcupo
rancons. while BrugSch makes the ninth and tenth
contemporary with the eighth and eleventh. amt
groups several others together in like manner
Bunsen and Others carry this principle still further
Canon RawnsOn argues. and 1t must be al
mtted that there is a great deal OF force III MS
po,tion. that the long chronology hypoihcsiS -
Il =. l,lt he. tsIlfi
tains. TO suppose one section Of mankind to have
stood for above two Thousand years on totally
different level from all other >eCtiOns-tO supPnsc
that settled government Law. order, high m"raiity.
art science of "A certain kind. existed for Two
Thousand years in the valley Of the Nile without
spreading To other nations. Egypt was not So
aucstercd island remote corner OF the earth.
but a vcrtahe highway of uatiOns-a territory
standing III the closest connection with the iair-St
horizons of the eastern world. Much more probable
il if To conclude thinks Ravlinson that civillza
ton took its rise in Egypt short time only before
the period when all agree it fist began in Babylon
and PhGnIca and that its progress was upon tl"
whole eqIable, uniform and natural. the earth
presenting at no time the spectacle of one highly
civilized nation standing alone for thousands 81
wears I'M the midst of rude and unpublished races.
The answer which will be made Ia tins line Of
argument by those who believe in the great anti
quity of the human race is that IN civilization as
in other things II is the first steps which c"N. and
that back of the time when Egypt possessed a cnl.
turcd population capable of rearing her great
temples aud pyramids must have been "a very long
period when her people we're slowly emerging ont
of barbarisn. Canon Rawhnson anticipates this
objection by frankly disputng III the introduction
to his book the assumption that prlmeval man was
a savage. The primitive race of men ht suppose
to have been substantially civilized. possessing
Language. thought and intelligence, conscious OF a
Divine Being quick to form the conception Of tools
and 70 frame them A. il needed them. early develop
ing many OF the useful arts aud only sinking 10y
degrees and under peculiar circumstances into the