The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1882-05-12
THE Ages on sILENoE.


John Fisk's paper on tue "Arrival Of
Man in Europe" published in the May
number of the Atlantic Monthly, says;
Beginning at the close OF a period of
which the fossils in the rocks furnish the
only knowledge we now possess, he finds
that four races of men have successfully
dwelt in European Lands. First in or
der Of time were the men of the River
Drift. who lived wholly by hunting, and
used only chipped stone implements of
the rudest sort, They were contempo-
rary with the rhinoceros in western Eu-
rope, where sub-tropical climate must
have then prevailed. In the glacial PEE
riod which followed came the so-called
cave men, now represented only by the
Esquimaux. They possessed finer tools
and weapons than their predecessors,
yet Of nothing but Clipped stone. Are
markable artistic sense appears to have
been developed among them. They
made pictures with sharp pointed hints
on the antlers of reindeer and on bones
aud stones, outlined with wonderful ac-
curacy, and reproducing the distinctive
characteristics in form of the various an
imals with which they were familiar.
To the cave men succeeded third race,
which Mr.. Fisk calls the Iberians. These
were the men of the Neolltic or
new stone age. They sharpened their
stone implements not simply by chip
ping, but by grinding; so that the intro
duction Of the grindstone must be regard
ed as an important step in human prog
ress. The men of the new stone age were
farmers and weavers, as we'll rs hunters;
they built houses ard boats, and made
pottery; and there is reason to believe
that they had some idea of an existence
after death. To this race the lake dwell
lers of Switzerland are supposed to have
belonged. Their modern representatives
are the swathy Basque inhabitants Of
Spain.
Finally came from Central Asia the
fourth md last race. the tall fair-com-
plexioned Aryabs who intermarred with
the darker Iberiaus, aud together with
them became the progenitors of the mod
ern people of Europe.
When did these successive invasiont
begin The earliest race, the men Of tht
River Drift, certainly preceded the gla-
cial period OF the age which geologisti
term the Pleistosine. That age began
24O, 900 years ago, and Mr.. Fisk is evi
IDENTIFY inclined to think that hnman be
ings had inhabited Earope at least 100 00(
years earlier. He thus ascribes to oui
race an antiquity Of not less than 400, ,00I
years.
In this enormous length Of time he fird
an argument in favor Of the theory o
evolution, according TO which, man il
but the development Of non-hnmal
race of creatures resembling the man
like apes
"We see man living on the earth TO
perhaps half a million years to all intent
and purposes dumb, leaving none but
geological record OF his existence, pro
crossing with infinite slowness and diff
entity, making no history. Yet his geo
logical record is not like that Of the doi
or ape, who could not chip flint, and il
the incised antIers Of the Gave men W
see the first faint CLEANS Of the divin
intelligence that was by and by to shin
forth from the glories Of Michael An
gelo. We cannot but suppose that dur
ing those long dumb ages, through in6n
ite hardship, and though the stern reg
linen Of deadly competition and natura
selection, man was slowly but surely ac
quiring that intellectual life which wa
at last to bloom forth IN history, an
} which has made him the crown and glc
ry Of the universe.
But il these long ages Of silence wer
needed to bring man from the animal :
the spiritual, from the mere beast to th
philosopher, the saint, or even the skeT
tic, what becomes Of the doctrine Of in
! mortality Does modern science d.
mand that we shall reject the idea Of
; life beyond the grave? II not, tell .
at what period Of his development th
: ape-like being from which man sprung
\ FIRST acquired the attribute Of immorti
!, life? No one will pretend that he coul
have possessed it atthe beginning.
i The eloquent words which we hay
I quoted from Mr.. Fisk's article. sugge
questions which no man can answer
T satisfactorially.
J Gov. Colquitt, Of Georgia, has be-
Z o,ssl.aesi,,sv ,natho7,af rneatinos in Lift