The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-05-20
SOME NEW BOOKs.
WA. :. Known A b.u, rr,m,,,ve Man.

The discussion OF man y Origin anu '"i's
history, by Prof. De Quatrsfages. formed ono
of the most useful volumes In the lnterna-
tional Scientific Series. and the same collection
is now further enriched by popular treatise
on palnontology by NJ. n. Jolly. Professor In the
University OF Toulouse The title Of the book,
A,n before Metals. indicates tho limitations oil
the writer's theme His object is to bring TO-
gether the numerous proofs. collected by mou-
ern research, OF the great age OF the human
race and to show US what man was I'D RESPECT
OF customs industries. and moral or religious
ideas before the use Of metals was known 10
him. 1t Ia. in brief. not prehistoric man VINO
had learned to avail himself OF copper or iron
long before the dawn Of history. but mueh
narrower topc-that OF human LIE In the pro,
metallic eras-which Is here treated in lucio
and interesting way.
In stating the conclusions at whlch science
may be said to have arrived respecting the
several questions examined In this volume. the
author does not always conilns himself 10 those
deductions sanctioned By consensus OF opih-
ion-if he did SO In tho present tentative sIA'e
OF Investigation the amount oil Information
Unmarried would be small indeed: but wherever
there is difference Of judgment among COM
petent inquirers he Is careful to set all the iac's
and all the inierences before the reader eyo.
He has no dogma to domolish. no theory to
prop, ana although le hiht hh'V N'S''"NS
OF his own concerning religious and phiosophi.
col controversies they are nowhere obtruded
or suffered to sway and color his exposition oil
ascertainod or probable truth. We shall ap-
preciats the cautious and Judicial spirit by
which he has been guided in this compiia-
ton by marking what he has to say on sueh
yexed questions as the antiquity OF tho human
species and the physical aspect and Characters
tics of the earliest race Of men about whom any
considerable Information has been garnereu ny
the Archaeological.
Thus whether unmistakable traces OF man
sxistence have or have not been found in
the tertiary rocks he pronounces rs yet unoe-
tcrmincd yet he is careful TO designate such
proofs as nre forthcoming. and to admit that
the Indications although vague. are worthy OF
serious consideration. and may hereafter. IL
sufficiently confirmed by additional testi-
mony amount to perfect demonstration. 1t Ii
now generally Acknowledged for instance. that
in 1874 some human bones were actually iouhu
| by NJ Aymurd at La Denise In conjunction with
| bones of extinct mammalia But geoiogists
| differ as to whether the latter remains
are those OF the so-caed elephils meri-
| dionalis Ia species indisputably belonging 10
| the tertiary agei or whether they should
! not be attributed to tho mammoth. which.
as we know. existed In quaternnry
| times. Again the scratched and incised bones
! discovered by NJ. Dcsnoyers in some unds-
| turbed pleoccne sands near Charities. ana the
carved flints said 10 have been found By tho
Able Bourgeois beneath the meloceno ue-
! posits at Thenay. have been regarded with mis-
| trust by the great majority oil scientists. III
| has even been contendcd that. admitting the
| authenticity OF these suspected data II would
| be more reasonable 10 ascribc TO accident Their
| presence in the place where they were found
than to deduce from them the exist
euce of tertiary man. There was not.
We are reminded. IN tho middle OF tho
meioccne epoch n single Species OF man.
mai identical with species now extant. How
then can we believe that the human species re-
| manned uninAuenced by n universal changer
| To this arsume Mt from analogy Prof.J oily rejoins
| by u consideration drawn from similar source
Since" he says. two anthropomorphous
monkeys did unquestionably live us early ne
the meiocens epoch / do not see sufficient
reason for denying the existence OF man mt the
same period" He closes. however. his refer
encs to this controversy by conceding tina
arguments from analogy cannot supply tht
place Of direct proof. and that conclusive evi
dence of. thu litter kind has not vet beeI
prUviEnS forward.
What we know with certainty is that Euro
pean man was contemporaneous with the OK
tinct species OF the quaternary epoch-witl
the elephant absurdy called primgenius sine
there were Mt least two species belonging to ia
, older geological eras. with the rhinoeero
tichorhinus with the cavo bear and the cav
hycna: that he witnessed tho upheaval OF tn
Alps and the extension Of the glaciers: that h
lived. in brief. long before the time family on,
, lined by the remotest historical traditions Il
, the natural desire. however TO be furnisho
| with some numerical measure OF the duratio
|, OF the quaternary epoch. Prof. Jolly replies thu;
A any such calculations are premature. secin
; that science is ~ yct unable to designate til
r precise dates Of events which took place in tn
!, earliest periods of Egyptian history although
a from u geological point Of view. such event
t belong to yesterday. But whlle. on his ow
. part he shrnks from the endravor to ~
+ construct chronologicaily tho early nj
. chivcs OF the human race. he mention
5 several OF the widely varying conjecturcs upo
: which other scientists have ventured. II
n shows u.s. for instance. the steps by which Blu
n moister sought to fix comparatively rccci
date in the upward progress of man. 1t al
= pears that in making sounlings in the slim
u soil Of the Nile valley two baked bricks wei
discovered one ut n depth Of sixty. tho oth'
" of seventy-two feet. II we estimate the thicl
y ness Of the annual deposit formed by the rive
I, at eight inches n century We must assign
= the first Of these bricks an age OF 1000 year
! and to the second tnat OF l.UiJ years ln'
d $4,000 and 1000 as Prof Jolly makes it,. l
8 means OF analogous calculations. Burmeist,
q reached the conclusion that ~ 00O years hay
"a elapsed since the first appearance OF man upc
10 the soil OF Egypt and in u similar way Drap
~ was led to attribute to the Europea
10 man who witnessed the last glaci
W epoch an antiquity OF moro than 25O.0
Is years Another geologist maintains tn
,r man has not inhabited the earth for mo
l. than 100 900 years. while still another Of his
u authority thinks that 10. 900 900 years would
ID nearer the proper estimate. Foregoing. MS
At have said. any attempt to define in figures tn
- which Is thus far incnlculable Prof. Jolly h.
l. recourse to wagner but equally strikiI
s. illustrations Of the vast tract OF time spann,
h by the qusternary epoch. by pointing out
nt detail some OF the geographical changes viii,
have undoubtedly been witnessed by ma
v Thus. from the country now known as Picard
A the ancient inhabitant Of Abbeville or Amie
o. could pass into Great Britain without crossiI
NJ the Channel The British Isles were united
rl