The river press., 1886-11-24

to have enabled this animal LO#nOb oHlye
master his fellow animals but-to rule ma
ture itself. The distance is wide apart
between this animal with head like
block and the civilization of Egypt, Baby
lon, Greece or Rome.
How much wider between this animal,
without rational intelligence, and tne
| modern scientist, who, having eaten OF the
! tree OF Knowledge, can weigh the stars ana
| predict their courses can girdle the world
wi1hseeetrcty and make out Of fire and
water beast of burden?
! Until of late years, the Biblical account
of the origin of man and of his appearance
5000 years ago was generally accepted by
Jews. Christians and Mohammedans but
at the present time such childish legends
! are relegated, along with their compeers,
/ the mythologies of Egypt, Greece and
Rome, to the limbus for exploded beliefs.
4 Geology has made it manifest that our
!, earth must have been the seat of vegetable
i and animal life for such an immense peri
u cd. that to our finite minds it appears al
most an eternity. This evidence carries
back the existence of man@lnto what is
called the Quaternary period. That this
i indicates an immense antiquity may Oe
u ludged in variety OF ways. AZ St.
, Acheul flint hatches were found IN gravel
bed. which bed is covered with IL feet OF
: sand and mari, capped by layer OF SOIL
i which is shown by graves OF the Gala
: Roman period to have been hardly altered
during the last i 800 years. Again, stone
weapons have been found in the same de-
. post with the bones of Quaternary ami
f ffmals. Human implements have been
$ found in the drift beds of the Thames and
g Somme The drift beds are often 200 feet
e Or more above the present flood levels. In
S a cave Of France, mammoth tusk was
! found. on which was sketehed a drawing
t of the hairy animal by his contemporary,
!, Quarternary man.
0 We may dismiss the Chinese with their
L history of 2 ,269,3 years, but we must adj
g nit that 5000 years ago Egypt already
{ stood at a high state of civilization, which
E must have required an immense period OF
d time Tor It's requirement.
a There was popular delusion that the
a nature Of a savage was one OF uncorrupsed
Innocence and nobility, but ignorance is
4 not virtue, and everything tends to prove
a that primal man was without a sense OF
t right or wrong and had to evolve moral
E sense by a long process. Murder, ROD
t bes i, rape and arson, instead of being re-
n garIed as crimes by savage man, are more
o nlsssally gloried in as the proofs of his SUI
g periority.
s Man was probably much alike at first
Z but owing to difference in climate, food,
e competition with other men, or wild AMI
mails, developed into different races. This
= will account for difference in color Of
e skin, of hair and feature, and stature.
: Groups isolated from each other for long
i, periods, would, in course of time, deyel-
n ope a new type of feature, of complexion
/. or hair. A slight set in one direction Of
S any OF these characters would tend to IN
E tensifY itself and SO new races would
# be formed. In the same way moral and
!, intellectual qualities would be developed
y in different groups Of men.
As in the accumulation of wealth, tits
J the first start that is the most difficult, so
!: were the first steps of progress to the
Y primal man. Mr.. Wallace, in his ssNatu-
IS raj Selection says: "From the moment
g when the first skin was used AS q cover
y ING, when the first rude spear was formed
n to assist in the chase, when fire was first
= used to cook his food, when the first seed
it was sown or shoot planted, grand reyo-
l. Tuition was effected in nature, a arevolntion
d which in all the previous ages Of the
e earth's history had had no parallel; for a
n being had arisen who was no longer
r necessarily subject to change with the
N changing universe
7e No requirement Of man has assisted
n him in his progress more than the acquisi-
a ton OF language. Not long ago, the ori-
le gin Of the different languages was ex-
st planned by the dispersion at the building
n of the Tower of Babel, an explanation
D. which shows how recently man has really
n commenced to use his reason. Man is
le naturally social and the desire for eommu-
i nication, with his fellows, was the impel-
& ling motive to the production Of Ian
y guage, justsas arts and industries have
grown out of mans efforts to get enough
e to eat, and to protect himself from heat
y and cold. d
II The first attempt at communication
y probably took tile form Of gesture, and
o there are spoken languages to-day whose
y resources fall short Of the gesture signs Of
le our own Indians. Then there are natural
) tones indicating feeling, as there are natu-
a raj gestures. If we hear cry of joy or a