The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-12-23
THE EARLY TRACES OF MAN
EVIDENCE OF HUMAN EXISTENCE IN.
THE REMOTE PAST.
Some Speculations as to the First Peo-
pling Of the Earth-The River-DrIft
Men" and the " Cave-Men r-yyhat

pIing of the Earth-The " River-Drlf,
Men" and the " Cave-Men 's-What
Science Teaches--The Eslsimos.
The historian who depends upon his.
torial or manuscript testimony for his
facts can go back at the most but few
hundred years into history.
Events two thousand years before the
Christian era are recorded with great
brevity, and even these limited records
are so mixed with myth and tradition
that they cannot be relied upon with
any degree of certainty.
In fact no connected history Of such
remote times can be written. Vast in.
tervals are left entirely barren of re.
corded events, and so only fragmentary
account at best can be written of these
early epochs.
But the geologist begins where the
historian leaves off Modern geology.
by the records imperishably preserved in
the very rocks of the earth itself, tells
us that the world has existed for an in
calculable period Of time. -'
If the nebular hypothesis is accepted
as the true theory of the universe, this
world and all the planets and stars first
existed in the form of diffused gases
which gradually formed into mists and
cloud forms, then hardened into nebula,
! and then into vast molten stars like our
| sun. 49, > 80 ear
The sun, according to this theory, is
the mother of the planets, from which
they were hurled by the force of the
suns revolutions, and into which, in
the course of uncounted ages, they will
again fall ~.
The earth mast have remained in the
molten state for an inconceivable period
of time, and even after an outer crust
was formed unreasonable epochs must
have elapsed before this planet was ready
for even the lowest forms of life.
Sir WILLARD Thompson believes that
the crust of the earth has existed in the
solid state for a period not exceeding
four hundred million years. These are
easy figures to write, but it is utterly
impossible to conceive and appreciate
them. Compared with the historians
limit of investigations which cannot ex-
coed four thousand years, they are as the
planet compared with grain of sand
1t is probable that it cannot be deter
mined within hundred million of years
when life first appeared upon this planet.
Biologists are fairly well agreed, how
ever, that it appeared not more than two
hundred million years ago, and not less
than one hundred millions.
AT first animal life upon this planet
was of the very simplest FORMS so sim
pie, indeed that it is hard for biologists
to distinguish it from vegetable life.
Then came mollusks and crustaceans,
and then fishes and insects. Next came
frogs, reptiles, and after that birds
Later sill, mammals-animals which
suckle their young = came upon the
earth and finally man himself made HE
appearance.
1t cannot be definitely ascertained
when man first arrived. But it was
probably not much over eighty thousand
years ago.
The first men of whom fossil remains
testify were call the 'River Drift"
men, for the reason that the evidences of
their existence are found IN the drift of
rivers.
These were succeeded by what is
known to biologists as the Cave-men.
These early races of men were exceed
ingly low in stage of development
They used only stone implements, which
were roughly Clipped and awkwardly
shaped for the purposes for which they
were designed
These implements, according to Mr.
Dawkins, consist of the fake; the
chopper or pebble roughly Clipped to an
edge on one side; the hdche or oval
pointed implement, intended for use
without a handle; an oval or rounded
form with a cutting edge all round,
which may have been used in handle;
a scraper for preparing skins, and
pointed fiints used for boring
The early men had no poetry of any
kind and no domestic animals. They
did not till the ground, and probably
maintained an existence by hunting.
For some time it was thought that no
representatives of these old Cave-men
now existed upon the earth. But that
view has now been modified.
Says John Fiske in his Excursions Of
an Evolutionist-a very entertaining
and charming book, by the way
Among uncivilized races of men now
living there are none which possess this
remarkable artistic talent (which was
possessed by Cave-menl save the Els.
kimos; and in this respect there is COM
plete similarity between the Eskimos
and the Cave-men.
But this is by no means the only
point Of agreement between the Eskimos
ana the Cave-men. Between the sets OF
tools and weapons used by the one and
by the other the agreement is complete.
The stone spears and arrow heads, the
sewing needles and skin scrapers, used by
the Eshmos are exactly like the simple
implements found in the Pleistocene
caves of France and England. The neck
laces and amulets of cut teeth, and the
daggers made from antler show an equal
ly close correspondence The resent