The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-12-12
THE EARLY TRACES OF NAN
EVIDENCE or HUMAN EXISTENCE IN
THE REMOTE PAST.


Men and the scave-aTen ~ what
science Teaehes-The Eskims..
The historian who depends upon his
torial or manuscript testimony for his
factseaI go back at the most but few
hundred years into history.
Events two thousand years before the
1 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 faet no connected history of such
remote times can be written Vast in
tervals are left entirely barren Of re-
corded events, and so only fraglnentary
account at best can be written ef these
eartyepochs.
But the geologist begins where the
historian leaves off. Modern geology,
by the records imperiahab1y preserved in
the very rocks Of the earth itself. tells
us that the world has existed for an in.
calculable period of time.
II 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 aud
cloud forms, then hardened into nebula.
and then into vast molten stars like our
sun.
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 must 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
Tor even the lowest forms OF life.
Sir William Thompson believes that
the crust of the earth has existed in the
solid state for 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 historian. s
limit of Investigations which cannot ex-
coed four thousand years, they are us the
planet compared with grain of sand
1t is probable that it cannot be deter
mined within Hundred million Of years
VIXEN life first appeared upon this planet.
Geoiogisss are fairly well agreed. how.
ever, thatit appeared not more than two
hundred million yeats ago, and not less
thar one lur,lred millions.
At first aniHiai life upon this planet
wa8of the very simplest forms. SO SIM
pie. indeed. that 1t IS hard for biologists
to distinguish it from vegetable life.
'fi-iIea came noifusks and cr,tstaceans,
and tl.en Iishes and insects. Next came
frogs, reptiles, and afteg that birds
Later still, lnammals animals which
suc,-ls fher YOUNG cime upon the
esrth; srdfin8tiy MN l.i.nse.f made his
#it)pa;srance.
II c.nnot Ee definitely ascsrt lined
when man frst arrived Put it was
i.robabs5 not much over eighty thousand
years age.
Tie first men Of whom fossil remains
testify we're call the Z. River Drift z
men. for the teasop THAT The evidences Of
their existence are found Ill the drift OF
rivers.
These were succeeded by what Isl
known to geoiosists as the Cave-nen.
These early races Of men were exceed
ingly low in stage Of development.
They used ouly stone implements, which
were roughly Clipped and awkwarGly
shaped for the purposes for which they
were designed:
These implements, according TO Mr..
Dawlsins. consist Of the take; the
chopper or pebble roughly Clipped to an
edge on one siae: the hdcbe or oval
pointed implement, intended for use
without handle an oval or rounded
form with cutting edge all round.
which may have been used in handle
4 scraper for preparing skins, and
pointed hints used for boring
The early men had no poetry Of any
kind. snd no domestic animals. They
did not till the ground, and probably
maintained an existence by, hunting.
For sor.e 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 E1otut:orist--a very entertaining
and charming hook, by the way
. & Among unciyilized races of men now
living there are none which possess this
remarkable artistic talent (which was
possessed by Cave menl save the Els
klrnos; and in this respect there is com.
plete similarity between the Eskilnos
and the Cave men.
/ But this is by no means the only
point Of agreement between the Eskimos
and the C;ive-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 Eskimos 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