New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-08-16
- u, =, rp,prNr TTEsDAY AUGUST s92-TWELvE PAGES


can only assert witoht warrant az Professor
Ietourneau has done in the work on properly
cited above, any prmitivism at the centres tnem.
selves ITO whatever distance we are enaoieo
by legend, history or archaeology, TO 1oiio" '"e
track of past ages says the distinguished
socioogist " we still find powerful semi-ciVni2eo
state on the banks of the Nile, apparently anu
here the reader is treated to the klnd OF s'u'i VI
which even q scientist is capable when NO cannoo
support his theories any other Wayne "o''
successful example Of the great monarchles ise"ne
directly from primitive savagery. Inc use VI
the word directly" in this case is pure guess
work, needless addition to the probable out oy
no means indisputable conjecture involved In the
nhrase primitive sayagery" remark made
by Moyle in his commentary on lmpera'or'o
Jusinsni Institutions deserves to be remembered
in all discussions of primitivism because 1t is the
language of common sense. Speaking OF the al
Tentative theories of a golden age and OF PHI
meval state Of warfare, he describes the ia''er
as mo less pure speculation than the lormer'
though it has the advantage OF support from many
words whose earliest meaning seems 10 nave peeh
drawn from conditions in which brute force was
the rule and not the exception among mankind
If"all myth Is MODERN" as Mr. Hunter-Duvar
SAYS il follows that whatever symbolism existed
must have ocen Of the narrowest most prosaic
kind. He denies with emphasis. and with eooo
reasonI that the people Of the stone age "or-
shipped idols or possessed any emblems OF the
supernatural Perhaps lie would question every
attempt to attribute religion to those ages In inc
sense understood in historic times. From this
conservative point of view it will easily be seen
that Mr.. Doughty by saying too much. has really
damage rather than helped the argument OF his
brief and interesting monograph on the evidences
which he has collected Of mans existence on the
Western Continent at the time when the so-called
drift was deposited ny the melting glaciers Ills
| evident partiality to the conjecture OF lgnatins
Donnely that the drift was n shower OF matter
from broken comet, prejudices his case ny SUD-
stituting an undated catastrophe for the orderly
working out Of the problem Of nature. IN winch
the due succession Of geological epochs can DC
| traced: and their time relations estimated with
more or less exactneSs. Besides, 1t involves an
exaggerated notion Of the antiquity OF Legends
like that Of Ragnarok. belonging to the Morse
valhalla system, which-to quote Vigfusson. the
most trustworthy of Iceandic schoars-wns sim
ply viking-faith, lasting some three genera
tions at most In which one can
clearly see the effect 1pon the Northman Of the
Roman civilization, the Christian religion! and
the CARING organization, with which he was
brought suddenly face 10 face" But this is not
the only needless addition to Mr.. Doughty's
theory for he has also gone out Of his WY to
talk about sphinxes and Januses, as IL the complex
IDEAS to which such figures related could have
been conceived by people whose art upon his own
showing is indescribably more clumsy than that
Of European cavc-dwellers. To point out these
defects however, is not to discredit Mr.. Doughty
real contribution to the argument for the an
tiquity Of man.
Prehistoric art is treated with moderation by
Mr.. Hunter Duvar. He refuses to credit primeval
man with any degree Of artistic taste. Inc
first STEP that Of portraying. by an effort OF the
Imagination, object not present to the eve, was
not surmounted In Europe, ut least, before the
use of iron tools The pictures ard carvings
found in French caverns distinctive that
he declares them to have been the work OF not
more than half dozen persons. His reason for
this opinion is one that most artists will accept.
AN experienced eye" he says will detect the
pecuiarities of style in the most rudimentary
sketch as readily as an expert docs the differences
in handwriting. Not more than half a dozen
styles can be detected in archaeological art
Tnds., as shown by published engravings
Nothing is therefore. more fallacious than to
attribute to the cave jewellers general taste for
art from these few specimens. As 10 we'll
known, there was no mysterious symbolism about
photograph could hardly be realistic
Professor Letourneau's system Of human de-
selopment through anarchic, republican and mon
archie stages is too beautifully regular TO be true,
except in cases here and there He bends every
thing to IT, In estimating the notions OF prop
erty Of which animals are capable, he lays him
self open to the charge Of importing into brute
psychology from the human mind whatever
| serves his purpose Aesop could hardly have
done more If he had not frankly adopted the de-
cicc of Citing ourfOoted, x-footed and winged
creatures with the speech Of man. In the case
Of savage man he has confused mere negative
condition, the absence Of the notion Of property,
with q socialism that never existed outside tho
mental organization Of some modern men Of learn
| ing. Out Of this purely negative state which he
transfers, with only meagre attempt at proof
to the beginnings Of civilization he causes b. rise
the common sympathies Of humanity When hc
reaches the domain Of history, however, he comes
on surer ground, and he has many forcible chap
| tes reviewing the property systems of Egypt, Of
| China, Of Greece, Rome and Of medieval and
modern States to support the proposition that
societies advance In strength so long they ac-
ccpt system of solidarity, that they languish and
decline through the excess Of individualsm.'
But IL never seems TO occur tO him that the high
est happiness Of the individual consists in his in
dividualsm, and that the present civilization and
all future civilizations can move only towards
one goal, the accommodation Of the whole to all
it's parts, not the compression Of the parts within
! q rigid system. While the modern man is will
! ing to die for his country, he is not willing TO
live its slave. The whole drift Of human eXpe-
rcncc is against solidarity like that of Sparta,
where society was everything. the individual
nothing. This fact must be considered with every
4 a.
Mankind should not let go Of the good they have
in striving for the good that is in store for them
! II Mr. Hunter-Duvar is right in attributing the
modern passion fer gambling to the primitive
man. it is obvious that strong argument is at
once raised against the theory that the notion Of