Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-06-15

Only 10000.
How old is man on earth : The
question came up for discussion
among members of the National
Academy of Sciences here last week,
because a revolution has recently
taken place in Tho scientific theos5
ON this subject. In fact, the belief
held hitherto has been turned up
side down, the best evidences now
at hand going to show that the
speaking and fire-using animal clas-
sified by Linnaeus as Homo sapiens,
may not have lived more than 20,-
900 years ago, and probably did not
exist $4,000 years b. C.
The glaciers are appealed to for
testimony on this subject. 1t is
reckoned that the first ice invasion
of the Pleistocene, which spread
a frozen sheet over this continent
as far south as New York city, oc-
CURED about 100000 years ago.
subsequently there were animals in
NorthAmerica wholly different from
any that are found here now. The
mammoth and mastodon roamed
through the forests in herds. There
were camels, elks of enormous size,
musk oxsn and giant beavers, six
feet long. The ancient fauna has
entirely passed away; the strange
beasts mentioned are extinct spe-
cies. If, when they existed, man
had lived on the earth, the rocky
strata inclosing their fossil re-
mains would almost certainly yield
some human bones or relics. As a
matter of fact, none such have ever
been found thus associated.
On this continent human bones
and implements have only been
found associated with the remains
of modern animals, such as have ex-
listed here since the last icesheet was
withdrawn, 1000 or 8, 900 years ago.
But on looking across to the Old
world, evidence of different sort
is discovered, pointing to the same
direction. The Valley of the Nile
was one of the earliest regions on
the earth to be inhabited by man.
Every year the flood of that river
leaves a thin deposit of mud cover
ing the land. By digging a hole in
the ground the successive annual
overfows can be clearly traced back
for century after century by the
layers superimposed one upon the
other. Thus, at depth of 1000
layers is the surface level of 1000
years ago. Now, excavations made
at great expense for scientific pur-
poses have not disclosed any human
relics at a greater depth than fifteen
thousand layers, or years. Below
that point the strata are barren.
Until recently it has been sup
posed that the people in the stone
age devoted infinite labor to the
production of their implements. A
stone ak was imagined to be the re-
suit of the toll of generations? If
a man began to make such a tool
in early youth and lived to see it
finished by his grandson he might
die happy. This notion is now ex-
ploded. Not long ago j. ID. Nc
Guire set up little workshop in
the National Museum, and proceed
ed to manufacture primitive tools
of flint and other kinds of stone
with no other means than such as
the earliest sayages had at hand.
He proved that he could turn out
a first-rate stone ak in two hours,
though he might have done better
if he had had as much practice as
the tool-makers of the Stone Age.
The latter did not pick up frag-
ments of rock at random for their
purposes. They selected from the
nearest stream pebbles which were
not far from the shape they wanted,
and pecked at each one with another
pebble until it assumed the required
contour, finally grinding the edge
on a piece of sandstone, if desired,
and perhaps contributing a final
polish by rubbing with sand and
water.
The scientists holding the belief
that man is very ancient animal
on the earth have referred for eyi
dence to the numerous caves in
Southern Europe and elsewhere