Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-09-16
FIRST HOME OF MAN.

The latest theory as TO the cradle Of
mankind. is that Of Professor schoeten-
sack OF Heidelberg. According 10
the New York Times, he stated his
ideas before the Berlin Anihropological
society, at n recent meeting. And his
conclusion is, that the first home Of
man must be looked for In Australia.
and neither in Asia nor America. The
garden of Eden has by conjecture been
placed in almost every region Of the
earth. including land within the Arctic
circle; which shows II anything, the
difficulty Of aseertaning by scientific
methods alone the place where man.
kind first dwet on this earth,
The professor thinks that II we ac-
cede that the orlgina Of mankind must
be sought in Australia, and also sup
pose that the aborlgines there are now
very nearly as they were In remote
ages, It IS easy to imagine what was
the spiritual status OF the first settlers
OF other continents. especially Europe,
They must have believed, he says, in
the Reconsideration Of souls as the Ro-
mans said the Druids did. especially Of
souls OF men into beasts and birds, and
also the origin OF families In certain
creatures and inanimate objects which
we roughly call totemism. Curious rock
formations and conspicuous trees were
not merely spirits. or the homes OF
spirits, but were capable of engendering
life in women who came near them, as
the Australians believe. Mortality con-
sisted OF adherence TO the complicated
laws and regulations laid and handed
down by the old men; wickedness was
the violation Of some tribal rule.
The hypothesis set forth, he points
out would help to explain the state
nfent Of Greek and Roman writers con-
corning the immoral acts allowed by
religion and custom to the Babylonians
and the old British, the cannlbalism re-
ported among ancient Soythian nations
and the judicial or ceremonial burnlngs
alive charged to the Druids. II would
also explain host Of eccentric stories
about the gods OF Greece and Italy. of
the Euphrates Valley and the Nile. 1t
would explain the "neyer-dying" fires
watched by yestal virgins as a dim
Renaissance Of the time when II was
not easy to engender fire. BY the ritu-
ais and traditions that cluster round
certain holy places, religions petrify
the habits and customs OF very remote
ancestors or earlier possessors of the
soil, II would explain the wolf-headed
Zeus, the horse-headed Artemis, the
owl-headed Palas Athene.
The conjecture as to the place Of orr.
gin is less important than the conclu.
sion that man, in the opinion OF the
professor, has a common origin, a fact
which some modern scientists have been
inclined to deny. One OF the arguments
OF Prof. Schoetensack, on this point,
Is this that the color OF infants Of all
races point to an original stock which
was reddish or chestnut in the colora-
ton of skin and hair. The professor
tells us that,
mot only are the children Of the
whites OF this hue when born, but so
are the children OF blacks IA Emin
Pasha. Wood and Schweinfurth have
testified When born the fSlbyles Of
North Africa and Kaflirs OF South Afri-
ca, are almost like European children
IN color. The time the babies of diff.
fercnt African atOcks take 20 reach the
color of their parents varies from few
days 10 several months. Primer Bey
not only noticed the similarity In color
between negro and white babies, but
says that the negroes hair when born
f. almost straight having only a slight
curl at the tip. Newborn babies Of In
uians and Eskimos are also very like
white babies. This means a primitive
race OF men who may have been vari-
able in certain directions, just as other
animals In the same country vary
somewhat but In the main were alike
in color aud general structure OF head,
torso and limbs
70 establish the unity Of the race on
scientific grounds, Is quite important
aud any real contribution to the discus
sion IL therefore welcome, 1t would
seem, though, that the color argument,
as here quoted, would point rather 20
America than to Australia, as the first
home Of man. That view Is also held