New-York tribune., 1902-05-21


30 others more, obvious in these days of special
ization, than il was in another period. But Mr
Bryce and the editor. DR. Helmolt show plaus
ible reasons for il. reasons which viii not be
without their appeal to the modern understand
ing Of history. The last seventy or eighty years
have seen vast increase in the materials at
the historians disposal. especially to times
hitherto called prehistoric. There has been a
notable Improvement i'm the critical methods Of
handling historical material. Geograp phical eX-
ploration has increased our knowledge of the
globe and of the more backward and remote
peoples. For the first ume, Mr.. Bryce points
out. through the improvements in means Of
transit and communication. the human has
begun TO feel itself one.
A universal history must utilize all these new
instruments if it is 10 justify itself. II has to
deal not only with great nations. but also with
small; not only with civilized but with bar
barous peoples; not only with times of progress.
but with periods Of apparent stagnatiOn. IT
must display the relation which each part bears
to the Others and fit each into the narrative.
The familiar plan of dealing with the annals of
each race and nation distinct entity has
been followed in this work. Mr. Bryce. however.
points out special line which shall give prom-
nence to some one Leading idea or principle:
Such line point of view has been found
for the present work in the relation of Man to
his physical environment; that is to say. to the
rounded HIM and always must surround him:
conditions whose power and influence he has
felt since he appeared upon the globe This
point of view is more comprehensive than any
DTe Of those above enumerated. Physical
vironTnent has told upon each and every one Of
the lines o. human activity already enumerated
than could he taken to form central line for
the writing Of a history Of mankind. 1t has
Influenced not only political institutions and eco
nomic phenomena. but also religion and social
Institutions and art and inventions
The plan of the present history provides for
eight volumes-and if they all of the generous
size Of the first; they give space ample to the
needs of the writers. This first deals with mans
early history on the earth with America and
with the Pacific Ocean: the following
TO be apportoned thus: II Oceanca Eastern
Asia. the Indian Ocean; III, Western Asia,
Africa: ", the Mediterranean Nations; V,
Southeastern Europe, the Savs; VI, Germans
and Romans; VII, Western Europe till 1900;
VIII Western Europe in the Nineteenth Cen
tury. the Atlantic Ocean. We need not be de-
tained long over the characteristically German
essays by DR.. HelmOlt, the editor. the idea
of universal history Professor Kohler on the
first principles of such a history. and Friedrich
Ratzel Man a Life Phenomenon the
Earth Professor Johannes Ranke begins the
real business in hand with his monograph on
Prehistoric Times" summing up the present
state Of knowledge in regard 10 primitive
The Oldest traces of him are found in the strata
of the Drift epoch and these have been known
only since the middle of this century. He de-
scribes them with specialists skill and insight
and thus gives a starting point for human
history:
The strata of human culture form an uninter-
rupted series from the neolithc epoch up to the
present day. and are in ideal connection over
the whole earth But nowhere in the world is
the succession quite undisturbed; no point
the earth's surface shows all the strata of the
development Of civilization following one upon
The GIner unlnteTfupteQlE. In lands of the old
est civilization continuous series of undis-
turbed strata is follow ID by a point Of time from
which the movement of civilization is trans
ferTed TO other places
The prehistoric survey is brought to an end
with description of Troy-the one place hith-
erto found and completely investigated, after
the method Of archaeological research, with the
help of archaeological and historical science,
where evidences have been found Of a progress
sive development Of culture from the end of the
Stone Age down TO the brilliant days Of Greco
Roman history" With the next division of the
book an entirely new chapter in history is
opened-the history of America. which is writ
ten by Professor Konrad Hoebler. His treat
ment is characteristic Of the entire work. He
considers the primitive races the civilization Of
Central and South America, the discovery and
conquest by the Spaniards. the Spanish and
English colonial systems the development of
the United States, and the struggle for inde-
pendeace and subsequent course of events in
the Southern Continent The four hundred
pages devoted TO this history give admirable
summary. II begins at the beginning with a
consideration Of the origin of the primitive peo-
pie Of the Americas. They must have come from
elsewhere, for no fossils of anthropod apes from
which men are derived have ever been found
here; as to whether they came during periods in
which the distribution of land and water
different from what II is now, geology may be
able to give the answer At all events. the de-
velopment of the aboriginal American from the
time Of the mammoth TO the coming Of Colum-
bus continuous. and not Influenced from
without; and the dispute as 10 Aryan or Semitic
influences may be given up idle.
We have clear and consistent presentation
Of the knowledge and theories of the present
day concerning the civilization Of the various
Indian tribes of North America, the myth of
the mound builders, the almost unknown his
tory Of the South Americans. and the remark
able culture Of Central America, already highly
advanced at the date Of the earliest remains
known to us, and showing traces Of a grad
ual development
In South America the brief history of the
Incas' kingdom that rose upon the ruins of
other civilizations, and that lasted scarcely two
centuries, has received IL the past a dspropor-
tionate amount of attention. because at the mo-
ment OF the Spanish conquest the Incas hap
pened TO be the leading power. They were not
the exponents OF a particular nationality or Of
specially high civilization. but they imposed
their laws and customs upon a large area Of
country and made individual and extraordinary
advances But the Aztec and Inca civilizations
We're both in their decadence when the Span
iards came-a fact which explains the extraor-
binary and rapid success of Cortes and Pizarro
with their handful of adventurers