The Paducah evening sun., 1910-05-12

4
lns velocity has been constantly ac-
celebrating. so that the face Of the
world has changed, and is now
changing, as never before. IL IS
therefore fit and appropriate here
TO speak on this subject
First Progress Slow.
"When, in the slow progress of
the ages, man was developed on this
planet, the change worked by his
appearance was at first slight.
Further ages passed. while he crop
ed and struggled by inhnitesimal
degrees upward through the lower
grades of savagery; for the general
law is that life which Is advanced
and complex. whatever its nature.
changes more quickly than simpler
than less advanced forms. The life
of savages changes and advances
with extreme slowness. and groups
of savages influence one another
but little. The first rudimentary
beginnings of that complex life of
communities which we call civili-
zation marked period when man
had already long been by far the
most important creature on the
planet. The history of the living
world had become, In fact, the his
tory of man, and therefore some
thing totally different in kind as
we'll rs In degree from what II had
been before. There are interesting
analogies between what has gone
on in the development or life gem
orally and what has gone on In the
development of human society, and
these ] shall discuss elsewhere. Bat
the differences are profound. and go
to the root of things.
Throughout their early stages the
movements of civilization for. pro-
perly speaking. there was no one
moyement-were very slow, We're
local in space. and were partial In
the sense that each developed along
but few line. OF the numberless
years that covered these early
stages we have no record. They
were the years that saw such eN-
ltraOrdinarg discoveries and invcn.
tions as fire. and the wheel. and the
bow. and the dOmestication of
animals. SO local we're these In
yentions that at the present day
there yet linger savage tribes. still
fixed in the half-bestial life of an
infinitely remote past. who know
none OF them except fire-and the
discovery and use of fire may have
marked. not the beginning OF clvili-
zation, but the beginning OF the
savagery which separated man from
brute.
Even after civilization and cul-
ture had achieved a relatively high
position. they were still purely local,
and from this fact subject 90 violent
shocks. Modern research has
shown the existence in prehistoric
at least proto-historic. times OF
many achieved a high and peculiar
culture. a culture that was later "a
completely destroyed that IL Is dif
hcut to say what, n any traces Il
left on the subsequent cultures out
of which we have developed oui
own: while Il is also difficult e
say exactly how much any one oi
these cultures influenced any other
"The first civilization left behind
them clear records rose In thai
hoary historic past which geologic
ally is part OF the immediate pres
ent-and which Is but spans
length OF time that man has lived
, on this planet These first civil
cations were those which rose IL
Mesopotamia and the Nile VALLEY
some six or eight thousand years
ago. AS far as we can see. thel
were well-nlgh Independent centeri
! of cultural development. and oui
, knowledge Is not such az present a
to enable us TO connect either with
? the early cultural movements IN
southwestern Europe on the on'
hand. or IN India on the other. or