The substance of this is taken from an essay on "The Early History of Man" (N. Am. Rev., July, 1869), in which the author is trying to prove that monogamy was not practiced by primitive man. Epics, founded on tradition, are not the most reliable of authorities in grave questions of fact. We, none of us, believe in these days that Jupiter kept house on Mount Olympus, or kicked Vulcan out of Heaven, or suspended the ox-eyed Juno from its battlements with a golden chain. We do not even believe that a race of Amazons ever existed who cut off their right breasts to enable them to draw the bow in battle with greater efficiency.

According to the Vedic traditions these poly. andric connections were not only exceptional cases, but contrary to law; and, so far as they furnish any proof, it is in favor of the general practice of monogamy among the Vedic races.

The general conclusions are: That primitive man, of all races, was monogamous; that promiscuous intercourse never existed to any considerable extent, and never without a rapid deterioration and probable extinction of the tribe; that polygamy has been a lapse from monogamy, growing out of the licentiousness of ruling men; and that in countries where it has become established it has retarded population and produced more or less degradation.

CHAPTER VIII.

ANTIQUITY OF MAN.

The Old Idea. First traces of Man in the Pliocene. The Pre-historic Ages. Ancient Literature. Brain and mental capacity of primitive Man. John Fiske on the Evolution of Brain and Mind. Primitive man uncivilized, but not inferior. General Conclusions.

The antiquity of primitive man, his cerebral development and mental capacity, and whether he was civilized or savage or in a state of uncivilized simplicity are points, which have a material bearing upon the question of his evolution.

The old idea still lingering in the minds of many is that the first man, Adam, was created about 6,000 years ago, at the highest point of civilization; and that all the barbarism and savagery found to exist are but cases of degeneracy. The writer of the article "Adam" (Ency. Britt. p. 121, 8th Ed.), says:

"It is evident upon a little reflection, and the closest investigation confirms the conclusion, that the first human pair must have been created equivalent to that to which all subsequent human beings have had to reach by slow degrees in

the instruction of others; that in a state of prime maturity, and with an infusion, concreation, or whatever we may call it, of knowledge and habit, both physical and intellectual, suitable to the place which man had to occupy in the system of creation, and adequate to his necessities in that place."

That is to say, the first man, by the mere fact of his creation, was profoundly versed in all the arts and sciences. He knew how to construct and put into operation railroads, steamboats and telegraphs-could rival Phidias in sculpture-Michael Angelo in painting-Milton in Poetry-Webster in oratory, &c. But this does not seem to have been the extent of his intuitive qualifications. He was not only master of all the artistic and scientific results of modern times; but of all the improvements and discoveries that will be made in all coming time—such we may be permitted to suppose as examining the fauna and flora of the plannets through improved telescopes-the navigation of the air--the concoction of the veritable elixir vita-the manufacture of genuine diamonds-and so on ad infinitum. If such indeed were his qualifications, if he knew all, and more than all his posterity have grasped by slow processes, the student of modern science may well be amazed at the extent of the cataclysm which could so completely obliterate every trace of his works. Science, however, is dealing sharply with old beliefs;

so far in the ages of the past as to be beyond the reach of definite calculation.

Traces of the existence of man are found in the Post Pliocene; and the evidence consists of the rude flint knives and stone hatchets, discovered mostly in the river drift gravel in France and England. These implements are found in connection with the bones of certain extinct mammalia of which the mammoth, wooly-haired rhinoceros and cave bear, are the most common. This was the "Earlier Stone Age," so called.* From this there was an advance to the "Second Stone Age," exhibiting the same implements greatly improved in being ground to a smooth surface and cutting edge, in place of the rough chipping of the former period, found in the lower level drifts of the valley of the Somme, and similar drifts in other localities.

There is also found a greater variety of manufactured articles, such as axes, wedges, chisels, poniards, hammers, etc.

The next advance was to the age of bronze in which the metal was used for arms and cutting instruments of all kinds. To this succeeded the age of iron, in which man became acquainted with that metal, forming the last pre-historic epoch. These ages, so called, are not sharply defined but glide into each other, the use of the ruder instruments being gradually discontinued, after the invention of superior ones, as at the present day.

*There are evidences of the existence of the stone age in Egypt,

the instruction of others; that in a state of prime maturity, and with an infusion, concreation, or whatever we may call it, of knowledge and habit, both physical and intellectual, suitable to the place which man had to occupy in the system of creation, and adequate to his necessities in that place."

That is to say, the first man, by the mere fact of his creation, was profoundly versed in all the arts and sciences. He knew how to construct and put into operation railroads, steamboats and telegraphs-— could rival Phidias in sculpture-Michael Angelo in painting-Milton in Poetry-Webster in oratory, &c. But this does not seem to have been the extent of his intuitive qualifications. He was not only master of all the artistic and scientific results of modern times; but of all the improvements and discoveries that will be made in all coming time—such we may be permitted to suppose as examining the fauna and flora of the plannets through improved telescopes-the navigation of the air--the concoction of the veritable elixir vita-the manufacture of genuine diamonds--and so on ad infinitum. If such indeed were his qualifications, if he knew all, and more than all his posterity have grasped by slow processes, the student of modern science may well be amazed at the extent of the cataclysm which could so completely obliterate every trace of his works. Science, however, is dealing sharply with old beliefs;