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WHEN 1)11) ADAM MVKV
Vol. VII
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I f 11'
pestilence could have prevented the over
peopling of the world ages ago. Man, from
the assistance of liis suporior intelligence,
is not subject to extensive diminution of
his numbers by the lower animals.
Again, man has a natural tendency to
ward civilization. Of the meaning of this
term, we all have an intuitive idea, though
writers are not agreed as to its exact def
inition. It is sulllcicnt for our purpose
if wo define it as an active working prin
ciplc, innate in man, and leading him to
find and adopt that which promises to im
prove his condition. This progressive
principle sepcrates him radically from the
brute creation, and prevents him from re
maining entirely stationary, If tlie ex
trcmoagoof the world be admitted, we
should expect to find extensive remains of
vary early civilization. Bill this, as we
Sit nl 1 mention further on, does not appear.
Philologists claim that language is at first
monosyllabic, then by development to
reach a highly iuHcctcd state, and finally
through phonetic decay and loss of inflec
tion, to retrograde to simpler forms. The
Greek language was highly inllccted; the
Sanscrit still more so; yet both these be
long to historic times. All the phases
therefore, which language assumes, do
not require an extremely long poriod for
their development.
The considerations wo have thus far ad
duced go to show that the race is com par
atlvoly young compared with the vast
length of geological time. They have
little weight, however, if the arguments
which are brought forward in opposition
can be shown to contradict them. The
other side of the question, therefore, now
demands our attention.
Archaeology, appealing to geology for
a support, oilers arguments in support of
the claim for a groat age to.tho race. But
if this claim bo admitted, civilizations
must have flourished in extremely remote
times, and have loft many traces of their
existence. But this is not so evident, a
poriod of n few thousand years boing suf.
flciont to account for the ago of all that
if 1 H&
i; 1
. sm S m i HilWBriiiiMl I i MUff h i 1IW
arc known, and wc may well doubltho al.
leged antiquity of a few relics that have
been found here and there.
Thus, remains of human industry are
occassionally found at considerable depths
in alluvial strata. One naturalist has found
such a relic in rocks of the Miocene epoch
and confidently asserts that its ago, and
of course that of the race, is to be reck,
oned by millions of years. Now the pres
ence of these may often bo due to purely
accidental causes. This is indeed known
to be the case in some instances, and
when true, proves little as to their antiq
uity. Yet even when geological causes
have been the agency, the lest is uncer
tain and unicliablc. The operations of
such causes, though, as a rule slow, are
yet subject to many exceptions, and eigh
ty feet, for instance, of superincumbent
strata may as often indicate a moderate
age for a relic as an immense one. Coins
of the age of Edward IV of England have
been tound in the valley of the Dee of
that country at a depth of ten feet, proving
an antiquity of but little more than two
centuries at the farthest. In other cases
twenty conturics have been claimed for
the age of alike deposit, thus showing, in
the absence of positive data, how little we
know of geological lime.
Sketches of extinct or extirpated ani
mals do not necessarily possess a high an
tiquity, but only show that animals once
common in certain localities have,
through t lie agency of man disappeared.
Some European writers speak much
of the Ages of " Stone" and " Bronze", and
assign them to determinate periods of
time in the distant past. The same is
said of the lake dwellings of Switzerland
and the British Islands- These, which
are now generally under water, consist
ed of scaffolds of wooden beams, support
ed by piles driven into the beds of tho
lakes. The lake dwellings of Ireland
continued in some cases to bo occupied
within the historic era. As wo know very
little or northern Europe before the time
of Ciysar, it is unnecessary to go much
