MENTAL EVOLUTION OF MAN 229 



evolution also. The earliest cavemen of Europe left 

 crude drawings of reindeer and bears and wild oxen 

 scratched upon bits of ivory or upon the stone walls of 

 their shelters ; the painting and sculpture of early his- 

 toric Europe were more advanced, but they were far 

 from being what Greece and Rome produced in later 

 centuries. Indeed, the evolution of Greek sculpture 

 carried this higher art to a point that is generally con- 

 ceded to be far beyond that attained by even our 

 modern sculptors, just as flying reptiles of the Chalk 

 Age developed wings and learned to fly long before 

 birds and bats came into existence. 



In the field of music, the earliest stages can be sur- 

 mised only by a study of the actual songs and instru- 

 ments of primitive peoples now living in wild places. 

 No doubt the song began as a recitation by a savage 

 of the events of a battle or a journey in which he had 

 participated. In giving such a description he lives 

 his battles again, and his simulated moods and pas- 

 sions alter his voice so that the spoken history becomes 

 a chant. From this to the choral and oratorio is not 

 very far. 



Musical instruments seem to have had a multiple 

 origin. The ram's horn of the early Briton and the 

 perforated conch-shell of the South Sea Islander are 

 natural trumpets ; when they were copied in brass and 

 other metals they evolved rapidly to become the varied 

 wind instruments typified to-day by the cornet and 

 the tuba. In the same way the reed of the Greek 

 shepherd is the ancestor of the flute and clarionet. 

 Stringed instruments like the guitar, zither, and violin 

 form another class which begins with the bow and its 



