INFLUENCE OF GEOLOGICAL CHANGES ON xMAN. 135 



already laid before the reader, in reference to other coimtries. In pursuance 

 of this plan, we may next proceed to consider the region adjacent to the 

 Mediterranean, and especially that which borders this great inland sea on 

 the east and south. And we have to do, in this division of our investigation, 

 with a territory still more interesting, in its connection with the world's 

 history, than that to which our attention has been previously directed. 

 HiiJ-h Asia is looked upon by many as the cradle of the human race ; and it 

 is there that recent geological changes might be supposed to have connected 

 themselves most intimately with the history of the intellectual development 

 of mankind. And it is indeed possible that here we might have the most 

 interesting co-ordination of geological and historical events, if only the rec- 

 ords of the latter were not so deficient. The migrations of nations from the 

 heart of Asia toward the West are involved in obscurity ; and, in fact, all 

 that relates to the earliest history of mankind, throughout the world, is 

 almost an entire blank. That, however, the human race has been the wit- 

 ness of great geological changes can no longer be doubted ; but beyond a 

 few of the simplest implements used by man during long ages of his earliest 

 stage of development w'e have nothing to throw light on his social condition ; 

 and in regard to his migrations, through the long lapse of prehistoric 

 acres, we are still more in the dark. That such migrations did take place, 

 however, and on an extensive scale, seems indicated by facts which, although 

 fragmentary and imperfect, are clearlv of importance. If such has been the 

 case, then it is reasonable to presume that these wanderings of the prehis- 

 toric peoples were largely originated and directed by pln'sical causes. In 

 other words, the movements of the human race have been, and especially in 

 the earlier stages of its existence, from regions presenting less favorable 

 conditions towards those more highly favored in this respect.* 



There can be no doubt that if we had an exact account of all that has 

 transpired on the borders of High Asia since the human i-ace began its exist- 

 ence in those regions, it would be equivalent to having a Hood of light 

 thrown upon what is now almost totally in obscurity, namely, the intel- 

 lectual development of man as affected by external physical conditions. 

 At present the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean present the most 

 favorable field for investigations of this kind, because here the historical 

 records are most complete. Not only are they the most complete, but they 



* "The progress of human generations is shaped by the physical circumstances in which they live." J. W. 

 Draper, in "Thoughts on tlie Future Civil Policy of America." New York, 1865, p. 66. 



