1868.1 431 f^*"^^- 



lot "the first great stage of civilization,"* is one of those curi- 

 ous facts that elicits surprise, aud rivets the attention of all 

 who are engaged in archaeological researches. 



I take occasion here, most emphatically to disclaim an}- ad- 

 hesion to, or countenance of what I must designate as the ab- 

 surd theor}^, of the original growth of our race from a state of 

 barbarism to one of civilization and refinement. This notion 

 has its basis in the theory of development, which is as illogical 

 as it is impious. 



The primeval state of man was glorious and beautiful, cre- 

 ated in the image of his Maker; his decadence has dated 

 from the time that the race was scattered over all the earth ; 

 and the further it departed from its original purity, the lower 

 it descended in the scale, until some portions of it were little 

 above the beasts that perish, lower it is evident, than that 

 condition characterized as the stone age. The spark of man's 

 divine origin has never been entirely extinguished, and whei'- 

 ever, or whenever that spark has kindled into flame, the condi- 

 tion has been one of progress. May we not hope that it is now 

 an upward one, in purity and truth, as it certainly is in knowl- 

 edge and skill. 



Whether the practice of the art under consideration, existed 

 during that period, when the rudest works of man found in the 

 drift of Europe were made, is yet to be demonstrated, certain 

 it is, however, that it accompanies the stone age throughout 

 nearly all time and in all places. It is characterized by forms, 

 marks, and other peculiarities, which, although they difler in 

 some respects, yet, through the whole, there run veins of simi- 

 larity that are unmistakable and truly wonderful, when we re- 

 flect that continents are embraced in the geographical limits, 

 and not only centuries, but decades of centuries in the measure 

 of time, over which these facts are spread. 



It is not my purpose to attempt a full illustration of the sub- 

 ject, that has been so well done by zealous observers, f and all 

 the circumstances have been so fully selected aud enumerated, 

 that there is little left for those who follow, but I desire to con- 

 firm the facts as far as the specimens in my cabinet are in evi- 



* Professor A. Morlot, of Berne, Switzerland. 



f Messrs. Squier & Davis, Charles Kau, Catlin, and others. 



