GENERAL VIEWS ON ARCHEOLOGY. 285 



soil, much as we find the organic remains of former creations entombed 

 in the strata composing the crust of the globe. The antiquities enact 

 here a similar part to that of the fossils ; and if Cuvier calls the geolor ' 

 gist an antiquarian of a new order, we can reverse that remarkable 

 saying, and consider the antiquarian as a geologist, applying his ' 

 method to reconstruct the first ages of mankind previous to all recol- 

 lection, and to work out what may be termed pre-historical history. 

 This is Archaeology pure and proper. But Archaeology cannot be con- 

 sidered as coming to a full stop with the first beginning of history, for 

 the further we go back in our historical researches, the more incom- 

 plete they become, leaving gaps which the study of material remains, 

 helps to fill up. Archaeology, therefore, pursues its course in a par- 

 allel line with that of history, and henceforth the two sciences mutu-r 

 ally enlighten each other. But with the progress of history the part\ 

 taken by Archseology goes on decreasing, until the invention of print-) 

 ing almost brings to a close the researches of the antiquarian. 



To pursue geological investigations, we must first examine the pres- 

 ent state of our planet, and observe its changes — that is, we must 

 begin by physical geology. This supplies us with a thread of induc- 

 tion to guide us safely in our -rambles through the past ages of our 

 earth, as Lyell has so admirably set forth; for the' laws which govern 

 organic creation and the inorganic world are as invariable as the re- 

 sults of their combinations and permutations are infinitely varied, 

 science revealing to us everywhere the perfect stability of causes with 

 the diversity of forms. 



So, to understand the past ages of our species, we must first begin 

 by examining its present state, following man wherever he has crossed 

 the waters and set his foot upon dry land. The different nations 

 which at present inhabit our earth must be studied with respect to 

 their industry, their habits, and their general mode of life.- We thus 

 make ourselves acquainted with the different degrees of civilization, 

 ranging from the highest summit of modern development to the most 

 abject state, hardly surpassing that of the brute. By that means 

 Ethnology supplies us with what may be c*alled a contemporaneous 

 scale of development, the stages of which are more or less fixed and 

 invariable ; whilst Archaeology traces a scale of successive develop- 

 ment, with one movable stage passing gradually along the whole 

 line. 1 



Ethnography is, consequently, to Archaeology what physical geog- 

 raphy is to geology, namely : a thread of induction in the labyrinth of 

 the past, and a starting point in those comparative researches of which 

 the end is the knowledge of mankind, and its development through 

 successive generations. 



In following out the principles above laid down, the Scandinavian 

 savants have succeeded in unraveling the leading features in the pro- 

 gress of pre-historical European civilization, and in distinguishing 



1 Some naturalists see a correspondence of the same sort between embryology and com- 

 parative anatomy, for they consider the human embryo as passing during its development 

 through the diiferent stages of the scale of animal creation, or, at least, as passing through 

 the different states of the embryos of the different stages of that scale. 



