l>KIMrnVE INDUSTRY.* 



By Thomas Wilson, LL. D. 



Tlic iiiodorn signification of ]iriniitive industry is the art work of 

 ]iriiiiiti\(' man, and as sucli is a test of liis civilization. As we know 

 of tlie earliest man only by his industries, it is Justifiable undei' this 

 head to consider man in tlie hij.;liest antiquity. The origin of man 

 and his first known appearance upon earth have always been interest- 

 ing subjects an<l have attracted the attention of all men throughcmt 

 all time. It is mysterious, nnknown ; it awakens curiosity; it excites 

 that portion of man's nature which desires to trace things to their 

 origin, and to find a rational and satisfactory exi)lanation of the cause, 

 and manner of man's appearing. It has been studied from various 

 points; by biology, by paLneontology, linguistics, history, i)sycho-phys- 

 ics, and by archaeology. There are vaiious branches of science by 

 which the history of man can be studied, but they are all modern. 

 The ancuMits knew nothing relating to the antiquity of man. 



Until the times of Copciuicus and (rallileo it was believed that the 

 earth was the center of tlie solar system, and that the sun, moon, and 

 stars revolved around it. Until the time of Michael Angelo, and Ber 

 nard Pallissy, fossil shells found in the earth were believed to be the 

 fragments of stars fallen fnmi the heavens. One hundred and fifty or 

 two hundred years ago the science of geology commenced to be studied, 

 and the formation of the earth, with its i)roper place in the solar 

 system, began to be understood. At the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century it was an accepted theory that man's appearance upon eartli 

 dated only about six thousand years ago. This theory was accepted 

 for want of any better; those who rejected it did so a priori, and not 

 because they had another or Juster theory to propose. In the (nirly 

 ])ait of this century, the (iovernmeiit of Denmark organized a commis- 

 sion, comi)osed of a geologist, a zoologist, and an arelneologist, charged 

 with the duty of investigating that country on the lines of their 

 lespective sciences, in the course of which they came upon the art 

 Avorks of primitive man. They i)ursued their investigations foi' nigh 

 thirty years before the first publication was made, which resulted, 



' A Siitunlay lofture delivered in the lecture hall of the V. S. National Mnsenni, 

 luultr the aiisjiicfs of tin- Anthropoloi'ic al Sociiity of Wasliingtoii. 



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