420 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



forms part of human culture aud civilization, and its extension and 

 distribution among men was accomplished in much the same manner 

 as Sir John Lubbock says of the geographical distribution of human 

 races, which, curiously enough, coincides with that of other animals. 

 "There can be no doubt," he says, "that he [man] crept over the earth's 

 surface little by little, year by year, just, for instance, as the weeds 

 of Europe are now gradually but surely creeping over the surface of 

 Australia." ' 



Out of this erroneous theory of the parallelism of human thought 

 has grown that other equally erroneous declaration of the absolute 

 uniformity in man's thoughts and actions, in his aims aud methods 

 while he is in the same degree of development, without regard to the 

 country or epoch in which he lived. And this theory has been pushed 

 until it has been said nothing but geographical environment seems to 

 modify the monotonous sameness of man's creations. The theory may 

 be applicable to certain peoples under certain conditions. But it surely 

 has its limitations and is not applicable to individuals. When stated 

 as a rule it does not take into consideration the will, energy, or reason- 

 ing powers of man. It leaves out his egoism and his desire for jDower, 

 improvement, and happiness, which lie at the very foundation of human 

 civilization. The progress of peoples through consecutive stages of 

 civilization is entirely compatible with the author's theory that knowl- 

 edge of specific objects, the uses of material things, the performance 

 of certain rites, the playing of certain games, the possession of certain 

 myths and traditions, the carrying on of certain industries, were trans- 

 mitted from one generation to the next, from father to son, mother to 

 daughter, teacher to ])upil, boss to apprentice, master to servant or 

 slave; that the future generations improved or were retarded accord- 

 ing to their conditions and surroundings, principally their needs, and 

 their relative intellectual faculties and powers of imitation, and that 

 this knowledge passed from one country to another chiefly by the 

 migration, contact, or communication between their j)eoples. The 

 knowledge of the same things by separated peoples, within reasonable 

 bounds of similarity, increased by comj)lication of machinery and the 

 difticulty of construction, may be treated as reasonable evidence of such 

 migration, contact, or communication. 



II. NEOLITHIC PERIOD. 

 Compared with Paleolithic. 



The Keolithic period was first discovered in western Europe, although 

 savages in that culture-status in other parts of the world had been 

 known long before. It, along with the Paleolithic period, is classed as 

 part of the Stone age because the principal cutting implements contin- 

 ued to be made of stone. There were radical differences between these 



1 Sir Jobu Lubbock: Prehistoric Times, pp. 587-601. 



