FROM PRIMITIX F TO MODERN MAN 757 



that of a c'onqiKTor. It was doubtless Ironi this positive scIl-fccling that there 

 arose most ol his more e\paiisi\e ideas whose imiltipheation easily led on 

 into the realm ol laney and brought hnn many illusional mterprt'tations 

 eoncerning the workings of nature. The>- also stimulated the beginnings of 

 religious beliel and ga\ e him his llrst ineenti\es for the establishment of 

 customs which mamlested themseKes in such complex ceremonial rites as 

 those connected witli burial and ])erhaps with sacrifice. 



In their remarkably e\hausti\e studies concernmg the mentality of 

 anthropoids, both Professor riiorndikc and Pn-fessor \ erkes were struck 

 by the great length of time which is necessary for one of these animals to 

 grasp a new idea. Tlu' apes in their capacit\ to learn seem vastl\ inferior to 

 men, although the learning process appears to be essentiall\ similar. There 

 can be no possible dis|)ute concerning this contrast as between modern man 

 and e\"en tlu' highest ajjcs. But in the retrospect, does it not seem clear that 

 ])rimiti\(.' man, in his slow e\(>King, reciuired an astoundmgly long time to 

 grasp a single new idea — great jjcriods of geological time, for example, to 

 learn how to protect liimsell from the wild beasts or to sharpt'n his Hint 

 implements? Indeed, are not his modern successors in a general way li\ing 

 up to this rt'putation lor the slow acquisition of really new ideas? 



Implements nj Mnushrian Wandeiihal Man. Mousterian industry in 

 Hint, however dillerent it may have been m its outward exjjression, still had 

 all the aj:)pearance of a direct e\-ohition from Acheulean culture'. In some 

 instances there is a distinct improNcment o\er the ideas of the older culture, 

 but again a decline or even sujjpression in some of its most eflectne instru- 

 ments. The same ideas appear to be at work upon the same materials. 

 -Mousterian aims, howe\'er, were considerablx motlilied b\ the new mode of 

 living, by the lessened physical resistance w hich a better sheltered life would 

 aflord. The making of clothing undoubtedly grew out of the conditions of 

 this more protected type of lili' w Inch jjroduced a people less inured to the 



