MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 3S9 



ment- and admiration, and the more so as we follow out the details and 

 learn more of the practical knowledge they exhibited. 



Between the Paleolithic, or rough-chipped-stone age, and the 

 Neolithic, or polished-stone age, there was a long, hard path which 

 represents an important period of development. The polished stone' 

 is a much more artistic production than the chipped stone, and indi- 

 cates a higher plane of culture and greater manual skill. For prac- 

 tical purposes, however, the ground-stone ax is no better than the 

 chipped one, as has been demonstrated. These ground-stone imi^le- 

 ments are very numerous in all collections and must have been pro- 

 duced in enormous quantities. They are associated with a more 

 advanced stage of culture in all the customs of living, so that they are 

 not to be placed at the beginning of culture. Sir John Evans, in his 

 classic work on the "Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain," 

 says that "For the sake of illustration we will divide the stone period 

 into four subperiods. First, the Paleolithic or Drift period, when 

 implements were produced by chipping merely, and not ground or 

 polished. Second, the reindeer or cavern period, when grinding was 

 not yet used but greater skill was exhibited in flaking flint and in 

 working flints into serviceable tools. Third, the Neolithic or surface- 

 stone period of western Europe, when grinding on the edge and sur- 

 face was generally practiced.* Fourth, the bronze period, when axes 

 and celts were highly polished and of graceful form, evincing the 

 highest degree of manual skill. Thus," as has been said, " the first 

 long chapter in the history of human effort and progress has been 

 written in stone." And how wonderful it is — from the first rude be- 

 ginnings to the highly finished stone ax or knife — a history of growth 

 that is not equaled by any other material ! 



Coming to the arts proper as an evidence of culture, we enter a 

 most interesting field, but one which is also difficult and dangerous. 

 It is not for us now to attempt the discussion of the motives of art, 

 nor the analysis of the symbolism of the first productions of primitive 

 man. Suffice it, then, that we will take such examples as we can find 

 in the earliest stages as indicative of the beginnings of art culture. 

 It was Herman Grimm who said that "art, taken in its broadest sense, 

 is always the life-giving principle," and the concept would apply a& 

 well to primitive man as to his modern descendant. With the race, 

 as with the individual, the awakening of the art instinct is fraught 

 with momentous interest. 



* As Prof. A. J. Conant says, in his " Footprints of Vanished Races " ( 11 ) : " In this period 

 a new civilization dawns. Polished implements of stone and bone take the place of rude chips 

 and splinters of silex. Pottery is manufactured and ornamented with various devices: and all 

 that man does displays the awakening of his sense of beauty. From this time the race proceeds 

 with slow but steady development. How long the Neolithic or polislied-stone period lasted, 

 we have no means of judging, nor when men learned to smelt the more yielding ores and to 

 make bronze by the alloy of copper and tin." 



