196 EARLY MAN 



mammals appeared, and finally, at the very top of the series 

 in the so-called Quaternary period, comes man. 



We believe this because geologists for many years have 

 examined the rocks of each period with the greatest care, 

 and in such museums as that at Central Park, New York, 

 all the animals found in each period in the world's history 

 are exhibited and named, and the periods are remarkably 

 well defined. In the Devonian time no bone nor flint chip, 

 suggesting man, has ever been discovered by the countless 

 hunters. 



The same is true of the age of Reptiles : the rocks have 

 been searched with great care, and it is only in the deposits 

 of the upper periods, if we may so call them, that bones of 

 man, weapons, and various objects of his make have been 

 discovered. So we assume that man is the last and most 

 perfect mammal. 



It is interesting to glance at the opinions of students of 

 man as to his age. The age of the earth is given as any- 

 where from ten millions to sixty bilHons of years. Pro- 

 fessor Fuhlrott gives the Neanderthal skull an age of three 

 hundred thousand years. Mr. Hunt of the British Anthro- 

 pological Society gives the age of man as nine millions. 

 A. R. Wallace suggests five hundred thousand years, while 

 Sir John Lubbock believes that man existed during the 

 Miocene time, which may have been many miUions of 

 years ago. It has always been my belief that animals 

 appeared on the globe soon after the conditions which per- 

 mitted such life became permanent, and I believe man 

 approximating his present form appeared many million 

 years ago in the early days of the Eocene time, possibly 

 earlier. Such a man may have lived in regions, now some 



