850 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



In the first stage the forest exerted a profound influence upon man, 

 both materially and spiritually, while in later stages this process was, 

 to a certain extent, reversed. The soul of primitive man was deeply 

 impressed by the mysterious appearance and fancied attributes of the 

 forest and he gave them expression in primitive religions and early 

 myth. "The Realization of Life," by Tagore, makes to live, for the 

 present day, the role which the ancient Indian forests have played in 

 the development of Indian civilization and philosophy. But while 

 these effects were profound and still move mankind, it was as a barrier 

 to primitive man's efforts that the forest stands forth as a powerful 

 factor in the developing civilization. As the earlier phases of pro- 

 gress must be passed where the resistances offered by natural condi- 

 tions were least, therefore the first large human societies arose and 

 the primary stages of social development were reached in arid and 

 treeless climates. A study of the occurrence of settlements from the 

 earliest Stone Age shows that the cradle of civilization was not a 

 primeval forest. The seats, or nuclei, of the earliest recorded civiliza- 

 tions in both the Old and New Worlds originated in arid regions with 

 scanty forest. The Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Phoenician 

 :ivilizations arose in hot, dry regions of the Orient, while the Occi- 

 dent points to the Aztecs and Incas as exemplifying the highest stages 

 of primitive civilization in the Western Hemisphere. Later advances 

 in the arts permitted these communities to develop in more difficult 

 regions. Thus early man was a slave to his environment and it is only 

 through the knowledge, weapons, and instrumentalities of modern 

 times that he has to some extent become its niaster. Forests were, 

 however, not alone a barrier and a hindrance to early man ; they acted 

 as the walls of a fortress in protecting weaker tribes from powerful 

 and more aggressive ones ;and were a source of both food and fuel 

 as well as shelter. 



In the third stage begins the destruction and extensive settlement of 

 the forests. Societies have now acquired the means and the man 

 power to clear land on a large scale. This was not made possible with- 

 out a prolonged struggle, and here is noted a psychologic influence of 

 the forest during this period which has had a far-reaching efifect on 

 the history of the globe and its settlement in the last f^w centuries. 

 For may not the great colonizing capacity of the AnglcnSaxons, the 

 Teutons, and the Russians be attributed largely to their original im- 

 penetrable forests, in the struggle with which they have developed the 



