ANTEDILTJYIAN HISTOET IN POITOU. 525 



savage ;'* but those who, like our author, have troubled themselves 

 more with facts than with fancies, will agree with him that, " the 

 true savage is neither free nor noble ; he is a slave to his own wants, 

 and his own passions ; imperfectly protected from the weather, he 

 suffers from the cold by night and the heat of the sun by day ; igno- 

 rant of agriculture, living by the chase, and improvident in success, 

 hunger always stares him in the face, and often drives him to the 

 terrible alternative of cannibalism or death." 



In fine, the whole analogy of nature leads us to conclude that 

 " the pleasures of civilized man are greater than those of the savage*' 

 ■ — and there can be no doubt that, wath the present rapid increase 

 of civilization and of science, human happiness is also on the in- 

 crease. The experience of the past gives us the most sanguine 

 hopes of the future, for it is not reasonable to suppose that a process 

 that has been going on for so many thousand years should now 

 suddenly cease. "The unselfish mind," says our author in con- 

 clusion, ** wdll find its highest gratification in the belief that, what- 

 ever may be the case with ourselves, our descendants will under- 

 stand many things which are hidden from us now ; will better 

 appreciate the beautiful world in which we live, avoid much of that 

 suffering to which we are subject, enjoy many blessings of which we 

 are not yet worthy, and escape many of those temptations which we 

 deplore, but cannot wholly resist." 



XLIY. — Antediluvian Histoet in Poitou. 



Epoques Antediluyienne et Celtiqtje dtj Poitou. Par M. M. A. 



Brouillet et A. Meillet. Poitiers, 1805. 



Tuis w^ork is divided into tw^o parts : Topography, by M. Brouillet, 

 and Technology, by M. Millet. The first part contains the descrip- 

 tion of several caverns, and their contents, as well as of numerous 

 cromlechs and some Homan stations, examined by M. Brouillet. It 

 is illustrated by numerous figures, which, though rude in execution, 

 give a tolerable idea of the objects represented. A careful treatise 

 on these subjects could not fail to possess much interest ; but as 

 regards the examination of cave-remains, much depends upon the cor- 

 rect determination of the animals to which they belonged. There is 

 unfortunately much reason to doubt whether the species mentioned 

 by M. M. Brouillet and Meillet are in all cases to be depended upon. 



