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  ANNUAL 
  REPORT 
  SMITHSONIAN 
  INSTITUTION, 
  192T 
  

  

  life 
  with 
  the 
  contemporaneous 
  life, 
  including 
  man 
  himself, 
  seems 
  to 
  

   warrant 
  making 
  the 
  attempt 
  to 
  find 
  some 
  lesson 
  from 
  the 
  past 
  for 
  the 
  

   guidance 
  of 
  the 
  present. 
  The 
  word 
  " 
  history 
  " 
  as 
  commonly 
  con- 
  

   ceived 
  refers 
  to 
  human 
  history 
  alone; 
  but, 
  because 
  of 
  the 
  unbroken 
  

   continuity 
  of 
  events, 
  the 
  roots 
  of 
  all 
  human 
  history 
  must 
  lie 
  far 
  back 
  

   in 
  the 
  prehuman 
  periods. 
  Just 
  as 
  the 
  consideration 
  of 
  the 
  mor- 
  

   phological 
  evolution 
  of 
  man 
  leads 
  us 
  back 
  into 
  prehuman 
  periods, 
  

   so 
  the 
  evolution 
  of 
  man's 
  social 
  relations 
  originates 
  in 
  the 
  remote 
  

   periods 
  of 
  the 
  past, 
  long 
  ages 
  before 
  the 
  appearance 
  of 
  man 
  himself. 
  

   These 
  relations 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  with 
  the 
  remote 
  past 
  are 
  too 
  much 
  

   overlooked 
  by 
  students 
  of 
  human 
  history, 
  every 
  one 
  of 
  whom 
  

   would 
  be 
  the 
  gainer 
  were 
  he 
  to 
  possess 
  at. 
  least 
  some 
  understanding 
  

   of 
  geology 
  and 
  paleontology. 
  H. 
  G. 
  Wells 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  only 
  

   historian, 
  in 
  the 
  commonly 
  accepted 
  sense 
  of 
  the 
  term, 
  who 
  has 
  begun 
  

   his 
  story 
  of 
  humanity 
  with 
  a 
  consideration 
  of 
  the 
  prehuman 
  in- 
  

   habitants 
  of 
  our 
  earth, 
  and 
  although 
  his 
  treatment 
  of 
  this 
  phase 
  of 
  

   the 
  subject 
  is 
  brief 
  and 
  somewhat 
  distorted, 
  it 
  shows 
  an 
  appreciation 
  

   on 
  his 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  desirability 
  of 
  linking 
  the 
  events 
  of 
  the 
  really 
  

   ancient 
  history 
  of 
  our 
  planet 
  with 
  the 
  modern 
  or 
  human 
  phases 
  of 
  

   the 
  subject. 
  

  

  The 
  materials 
  with 
  which 
  the 
  paleontologist 
  must 
  deal 
  are 
  the 
  dead, 
  

   unchangeable 
  fossils, 
  dug 
  up 
  from 
  the 
  rocks 
  of 
  the 
  earth's 
  crust, 
  but 
  

   the 
  problems 
  which 
  arise 
  from 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  these 
  materials 
  are 
  far 
  

   from 
  dead, 
  being 
  filled 
  with 
  living 
  interest 
  and 
  giving 
  real 
  vitality 
  

   to 
  the 
  whole 
  field 
  of 
  historical 
  geology. 
  These 
  now 
  defunct 
  fossils 
  

   were 
  once 
  living, 
  growing 
  organisms, 
  which 
  were 
  associated 
  together 
  

   in 
  innumerable 
  faunas, 
  which 
  lived 
  in 
  all 
  portions 
  of 
  our 
  earth, 
  which 
  

   followed 
  one 
  another 
  in 
  almost 
  endless 
  succession 
  from 
  the 
  earliest 
  

   recorded 
  period 
  of 
  geological 
  history 
  to 
  the 
  present 
  time, 
  and 
  which 
  

   were 
  adapted 
  to 
  all 
  sorts 
  of 
  environmental 
  conditions 
  on 
  the 
  land 
  

   and 
  in 
  the 
  sea. 
  

  

  This 
  inconceivably 
  vast 
  succession 
  of 
  life 
  assemblages 
  which 
  has 
  

   inhabited 
  the 
  earth 
  has 
  left, 
  of 
  course, 
  only 
  a 
  meager 
  record, 
  and 
  of 
  

   the 
  record 
  which 
  is 
  preserved 
  in 
  the 
  rocks 
  only 
  a 
  small 
  part 
  is 
  now 
  

   or 
  ever 
  will 
  be 
  available 
  to 
  the 
  paleontologist 
  for 
  study. 
  This 
  record, 
  

   however, 
  is 
  a 
  record 
  of 
  accomplishment. 
  All 
  of 
  these 
  prehuman 
  in- 
  

   habitants 
  of 
  the 
  earth 
  have 
  been 
  subject 
  to 
  the 
  same 
  laws 
  of 
  evolution, 
  

   in 
  all 
  its 
  aspects, 
  that 
  are 
  directing 
  the 
  life 
  of 
  the 
  present, 
  and 
  while 
  

   the 
  paleontological 
  data 
  are 
  not 
  subject 
  to 
  direct 
  experimental 
  study, 
  

   natural 
  experimentation 
  has 
  been 
  in 
  operation 
  on 
  a 
  vast 
  scale, 
  some 
  

   of 
  the 
  results 
  of 
  which 
  are 
  available 
  for 
  consideration. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  not 
  my 
  purpose 
  in 
  this 
  paper 
  to 
  discuss 
  the 
  bearing 
  of 
  these 
  

   paleontological 
  records 
  on 
  the 
  morphological 
  evolution 
  of 
  man, 
  but 
  

   rather 
  some 
  of 
  its 
  bearings 
  on 
  human 
  relations. 
  In 
  all 
  probability 
  

  

  