38 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



and neolithic implements, are events within the memory 

 of many of us ; while even at the present day the exist- 

 ence of man before the glacial period is vehemently 

 denied by some geologists, and all the evidence brought 

 forward to establish the fact is sought to be explained 

 away with as much misspent ingenuity as was exerted in 

 the case of the early finds of McEnery and Boucher de 

 Perthes. Notwithstanding that almost every fact of the 

 early discoveries has now been proved to have been a 

 reality, every new fact which goes to show that man is 

 only a little older than we have hitherto supposed, is 

 still received with incredulity or neglect, although it is 

 universally admitted that not only is there no ante- 

 cedent improbability in these new discoveries, but that 

 the theory of evolution if it is worth anything, demands 

 that the origin of man be placed very far back in the 

 tertiary period. 



While such has been the frame of mind with which each 

 new discovery in Europe has been met, it was natural that 

 comparative ignorance should prevail as to the course of 

 discovery across the Atlantic ; more especially as there was 

 a common notion that America was really a new world as 

 regards man, and that except a few puzzling facts, like 

 the ruined cities of Central America, Mexico, and Peru, 

 its native races were comparatively recent immigrants from 

 Asia by the north-western route, and that their prehistoric 

 history was brief, simple, and altogether unimportant as 

 compared with that of early Europe. The facts, however, 

 point to an exactly opposite conclusion, the prehistoric 

 remains of North America being at least equally abundant, 

 equally varied, and offering as numerous and as interesting 

 problems for solution as are met with in the European 

 continent. In no other part of the world has the use of 

 stone for all the purposes of savage and barbarous life been 

 so extensive and so highly elaborated ; nowhere else has a 

 race which has many features in common, and which was 

 long held to be perfectly homogeneous, been found to present 

 more diversities in customs, in arts, in language, and in 

 physical characteristics. 



The study of prehistoric archaeology and of man's an- 



