I'l 



of this book i- to pn^ent in ! inentary 

 IN a MI lie most generally accepted evidence 



"liiti'.M. It does not i 1 to 



be an inten>i\e ,. or to advance any untested 



-. Tl i- lelievcs that there is a definite 



placr to he fill- honk which, as a text for the >tudy 



iology, I the hest of sociological ami evolu- 



the historical study of society. With 

 the increasing rmpha historians are placing upon 



social and economic phenomena, the average t un- 

 learns at least something of the importance of social 



\t tlie present time tlie vast period of him.. 



evolution before the historical period, is known to us 



only ly the material present**,! in highly specialized 



works. There is no single elementary |r< - ntation of 



the iii'-H-a-mir body of scientific knowledge which enables 



u> to pictu- -omlitions. 'I'h,. aiitlun- l.t-lieves 



that the stu.ly of hi-tory and soc'ial >-ience is made more 



anl valuable by some familiarity with tlie conditions 



and factors whirli were important in this early period. 



fessorW. I . Thomas says : "It is of course entirely 



for the student to limit him- y narrowly to 



a special field r to work it intensively, lut the his- 



an. for instance, who begins the study of human 



\ ity with Greece and Rome or < \, n \\ith Assyria and 



Egypt, cut> 1 imself ofTcompl rom the beginnings of 



his own subject as would the psychologist who neglected 



