MAN'S FIRST APPEARANCE 1655 



ments occur. In India, he was a member of a tropi- 

 cal fauna, and his distribution in Europe and along 

 the shores of the Mediterranean proves him to have 

 belonged either to the temperate or the southern 

 fauna in those regions. It will naturally be asked, 

 To what race can the River-drift man be referred? 

 The question, in my opinion, can not be answered in 

 the present stage of the inquiry, because the few 

 fragments of human bones discovered along with 

 the implements are too imperfect to afford any clew. 

 Nor can we measure the interval in terms of years 

 which separates the River-drift man from the present 

 day, either by assuming that the glacial period was 

 due to astronomical causes, and then proceeding to 

 calculate the time necessary for them to produce 

 their result, or by an appeal to the erosion of valleys, 

 or the retrocession of waterfalls. The interval must, 

 however, have been very great to allow of the changes 

 in geography and climate, and the distribution of 

 animals which has taken place the succession of 

 races, and the development of civilization before 

 history began. Standing before the rock-hewn tombs 

 of the kings at Luxor, we may realize the impossi- 

 bility of fixing the time when the River-drift hunter 

 lived in the side of the ancient Thebes, or of meas- 

 uring the lapse of time between his days and the 

 splendor of the civilization of Egypt. In this in- 

 quiry I have purposely omitted all reference to the 

 successor of the River-drift man in Europe the 

 Cave man who was in a higher stage of the hunter 

 civilization. In the course of my remarks you will 

 have seen that the story told by the rudely chipped 



