182 GEOLOGY AND HISTORY 



a non-Semitic or Turanian language akin to that of 

 the Hittites. Thus we have traced the shepherd 

 kings to their origin, and, curiously enough, Cushan- 

 rish-athaim, who oppressed the Israelites in the days 

 of Othniel, seems to represent a later inroad of the 

 same people. 



Such 'restitutions of decayed intelligence' now 

 meet us on every hand as the results of modern 

 exploration, and are enabling us to bridge over the 

 gaps which have separated the geological ages from 

 the prehistoric and historic human periods in those 

 ancient countries where civilisation seems to have 

 originated. 



