A. Stage of dogmatic speculative thought. 



viii THE HUMAN EACES 365 



B. Period of simple observation, practical inventions, ( Paleolithic civilisa- 



and a simple sense of beauty. ^ lon ( middle x and 



^ late diluvial). 



III. Period of the Theorising Mind. The association oh From the close of 

 ideas develops into more lengthy theoretical specu- 1 paleolithic civili- 

 lations more or less remote from the noted fact f sation to the 

 which is their starting-point. J present time. 



fFrom the close of 

 paleolithic civili- 

 sation to the 

 Eenaissance in 

 western countries 

 during the fif- 

 teenth and six- 

 teenth centuries 

 after Christ. 



(1) Period of fantastic religious speculation. /Neolithic, bronze, 

 v ' \ and iron ages. 



r Greek, Roman, and 



(2) Period of scholastic and rationalistic speculation. -! mediaeval civili- 



1 sation. 



[ From the Renais- 



B. Stage of critical experimental thought. sance to the pre- 



{ sent day. 



Closely connected with the question of the origin of man and 

 the beginning of civilisation is that of the origin of the products 

 of the pastoral and agricultural arts i.e. of the plants and animals 

 he has learnt to grow and domesticate for the supply of his needs 

 and which have gradually become his most valuable heritage. 

 The origin of domestic animals (oxen, sheep, pigs, horse, dog) does 

 not present so many difficulties, since zoologists are fairly well 

 acquainted with the species to which these animals belong, 

 which are or were found wild, and could from the earliest times be 

 used for breeding purposes in order to supply the ever-increasing 

 needs of hunting peoples as game grew scarcer. 



With .our present knowledge we find more difficulty in solving 

 the question of the origin of cultivated plants, and more particu- 

 larly of those valuable plants which form the basis of agriculture 

 amongst all civilised races, namely, corn and cereals in general. 



This problem has been studied by noted botanists and pal- 

 ethnologists, but so far without success. One thing only is beyond 

 dispute : that corn is a plant which has been cultivated from time 

 immemorial in Egypt, China, and central Europe. 



"Woenig has drawn attention to drawings by the ancient 

 Egyptians of the cultivation and harvesting of corn which date 

 from 3000 B.C., and Unger recognised remains of ears of wheat 

 and barley in the brick-work of the pyramid of Dashur near 

 Saquara, the clay of which these bricks were made being mixed 

 with straw. 



