366 PHYSIOLOGY CHAP. 



Bretschneider tells us that Szu-ma-tsien, the Herodotus of 

 ancient China, related that the Emperor Shen-nung, who lived 

 about 2700 B.C., used to celebrate the ceremony of sowing and 

 reaping the five grains of corn, which symbolised the five kinds 

 of cereals cultivated by the Chinese. 



It has also been proved that the prehistoric peoples of central 

 Europe were in the habit of growing corn. In the Swiss lake- 

 dwellings 0. Heer found remains of various kinds of wheat and 

 barley cultivated in the present day. 



How is the cultivation of corn in such far-away times and 

 countries to be explained ? Various theories have been suggested 

 as a solution of this problem, but they one and all fail to carry 

 conviction, more especially because botanists are not as yet certain 

 from what wild vegetable species the different sorts of corn are 

 derived. Koernicke, who has devoted many years to the study of 

 this question, thinks that the primitive species is the Triticum 

 dicoccoides, which is found wild in Palestine and Syria. 



A clear synthetic account of the primitive inhabitants of Italy, 

 and of the order in which the various prehistoric civilisations of 

 the peninsula succeeded one another, has recently been given by 

 L. Pigorini (1910). The remains of the earliest paleolithic 

 civilisation are neither as numerous nor as interesting in Italy 

 as in France and Belgium. The characteristic reindeer civilisation 

 does not seem to have reached Italy ; but in Italy, too, lithic 

 weapons and implements have been found, which prove the 

 existence of paleolithic races, living a nomadic life ; they were 

 probably hunters, inhabiting caves or other natural shelters, and 

 did not honour the dead. 



This earliest period was followed by that of neolithic 

 civilisation, imported probably by immigrants from the east or 

 south. These people left many remains behind which enable us 

 to form a fairly correct idea of their culture. They had ceased to 

 lead a nomadic life, and introduced the use of artificial habitations, 

 consisting of round or' oval huts half hollowed out of the earth, 

 such as Vitruvius tells us were still customary in his day amongst 

 the Frisians and are seen in our own day amongst the poor 

 peasantry of Kasam in eastern Eussia. These huts were grouped 

 together so as to form villages, and from the fragments of bone 

 found amongst the remains thereof it is supposed that these 

 peoples were already acquainted with the pastoral art, since they 

 include the ibones of sheep, cattle, and pigs. They also knew 

 something at all events of agriculture, as is proved by the 

 impressions of grains of corn seen on their cooking-utensils 

 (Triticum diococcurn). Their weapons and implements were of 

 polished green stone formed into axes, arrows, etc. They were 

 also acquainted with the art of pottery, which they carried to a 

 fair degree of perfection in their domestic utensils. With them 



