244 HISTOEICAL KACES 



out of the main stream of the evohition which led to the industrial 

 evolution. In sub-group 2 are included India, Cliina, Persia, 

 Japan, and also the partly nomadic Arabs and certain other 

 Asiatic peoples. In late years the customs of the races in this 

 sub-group have been influenced by contact with Europeans ; 

 changes due to this contact will be disregarded, as were similar 

 changes in the races belonging to the first and second groups. 



In one very important respect the conditions with regard to 

 all races in the third group differ from those in the preceding 

 groups. Disease is a factor of the greatest importance, and we 

 may consider in the first place the facts regarding the prevalence 

 of disease in all groups. What Httle there is to be said regarding 

 war, famine, and child mortality in all the races of this group 

 may also be considered together. With regard to the other 

 factors we find that in many respects the conditions in the first 

 two sub-groups are similar and are contrasted with those in the 

 latter two sub-groups. Therefore, after considering disease and 

 the other factors mentioned for all groups taken together, it will 

 be convenient to deal with the sub-groups separately, taking the 

 ancient empires and the Asiatic peoples first, and mediaeval and 

 modern Europe afterwards. 



2. Something was said in Chapter VI with regard to the evolution 

 of disease. It was there shown that in all probability most diseases 

 evolved relatively late in history. The more settled conditions 

 of the Neolithic Age may have provided the first suitable surround- 

 ings for the evolution and spread of disease. The taking of metals 

 into use was followed by an increase in the density of population 

 when conditions became yet more favourable. The use of metals 

 was followed by the rise of the first civilizations. It was then 

 that men first came to dwell in towns and cities, and it is interest- 

 ing to observe that the earliest cities were very compact. Mr. Hall, 

 speaking of Minoan civilization, says that the towns were very 

 cramped, ' more so than the most confined of European mediaeval 

 cities '.1 On the rise therefore of these early civihzations the 

 conditions were strongly contrasted with those which, we imagine, 

 must have been prevalent before, and favoured the spread of 

 disease as it had never been favoured before. From the rise of 

 the early civilizations until within the last hundred years, con 



1 Hall, Ancient History of the Near Fast, p. 110. So, too, Memphis was 

 apparently a very cramped city. 



