EXCURSIONS OF AN 

 EVOLUTIONIST 



I 



EUROPE BEFORE THE ARRIVAL 

 OF MAN 



IN looking over any modern historical nar- 

 rative such, for example, as Knight's 

 "History of England" one cannot fail 

 to be struck by the disproportion between the 

 amounts of space devoted respectively to ancient 

 and to modern events. Of the eight bulky 

 volumes of Knight, the first covers a period of 

 1432 years, from Caesar's invasion of Britain to 

 the death of Edward III. ; the second, bringing 

 us down to the death of Henry VIII., covers 

 170 years; the third takes us 95 years further, 

 to the beginning of the Great Rebellion ; while 

 five volumes are required to do justice to the 

 two centuries intervening between the overthrow 

 of Straffbrd and the repeal of the corn laws. 

 This is due partly to the greater complexity of 

 modern life, and partly to the increasing abun- 

 dance of our sources of information. It is true, 



