Primitive Mon. 57 



neolithic period. A word, however, is necessary as to the 

 habits and customs of palaeolithic man. 



iS'otwithstanding assertions to the contrary, the bnlk of 

 evidence indicates that Quaternary man from the most 

 remote period was in possession of lire. According to one 

 authority it Avas known to him as far back as the Miocene, 

 but the proofs do not seem to warrant this belief. But in 

 the case of the earliest cave men we find numerous hearths, 

 ashes and cinders, bones wholly or partly calcined, and 

 fragments of hand-made pottery blackened by smoke. Pre- 

 historic man of that period cooked his food, therefore, 

 perhai:)S not after our fashion, but possibly as among cer- 

 tain present savage tribes, by the application of heated 

 stones, or in water heated by such means. His food was 

 not carefully chosen, as it seems to our taste. Mammoths, 

 the rhinoceros, beavers, dogs and foxes were on the bills of 

 fare.* Marrow was a great dainty, as is evident from the 

 quantity of the long bones of animals which have clearly 

 been broken for the purpose of its extraction. Fire was 

 probably obtained by friction in various ways, as among 

 existing low races. Palaeolithic man possessed no cereals, 

 nor had he domestic animals or agriculture. For his sus- 

 tenance he contended with the wild and ferocious animals 

 of his time, as is evident from many skulls of beasts frac- 

 tured by flint weapons. His clothing necessarily was furs 

 and skins, to prepare which he evidently used the flint 

 scrapers which are so abundant. Pins of clay or bone were 

 used to fasten the clothing, though in the so-called reindeer- 

 age rude sewing was effected by bone needles. Of social 

 customs we have no trace, although, if we j udge by analogy 

 of existing savage tribes, both polygamy and polyandry 

 were practised. Of the earliest men we discover no remains 

 of dwellings. They contended with the cave bear and cave 

 hyaena for shelter in the natural cave formations. It was a 

 struggle for existence in the utmost acceptation of the 

 phrase, and that from such an unpromising environment the 

 race should have risen to its present high standard of social 

 and intellectual advantage is not one of the least of the won- 

 ders that the philosophy of Evolution offers for our reflection. 



*The recent discovery by M. Armand Vire, of palaeolithic flint-hooks, which 

 had evidently been usetl as flsh-hooks, and the prevalence of palaeolithic spear- 

 heads in the" river-drift, indicate that tish was also a common food of palae- 

 olithic man. 



