316 ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE 



or extinct elephant, scratched on one of that animal's 

 bones. For man had come into existence while various 

 animals, now extinct, still inhabited the earth, amongst 

 them, the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the cave 

 bear and the cave hyaena so called because their 

 remains have been found in caves,* as have the remains 

 of many men. 



Thus it is certain that the earth has had human 

 inhabitants for a long period, although it is impossible 

 as yet to express it with any accuracy in terms of years 

 save as a minimum. The civilisations of Egypt and of 

 China extend back for more than six thousand years, 

 but they were probably preceded by tens of thousands, 

 possibly by hundreds of thousands, of years of un- 

 recorded human existence. It may, however, be con- 

 sidered certain that man did not exist before the 

 tertiary epoch, although it would be rash to deny the 

 possibility of his having appeared in " Miocene " 

 times.* 



However that may be, many naturalists are now 

 convinced that man's existence antedates the glacial 

 epoch, and it is certain that he has witnessed great 

 geographical changes and, as before said, the extinction 

 of many animals. Some of these must have been formid- 

 able enemies, indeed, to men armed with no better 

 weapons than were the ancient flint implements. 



We must not, however, linger over matters prehistoric, 

 but advance at once to note the elementary facts of 

 history, and especially of that history which specially 

 relates to the existing condition of our nation and of the 

 nations which are most nearly related to us. Thus, for 

 our present purpose, we may leave entirely on one side the 



* See ante, p. 169. 



