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REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Xovenibvr 1, 1013. 



If the Central Americans had learned 

 their arts from the Egyptians or other 

 Mediterranean people, as has often been 

 claimed, we should suppose that the es- 

 sential basis of their life would also 

 show a certain relationship. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, we find that the plants on 

 Avhich they lived and the industries 

 which they had developed seem quite 

 independent in the Eastern and Western 

 hemispheres. The excavations made in 

 many parts of Europe show that the 

 agriculture of Europe developed at a 

 very early time, before the use of metals 

 was known, and that wheat and barley 

 were the two grains on which man sub- 

 sisted. At a very early time cattle were 

 domesticated. One feature, particularly, 

 differentiates the development of Euro- 

 pean and Mediterranean agriculture 

 from that of the rest of the world. In 

 -many regions man had learned to culti- 

 ■vate plants, but the cultivation was al- 

 ways carried on by means of his hands. 

 The seeds were placed in holes made 

 -with a digging stick, and the ground 

 was prepared either with a digging-stick 

 alone or sometimes with the help of a 

 simple hoe made of stone, bone, or 

 wood. Nowhere, however, had man 

 learned to employ the services of ani- 

 mals to further extend his agriculture. 

 Only in Europe did the employment of 

 animals and the use of the plough, which 

 was worked with the helo of animals, 

 lead to the culture of fields in our sense 

 of the term. In all other narts of the 

 world agriculture remained similar to 

 our cultivation of the garden. This de- 

 velopment in Europe was still further 

 helped by the use of the wheel, the in- 

 vention of which goes back into early 

 antiquity, and which led to the inven- 

 tion of the cart for purposes of trans- 

 portation. 



It is remarkable that none of thcw inven- 

 tions were shared in hy the Indians of even 

 the most civilised tribes of Anieriea. The 

 plant^s cultivated by them differed from the 

 plants cultivated by the people of the Old 

 World. Neither wheat and barley nor the 

 later plants, such as millet, lentils and peas, 

 were found here; but, instead of that, the 

 .agricultuie of the Indian centres around the 



use of Indian corn, or maize, beans; and 

 squashes. Indian corn is a descendant of the 

 wild grass growing in the mountains of 

 Central America and Mexico, and therefore 

 must have been first cultivated in that 

 area. The domestication of animals, their 

 use for agricultural purposes, and the in- 

 vention of the wheel were not found in 

 America, and set off Indian agriculture 

 sharply from that of the Old AVorld. 



If nothing else were known, that 

 would be enough to show clearly that 

 there cannot be any early relationship 

 between American civilisation and Old 

 World civilisation ; but other points can 

 be brought forward which will corrobo- 

 rate our conclusion. The Indians did 

 know the use of precious metals, and 

 the invention of bronze had been made 

 in Central America and among the most 

 advanced people of South America ; but 

 the uses to which the metal was put were 

 very limited, and there is nothing that 

 connects the types of bronze implements 

 found in America with the bronze im- 

 plements of any period of the Old 

 W'orld. So far as the actual utensils are 

 concerned, bronze has always been quite 

 insignificant in America, while for a 

 long time a great variety of utensils were 

 made of bronze in Europe, northern 

 Africa, and Asia. 



It has also been claimod that there is a 

 certain similarity in architecture, attention 

 Iiaving been called partictilarly to the pyra- 

 mids of Central America and those of 

 Egypt. These, however, are (juite different 

 ia character. The American pyramid is, on 

 the whole, a substructure for a building, 

 generally a t^nnple, while the Egyptian 

 pyramid is a tomb, quite distinct in plan and 

 construction. 



It is perhaps one of the most remarkable 

 facts that while in Europe stone architecture 

 did not develop anj-where until after metals 

 had been in full use, while it may even be 

 said that in western and northern Europe 

 .stone architecture did not develop until 

 •ifter it had been taught to the people of 

 Europe by the Romans, the Indians de- 

 veloped a high architectural art before any 

 nietal tools were used by them. 



" We must conclude," says this writer, 

 that " in its origin and growth, American 

 culture has been essentially indigenous 

 and practically uninfluenced by the ad- 

 vances made in the Old World." 



