130 "The Descent of Man" 



Finally, it must be briefly mentioned that in regard to remains 

 of human handicraft also, the material at our disposal has greatly 

 increased of late years, that, as a result of this, the opinions of 

 archaeologists have undergone many changes, and that, in particular, 

 their views in regard to the age of the human race have been greatly 

 influenced. There is a tendency at the present time to refer the 

 origin of man back to Tertiary times. It is true that no remains 

 of Tertiary man have been found, but flints have been discovered 

 which, according to the opinion of most investigators, bear traces 

 either of use, or of very primitive workmanship. Since Rutot's time, 

 following Mortillet's example, investigators have called these "eoliths," 

 and they have been traced back by Verworn to the Miocene of the 

 Auvergne, and by Rutot even to the upper Oligocene. Although 

 these eoliths are even nowadays the subject of many different views, 

 the preoccupation with them has kept the problem of the age of the 

 human race continually before us. 



Geology, too, has made great progress since the days of Darwin 

 and Lyell, and has endeavoured with satisfactory results to arrange 

 the human remains of the Diluvial period in chronological order 

 (Penck). I do not intend to enter upon the question of the 

 primitive home of the human race ; since the space at my dis- 

 posal will not allow of my touching even very briefly upon all the 

 departments of science which are concerned in the problem of 

 the descent of man. How Darwin would have rejoiced over 

 each of the discoveries here briefly outlined ! What use he 

 would have made of the new and precious material, which would 

 have prevented the discouragement from which he suffered when 

 preparing the second edition of The Descent of Man ! But it was 

 not granted to him to see this progress towards filling up the gaps 

 in his edifice of which he was so painfully conscious. 



He did, however, have the satisfaction of seeing his ideas steadily 

 gaining ground, notwithstanding much hostility and deep-rooted 

 prejudice. Even in the years between the appearance of The Origin 

 of Species and of the first edition of the Descent, the idea of a 

 natural descent of man, which was only briefly indicated in the work 

 of 1859, had been eagerly welcomed in some quarters. It has been 

 already pointed out how brilliantly Huxley contributed to the de- 

 fence and diffusion of Darwin's doctrines, and how in Mans Place 

 in Nature he has given us a classic work as a foundation for the 

 doctrine of the descent of man. As Huxley was Darwin's champion 

 in England, so in Germany Carl Vogt, in particular, made himself 

 master of the Darwinian ideas. But above all it was Haeckel who, 

 in energy, eagerness for battle, and knowledge may be placed side by 

 side with Huxley, who took over the leadership in the controversy 



