l6 NKYV YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of the implement made from it, but even so, chipped stone blades 

 of knives, spears and arrows found anywhere in the world bear a 

 marked resemblance. The flint spear of prehistoric France is like 

 that of Arkansas; the knife blade from Belgium is like that of 

 Quebec ; and the arrow points of China resemble those of Egypt. 



This general similarity of chipped implements has led to two 

 divisions of opinion among archeologists. One contends that 

 the branches of the primitive race spreading out over the earth, 

 independently discovered the art of chipping flint and of making 

 spears, and, finally that each evolved the bow and its flint tipped 

 projectile. This school of opinion lays down the doctrine that the 

 human mind universal is constituted in such a manner that 

 its primitive impulses react in the same way when an identical 

 stimulus is applied. In other words, it teaches that under identical 

 circumstances human beings of like cultural stages of development, 

 will do the same things. Thus, primitive wanderers lost from all 

 others of their tribe, observing the action of a bent stick, might invent 

 a bow and finally discover its usefulness when used in conjunction 

 with an arrow. This use might take one or it might take five thou- 

 sand generations to discover, but at length the discovery would be 

 made, and from that point the tribe would advance to other 

 discoveries. 



The second school of archeological thought says that the great 

 basic discoveries, as the use and control of fire, the art of shaping- 

 flints and the invention of the spear, were made while the race was 

 as yet not greatly subdivided and while it inhabited a limited area. 

 Familiar with these inventions, man spread over the surface of the 

 globe. When new inventions such as the bow or the use of copper, 

 were made by one division, this school teaches that the knowledge 

 of each invention was transmitted to others by contact. 



Thus the two forms of belief stand ; one arguing that all divisions 

 of humanity have like capacity to respond to similar needs by similar 

 methods ; and the other protesting that similar arts, inventions and 

 practices are evidence of contact. Both forms of belief are plausible 

 so far as they go, but each makes the error of laying down a fixed 

 doctrine and raising barriers at its extremes. 



As a matter of fact, and one that may be demonstrated by evi- 

 dence, both beliefs are right and both are wrong, in certain particu- 

 lars. Under certain' circumstances some isolated divisions of human 

 beings might invent flint knives with notched shoulders, and these 

 notched knives might resemble those made by another division of 



