THE DA WN OF MINI). 139 



kites ; and instead of a falling nation being a stum- 

 bling block to Evolution, it is a necessity of the theory. 

 The degeneration and extinction of the unfit are as 

 infallibly brought about by natural laws as the sur- 

 vival of the fit. Evolution is by no means synony- 

 mous with uninterrupted progress, but at every turn 

 means relapse, extinction, and decay. 



It is pretty clear that, applying the old Argument 

 from Design to the case of the most ancient human 

 relics, Man began the Ascent of Civilization at zero. 

 There has been a time in the history of every nation 

 when the only supplements to the organs of the body 

 for the uses of Man were the stones of the field and 

 the sticks of the forest. To use these natural, abun- 

 dant, and portable objects, was an obvious resource 

 with early tribes. If Mind dawned in the past at all, 

 it is with such objects that we should expect its first 

 associations, and as a matter of fact it seems every- 

 where to have been so. Relics of a Stick Ago, would 

 of course be obliterated by time, but traces of a Stone 

 Age have been found, not in connection with the first 

 beginnings of a few tribes only, but with the first 

 beginnings — from the point that any representation 

 is possible — of probably every nation in the Avorld. 

 The wide geographical use of stone implements is 

 one of the most striking facts in Anthropology. 

 Instead of being confined to a few peoples, and to 

 outlying districts, as is sometimes asserted, their dis- 

 tribution is universal. They are found throughout 

 the length and breadth of Europe, and on all its 

 islands ; they occur everywhere in Western Asia, and 

 north of the Himalayas. In the Malay Peninsula they 

 strew the ground in endless numbers ; and again, ia 



