CHAPTER XI. 



UNITY AND CONTINUITY. 



IF any definite impression has been left on the mind 

 of the reader of the preceding chapters, it must have 

 been akin to that which fixed itself upon the wisest 

 of the Hebrews when he exclaimed, "The thing that 

 hath been is that which shall be, and that which 

 is done is that which shall be done, and there is 

 nothing new under the sun." This is in some re- 

 spects an unsatisfactory result, falling far short in its 

 sensational effect of the discovery of a new and extinct 

 species of man, or even of a very essential difference 

 in manners and habits of thought between the men 

 of hoar antiquity and those of to-day. Yet this con- 

 clusion, tame and prosaic though it may appear, opens 

 most important questions both as to the past and 

 future of our race, some of which we may profitably 

 discuss. 



What is the ultimate meaning of that marvellous 

 resemblance which obtains between pre-historic and 

 modern men ? Does it point to a common origin 

 and historical affiliation of all races ? Is it the result 

 of some process of necessary evolution through which 

 every race must pass, as the individual man passes 

 through successive stages from infancy to maturity ? 



