330 FOSSIL MEN. 



higher state. Yet the opposite of this is so notoriously 

 the case, that it has been a matter of keen controversy 

 whether the inferior races can raise themselves to 

 any higher condition, or tend to do so in even a very 

 slight degree. The Bashkirs of the Ural are said to 

 be at this day in precisely the condition in which their 

 ancestors were found by Herodotus, 2,300 years ago. 

 The negro and Arab tribes are as nearly as possible in 

 the same state in which they were in the times of the 

 Pharaohs. There is no reason to believe that the Aus- 

 tralians, Polynesians, or Americans, if undiscovered by 

 Europeans, would have been in a more civilized con- 

 dition a thousand years hence than they were when first 

 made known to the rest of the world. Why is this ? 



One reason is, that it is so much more easy to 

 imitate than to invent. Only the more rare and ex- 

 ceptional minds can strike out new paths. Another 

 is, that the- rude man has few wants, and these few 

 can be supplied by the means he already has. A 

 third is, that after he has developed to their full extent 

 a certain number of industries, he can get no further 

 without some large and difficult step, as, for example, 

 the reduction and working of metals, or the intro- 

 duction of materials from distant parts of the world. 

 Again, such large steps may be made by accident, as 

 we say, or, in other words, the active mind may meet 

 only at rare intervals with those combinations of 

 causes which lead to invention or discovery. Native 

 gold and copper found in river gravels were, no doubt, 

 the first metals known. Gold is the earliest men- 



