VII : THE EARLIEST MEN 



QUESTIONS respecting the earliest human 

 inhabitants of the earth are not merely en- 

 gaging the best attention of the learned, but 

 are seriously occupying the thoughts, and 

 sometimes, it would appear, grievously disturbing 

 the minds of those who, without laying any claim 

 to the title of learned, extend their reading beyond 

 the limits of current fiction. No one indeed can 

 read the newspapers with any care, without from 

 time to time as some new discovery is made, 

 having questions of the kind indicated forced 

 upon his attention. There is nothing wonderful 

 in all this, indeed the wonder would be if our 

 attention were not attracted by such questions, so 

 closely related to ourselves and to matters which 

 many of us hold dear and which appear it is only 

 in appearance, but it seems real to those imper- 

 fectly acquainted with the facts which appear, 

 I repeat, to conflict with those teachings of re- 

 ligions which we so profoundly respect. 



How long ago is it since man first appeared on 

 this earth ? What sort of a person was this far-off 

 ancestor ? Did he resemble ourselves, or was he 

 like any of the other races of human beings with 

 whom we are familiar ? Or was he a creature whom 

 we should never recognize as a man and a brother 

 if we were able, like Peter Ibbetson and the 

 Duchess of Towers in the story, to dream ourselves 



