THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 215 



Magdalenian. Neolithic. 



Poorly developed stone Highly developed stone 

 industry industry, art of grind- 



ing & polishing stone. 



Remarkable skill in Absolutely no pictorial 



drawing and etching art. 



Hunting and fishing the Agriculture and the 

 only occupation. keeping of domes- 



tic animals. 



A cold fauna with rein- The fauna of the pre- 

 deer and mammoth. sent day. 



It is inevitable that efforts should be made to 

 express the periods with which we have just 

 been dealing in actual terms of years as we are 

 able to do, for example, in the case of the differ- 

 ent families or dynasties which have occupied 

 the throne of England. The extraordinary dis- 

 crepancies which exist between the computa- 

 tions of different observers is in itself quite 

 sufficient evidence of the hopeless character of 

 such an effort ; but in order that this point may 

 be brought out more fully it will be as well to 

 quote the figures assigned by different writers. 



Before doing so, however, it is only fair to point 

 out that geologists at any rate and it is to them 

 that we must look for real information on this 

 point are unanimous in asserting the pre- 

 carious character of any figures which they may 

 set down, and in stating that they cannot pre- 

 tend to do more than indicate in a very rough 

 manner the comparative lengths, or what they 



