■f* 



IN MODERI^ SCIENCE. 



H7 



over the great chasm now existing between 

 man and beast. It may be instructive, there- 

 fore, to glance at what geology discloses as to 

 the origin of man and his first appearance on 

 the earth. 



In the older geological formations no remains 

 of man or of "his works have been found. Nor 

 do we expect to find them, for none of the 

 animals more nearly related to man then ex- 

 isted, and the condition of the earth was proba- 

 bly not suited to them. Nor do we find human 

 remains even in the earlier Tertiary. Here 

 also we do not expect them, for the Mammalia 

 of those times were all specifically distinct from 

 those of the modern world. It is only in the 

 Pliocene period that we begin to find modern 

 species of mammals. Here, therefore, we may 

 look for human remains ; but we do not find 

 them as yet, and it is only at the close of the 

 Pliocene, or even after the succeeding Glacial 

 period, that we find undoubted traces of man. 

 Let us glance at the significance of this. 



Mammalian life probably culminated or at- 

 tained to its maximum in the Miocene and the 

 early Pliocene periods. Then there were more 

 numerous, larger, and better-developed quadru- 

 peds on our continents than we now find. For 



