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FACTS AND FANCIES 



Thus it would appear that these earliest 

 known men are not specifically distinct from 

 ourselves, but are a distinct race, most nearly 

 allied to that great Turanian stock which is at 

 the present day, and has apparently from the 

 earliest historic times been, the most widely 

 spread of all. Though rude and uncultured, 

 they were not either physically or mentally 

 inferior to the average men of to-day, and 

 were indeed in several respects men of high 

 type, whose great cranial capacity might lead 

 us to suppose that their ancestors had recently 

 been in a higher state of civilization than them- 

 selves. It is, however, possible that this cha- 

 racteristic was rather connected with great 

 energy and physical development than with 

 high mental activity. 



To the hypothesis of evolution, as applied 

 to man, these facts evidently oppose great 

 difficulties. They show that such modern 

 degraded races as the Fuegians or the Tas- 

 manians cannot present to us the types of our 

 earlier ancestors, since the latter were men 

 of a different and higher style. Nor do 

 these oldest known men present any approx- 

 imation in physical characters to the lower 

 animals. Further, we may infer from their 



