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Tae CuarrMaN (The Right Hon. A. 8. Ayrron).—I will now convey the 
thanks of the meeting to the author, and invite comments on the paper. 
A Visitor.—May I be permitted to ask a question? It is, whether, 
among the evidences of the progressive changes of civilisation, there are any 
evidences of moral as well as physical change —whether in the nature of 
evolution or degradation, were the earlier races, whose high state of 
civilisation we have heard of to-night, superior, not only in the material 
respects mentioned, but also in regard to their moral condition? Were 
they superior, morally or not ? 
Mr. AutLEN.—The evidence on this point is conflicting. There is 
evidence of peoples being split up and deteriorating, but it is not always” 
evident from what causes the decay proceeded ; nor is there much to show 
in elucidation of the point raised. We have no proof of the cave men 
developing into the people of Europe.. They may have existed concurrently 
with more highly civilised races in more favoured localities, as is actually the 
case in America. We may have hit upon the remains of the outcasts, and 
not yet discovered those of their civilised contemporaries, 
The Cuarrman.—In reference to the subject of the paper, I think you 
cannot assume that man has always been undergoing a process of civilisa- 
tion, nor of degradation. There does not appear to be any universality of 
facts—agreeing over the whole of the earth. If you turn to the province of 
Granada—to which so much attention had lately been drawn by the 
disastrous resuits of the earthquakes from which that province has suffered— 
you will find there, in the present day, cave men living side by side with the 
Spaniards. It is difficult to say how it comes that it is so, but there is the 
fact. In some parts of that province instead of a row of houses you see a 
row of entrances—something not unlike the appearance of a rabbit warren. 
In these caves the chairs and sofas of ordinary houses are replaced by seats 
cut out of the soil. Now, here we have cave men living in the same 
civilised manner as the other inhabitants of the country. Seeing this state 
of things existing in the present day, we cannot but feel that it is very 
difficult to speculate upon what happened a thousand or two or three 
thousand years ago. The fact that the cave men of former days dwelt in 
caves is no proof of the moral condition they lived in. You find things of 
avery different character going on side by side, hence isolated facts afford 
no justification for generalisations. We can recall the demonstration that 
was given as to the age of the skeleton of a man found on a recent occasion, 
but that demonstration was upset by the subsequent finding of the buttons 
of the Queen’s service close beside the skeleton. Generalisation from 
particular instances appears to have been carried to extremes. It is better 
to begin at the other end. But, when we survey anything we may come in 
contact with in this world, we can find ample evidence of the creative and 
preserving influence of a predominating and Almighty Being of the most 
infinite power. When we assume the existence of a God, we get a basis 
upon which we can found an intelligent comprehension of the subject. We 
