THE UNITY OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. 551 



mauner of construction, antique houses of Syria or Phenicia, and per- 

 haps the modern habitations of the Caucasus. 



This revival of ancient usages among peoples apparently such 

 strangers to each other is not exceptional. The amentum^ is found 

 among the savages of Kew Caledonia, and their sling stones in steatite, 

 still in use, do not differ from the sling stones of prehistoric times. 

 This fact was apparent at the Exposition of Budapest on the occasion 

 of the millennium of the Kingdom of Hungary. The river men of Theiss 

 in fishing employ a staii'of very peculiar form, such as is found at the 

 mouth of the Volga. The sweep net used in Hungary is the same as 

 that on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The bone awls constantly used 

 by the shepherds of this country are analogous to those from the turf 

 pits of Holland. The "strike-alights" are the same as the prehistoric 

 arrowheads. The wooden hooks charged with pieces of metal that 

 served to lift the fishing lines from the bottom resemble those of the 

 lake dwellings of Switzerland.^ 



It would be easy to multiijly examples, but I hasten to those still 

 more striking. 



Man has in all times cared for the remains of his dead. Numerous 

 are the rites which belong to religion and sentiment and a belief in the 

 future, though sometimes similar rites are attached to curious supersti- 

 tions. With rare exceptions we can divide these rites into four kinds: 

 inhumation, cremation, mummification, and the stripping of the flesh 

 from the bones (decharnement). We will speak only of the latter. 



The stripping of the flesh from the bones after death was practiced 

 in Neolithic times, possibly at the close of the Paleolithic period, but it 

 continued during the Bronze Age. We see it in the Middle Ages in 

 certain parts of Europe, and it persists among certain races of savages 

 and even among races which we consider more civilized. 



"After the idea that I have obtained from savage races," says Du- 

 mont d'Urville, in speaking of the voyage of the Astrolabe, " the inter- 

 ment or inhumation will be only the provisionary state and give the 

 necessary time to separate from the body its corruptible part, and the 

 repose does not begin until the bones are deposited in the sepulcher of 

 the ancestors." I do not know if so philosophic an idea has penetrated 

 the intellect of the Australians or Indians, but it is certain that these 

 men, entirely barbarous as we suppose them to be, braved fatigues and 

 even dangers in order to accomplish their duty toward their fel- 

 lows.^ The ossuaries in all countries of Europe, and America as well, 



'The strap attached to the jaA'elin witli which to throw it. 



^Mittheil. der Anthrop. Gesellschaft in Wien, 1896. "We are driven to the con- 

 clusion," says Buckle (Hist, of Civilization, Vol. I, p. 20), "that, the actions of men 

 being determined solely by their antecedents, must have a character of uniformity ; 

 that is to say, must, under precisely the same circumstances, always issue to precisely 

 the same results." But it is necessary to add that the antecedents must he the same, 

 which has not been said by the eminent author aforesaid. 



■'M. Cartailhac has treated this subject fully in La France prehistorique, Ch. XVI. 

 Paris, 1889. 



