294 LECTURE X. 



were preserved, propagated, and further developed. I shall, 

 in the next lecture, have to treat of the relation of man to sur- 

 rounding nature, as well as of the development of the so-called 

 diluvial period and its sub-epochs. This lecture I shall con- 

 clude with some observations on the condition of primitive 

 peoples, and the relation of their race to existing races. 



As regards the primitive culture of man, it was manifestly 

 confined within very narrow limits. The Belgian and West- 

 phalian caves, the sepulchre in Aurignac, the alluvial formations 

 can alone give some clue. No other implements of that period 

 have come to hand, except some rude stone weapons bearing as 

 yet no trace of any polish. Though these have only been 

 found in spots where they were originally fabricated, still it is 

 somewhat striking that of that period none of better work- 

 manship are found, none of them have a handle of staghorn or 

 bone, as seen in tools belonging to a later period. Even the 

 bear-jaws fashioned into weapons show no trace of polish, as 

 seen in those of a more recent period. The pieces are simply 

 struck off as if with a sharp stone. 



With respect to aliment, we have no trace of any other than 

 animal food. Nowhere do we find any traces of vegetable 

 food, not even hooks or nets for the capture of fish. Man 

 attacked his prey like the wild animals, by cunning, speed, 

 or strength, so that with his simple stone weapons he even 

 mastered the young rhinoceros. Man provided his dress from 

 the skins of animals, which he sewed together with sinews 

 by means of needle-shaped bones. His dwelling was probably 

 a nest or a hut, constructed of boughs, perhaps, but little 

 better than those constructed by the anthropomorphous apes. 

 This primitive man possessed no domestic animals, and no- 

 where is there any trace found of them. The dog seems to 

 have been the first animal which, at a later period, became 

 attached to man. 



This is the paradisiacal state of the primitive man, so far as 

 it is known to us, as narrated by those silent witnesses, the 

 stones and bones. From such a low condition, compared to 

 which that of the so-called savages of the old and new world 

 is a refined civilisation, has the human species gradually ex- 



