FOSSILS AND THEIR TEACHINGS. 73 



fossil skeleton in Belgium ; a cave-dweller, willi rude stone implements 

 beside him ; low-browed, short in stature, a hunter and fisher, as the 

 bones attest which are associated with him ; this, therefore, is his Palae- 

 olithic (Old-Stone) Age. The Esquimaux are considered his lineal 

 descendants. At the close of the Champlain period a higher type ap- 

 pears in the south of Prance ; still a cave-dweller, but of larger stature 

 and brain ; he has better stone implements, and others of horn, bone, 

 and ivory, elegantly carved with the figures of animals. The bones of 

 the Eeindeer are associated with him ; this is his Reindeer Age. After 

 a second glacial period, which occurred in Europe, the Recent Period 

 comes in, and a still higher type appears in the Denmarlc skeletons, — 

 a farmer and herdsman, with handsome stone implements and vessels 

 of pottery. He understood spinning and weaving ; was to some extent 

 an engineer, for in Great Britain he excavated galleries in the chalk- 

 beds to extract ilints, which he converted into weapons and tools. He 

 believed in a future state; the pottery, arrow-heads, etc., found in his 

 graves were evidently placed there for the use of the dead. This is his 

 Neolithic Age (New Stone). The Lapps in Northern Europe, the 

 handsome Basques in the south of France, the small, dark Welshman 

 and Irishman of West Ireland, are considered his descendants. To the 

 latter part of this period the Lake-dwellers of Switzerland belong ; they 

 used bronze instruments as well as stone ; theirs is therefore the Bronze 

 Age. 



139. Of man's antiquity, as compared with historical annals, the geo- 

 logic records afford every proof; the best scientific authorities agree 

 that he appeared first at least sixty thousand years ago. Yet geology 

 teaches us that he is the latest born of living creatures. We see, there- 

 fore, that the fossil Bible under our feet and the written Bible which is 

 our rule of life tell the same story of Creation. 



140. Both plant and animal types are still dying out, as in former 

 ages. The Horsetails and Oycads are few and diminishing. The Auk, 

 a bird of Northern seas, has become extinct within forty years. The 

 Esquimaux and Lapps are decreasing. 



141. Natural Selection. — In the midst of all the geologic, glacial, 

 and climatic changes, certain types of both plants and animals have 

 adapted themselves by specialization to the needs of their " environ- 

 ments" or surroundings. We have examples in the Grasses and Lilies 

 in Endogens ; in the Mistletoe, Oak, and Sunflower family in Exogens. 

 These seem to have been selected by nature as the fittest to survive. 

 Hence we have the two famous phrases of Mr. Darwin, — Natural 

 Selection and Survival of the Fittest. 



