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these simple facts should we start before we attempt to understand those 

 ways which characterize what is loosely called his "civilization." 



There is yet another way in which we may view the sum total of facts 

 resulting from paleontological inquiry, or even the small part of it which is 

 here brought together. We may seek to interpret our collection of facts 

 from the humanistic standpoint. Granted that this knowledge does not 

 appreciably affect our vital interests, what is it worth to us in other respects ? 

 How far does knowledge of this sort tend to enlarge human consciousness? 

 Does reflection upon it tend to vivify our perception of the workings of 

 natural law ? And if so, does there not arise from fulness of perception a 

 keener sense of the nobility and dignity of the relation man bears to the 

 wonderful planet he inhabits, and is there not a quicker response on his part 

 to the suggestions which that clarified sense awakens ? There can be but 

 one answer to this last question. It is inevitable that there should be a 

 prompt and vigorous response from within when once it is realized that 

 " whatever else man may be, he is the sum of a series of actions linked with 

 all that has gone on before upon this earth." The experience is no less 

 common in paleontology than in other sciences that, after one has gained 

 sufficient insight, ideas and impressions of a certain sort enter our minds, 

 sharpen our vision, and enlarge our mental horizon by elevating us to a 

 summit of observation unattainable before. Possibly there belongs to pale- 

 ontology an even larger quota of these emancipating conceptions than is 

 true of other sciences, in view of its predominant historical interest — being, 

 as it were, a limitless extension of universal history. 



To realize to som.e extent what the loss of these emancipating concep- 

 tions would mean to us, it is only necessary to contrast the olden-time idea 

 of creation with modern evolutionary beliefs. Or, regarding the paleon- 

 tological record as the continuous unfolding of consciousness, whose begin- 

 nings are coeval with the origin of protoplasm, and whose crowning resultant 

 is man, we may picture to ourselves the contracted outlook, the void in our 

 knowledge, and the impoverishment of ideas that would be our portion in 

 case no documents had been preserved to instruct us of the far distant past. 



