INTRODUCTION. ll 



as much business habits as are those which now 

 lead to success in any branch of commerce. 

 Indeed they were even more so, for nowadays 

 if one becomes bankrupt there are many mitigat- 

 ing circumstances ; but in prehistoric times there 

 were no poor laws or charities, and failure in 

 business meant extinction. Even the miscarriage 

 of a single enterprise, such as the throwing of 

 a spear at a cave-bear or a bison, often involved 

 a death penalty. 



We owe our instinctive liking and aptitude for 

 naturalising in the open air to the fact that the 

 practical study of natural history was at one time 

 of saving value to our race. Not only did such 

 accomplishments stave off imminent death — as 

 when the recognition of a footprint or a faint 

 sound in the forest told of the presence of some 

 terrible enemy — but they acted surely if slowly in 

 many other ways to the advantage of their pos- 

 sessor. Among the Esquimaux the hunter who 

 could be depended upon to bring home his seal 

 at the end of a day's business on the ice-floe 

 could not only have the pick of the girls in 

 marriage, but gained other privileges which tend 

 to make a family prosperous. 



Now let us inquire somewhat more in detail as 



