626 PROGRESS AND POSITION OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL SCIENCES. 



which M. Biviere has kindly allowed ine to reproduce. Among the 

 other objects found in the same place were some flint implements 

 brought to a fine point, suitable for engraving on bone or horn. 



The idea of making in any form a graphic representation of anything 

 seen has never, so far as I know, occurred to any lower animal ; and it 

 could hardly have been among the first ideas formed in the gradually 

 developing human brain. When that idea is found carried out with 

 remarkable artistic skill, by means of implements well adapted for the 

 purpose, we may surely assume that the result was not obtained till 

 after a long interval of time, and was approached by gradual steps 

 marked by progress in other faculties, as well as in the artistic faculty. 



Fig. 1. — Prehistoric art. 



It may be that some day all uncertainty on this head will be removed 

 by decisive discoveries. 



The interval between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods rests in 

 the like condition of incertitude. That by some means, and somewhere 

 on the face of the globe, the one period gradually passed into the other 

 we can not but believe. That the transition between them may have 

 involved innumerable degrees is also highly probable. Where and 

 when and how each step was taken we do not know at present, and 

 possibly never shall know. The problem is not satisfactorily solved by 

 the production of paleolithic implements resembling neolithic forms, 

 or neolithic implements resembling paleolithic forms, inasmuch as 

 between the one period and the other an interval of time involving 

 geological and other changes has to be accounted for. 



In this respect, also, our best authorities are the most cautious and 



