THE ORIGIN OF AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS. 639 



Eome, the Eenaissance put forth her most exquisite blossoms, yet the 

 two differ in kind. The variation between the mothers is patent. Be- 

 sides, every form of civilization passes through a genetic period, a pe- 

 riod of maturity, during which it may propagate itself — how widely 

 Eome scattered her seeds! — and a period of decay. Civilization, theu, 

 resembles an organic being in its development — it is born, it perishes, 

 it can propagate itself, More particularly it resembles a plant — it 

 takes root in the soil, and when its seeds fall into other land new vari- 

 eties sprout up. 



Inow, the cartographic presentation in Petermann's Mitteilungen 

 taught a tact of primary importance, that certain culture elements ap- 

 pear together and are equally distributed. Thus, in spite of transitions, 

 mixtures, irregularity of occurrence near the boundary lines, they are 

 made to assume corporeal form by means of a certain unity of distri< 

 bution. We have the proof that it is possible, if only in roughest 

 outline, to trace geographic position and extent. 



Again, the cartographic method of ethnography demonstrated that, 

 in spite of great variability, the marks of origin are indelibly impressed 

 upon the framework of these forms or creatures of civilization. In other 

 words, it has been ascertained that ethnographic objects illustrative of 

 phases of culture may be examined with a view to fixing their descent, 

 as we examine the limbs and organs of a living being. 



The gain is great which thus accrues to the history of civilization 

 and of mankind. The astonishing fact of the Malayo-Negrito origin of 

 West African culture proves how far from their source prehistoric 

 forms of civilization wandered, and warns us, especially in the case of 

 complicated products, not to talk too much of local discovery of natural 

 laws, of independent invention and origin. It is becoming clearer and 

 clearer that the manifold ramifications of human culture are but the 

 crown of a single race, a fact which was repeatedly stated by Eatzel, 

 but which could scarcely have been established with certainty until now. 



The material awaiting investigation has itself indicated the way to 

 the possible solution of the problems. We have alluded to the char- 

 acteristics of culture forms which make them appear similar to animals. 

 Now, then, as the affinities and the descent of the latter have been 

 recognized, so the affinities and the descent of culture forms are 

 demonstrable. 



Scientists have succeeded in making out the genealogical tree, as it 

 were, of animals by following up the developments of the parts of the 

 organism, the changes, under various conditions, in the organs, the 

 modifications in certain bones, etc. I maintain that the same is pos- 

 sible in the study of culture forms. Shields, bows, spears, and huts 

 recur, to be sure, on every continent, in all ethnological groups, in 

 astonishingly similar forms; but closer attention reveals this similarity 

 to be only apparent. They are separated from one another by vital 

 differences, reaching back often to their very origin. 



