Geography of the Prehistoric. if 



that a short time can suffice to drag people down; 

 and not quite an interminable time is needed to lift 

 them up again. The great and active energies in 

 human nature are only waiting for the right touch 

 and pressure to yield up their resources for use and 

 development. How it has been with them in the 

 past, we shall see, when we have determined the 

 facts of the case. 



This is enough, then, of the preliminary notions, 

 which will serve to fix the scientific imagination on 

 the study before us. Now let us address ourselves 

 to the facts of the case, and see what interpretation 

 they call for, and will bear. 



10. We may first sketch the outlines of the geog- 

 raphy which the prehistoric has really covered. 

 Then the chronology will come in order, when we 

 consider the ages, as they are called, of 

 iron, bronze and stone. Pray observe Geography of 



the Prehis- 



that the geography here will reproduce, toric. 

 in its distribution of human fortunes, 

 some of the same social phenomena which we wit- 

 ness on a smaller scale in the mixed population of 

 any great city. There you may find opposite ex- 

 tremes at the same time of penury and opulence, 

 within a stone's throw of one another, separated by 

 just a street or two on the right hand or the left. 

 And here, in the geography before us, you will find 

 the prehistoric separated from the historic only by 

 a natural boundary, as the Alps or the Danube; 

 such barriers as have always been enough to sepa- 



