﻿134 
  PRIMEVAL 
  MAN. 
  

  

  have 
  been, 
  and 
  as 
  many 
  think, 
  probably 
  have 
  

   been, 
  not 
  Primeval 
  but 
  Medieval, 
  that 
  is 
  to 
  

   say, 
  the 
  result 
  of 
  time 
  and 
  of 
  development, 
  

   and 
  that 
  development 
  a 
  development 
  of 
  cor- 
  

   ruption. 
  To 
  assume 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  original, 
  

   or 
  that 
  they 
  were 
  even 
  better 
  or 
  less 
  bar- 
  

   barous 
  than 
  others 
  which 
  preceded 
  them, 
  

   is 
  to 
  assume 
  the 
  whole 
  question 
  in 
  dispute. 
  

   Yet 
  this 
  assumption 
  runs 
  through 
  all 
  Sir 
  J. 
  

   Lubbock's 
  arguments. 
  Wherever 
  a 
  brutal 
  or 
  

   savage 
  custom 
  prevails 
  it 
  is 
  at 
  once 
  assumed 
  to 
  

   be 
  a 
  sample 
  of 
  the 
  original 
  condition 
  of 
  Man- 
  

   kind. 
  And 
  this 
  in 
  the 
  teeth 
  of 
  facts 
  which 
  

   prove 
  that 
  many 
  of 
  such 
  customs 
  not 
  only 
  

   may 
  have 
  been, 
  but 
  must 
  have 
  been, 
  the 
  result 
  

   of 
  corruption. 
  Take 
  cannibalism 
  as 
  one 
  of 
  

   these. 
  Sir 
  J. 
  Lubbock 
  seems 
  to 
  admit 
  that 
  

  

  