1896.] Anthropology. 607 
European archeologists would seek to examine their error without be- 
ing forced to do so. Mr. Keane says “ There is necessarily a time 
sequence wherever the two cultures have been developed.” The mis- 
take the author falls into is in declaring that to chip a stone or to 
grind and peck a stone constitute two cultures, for experiment proves 
the contrary ; try to chip a diorite and you only shape it by powdering 
the surface, for it does not chip, try to batter a flint and it breaks 
through the ordinary lines of cleavage and is destroyed, for it does not 
peck. 
Again the author of Ethnology says “that until it is shown that fire 
arms are as old as paleoliths, no European archeologist will ever believe 
that polished implements are as old as the chipped stones.” Though 
this will hardly pass as scientific argument we would say, here again 
Mr. Keane is in error, for instances of chipped and polished stones 
being found in the same layer with fossil bones has been recorded 
on too many occasions to leave room for doubt to one who would 
decide on written authority alone. Up to this time Mr. Keane has 
argued in favor of the simpler process preceding the complex, but here 
he says “it is a fallacy to suppose that the easier process comes first,” 
and instances “transport by wheeled vehicles or by steam as immeas- 
urably easier than pack animals.” If we are to construe the word 
“ easier ” as being synonomous with “simpler” it opens a new field of 
argument to assert that the complex precedes the simple in machinery, 
or that the machine of many parts is the ancestor of the machine of few 
parts, this proposition will not meet with many supporters. 
My views concerning the mechanical status of primitive peoples has 
been formed solely from experiment with primitive tools and reading 
the literature of archeology. The technology of archeology appears to 
be little understood in Europe, its importance being almost ignored, as 
is evidenced by the apparent inability to grasp the plainest mechanical 
propositions. The results of my experiments are sustained by my field 
discoveries as they are by research in the library, and considered from 
any of these positions the fact that an identical mechanical culture 
produced, chipped or polished stone appears to be indisputable. The 
earliest cave remains show man to have made the best use of material 
at his command. Where he had flint he chipped it ; if on the contrary 
he lived in a region of metomorphic stone he would of necessity 
hammer it into shape; if horn and ivory were plentiful he would saw 
and grind it. If one will make experiments with primitive imple- 
ments in reproducing primitive work they will not fail to appreciate 
the correctness of the views here expressed. As illustration take 
