1903 - 4 .] Dr Munro on Man in the Palaeolithic Period. 121 
to the progress of civilisation. The beneficial effect of this uncon- 
genial environment on these early pioneers of humanity was to 
stimulate their natural capabilities of improvement — for the adage 
that necessity is the mother of invention was as applicable then 
as now. Entering Europe as naked, houseless nomads, living on 
wild fruits and the smaller fauna of a sub-tropical climate, they 
were ultimately forced by the severity of the climate to take 
refuge in caves and rock-shelters and to cover their bodies with 
skins. The natural food productions of a warm climate gradually 
disappeared, until finally there was little left but fierce animals, 
such as the mammoth, reindeer, chamois, horse, bison, etc., which 
came from northern regions into Central Europe. To procure the 
necessary food and clothing in these circumstances greatly taxed 
the skill and resources of the inhabitants. But this difficulty they 
ultimately solved by the manufacture of special weapons of the 
chase, with which they successfully attacked the larger wild 
animals which then occupied the country. The coup de poing, 
which for a long time served all the purposes of primitive life, 
gradually gave place to spear- and lance-heads fixed on long 
handles, together with a great variety of minor weapons and tools 
made of stone, bone, horn and wood. When the Palaeolithic 
people finally emerged from this singular contest with the forces 
of nature, they were physically and mentally better than ever 
equipped for the exigencies of life. A greater power of physical 
endurance, improved reasoning faculties, an assortment of tools 
adapted for all kinds of mechanical work, and some experience 
of the advantage of housing and clothing, may be mentioned 
among the trophies which they carried away from that long and 
uphill struggle. 
The civilisation thus developed represents the outcome of a 
system of human economy founded on the free play of natural 
laws, and little affected by the principles of religion or ethics 
— subjects which were as yet in their embryonic stage. The 
mysteries of the supernatural had not then been formulated 
into the concrete ideas of gods or demons. The notions of 
good and evil, right and wrong, were still dominated by the 
cosmic law that might is right. Neither gloomy forebodings 
nor qualms of conscience had much influence on the actions 
