17 
three or four centuries. But while we have means of testing that deteriora- 
tion, I do not think we have any means of testing what Mr. Titcomb has 
brought before us, for we have no literature extant of the languages he has 
referred to, and which might enable us to trace their improvement or deteri- 
oration. To call upon him to explain that more fully, therefore, is asking 
for that which the circumstances of the case will not admit of. With regard 
to the complexity of a barbarous language, it does not seem to me that it is 
to be argued that therefore the people who use it have not had civilized 
ancestors. The argument might turn the other way, and, could we trace it, 
we might find that the language had been even more complex originally than 
it is in the state in which we now find it. With regard to the question of 
moral deterioration, I quite grant what has been said with respect to it, 
that it does take a considerable time to effect such deterioration ; but I think 
there is an element which ought to be considered in relation to that point, 
which has not been mentioned at all in the discussion of the question. We 
have, as a starting-point, the fall of man; and taking that into consideration, 
I think it disposes of all the rest that has been urged. (Cheers.) 
Rev. C. A. Row. — What I meant on that point was, that I should like 
to see it accurately traced according to the laws of history, and not upon any 
theory. 
Mr. Newton. — With regard to the archaeological remains which have been 
spoken of as existing in Central America, I should like to mention that they 
are all, so far as we know, the production of slaves. Although they were the 
production of slaves, it is very likely that there was a very superior race who 
had the slaves under their control, and that would indicate early civilization 
and early barbarism concurrently. This is a difficulty which must be disposed 
of ; and then there is another, that at a very early period it was as much as 
a man could do to raise his food and provide his own clothing ; and unless 
a certain number were kept on very short allowance, there would be no extra 
labour that could be applied to those enormous works of which we now see 
the remains. We live under a very different state of things now, when we 
can make a machine produce as much work as a thousand men. In ancient 
civilization I think we are bound to conclude that all the gigantic works of 
ancient history were the result of slave labour. 
Rev. C. A. Row. — I am informed by a friend that at the Paris Exhibi- 
tion, among a quantity of ancient remains, is shown a painting, or something 
of the sort, dating from pre-historic times. I do not know whether it is a 
painting or not, but it contains figures — the figures of several pre-historic 
animals. I should like to hear somebody explain what is the historical 
value of such a painting or representation. 
The Chairman. — I heard that there was such a thing in the Exhibition, 
but I think its authenticity is rather doubtful ; at least it ought to have a 
careful inquiry and investigation. Since Sir Charles Lyell has been con- 
verted by Darwin, we find one school of geologists — the Anti-cataclysmal 
School — desirous of producing all the evidence they can of the antiquity 
of man. Man’s contemporaneousness with the extinct animals, which has 
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