26 
REVIEWS. 
inserted a notice requesting the autlior to make liimself known and 
to give some more particulars. I cannot, however, ascertain that, in 
answer to this appeal, any one came forward to take upon liimself 
the responsibility of so important an observation. 
Nor is this all. The original communication to the ‘ Philadelphia 
Presbyterian’ never alludes to the Mastodon at all , but refers the 
skeleton to the Mammoth ; and the Mastodon was first suggested by 
the editor of the American Journal. Under these circumstances it 
certainly seems to us that some better evidence will be required be¬ 
fore we can be expected to believe that any Mastodon was ever stoned 
to death by North American Indians. 
There are, indeed, upon record other facts of a similar tendency. 
"We have, however, already exceeded our limits, and we will therefore 
defer the consideration of them to some future opportunity. 
If, however, the facts above recorded justify the conclusion that 
parts at least of North America once supported a numerous and 
agricultural population, then we cannot but ask, What fatal cause 
has destroyed this earlier civilisation P Why are these fortifications 
forsaken—these cities in ruins ? How were the populous nations 
which once inhabited the rich American valleys reduced to the poor 
tribes of savages which the Europeans found there P History suggests 
by luxury or war. And the Archaeologist, if he perceive little evidence 
of the first, finds abundant proof of the second. Hid, then, the North 
and the South once before rise up in arms against one another ? “ Hid 
the terrible appellation of * The Hark and Bloody Land,’ applied to 
Kentucky, commemorate these ancient wars ?” Absit omen. Let us 
hope that our kinsmen in America may yet pause ere they, in like 
manner, sacrifice a common prosperity to a mutual hatred. 
II.— Prehistoric Man : Researches into the Origin oe Civilisa¬ 
tion in the Old and New World. By Haniel Wilson, LL.H. 
This work would have corresponded more nearly with its title if it had 
been called ‘ An Introduction to American Archaeology,’ or, in accord¬ 
ance with Hr. Wilson’s earlier work, ‘ The Prehistoric Annals of 
America.’ It is true that he has some general chapters; such as one on 
“ Speech,” another on “ Instinct,” and a third on “ Eire,” or, as he 
prefers to call them, “The Primeval Occupation: Speech,” “The 
Primeval Transition: Instinct,” and “ The Promethean Instinct: 
Eire.” The second of these headings we must confess that we cannot 
understand, nor have two careful perusals of the chapter itself thrown 
any light upon the meaning; but surely “ speech ” is as much an 
occupation now as it was in the earliest times ? However this may 
be, these chapters are at least general and correspond to the title of 
the work, while by far the larger part of the work is entirely devoted 
to the description of American antiquities. 
