The Prehistoric World; or, Vanished races - The Original Classic Edition. Allen Emory. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Allen Emory
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of the Paleozoic Ace. When flowering plants appear, it is the lower forms of them at first. It was long ages before trees with deciduous leaves appeared. The growth of animal life is equally instructive. First invertebrate life, then the lowest forms of vertebrate life. The fishes are followed by amphibians--then reptiles, then birds. The first mammal to appear was the lowest organized of all--the marsupials. And we have seen the sudden increase of mammalian life in Tertiary times. We notice, in all the divisions of life, a beginning, a culmination, and a decline. There has never been such a growth of flowerless plants as in the Paleozoic, and flowering plants probably culminated in the Miocene. The same rule holds good for the animal world also. As man is the most highly organized of all the animals, we can not hope to find any evidence of his presence until we find proofs of the presence of all the lower types of life. Of course future discoveries may change our knowledge when the series is complete; but, from our present standpoint, he could not have lived before the Miocene Age, and we have seen how faint and indecisive are the proofs of his presence even then. But should it finally be proved, beyond all dispute, that man did live in the Miocene Age, we must observe that this is but a small portion, but a minute fraction, of the great lapse of time since life appeared on the globe. We are a creation of but yesterday, even granting all that the most enthusiastic believer in the antiquity of man can claim. 62 Illustration of The Mastodon.------------- REFERENCES (1) The manuscript of this chapter was submitted to Prof. Winchell, of the University of Michigan, for criticism. (2) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 146. (3) Ibid. p. 147. (4) Nicholson's "Manual of Zoology," p. 59. (5) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 74. (6) Nicholson's "Manual of Zoology," p. 42. (7) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 323. (8) Nicholson's "Zoology," p. 402. (9) Dana's "Geology," p. 302. (10) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 6. (11) Dana's "Geology," p. 382. (12) Haywood's, Heer's, "Primeval World of Switzerland." (13) Dana's "Man. Geology," p.395. (14) Nicholson's "Man. Zoology," p.42. (15) Marsh: "American Assoc. Rep.," 1877. (16) Marsh: "American Assoc. Rep.," 1877. (17) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 6. (18) Nicholson's "Manual of Zoology," pp. 419 and 504. (19) When we talk of first appearance, we mean the discovery of remains. All who believe in the doctrine of evolution, know that the class Mammalia must have appeared early in Paleozoic times. Thus, Mr. Wallace says, "Bats and whales--strange modifications of mammals--appear perfectly well developed in the Eocene. 63 What countless ages back must we go for the origin of these groups--the whales from some ancestral carnivorous animal, the bats from the insectivora!" and even then we have to seek for the common origin of these groups at far earlier periods. "So that, on the lowest estimate, we must place the origin of the Mammalia very far back in Paleozoic times." ("Island Life," p. 201.) (20) This word is also spelled Kainozoic, and Cainozoic. We follow Dana, p. 140. (21) Dana, "Manual of Geology," p. 488. (22) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 28. (23) Many of these animal forms were common during the early Eocene. (Winchell.) (24) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 29. (25) Dana, "Geology," p. 517. (26) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 32. (27) Marsh. "American Assoc. Rep.," 1877. (28) Haywood's Heer's "Primeval World of Switzerland," p. 296. (29) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 20. (30) Ibid., p. 43. (31) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 498. (32) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 42. (33) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 514. (34) Haywood's Heer's "Primeval World of Switzerland," p. 334. (35) Haywood's Heer's "Primeval World of Switzerland." (36) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," pp. 57 and 64. (37) Ibid., p. 57: also, Haywood's Heer's "Primeval World of Switzerland." (38) Nicholson's "Manual of Zoology," p. 605. 64 (39) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 58. (40) Ibid. 58. (41) McLean: "Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man," p. 67. (42) Dawkins's "Early Man in Europe," p. 66. (43) See "Outline," p. 41. (44) Lyell's "Antiquity of Man," p. 193. (45) Quatrefages's "Human Species," p. 151. (46) Prof. Winchell says: "Quatrefages does not now consider the proof decisive (_Hommes Fossiles et Hommes Sauvages,_ Paris, 1884, p. 95)." He cites, as agreeing with him, MM. Cotteau, Evans, "and, I believe, most of the members who have not publicly pronounced themselves." (47) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 67. (48) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 68. (49) "Human Species," p. 152. (50) Prof. Winchell remarks that, though some savage races might have been living in tropical lands during the Miocene, still the oldest skull and jaws obtainable in Europe are of a higher type than these. (51) Dana's "Manual of Geology," p. 523. (52) Marsh: "American Assoc. Rep.," 1877. (53) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 73. (54) Ibid., p. 78. (55) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 77. (56) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 76. (57) Winchell's "Pre-Adamites," Whitney's "Auriferous Gravels of California," Marsh's "Address before American Assoc.," 1879. (58) "Antiquity of Man," p. 234. (59) "Prehistoric Times," p. 433. 65 (60) Geikie's "Prehistoric Europe," p. 343. (61) Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain." (62) Ibid. (63) "Prehistoric Europe," p. 318. (64) Quatrefages's "Hum. Species," p. 150; Geikie's "Prehistoric Eur.," p. 345. (65) "Pre-Adamites." (66) Geikie's "Prehistoric Europe," p. 344. (67) Ibid. (68) "Early Man in Britain," p. 92. (69) Geikie's "Prehistoric Europe," p. 344. (70) Same as Glacial. See "Outline," p. 41. (71) "Early Man in Britain," p. 92. (72) "Prehistoric Europe," p. 345, note 2. Chapter III MEN OF THE RIVER DRIFT. Beginning of the Glacial Age--Interglacial Age--Man living in Europe during this age--Map of Europe--Proof of former elevation of land--The animals living in Europe during this age--Conclusions drawn from these different animals--The vegetation of this period--Different climatic conditions of Europe during the Glacial Age--Proofs of a Glacial Age--Extent of the Glacial Ice--Evidence of warm Interglacial Age--The primitive state of man--Early English civilization--Views of Horace--Primitive man destitute of metals--Order in which different 66 materials were used by man for weapons--Evidence, from the River Somme--History of Boucher de Perthes's investigations--Discussion of the subject--Antiquity of these remains--Improvement during Paleolithic Age--Description of the flint implements--Other countries where these implements are found--What race of men were these tribes--The Canstadt race--Mr. Dawkins's views--When did they first appear in Europe--The authorities on this question--Conclusion. The Tertiary Age, with its wonderful wealth of animal and plant life, gradually drew to its close. In our "Outline" we have named the period that next ensued the Glacial Age. This was sufficiently exact for our purpose then, but we must remember this is the name for a long series of years. During this period great changes in climate occurred. At its commencement, a genial temperate climate prevailed throughout Europe; and this, as we know, was preceded, during the Miocene Age, by a warm tropical one. This succession, then, shows us that, for some reason or other, the climate had been gradually growing colder. This change went forward uninterruptedly. Doubtless very gradually, from century to century, the seasons grew more and more severe, until, finally, the Summer's sun no longer cleared the mountains of the Winter's snow. This was the beginning of the Glacial Age proper. The best authorities also suppose that the reign of snow and ice was broken by at least one return (possibly more) of genial climate, when animals and plants from the south again visited the countries of Northern Europe--only, however, to be once more driven forth by a return of arctic cold. But finally, before the increasing warmth of a genial Climate, the glaciers vanished, not to return again, and the Glacial Age became merged in that of the present. 67 It is no longer a question that man lived in Europe during the largest portion of this age, if not from the beginning. It is necessary, then, to come to a clear understanding of the successive stages of this entire age, and to trace the wonderful cycles of climate--the strange mutation of heat and cold, which must have exerted a powerful influence on the life, both animal and vegetable, of the period--and see when we first find decisive proofs of man's presence, and learn what we can of his condition. The map of Europe, at the close of Pliocene times and the commencement of the Glacial Age, is of interest to us in several ways. From this it will be seen that it was considerably more elevated than at the present. As this is no fancy sketch, but is based on facts, it is well to outline them. Without the aid of man, land animals can not possibly pass from the mainland of a continent to an island lying some distance off the shore. But it is well known that animals like the rhinoceros, and several others, wandered as well over the surface of the British Islands as on the adjacent coast of Europe. We are therefore compelled to assume, that at that time the English Channel and the Irish Sea were not in existence. This necessitates an elevation of at least four hundred feet, which would also lay bare a large portion of the North Sea. In proof of this latter statement is the fact, that, at a distance from land in the North Sea, fishermen at the present day frequently dredge up bones and teeth of animals that then roamed in Europe. Map of Europe------------------ 68 While there is no necessity for supposing an elevation greater than that required to lay