Part 4 (1/2)
”This argument is perhaps the only one which has been brought forward with any degree of precision, and it is often recurred to. Is it, on this account, more demonstrative? Let the reader judge for himself.
”We may, in the first place, remark that Sir C. Lyell does not venture to p.r.o.nounce affirmatively as to the high antiquity of the human remains discovered by Dr. Fuhlrott, and that he looked upon them, at the most, as contemporary with the Engis skull, in which the Caucasian type of head was reproduced.
”Let us, however, admit that the Neanderthal skull belongs to the remote antiquity to which it has been a.s.signed; what, then, is in reality the significance of this skull? Is it actually a link between the head of the man and that of the ape? And does it not find some a.n.a.logy in comparatively modern races?
”Many writings have been published on these questions, and, as it appears to me, some light has gradually been thrown upon the subject.
There is no doubt that this skull is really remarkable for the enormous size of its superciliary ridges, the length and narrowness of the bony case, the slight elevation of the top of the skull. But these features are found to be much less exceptional than was at first supposed, in default of any means of inst.i.tuting a just comparison; very far, indeed, from justifying the approximation which some have endeavoured to make, this skull is, in all its characteristics, essentially human. Mr. Busk, in England, has pointed out the great affinity which is established, by the prominence of the superciliary ridges and the depression of the upper region, between certain Danish skulls from Borreby and the Neanderthal skull. Dr. Barnard Davis has described the still greater similarities existing between this very _fossil_ and a skull in his collection. Gratiolet forwarded to the Museum the skull of an idiot of the present time, which was almost identical with it in everything, although in slighter proportions, &c.
”The following appears to me to be decisive:
”In spite of its curious characteristics, the Neanderthal skull none the less belonged to an individual, who, to judge by other bones which have been found, diverged but little from the average type of the present Germanic races, and by no means approximated to that of the ape.
”Is it probable, proceeding even on the cla.s.s of ideas which I am opposing, that in a being in a state of transition between man and the anthropomorphous apes, the body would have become entirely human in its character, whilst the head presented its simial peculiarities? If a fact like this is admitted, does it not render the hypothesis absolutely worthless?
”Notwithstanding all the discussion to which these curious remains have given rise, it appears to me impossible to look upon them in any other light than as the remains of an individuality, exceptional, no doubt, but clearly belonging to the human species, and, in addition to this, to the Celtic race, one of the branches of our Aryan stock. M. Pruner-Bey appears to me to have placed this fact beyond all question by the whole ma.s.s of investigations which he has published on this subject. The most convincing proofs are based on the very great similarity which may be noticed in a Celtic skull taken from a tumulus in Poitou to the skull which has become so well known and, indeed, so celebrated owing to the writings of Doctor Schaaffhausen. This similarity is not merely external. An internal cast taken from one skull fits perfectly into the interior of the other. It was, therefore, the _brains_ and not merely the _skulls_ which bore a resemblance to one another. The proof appears to me to be complete, and, with the learned author of this work, I feel no hesitation in concluding that the Neanderthal skull is one of Celtic origin.
”After all, neither experience nor observation have as yet furnished us with the slightest data with regard to man at his earliest origin.
Science, therefore, which pretends to solidity of character, must put this problem on one side till fresh information is obtained. We really approach nearer to the truth when we confess our ignorance than when we attempt to disguise it either to ourselves or others.
”With regard to the simial origin of man, it is nothing but pure hypothesis, or rather nothing but a mere _jeu d'esprit_ which everything proves utterly baseless, and in favour of which no solid fact has as yet been appealed to.”
In dealing with this question in a more general point of view, we must add that the most enlightened science declares to us in unmistakable accents, that species is immutable, and that no animal species can be derived from another; they may change, but all bear witness to an independent creation. This truth, which has been developed at length by M. de Quatref.a.ges in his numerous works, is a definitive and scientific judgment which must decide this question as far as regards any unprejudiced minds.
CHAPTER II.
Man in the condition of Savage Life during the Quaternary Epoch--The Glacial Period, and its Ravages on the Primitive Inhabitants of the Globe--Man in Conflict with the Animals of the Quaternary Epoch--The Discovery of Fire--The Weapons of Primitive Man--Varieties of Flint-hatchets--Manufacture of the earliest Pottery--Ornamental objects at the Epoch of the Great Bear and the Mammoth.
After this dissertation, which was necessary to confute the theory which gives such a degrading explanation of our origin, we must contemplate man at the period when he was first placed upon the earth, weak and helpless, in the midst of the inclement and wild nature which surrounded him.
However much our pride may suffer by the idea, we must confess that, at the earliest period of his existence, man could have been but little distinguished from the brute. Care for his natural wants must have absorbed his whole being; all his efforts must have tended to one sole aim--that of insuring his daily subsistence.
At first, his only food must have been fruits and roots; for he had not as yet invented any weapon wherewith to destroy wild animals. If he succeeded in killing any creatures of small size he devoured them in a raw state, and made a covering of their skins to shelter himself against the inclemency of the weather. His pillow was a stone, his roof was the shadow of a wide-spreading tree, or some dark cavern which also served as a refuge against wild beasts.
For how many ages did this miserable state last? No one can tell. Man is an improvable being, and indefinite progress is the law of his existence. Improvement is his supreme attribute; and this it is which gives him the pre-eminence over all the creatures which surround him.
But how wavering must have been his first steps in advance, and how many efforts must have been given to the earliest creation of his mind and to the first work of his hands--doubtless some shapeless attempt in which we nowadays, perhaps, should have some difficulty in recognising the work of any intelligent being!
Towards the commencement of the quaternary epoch, a great natural phenomenon took place in Europe. Under the influence of numerous and varied causes, which up to the present time have not been fully recognised, a great portion of Europe became covered with ice, on the one hand, making its way from the poles down to the most southern lat.i.tudes, and, on the other, descending into the plains from the summits of the highest mountain chains. Ice and ice-fields a.s.sumed a most considerable extension. As all the lower parts of the continent were covered by the sea, there were only a few plateaux which could afford a refuge to man and animals flying from this deadly cold. Such was the _Glacial Period_, which produced the annihilation of so many generations of animals, and must have equally affected man himself, so ill-defended against this universal and sudden winter.
Man, however, was enabled to resist the attacks of revolted nature.
Without doubt, in this unhappy period, he must have made but little progress, even if his intellectual development were not completely stopped. At all events, the human species did not perish. The glacial period came to an end, the ice-fields shrank back to their original limits, and Nature rea.s.sumed its primitive aspect.
When the ice had gradually retired into the more northern lat.i.tudes, and had become confined to the higher summits, a new generation of animals--another _fauna_, as naturalists call it--made its appearance on the globe. This group of animals, which had newly come into being, differed much from those that had disappeared in the glacial cataclysm.
Let us cast an inquiring glance on these strange and now extinct creatures.
First we have the mammoth (_Elephas primigenius_), or the woolly-haired and maned elephant, carcases of which were found, entire and in good preservation, in the ice on the coasts of Siberia. Next comes the rhinoceros with a complete nasal septum (_Rhinoceros tichorhinus_), likewise clad in a warm and soft fur, the nose of which is surmounted with a remarkable pair of horns. Then follow several species of the hippopotamus, which come as far north as the rivers of England and Russia; a bear of great size inhabiting caverns (_Ursus spelaeus_), and presenting a projecting forehead and a large-sized skull; the cave lion or tiger (_Felis spelaea_), which much surpa.s.sed in strength the same animals of the existing species; various kinds of hyaenas (_Hyaena spelaea_), much stronger than those of our epoch; the bison or aurochs (_Biso europaeus_), which still exists in Poland; the great ox, the Urus of the ancients (_Bos primigenius_); the gigantic Irish elk (_Megaceros hibernicus_), the horns of which attained to surprising dimensions.
Other animals made their appearance at the same epoch, but they are too numerous to mention; among them were some of the Rodent family. Almost all these species are now extinct, but man certainly existed in the midst of them.