The Story of "primitive" Man

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D. Appleton, 1895 - 190 Seiten
 

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Seite 9 - All that is really known of the ancient state of Britain is contained in a few pages. We can know no more than what the old writers have told us ; yet what large books have we upon it, the whole of which, excepting such parts as are taken from those old writers, is all a dream, such as Whitaker's
Seite 26 - In each great region of the world the living mammals are closely related to the extinct species of the same region. It is therefore probable that Africa was formerly inhabited by extinct apes closely allied to the gorilla and chimpanzee ; and as these two species are now man's nearest allies, it is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere.
Seite 139 - The tamest cattle — those which seldom ran away, that kept the flocks together, and those which led them homeward — would be preserved alive longer than any of the others. It is, therefore, these that chiefly become the parents of stock and bequeath their domestic aptitudes to the future herd. I have constantly witnessed this process of selection among the pastoral savages of South Africa. I believe it to be a very important one on account of its rigour and its regularity. It must have existed...
Seite 106 - Macusi, though better in health, was so enraged against me that he refused to stir, for he declared that, with great want of consideration for his weak health, I had taken him out during the night and had made him haul the canoe up a series of difficult cataracts. Nothing could persuade him that this was but a dream, and it was some time before he was so far pacified as to throw himself sulkily into the bottom of the canoe.
Seite 157 - She came to the limits of the world, to the deep-flowing Oceanus. There is the land and the city of the Cimmerians, shrouded in mist and cloud, and never does the shining sun look down on them with his rays, neither when he climbs up the starry heavens, nor when again he turns earthward from the firmament, but deadly night is outspread over miserable mortals.
Seite 30 - Arms of old were hands nails and teeth and stones and boughs broken off from the forests, and flame and fire, as soon as they had become known. Afterwards the force of iron and copper was discovered...
Seite 59 - And assuredly, there is no mark of degradation about any part of its structure. It is, in fact, a fair average human skull, which might have belonged to a philosopher, or might have contained the thoughtless brains of a savage.
Seite 31 - ... and thus the savage would learn to make sharp-edged stones for himself. At first, as we see in the drift specimens, these would be coarse and rough, but gradually the pieces chipped off would become smaller, the blows would be more cautiously and thoughtfully given, and at length it would be found that better work might be done by pressure than by blows. From pressure to polishing would again be but a small step. In making flint implements sparks would be produced; in polishing them it would...
Seite 93 - I have another strange story, but very well attested, of an Elf arrow, that was shot at a venerable Irish Bishop, by an Evil Spirit in a terrible noise, louder than thunder, which shaked the house where the Bishop was...
Seite 98 - Behind the fire sat a girl with one of those strange foreign faces which are occasionally to be seen in the Western Isles, a face which reminded me of the Nineveh sculptures, and of faces seen in St. Sebastian. Her hair was as black as night, and her clear dark eyes glittered through the peat-smoke.

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