Page:Palæolithic Man and Terramara Settlements in Europe.djvu/51

Rh flint, are more abundantly met with. The successive modifications which these respective materials have undergone during a long series of ages, though different in kind, are found to bear a decided ratio to the progress of human intelligence.

Thus, taking the human skull at the starting-point of humanity as comparable to that of one of the higher apes, we have just seen that during the onward march of time it has undergone some striking changes, both in form and capacity, before reaching the normal type of modern civilised races. Similarly, the artificial products of man's hands show a steady improvement in type, technique, and efficiency, commensurate with his progressive knowledge of the laws of nature, and his ability in applying them to mechanical and utilitarian purposes. Indeed, the trail of humanity along its entire course is strewn with the discarded weapons and tools which, from time to time, had to give way to others of greater efficiency. Such obsolete objects