of
human handicraft also, the material at our disposal has greatly
increased of late years, that, as a result of this, the opinions of
archaeologists have undergone many changes, and that, in particular,
their views in regard to the age of the human race have been greatly
influenced. There is a tendency at the present time to refer the
origin of man back to Tertiary times. It is true that no remains of
Tertiary man have been found, but flints have been discovered which,
according to the opinion of most investigators, bear traces either of
use, or of very primitive workmanship. Since Rutot's time, following
Mortillet's example, investigators have called these "eoliths," and
they have been traced back by Verworn to the Miocene of the Auvergne,
and by Rutot even to the upper Oligocene. Although these eoliths are
even nowadays the subject of many different views, the preoccupation
with them has kept the problem of the age of the human race
continually before us.

Geology, too, has made great progress since the days of Darwin and
Lyell, and has endeavoured with satisfactory results to arrange the
human remains of the Diluvial period in chronological order (Penck). I
do not intend to enter upon the question of the primitive home of the
human race; since the space at my disposal will not allow of my
touching even very briefly upon all the departments of science which
are concerned in the problem of the descent of man. How Darwin would
have rejoiced over each of the discoveries here briefly outlined! What
use he would have made of the new and precious material, which would
have prevented the discouragement from which he suffered when
preparing the second edition of _The Descent of Man_! But it was not
granted to him to see this progress towards filling up the gaps in his
edifice of which he was so painfully conscious.

He did, however, have the satisfaction of seeing his ideas steadily
gaining ground, notwithstanding much hostility and deep-rooted
prejudice. Even in the years between the appearance of _The Origin of
Species_ and of the first edition of the _Descent_, the idea of a
natural descent of man, which was only briefly indicated in the work
of 1859, had been eagerly welcomed in some quarters. It has been
already pointed out how brilliantly Huxley contributed to the defence
and diffusion of Darwin's doctrines, and how in _Man's Place in
Nature_ he has given us a classic work as a foundation for the
doctrine of the de