f the Pacific give evidence that, long before the dawn of
authentic history, man lived there. Indeed, as the islands which gem
that ocean, from their configuration and position, seem to be but the
elevated plateaus and mountain peaks of a continent that has gone down
beneath the blue wave of the Pacific, so, throughout Polynesia can be
traced the fragmentary remains of a civilization, the greater portion of
which has been completely buried by the waters of oblivion, leaving only
here and there a trace to reconstruct, if we can, the entire structure.

The earliest remains of man are very similar in all lands. They consist
of weapons of war and of the chase, implements of domestic use, and
articles of personal adornment. Few and simple as they are, they are
capable of imparting useful information as to early times. By their aid
we become eye-witnesses of the daily life of primitive man. We learn
that though lacking in almost every thing we consider essential for
comfort and happiness, yet they were actuated by much the same hopes and
fears as the men of the present age. The great burden of life was the
same then as now. There was the same round of daily labor made necessary
by the same ceaseless struggle for existence. Rude forts and warlike
implements show there was the same encroachment of the strong on the
weak as now.

This is a wonderful age in many respects. In none, however, more
wonderful than in the wide-spread diffusion of knowledge. The ordinary
people now understand more of nature's secrets than the wise men of old.
They are to-day interested in researches that a former generation would
have relegated to the scholar and the man of leisure. No department of
knowledge is retained for the researches of a favored few. The farmer,
the mechanic, and the man of business are alike interested in a
knowledge of prehistoric times. The rude implements of the past appeal
to the curiosity of all. We arise from a study of the past with clearer
ideas of man's destiny. Impressed with the great advancement in man's
condition from the rude savagery of the drift, to the enlightened
civilization of to-day, what may we not hope the advancement will be
during the countless ages we believe a beneficent Providence has in
store for his creature, man?

A history of the popular opinion of the antiquity of man is not only of
interest, but should teach a lesson to all who think others are wrong
because not holding the same views as they