The present subject has been treated in so full and admirable a manner
by Sir J. Lubbock (32. On the Origin of Civilisation, Proceedings of
the Ethnological Society, Nov. 26, 1867.), Mr. Tylor, Mr. M Lennan,
and others, that I need here give only the briefest summary of their
results. The arguments recently advanced by the Duke of Argyll (33.
Primeval Man, 1869.) and formerly by Archbishop Whately, in favour of
the belief that man came into the world as a civilised being, and that
all savages have since undergone degradation, seem to me weak in
comparison with those advanced on the other side. Many nations, no
doubt, have fallen away in civilisation, and some may have lapsed into
utter barbarism, though on this latter head I have met with no
evidence. The Fuegians were probably compelled by other conquering
hordes to settle in their inhospitable country, and they may have
become in consequence somewhat more degraded; but it would be difficult
to prove that they have fallen much below the Botocudos, who inhabit
the finest parts of Brazil.
The evidence that all civilised nations are the descendants of
barbarians, consists, on the one side, of clear traces of their former
low condition in still-existing customs, beliefs, language, etc.; and
on the other side, of proofs that savages are independently able to
raise themselves a few steps in the scale of civilisation, and have
actually thus risen. The evidence on the first head is extremely
curious, but cannot be here given: I refer to such cases as that of the
art of enumeration, which, as Mr. Tylor clearly shews by reference to
the words still used in some places, originated in counting the
fingers, first of one hand and then of the other, and lastly of the
toes. We have traces of this in our own decimal system, and in the
Roman numerals, where, after the V, which is supposed to be an
abbreviated picture of a human hand, we pass on to VI, etc., when the
other hand no doubt was used. So again, when we speak of three-score
and ten, we are counting by the vigesimal system, each score thus
ideally made, standing for 20 for one man as a Mexican or Carib would
put it. (34. Royal Institution of Great Britain, March 15, 1867.
Also, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, 1865.) According
to a large and increasing school of philologists, every language bears
the marks of its slow and gradual evolution. So it is with the art of
writing, for letters are rudiments of pictorial representations. It is
hardly possible to read Mr. M Lennan s work (35. Primitive Marriage,
1865. See, likewise, an excellent article, evidently by the same
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