CHAPTER IV.

THE FIRST WANDERERS ON EARTH.

Peruvian race in Europe,

They build the round towers,

In geological times, 209; in the times of tradition, 210.

Can a mixed race exist? 216. The old english people, 216.

Footsteps of the Scythians, 221.

223. Budhists in Ireland, 226.

228. Their crowning stone carried to Scotland, and thence

to Westminster Abbey - Their fall, 231. Are the Scythians

the gipsies? 235. The Phoenicians in Ireland, 237. Old foot-

prints in France, 241. Thoth worshipped in England, 242.

Eastern dresses and customs in Britain, 247. Old-world customs

and names in Mexico, 249. Phoenicians in America, 250. Paths

of the first wanderers, 253.

CHAPTER V.

THE FIRST COLONISTS OF SACRED HISTORY,

Or the lost tribes, 255. The jews of Afghanistan, 256. Laws

and character of the Afghans, 261. Traces of their first wan-

derings, 262. Black jews and white jews, 264.

jews, 267. Old jew settlements in Spain, 268.

CHAPTER VI.

THE FIRST LANGUAGE.

The Chozar

The key found in sanskrit,

English not an offshoot of the

The aryan root, 281. The

Natural decay of languages, 272.

276. Denial of the sanskrit, 277.

teuton, 278. The Aryans, 279.

turanian tongue, 28. Objections to Mr. Darwin's theory, 284.

The bow-wow theory, 285.

CHAPTER VII.

THE FIRST ALPHABET.

The arrow-headed writing, 288. Utter destruction of its
earliest homes, 289. Futility of the search, 290. Deference of

englishmen to german writers, 294. Grotefend's plan-
Colonel Rawlinson's plan, 297. Doubtful character of these
readings, 298. Mr. Forster's alphabet, 303. Commonplace nature
of the assyrian inscriptions, 305. Features of the assyrian carv-
ings, 307. The obelisk of Nimroud, 309. Way in which arrow-
head writing ran, 312. The sculptures of Behistun, 313.

CHAPTER VII I.

THE BATTLE OF LIFE.

Gradual change of

322. Similarity between

Influence of food and climate

Variability, 336. Selected

340. Advantages of Mr.

Difficulty of defining a species, 317.

species, 320. Trial of strength,

Lamarck's and Darwin's views, 325.

on man denied, 330. Atavism, 334.

dogs, 337. Man an improved ape,

Darwin's theory, 345. Flaws in it, 347. Growth of brain with each

successive dynasty, 352.

Early beginning of high development,

354. Suppositions, 357.

CHAPTER IX.

THE LAWS OF LIFE.

Cycle of life, 368.

Exercise

Sketch of life, 360. What man consists of, 363. Function

dependent upon power, 367.

of animal functions-Bodily labour, 371. Mental labour,

373. Great thinkers sleep like other men, 374. Food

and digestion Assimilation and sleep, 375. Dreams, 377.

Ghosts, 382. Starting in sleep, 391. Nature of vital power,

393. Its connection with electricity and magnetism, 395.

Defining a fluid, 403. Properties of the vital power, 407. Are

the soul and vital power the same thing? 411.

brain, 414. Action of alkohol, 415. Shock, 417.

418. Fatigue, 420. The cause of death, 427.

Objections to the

of old writers, 436.

CHAPTER X.

LIFE IN THE BLOOD.

idea of a blood-poison,

Fate of theory, 437.

Overtaxed

The passions,

Experiments on the lower animals, 440. Clumsy mechanism of

a blood-poison, 443. How metals get into the blood, 444.

Throwing poisons into the stomach, 445.

CHAPTER XI.

LIFE IN THE NERVES.

Nervous action the root of all disorders, 448. Simplest forms

of disorder, 451. Death by lightning, 452.

disease, 455.

Simplest forms of

Electric nature of some disorders, 460.

CHAPTER XII.

LIFE OF A GIANT.

-

Cotter or

On giants generally, 466. O'Brien Patrick

O'Brien, the real irish giant, 471. James Toller, 475. M'Grath

the "prodigious irish giant," 476. Christoff Munster the

Hanover giant, 478. Dutch and scotch giants, 480. Scotch

cannibal, 482. The gigantic boy of Willingham, 483. Unknown

giants-In the Charter House, 488; in Fulwell lime-quarry, 488.

Fat giants Daniel Lambert, 490. Bright of Maldon, 495. The

cornish Falstaff, 498. Prussian fat boy, 499. How not to get

fat, 500.

Size of great men, 503. Group of odd-looking poets, 511.

Features of great men, 513. Diseases of genius, 515. Great

men healthy though delicate, 516. Madness and genius not

allied, 519. Appearance of genius in cycles, 520. Causes

of decay, 524. Children of great men not eminent, 527.

Fewness of children of great men, 533; in ancient times, 534;

in dark ages, 538. Children of our great poets, 539; of great

captains and statesmen, 545; of the great poets of other countries,

547; of great artists, 549; of philosophers, 550. Deductions, 552.

CHAPTER XIV.

LIFE OF THE WATERS.

Power of earthquakes much less than that of water, 558.

Water everywhere, 560. In rocks and metals, 562. In

precious stones, 565. In the human frame, 566. In the

plant, 567. Natural colour of water, 568. Water tough, 571.

Bending ice, 572. Value of ice to life on the globe, 574. Return

of the great winter, 576. Borings in Egypt, 579. No trace of

man in the great seas, 581. Encroachments of the ocean, 583.

Or coloured stars and double suns, 580. A lecture by

M. Arago, 587. Colours of the stars, 588. The sources of their

colours, 591. How to observe the double stars, 594. Effect of

a double sun on our earth, 599. Collisions in space,. 601.

Opening and shutting of stars, 602. Life on the planets, 605.

Climate of the planets, 605. Climate of the planets, 610.

Blowing-up planets, 613.

THE STREAM OF LIFE.

CHAPTER I.

THE BEGINNING OF LIFE; OR, ENGLAND LONG LONG AGO.

"This island is in a great measure a general epitome of the globe." -Fitton.

THE FIRST GREAT DAY.-In the days when our little island was young she was not a beauty, she was merely grand and interesting. Unlike other belles she only began to charm the poet and novelist when she had long outlived the fire of youth, or rather when she was in the opinion of many fast sinking into a state of decrepitude, which unmistakably warned men of approaching death and dissolution. This strange consummation has required a long and wonderful series of metamorphoses, each as complete and mysterious as that which transforms the larva into the butterfly, and which it will be my task to picture forth as I best can.

The mind finds it difficult to realize the idea that a country so well tilled and drained as England, and subjected to the plough as far back as authentic history goes, was once a steaming morass covered with the rank tropical vegetation of the tree-fern groves its awful silence broken only by the hum of

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