Excerpt from Some First Steps in Human Progress The word "anthropology" from its derivation means, of course, a discourse concerning man. It has been defined by the great French naturalist, De Quatrefages, as "the natural history of man." It is, then, scientific study of man of the same sort as the scientific study which a botanist pursues concerning plants and the zoologist concerning animals. In its most comprehensive meaning it includes the study of the physical man and of his mental, social, and religious natures. It is a broad field; not easily limited. It includes a number of subordinate sciences, such as somatology or physical anthropology, ethnology, prehistoric archaeology, and culture history. It is not the intention of the author in writing this book to discuss the whole field of anthropology, but simply to consider some points in culture history. It shall be our aim to trace simply some few of the first steps in human progress. Primitive man, whatever his capacity for learning and achievement, faced an unknown world. He was to subdue nature; to do so he must solve many problems. If we look at the great progress and advancement which we, in America, have made within one hundred years we may see how the solution of one problem aids to solve a new problem; how the ground gained to-day serves simply as a point from which to advance to occupy new ground to-morrow. This progress is now marked and rapid; when it began it was slow and feeble. A part of this book was originally presented in the form of lectures to a Chautauqua audience. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."