File:Ridpath's history of the world; being an account of the ethnic origin, primitive estate, early migrations, social conditions and present promise of the principal families of men (1897) (14803387293).jpg

Identifier: ridpathshistoryo01ridp (find matches)
Title: Ridpath's history of the world; being an account of the ethnic origin, primitive estate, early migrations, social conditions and present promise of the principal families of men ..
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Ridpath, John Clark, 1840-1900
Subjects: World history Ethnology
Publisher: New York, Merrill & Baker
Contributing Library: Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston University

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they are soluble atall. Certain circumstances, however, maybe cited which are at least effectiveas assisting forces in the extinction ofraces. The prevalence of vicious and 356 GREAT RACES OF MANKIND. luxurious habits, gradually supplanting the early and robust virtues of a people, tend unmistakably to na- Forces that tend , to the extermi- tional overthrow. 1 he ex-nation of races. temal forceg of war and the great cataclysms of nature may alsoaccount for the destruction and disap-pearance of peoples. It is doubtless truethat in prehistoric ages great submer-gences of peopled islands and continents been threatened by the rage of epidemics.Among uncivilized peoples the accumu-lation of stores for the future is but littleattended to. That prudence and fore-sight which keeps up the resources oflife against the day of calamity are butlittle practiced by barbarians, or even byraces half emerged from barbarism. Forthese reasons prehistoric peoples havebeen greatly exposed to the ravages of
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AZTEC RUINS AT PALENQUE, IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO. have taken place, while others have risen,dripping, from the deep. Earthquakesand volcanic disturbances of the greatcrust of the globe have terrified anddriven away what they have not engulfed.Finally, famine and pestilence have donetheir work on prehistoric as well as his-toric races. There are times within therecorded story of national life when notonly the depopulation of great districts,the extinction of whole nations has famine. At intervals the earth hasunaccountably withheld her gifts. Afew seasons of want in succession wouldbe sufficient to exterminate an isolatedand uncommercial nation, and that suchcalamities have actually fallen uponpeoples like the mound builders of Amer-ica can not be doubted. Beyond the limits of the United Statesthe tumuli and other evidences of by-gone races are generally secondary. In PRIMEVAL MAN.—PREHISTORIC AMERICANS. 357 one sense they are prehistoric, but inanother they fall, for the most part,Extinc

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