Comparative philology has enabled us to trace back the genealogies
of races, to determine their origin, and to follow their
migrations. Burnouf has brought to light the ancient Zend language,
Sir Henry Rawlinson and Oppert have by their magnificent works opened
up new methods of research, Max Muller and Pictet in their turn by
availing themselves of the most diverse materials have done much to
make known to us the Aryan race, the great educator, if I may so speak,
of modern nations.

To one great fact do all the most ancient epochs of history bear
witness: one and all, they prove the existence in a yet more remote
past of an already advanced civilization such as could only have been
gradually attained to after long and arduous groping. Who were the
inaugurators of this civilization? Who ware the earliest inhabitants of
the earth? To what biological conditions were they subject? What were
the physical and climatic conditions of the globe when they lived? By
what flora and fauna were they surrounded? But science pushes her
inquiry yet further. She desires to know the origin of tire human
race, when, how, and why men first appeared upon the earth; for from
whatever point of view he is considered, man must of necessity have
had a beginning.

We are in fact face to face with most formidable problems, involving
alike our past and future; problems it is hopeless to attempt to solve
by human means or by the help of human intelligence alone, yet with
which science can and ought to grapple, for they elevate the soul and
strengthen the reasoning faculties. Whatever may be their final result,
such studies are of enthralling interest. "Man," said a learned member
of the French Institute, "will ever be for man the grandest of all
mysteries, the most absorbing of all objects of contemplation."[1]