The Tree-Dwellers Part 20

(_c_) Trees that offer protection from the sun and rain, and branches that are tough and strong.

(_d_) Suitable sticks for primitive implements and weapons.

(_e_) Gra.s.ses, barks, willows, rushes, and other tough and flexible fibers for basketry.

(_f_) The topographical features which later are to be represented in sand.

(_g_) What animals now live in uncultivated places.

2. To a brook or river to find--

(_a_) The best drinking-places for animals.

(_b_) The best fords.

(_c_) The best places to build bridges.

(_d_) Stones for primitive implements and weapons.

(_e_) How the river grinds the stones.

(_f_) What the river carries in its water.

(_g_) What plants and animals may be seen there.

3. To a circus to see the wild animals, so as to be better able to realize what the animals that lived when the Tree-dwellers did were like.

4. To a farm to find--

(_a_) What animals live there, how they are taken care of, and how they differ from wild animals.

(_b_) What plants are cultivated on the farm and in the gardens, how they are cultivated, and how they differ from the wild plants that can be found in uncultivated spots.

5. To a gravel bed or stone quarry to find--

(_a_) What kinds of stone are there.

(_b_) How stone is quarried and what it is used for.

(_c_) A problem with reference to how the gravel bed or the stone quarry was made.

SUPPLEMENTARY FACTS

The child asks many questions, some of which are difficult to answer.

Since what has been ascertained regarding the period during which the Tree-dwellers lived is not contained in books that are generally available, it has seemed best to present at this time such summarized statements as will furnish the teacher with the facts that she may need.

ANIMAL LIFE

_Extinct Species._ Among the animals of the mid-Pleistocene period that have since become extinct were the Irish deer; the big-nosed, the small-nosed, and the woolly rhinoceros; the mammoth; the cave-bear; and a sabre-toothed felis (_Machairodus latidens_), sometimes, though incorrectly, referred to as the cave-tiger.

_The Rhinoceros._ The big-nosed and the small-nosed rhinoceros came to western Europe from the south. The former came the earlier and stayed until the late Pleistocene period, when the later cavemen hunted the reindeer. During this period it became extinct. As the climate became severe, both species may have migrated south each winter. It would have been possible, however, for them to remain, for they were well adapted to a cold climate. It is interesting to know that many of our popular tales of dragons originated in connection with the discoveries of the huge bones of these creatures, which could be accounted for in no other way.

Our information regarding these creatures is exceedingly meager. They are characterized as dull-witted creatures with dim eyesight, exceedingly impulsive and dangerous. They rarely attacked other animals, for they lived upon vegetable food; but if they were molested they were formidable creatures. At such times they would root up young trees with their tusks, and pierce and rend the bodies of their most powerful a.s.sailants. A full grown rhinoceros was seldom attacked by even a mammoth or the sabre-toothed felis. Its thick skin served as an impervious shield, protecting it from the most powerful blows of the fiercest animals. It is quite probable that packs of hyenas and wolves learned to take advantage of precipices, and that they frightened the rhinoceros over the brink, thus disabling him so that he became an easy prey.

The woolly rhinoceros came down from the north during mid-Pleistocene times and was protected from the cold by a fine inner coat which resembled wool, and a coa.r.s.e hairy outer coat. This species was abundant until the close of the Pleistocene period, when it became extinct. What is stated above with reference to the characteristics of the rhinoceros applies equally well to this species.

Very little has been written concerning these extinct species that is satisfactory for the teacher's use. Brief accounts can be found in Hutchinson's _Extinct Monsters_, p. 225; in Stanley Waterloo's _The Story of Ab_, p. 71; and in an article by E. D. Cope on "Extinct American Rhinoceroses," in _The American Naturalist_, Vol. XIII., 771a.

_The Mammoth._ Professor Owen, the eminent paleontologist, writes: "The mammoth is better known than most extinct animals by reason of the discovery of an entire specimen preserved in the frozen soil of a cliff at the mouth of the river Lena in Siberia. The skin was clothed with a reddish wool, and with long black hairs. It is now preserved at St.

Petersburg, together with the skeleton."

The mammoth was not so large as it has sometimes been pictured. The largest was not more than thirteen feet high, and many were not higher than nine or ten feet. Its body was heavier than that of the elephant, and its legs were shorter. It had enormous tusks, which it is thought were sometimes used as crowbars in rooting up young trees in order to get the branches for food. It is thought that several mammoths cooperated in this work. Professor Owen writes: "The tusks of the extinct _Elephas primigenius_, or mammoth, have a bolder and more extensive curvature than those of the _Elephas Indicus_. Some have been found which describe a circle, but the curve being oblique, they thus clear the head, and point outward, downward, and backward. The numerous fossil tusks of the mammoth which have been discovered and recorded may be ranged under two averages of size, the larger ones at nine feet and a half, the smaller at five feet and a half in length. The writer has elsewhere a.s.signed reasons for the probability of the latter belonging to the female mammoth, which must accordingly have differed from the existing elephant of India, and have more resembled that of Africa, in the development of her tusks, yet manifesting an intermediate character of smaller size. Of the tusks a.s.signed to the male mammoth, one from the newer tertiary deposits in Ess.e.x measured nine feet ten inches in length, and two feet five inches in circ.u.mference at its thickest part."

Mammoth tusks are collected in Siberia as an article of commerce. The ivory is little altered.

From the examination of the contents of the stomach of a mammoth that was found frozen in a marsh it has been proved that the mammoth ate not only the buds, cones, and tender branches of trees, but the wood itself.

Professor Owen shows that the mammoth was independent of the seasons on account of being able to live upon such a diet. The teeth of the mammoth, one of which weighs seventeen pounds, were well adapted to grinding food that was hard and tough.

_The Cave-Bear._ The cave-bear differed from the grizzly of to-day chiefly in its greater size and strength. An interesting story of the cave-bear is found in Stanley Waterloo's _The Story of Ab_, Chapter XXII. Ernest Thompson Seton's "Biography of a Grizzly," in _The Century Magazine_, Vol. LIX., pp. 27-40, will be interesting to read in this connection.

_The Sabre-toothed Felis_ (_Machairodus latidens_). This animal has usually been spoken of as the cave-tiger, but Professor W. Boyd Dawkins has shown that it was no more closely allied to the tigers than to other felines, and that "the very tempting name of 'sabre-toothed tiger' must therefore be given up as implying a relationship that does not exist.

It differs from the genus _Felis_ in the enormous development of the serrated upper canines, as well as the presence of a third lobe on the sectorial edge of the upper premolar." It was a peculiarly destructive animal, its teeth being described as "uniting the power of a saw with that of a knife." The canine tooth of this animal is the most perfect instrument for piercing and dividing flesh known. It belonged to the southern group of mammalia; and, as the winters became cold, it probably migrated each fall. Although it was never abundant it was much feared.

Remains of similar animals have been found in the United States mingled with the bones of the mammoth.

_Living Species._ Of the living species there were present in mid-Pleistocene times, the brown bear, the grizzly bear, the wolf, the fox, the stag, the roe, the urus or the wild-ox, the aurochs or European bison, the hippopotamus, the horse, the wild boar, the beaver, the water rat, the lion, sometimes spoken of as the cave-lion and being the same species as the _Felis leo_ of to-day, the lynx, the panther or leopard, the wild cat, the spotted hyena, the otter, the musk sheep, and the marmot. No animal was domesticated at this time.

_The Urus._ The urus, which is the representative of the wild cattle of this period, is the ancestor of our long-horned cattle, and should be distinguished from the short-horned cattle that appear in western Europe in the prehistoric period in a domesticated state. The wild bulls were formidable antagonists when enraged. It is thought by some that the Chillingham cattle are descendants of the urus. The color of the urus is not known. Some think that it was white, but others doubt that the species would have been able to survive with such a conspicuous covering. On account of their fear of the beasts of prey the wild cattle probably kept under cover of the trees during the day and went out to the gra.s.sy uplands only when darkness came on. The feeding grounds of the gra.s.s-eating animals determined the haunts of the beasts of prey.

When wild cattle are attacked, the larger animals in the herd surround the younger and weaker so as to present a wall of horns to the a.s.sailant. This habit is not peculiar to wild cattle, but is quite characteristic of all gra.s.s-eating animals.

_The Wild Horse._ The steps in the evolution of the horse are stated so fully in the text that it is not necessary to repeat them here. Almost any good text in geology gives the same facts. It should be remembered that horses with more than one toe on each foot did not live when the Tree-dwellers did, but during earlier periods. The teacher who wishes to read further regarding the wild horse will find materials in the _Century Dictionary_ under _horse_, in _Chambers' Encyclopedia_, in H. N. Hutchinson's _Creatures of Other Days_, in N. S. Shaler's _Domesticated Animals_, and in _McClure's Magazine_, Vol. 15, p. 512.

_The Musk Sheep._ The appearance of the musk sheep in western Europe during the mid-Pleistocene period marked the change that was beginning to take place in the climate. As the climate increased in severity all the arctic species came down from the north and occupied the land during the late Pleistocene period. The musk sheep is the most arctic in its habits of any of the herbivores, and at the present time is restricted to the high lat.i.tudes of North America. It thrives in desolate, treeless, barren grounds, not even being driven from its haunts by the extremest cold. It is closely allied to the species which is the parent of our domestic sheep, although that species did not appear in western Europe until prehistoric times. The musk sheep goes in herds of from twenty to thirty individuals, and when alarmed the animals huddle together like frightened sheep. Its food is gra.s.s, lichens, moss, and tender shoots of the willow and pine. It is much sought after for its skin, which makes a fine robe. It is sometimes known as the musk ox and occasionally as the musk bison.

_Plant Life._ The characteristic trees of the mid-Pleistocene period were evergreen. Of these the most abundant forms were the spruce, the fir, and the yew tree. The trees which shed their foliage were represented by the oak and the birch. The banks of rivers were shaded by thickets of laurel and by the sloe, the original form of the wild plum tree. The marshes afforded rich pastures for gra.s.s-eating animals as well as hiding-places, for they were partly covered by a heavy growth of alders. Wild peas, beans, stringy-rooted carrots, ruta-bagas, and turnips grew on the hillsides. The cabbage with its thick leaves, which had not yet developed into a head, was present. Seeds of gra.s.ses were available, but not used, for man had not yet learned to gather them and convert them into nourishing food. The teacher may be interested in referring to Candolle's _Origin of Cultivated Plants_ and Darwin's _Plants and Animals Under Domestication_.

SPECIAL SUGGESTIONS

If possible read the entire book, including the preface, carefully before beginning the work. If in addition to this you can read parts of the following books and articles, do so; for in this way it will be easier to grasp the full significance of the work.

References: Katharine E. Dopp, _The Place of Industries in Elementary Education_, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press; "Some Steps in the Evolution of Social Occupations," I., II., III., IV. _The Elementary School Teacher_, Chicago, December, 1902, January, March, and April, 1903; "A New Factor in the Elementary School Curriculum," _The American Journal of Sociology_, Chicago, September, 1902. Dewey and Runyon, _The University Elementary Record_, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.

_Lesson I._ The child has the right to know what the book that he is beginning to read deals with. This lesson is an attempt to answer the question that naturally comes to his mind when opening the book. It is hoped that it will serve as a means of enabling the child to gain a clearer insight into the practical activities presented in the following pages than would be possible without a consciousness of the goal toward which they tend. Although this lesson embodies a great deal of the philosophy of life, it is a philosophy that the child needs and one which he can readily understand when presented in a simple form, and when related to his own experience. Unless it arouses questions from the child it may be pa.s.sed over somewhat superficially at first, but referred to again and again as occasions for its use present themselves.

a.s.sist the child to get the real thought from the lesson by conversing with him and encouraging him to converse with his parents and friends regarding the way in which they lived when they were children, and the improvements that have been made since then. Find out from what countries the forefathers of the children of the cla.s.s came originally, and something of the way that they lived before they came to this country. In this way the child will gradually see that what we have, and what we know, we owe largely to the efforts of our forefathers who have lived and worked for many long ages. If you can get the child to gain even a slight appreciation of the privileges that he enjoys, and a respect for honest labor, you will be doing a much-needed work.

This lesson should not be pa.s.sed without noticing the meaning of these three sentences: "_Each animal knew how to do one thing well. But the people could do a great many things. They could remember, too, what had happened before._" These three sentences contain the key to man's superiority over the brutes. Man at this time had a mind, but he was only beginning to use it. We have no other ground for thinking ourselves superior to our forefathers, the Tree-dwellers, than this: We live at a time when it is possible to take advantage of what has been accomplished during many long ages. Were we deprived of the opportunities thus presented, we should find it difficult to account for any superiority.