I. Prehistoric Stages of Culture.

Morgan is the first who, with expert knowledge, has attempted to bring a definite order into human prehistory; as long as significantly expanded material does not necessitate changes, his grouping will likely remain in force.

Of the three main epochs—savagery, barbarism, and civilization—he is, naturally, concerned only with the first two and the transition to the third. He divides each of the two into a lower, middle, and upper stage, depending on the progress achieved in each of these in the production of food; for, he says, "skill in this production is decisive for the degree of human superiority and mastery over nature; of all beings, only man has achieved an almost unconditional mastery over the production of food. All great epochs of human progress coincide, more or less directly, with epochs of the expansion of sources of subsistence." The development of the family runs alongside this, but offers no such striking characteristics for the separation of the periods.

1. Savagery. (savagery)

1. Lower stage: Childhood of the human race, living at least partially in trees, by which alone its survival against large Raubthieren predatory animals is explicable, remaining still in its original habitats, tropical or subtropical forests. Fruits,