Ohio History Journal

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TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS

TRAILING ADAM'S ANCESTORS

 

BY HENRY C. SHETRONE

 

Lest the above title may not be readily intelligible to the

reader, it may be explained that this paper has to do solely with

the origin and antiquity of the human race.

It goes without saying that humans through the ages have

concerned themselves with queries as to the genesis, significance

and destiny of their kind. It is equally true that every race and

every people, from the lowest savagery to highest civilization,

have found more or less satisfactory answers to these queries.

This being so, why should the matter not be considered as settled,

once and for all time?

Before deciding whether or not there is justification for

further inquiry in this direction, let us scan briefly the evidence

for what may be termed the origin-antiquity concept. Let us

begin this inquiry with the mythology of historic primitive peoples,

proceeding thence to the tradition and history of the great religions

which survive and function at the present time, pausing perhaps

to consult some of the early classical thinkers and writers. This

done, we should be in a position to determine whether anything

further remains to engage our attention.

Mythology, to which we must look for beliefs of primitive

peoples, embraces the vast and complex body of human opinion

regarding the origin, functions, history and destiny not only of

humans but usually of all animate and inanimate creation. It is

the product of the inchoate and abstract reasoning of the savage

and barbarian, in their attempts to explain unobvious phenomena--

the existence and operations of bodies and principles of nature.

Seldom does mythology deal with real personages or actual

changes affecting the environing world. Usually the world of

the savage is small indeed, being limited to the immediate area

of his occupancy and a little beyond. As a rule the savage world

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