acquired relates to contemporaneous matters only, and does not profess to explain preceding states of society, all tend to diminish the value of the evidence. In the case of such testimony, even though it be the best of its kind, we anxiously look for some corroboration. This corroboration is attained, in a special degree, in the case of the Aryan nations. For them, or at least for some of them, we possess trustworthy records, both direct and incidental, of their modes of life, their beliefs, and their manners, for a period extending backwards for 3,000 years. Not only are our materials richer, but they have been more thoroughly treated, and are more ready for use than those which exist in any other case. And for the Aryans alone, the recent sciences of Comparative Philology and of Comparative Mythology have thrown new and welcome lights upon the remote past. Further, the Aryans form a well-marked ethnologic division. Even if foreign elements sometimes present themselves, the main influencing forces are homogeneous. We can pursue our inquiries without being disturbed by the appearance of that unknown and immeasurable quantity termed race. When definite conclusions respecting the primitive Aryan culture have been established, these conclusions may hereafter receive—indeed, we may confidently anticipate will receive—a much wider extension. But, in the present condition of our knowledge, it is prudent to avoid all disturbing influences, and to trace as fully as we can those lines upon which the great edifice of Western civilization has, in fact, been built.
For these reasons, I have assumed as my starting point the earliest state of Aryan society of which we have any distinct historical proof. How that state began, or what were its antecedents, I do not inquire. Doubtless society had a beginning upon earth as well as life itself. Whether these beginnings are, or are not, discoverable, I do not
