![]() ![]() Gradually, in the course of millions of years, the surface burned itself out, and was covered with a thin layer of rocks. In the beginning, the planet upon which we live was (as far as we now know) a large ball of flaming matter, a tiny cloud of smoke in the endless ocean of space. That is the reason why we are going to study him, rather than cats or dogs or horses or any of the other animals, who, all in their own way, have a very interesting historical development behind them. Man was the last to come but the first to use his brain for the purpose of conquering the forces of nature. If we represent the time during which it has been possible for animal life to exist upon our planet by a line of this length, then the tiny line just below indicates the age during which man (or a creature more or less resembling man) has lived upon this earth. In this chapter I shall tell you how (according to our best belief) the stage was set for the first appearance of man. We still know very little but we have reached the point where (with a fair degree of accuracy) we can guess at many things. ![]() Slowly, but with persistent courage, we have been pushing this question mark further and further towards that distant line, beyond the horizon, where we hope to find our answer. WE live under the shadow of a gigantic question mark. ![]() ![]() Previous Chapter Next Chapter The Setting of the Stage ![]()
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