ABSTRACT
The earth had become habitable and was inhabited, the nations had separated and had established manifold relations with each other; they possessed the rudiments of civilization long before writing, on which history is totally dependent, had been invented. The province of history is limited by the means at her command, and the historian would be overbold who should venture to unveil the mystery of the primeval world, the relation of mankind to God and nature. The solution of such problems must be left to natural science and religious thought.
