| <trailer><p> <Westralian Worker,> <5 July 1918>
| </p></trailer>
| <headline><p> <OUR BOOKSHELF Flinders Petrie on> 
| <Civilisation. "An Intermittent Phenomenon."> 
| <(By "Vigilant.")> </p></headline>
| <p> Within the memory of not very ancient men living 
| today, history <mdash>-</mdash> authentic history 
| <mdash>-</mdash> began with Rome and Greece of, say 
| the fourth or fifth century B.C. Vague rumor spoke of 
| a Babylon, scriptural story told of an Egypt, but 
| apart from very corrupt versions of the name of a few 
| of their kings, little was known of them <mdash>-</mdash>
| so little in fact that the former had almost 
| come to be regarded as a myth, like Troy. But today 
| both Troy and Babylon are as well known to the 
| student of ancient history as Rome and Athens were a 
| generation ago; and of the history of the more 
| favored days of Egypt we can sneak more surely than 
| of that of pre-Norman England. </p>
| <p> This change has been wrought by an army of 
| enthusiastic investigators who for a generation past 
| have been rummaging through the dust heaps of Western 
| Asia and the shore of the Mediterranean. Not one 
| Troy, but seven piled one above the other; not only 
| Babylon but a whole complex or rival empires; not 
| only civilisations famed in legend, but others of 
| which scarcely the market rumor whispers, have been 
| unearthed by these untiring searchers. The legal code 
| of Babylon, including its price-fixing edicts and 
| arbitration court awards; the royal library of 
| Nineve, which contained all the "wisdom of the 
| Chaldees": and a fashion plate from Knosos, in Crete, 
| showing that the "tube skirt" was worn some thousands 
| of years B.C. <mdash>-</mdash> these are some strange 
| samples of the treasures raked from ancient 
| ash-pits. </p>
| <p> Amongst these investigators Flinders Petrie holds 
| an undoubtedly high place. Not only as an untiring 
| searcher, but as a daringly original thinker, has he 
| won a justly world-wide fame. Amongst other matters, 
| he has turned his attention to the ups and downs of 
| civilisation <mdash>-</mdash> the Golden Ages and the 
| Dark Ages <mdash>-</mdash> with the object of trying 
| to cull from the facts of the past some hint 
| concerning the future, for the guidance, or at worst, 
| for the disillusionment of the present. To quote his 
| own words, he has come to the conclusion that 
| <q> </q> 
| In other words, like measles, or eruptions of Mount 
| Vesuvius it happens now and again with big gaps in 
| between. A few years ago, he points out, we knew but 
| two peaks, or fructifications, of civilisation 
| <mdash>-</mdash> the classical period, namely, the 
| great centuries of art and learning in ancient Rome 
| and Greece, and the modern period, which commenced 
| somewhat prior to the Renaissance <mdash>-</mdash> in 
| the great time of architecture when the Guilds were 
| at their height. Tracing the history of the modern 
| period, he distinguishes several stages, during which 
| different manifestations of culture predominated. 
| Starting with sculpture and architecture, in the age 
| of the Guilds, we run through painting, in the early 
| Renaissance, literature, which reached a climax in 
| 1600, music (about a century and a half later), 
| mechanics (early 19th century), to Science and 
| Wealth, which are at present in full bloom. The 
| author then goes on to point out that exactly the 
| same order marked the classical period <mdash>-</mdash>
| sculpture, painting, literature, mechanics, 
| science, wealth <mdash>-</mdash> then Nemesis.</p>
| <p> Today, instead of merely two periods of 
| civilisation, we can trace at least eight. The 
| earlier six are confined to Egypt and Crete, where 
| however, civilisation and decay were contemporaneous 
| in both centres. Flinders Petrie examines them all in 
| detail, and finds the same order throughout 
| <mdash>-</mdash> the civilisation commences with sculpture 
| and ends with wealth. Of course, as we go further 
| back into the mists of the past, some of the stages 
| drop out, but still, of those that remain, the order 
| is unchanged. </p>
| <p> The next question is, what is the force that 
| finally destroys a civilisation that has run its 
| course? In every case it is an invasion by 
| barbarians. But a curious fact is that invasion by 
| barbarians before the civilisation has run its course 
| does not cut it short. After an incredibly short 
| spell it resumes its development at exactly the point 
| at which the interruption occurred. For example, the 
| tribes that finally overthrew the classical 
| civilisation had harried Europe for centuries, and 
| had even sacked Rome, but the development continued 
| almost without pause until the last fatal stage, 
| Wealth, appeared. </p>
| <p> So far, we have only established a decidedly 
| disquieting series of coincidences. Is there any 
| explanation that will make of them something more 
| than mere coincidence? Flinders Petrie declares that 
| there is. In brief, his theory is this: Every 
| civilisation is the product of a new race, generated 
| by the complete fusion of two ancient races. When 
| this fusion has been completed, and not before, a 
| racial atmosphere that permits of the development of 
| culture arises. Its first expression, for some reason 
| inherent in the make-up of the human species, is 
| always sculpture, and for similar reasons, the other 
| arts follow in turn. Upon the development of 
| mechanics and science the accumulation of wealth 
| naturally follows, but meantime sufficient time has 
| elapsed to allow the Race to become inbred. 
| Degeneration ensues, and finally the irruption of a 
| barbarous invader supplies the new blood required to 
| effect regeneration. Now, the time required to 
| completely fuse two races, he calculates, by a rather 
| elaborate process, to be about 1600 years. This 
| period, remarkably enough, is the average internal 
| between the end of one civilisation, and the first 
| appearance of sculpture in its successor. </p>
| <p> The application to present day affairs is too 
| obvious to require elaboration. Whether Flinders 
| Petrie's theories are sound or not, is, of course, 
| another question. Incidentally, some of his own 
| deductions from them are extremely uncomplimentary to 
| Democracy, and consequently Labor has a definite 
| interest in the discussion. One type of argument 
| against Socialism is founded upon Darwin's exposition 
| of natural selection and the survival of the fittest 
| <mdash>-</mdash> upon a narrow and unintelligent 
| interpretation of the facts, however, as Korpotkin 
| has shown in his <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo">
| "Mutual Aid." </title> But Kropotkins are rare, 
| and one looks round with almost a feeling of despair 
| for a working class champion with the scientific 
| knowledge and standing necessary to one who would 
| challenge a savant of status of Flinders Petrie. Oh, 
| for a Labor Research University! </p>
| <p> Flinders Petrie's book 
| <title rend="PRE lsquo POST rsquo">
| "The Revolutions of Civilisation," </title> in 
| which the above views are set forth, is available in 
| Perth at 2/6 nett. In addition to its vividness and 
| simplicity of style, the work can also be recommended 
| for it profuse illustrations, dealing mainly with 
| sculptures, which furnish the reader with a gallery 
| of ancient art of no mean order. </p>
| <p> Yes, indeed, the world needs a lot more efficiency 
| <mdash>-</mdash> efficiency in distributing the 
| product of labor.</p>