What was the world like for people thousands of years ago? How can we know? Through fiction? This is a work of literary criticism, and more. It begins with a discussion of the problem of authenticity and then considers twelve pieces of fiction that depict human prehistory: H.G. Wells The Island of Doctor Moreau, Pierre Boulles The Planet of the Apes, Jules Vernes The Village in the Treetops, Edgar Rice Burroughs The Land That Time Forgot, the struggle for legitimacy in Wells "The Grisly Folk, " the Tasmanian analogue in Lester Del Reys "The Day Is Done, " William Goldings The Inheritors, "the promise of humanity" in Arthur C. Clarkes 2001: A Space Odyssey, the theme of "a god among the heathen" in Wells "The Lord of the Dynamos" and other works, Jean Auels The Clan of the Cave Bear, J.H. Rosny-Ans Quest for Fire, and Wells The Time Machine: An Invention. A final chapter considers the paleoanthropo

William Watson Cheyne (1852-1932), a surgeon by training and a student of Joseph Lister, was a prominent British bacteriologist who published 60 papers and 13 monographs from 1879 to 1927. A proponent of the idea that bacteriology and medicine were interdependent disciplines, he investigated the causes and treatment of wound infections, tuberculosis, cholera, tetanus and gangrene. In 1897, he organized an historical outline of 19th century bacteriology in five landmark periods of discovery, each defined by the work of an influential figure. This study documents his contributions to the history of microbiology and describes his activities as a laboratory investigator, clinician, surgeon, translator, editor and educator.