New-York tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1841-1842, 1842-04-05

were aware OF their origin. 1t was supposed that
they were some part of fish; but they are now
known to be portions of the first spine or darsa.
FIJI. of the genus of fish, like the living genera
called Cesiracion. a tool. in the Jaw OF diff
terent species has been found in England In the
upper part of the Siberian series In this country
biologists have traced the existence OF analogous
species of fish step lower. In several otthese sub
divisions there have been found remains but never
rcrtebT@ ribs or other parts of the skeleton;
but bony ,nberces, &c. bv which Mr.. AaAssIz las
shown that they all belong TO a cartillaginou. fish,
like the sturgeon; in which the external parts are
these are soft; something like the Crustacca.-
Still! they are perfectly ver,etrated a1mals
any others
What is implied here in the existence in the
rocks from this remote period of these creatures H.
that they may vet be traced back TO an gauic be-
ginning. We tlnd here a type Of vertebratad ami
mals-not OF a high order not Yet fully developed.
yet OF the lowest order. They haze the vcrte-
bra column, with the spinal marrow terminating
in The brain: they have organs OF motion in the
orbit of the eye. There must, then have been
vision locomotion. circulation Of the blood, a ner-
vous svsten-n short. we have sko,ched in this
vertebrated animal of the earliest period great
outline of the very skeleton which now appears in
reptiles and mamnlalia. and in man himself; ard
this acquires the highest interest when we find
this tirstoutline of that plan of organization already
in existence. destined. after modification differ
ent periods, TO rc;tppear in the inferior animals,
and IN man himself
Ii has been subject of marvel and OF incretll-
hty to many account for the existence of so
many races OF animals and plants which are now
extinct, which all preceded the creation of man on
L
could they have foursned and this difficulty
arises from the habit in which we are too apt to
indulge, of imagining that all the works of ma
are produced either to satisfy the want. or to
minister to the instruction and amusement Of man.
But those who take wide and philosophical
view Of the present state of the creation must meet
with the same difficulty. Look at the anima!cu-
lm in drop of water, and you might put the same
question Why do these exist in such myriads of
which nearly all are Invisible! Look, too, at the
thousands of shells and other fish with which the
whole ocean teens, and which do not come under
the knowledge evcn of the naturalist Nfhe this
question presented itself to the mind Of our great
Poet, in the exercise Of his high Imagination, he
sees that beings might have locked over the world,
though nnbaheld by man. He even says that
Millions OF Spiritual creatures walk this earth,
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep
ana had tile existence OF these countless creatures
bscn known to him he might have imagined that
they lived and moved under the eve of spiritual
beholdcrs, though man were not. And certainly
the light now cast upon these periods by Science
makes them as wonderful and sublime as could
the imagination Of him or Of any other poet. For
we find that these creatures, in such nuti,udes,
and in such varieties, existed upoH the Earth for
ages, then disappeared and giving place to
other races which likewise for a time inhabited the
globe. But they too persisted and then came the
period of vceetation-of coal: and all the crca-
lures that before lived and iourshcd in the wa
ter gave place to other and varieties. So
succeeded many other changes-each greater than
the first in the catalogue. Nctthroughall these peri!
DDS of stupcndous changes we find the same per-
feet unity Of plan-the same infinite wisdom--thc
same great outline of organization. Throughout
the whole universe and in all these ancient periods
of the Enrtl's formation see the same great
laws prcyailing-those laws of organic and physi-
cal life which govern all the revolutions of the ami
NAL tribes at length we find superadded to these
other astrological and physical organs yet thc,ype
re-appears not only in the inferior animals but
linked with the intellectual and reasoning powers
of man and we find him by the power of those
thoughts that