Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1845-02-26
-VISCgLLANEOUS SELECTIONs.-
p,edecessors of the Human Race.

lint
creations which philosophers suppose to hive pro-
coded tho formation Of man. Tho doctor rofors
IN the memoir read by Cuvicr, in 1875, at the
first sitting of the National Institute, "On tho
species of fossil Elephants, compared with tho
Living Species." in which he demonstrates that
the fossil elephant differs from all living species,
now lost. He undertook to prove the like with
respec, to other animals. "May ask said
he "why we find go many remains of unknown
animals whilst find mono which can
rank among tho species VIII ch know We
may SEQ how probable it is that they have all be-
lopeed to tho beings of a world anterior to ours
20 beings destroyed by revolutions of tho earth,
and to beings which have boon replaced by exist
ing speces."
Surrounded by the cxuviOe Of former creations,
the task assigned to Cuvior, tho article goes on TO
state, to restore the fragments to their for
mer positions. BY great labor he succeeded in
tracing their connection, and re-csto bshed 1853
yer,cbrai animals, which form fifty distinct gen
era, OF which ffteon entirely new; and rock
onng tho additions which have since been nlado
.here is reason to believe that tho species of ex-
tinct animals are more numerous than the living
ones.
But Cuvier found TINT tho difference Of struc-
turc between fossil and recent animals increases
with tho age of tho deposiie in which tho former
arc found and that these differences mark the age
Of the depositos themselves. As the primitive
rocks exhibit no traces of plants animals. he
concluded that there was tame when living
beings existed upon oartI; and that, before tue
creation of man, the world inha bited bv at
least throe different generations of anIna which
had been successfully created and destroy ed.
1t is supposed, with reason. if tie subject DO
no. too grand for feeble reason. TIM, tho Gre
alton Of vegetable bodies preccuei the creation
OF animals that were to devour them. The state
ly pine, the q yantic ePulsetacete, and the lofty
palm, waved III tho prncyal forests, and the
and the land were inhabited only by small num-
Dor Of tho marine mammaiia, and scarcely any
Of the terrestrial mumrnalla.
We then arrive n tho startling conclusion shat
among the earliest inhabitants 81 the giobe
r,ptilos of IN enormous mngnitude tho Negaiosn
urus, being upwards Of seventy feet long; the lch
thyosaurus, an animal combining the trunk of an
ordinary qIadrupod, with mock like the body of
a sorpont, tho hcad of a lizard, the teeth of Il
crocodile, md tho paddles Of whale; and tho
herodactyla, tho most extraordinary of extinct
animals, uniting the character of [, bird, bat, a
reptile and 4 quadrupcd.
In tho second period the terrestrial mamnlaiia
Increase in number, and NO havo along with them
numerous Pachydermata. animals with thcl.
skins, such tho paleotherium and Anopoothe-
rum, and other genera of aquatic animals, which
dwelt on tho margin of lakes and rivers. In the
hrst OF these extinct genera, these species vary
III size from the rhtnoceros to tho hog. These
aud othor species, nearly fifty IN number. were
y
tons OF Nontmartrc, near Paris.
In the third ported livod the mammoth, tho
mastadon, tho hippopotamus. those huge sfoths,
the magatherium and the nle@alonix. the giants
OF the natural world, tho grandcst and tho last
specimens of that extraordinary population
which man ncyor sway ed the sccptrc.
Tho lion and tho tiger n ro sup posed 10 be tho
successors of tho creature Inst mentioned Up to
this stage, no traces of man. or OF his 'abors can
DO detected, and tins gives the rcmarka be result
that tho three periods have been succeeded by a
fourth, in which the Almighty placed upon
tho earth, and created. as his subjects and ms
servants those races of living beings which oc-
cupy the surface of our globe, and inhabi, the
depths of It's oceans.
ReotrrIng 10 the Mosaic record of the creation,
the articles to which we have re forred comes to
this conclusion: The records of faith now
stand on the sano level with the records of reason
truth. brought down from on high. harmonizcs
with truth from below, and tho christian who
fused to surrender his cherished volume to the
taunts of reason. holds it with q firmor grasp,
and scans tho series of creations which science
has revealed. but the harbinger of that test ey-
orcise OF Divine power which ga,e it to man, and
placed HIM over new animal world.
but the confirmation of tho Mosaic account of
The creation is not only. even the chief. result:
OF geological discovery. The commencement of
organic life IN plants and animals Of the first pc
flod ana Its higher. and progressive develop
ment IN different orders, lead back to that be-
ginning which was long yelled from human
reason whilo the successive destruction of sue
cessivo creations carries us forward TO the term-
nus of our own periodic that day of the Lord.
when tho heavens shall pass away with great
NOISE. and the elements shall melt with a fervcnt
heat and the earth lso and the works which arc
therein, shall be burned up.'''
The omnipotens may have designs 10 work
OUT, OF which we and all we behold are but the
preliminary instruments. To us il is possible
commanding beings will succeed as different from,
Us as the non Is from the megalosaurus. more
superior to us than We arc to the monkey.
we need say nothing to fix the readers mind
on tho reflections which follow:
&c. should this apparently las. period Of animal |
H. " o',e III winch man Is TO exercise his fac