The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1867-02-20


o, Seaton, Seaton, mark but my fall
Had but served my God with half the zeal
served my mouth, he would not in mine age
Have left me hungry with these radicals.
The Animals of Brazil..-Lectnre by
Prof. Agassiz.
The second lecture of Prof Agassiz
before the Mercantile Library Associa-
ton of Brooklyn, was delivered in the
Academy of Music of that city last even
ing. The audience was not so large as
at the Saturday evening lecture, owing
probably to the extreme cold. The sub
ject of last evenings lecture was the
'sAnimals of Brazil" - He did not propose,
he said, to enumerate the race of animals
that inhabit that part of the Continent
of South America. The whole animal
kingdom presented various relations to
each other. In its general structure it
presented evidences ofsystem. All ami
mails were constructed upon four gener-
al plans. Even man is rooted in that
animal kingdom which has its structure
deep down in the strata of the earth
where coal beds are formed. The great
question which agitated the scientific
world now is whether the different spe-
cies ofthe animal kingdom are connected
by descent alone, or whether their con-
nection is an intellectual one. The ami
mails that inhabit the earth now are link
ed with those that existed in former
ages. 1t is as idle TO attempt to deter
mine the relations OF any of the present
animals without looking into the past
as to examine the different nationalities
of the human family without studying
the history of those nationalities so we
must study the geographical distribu-
ton of animals to see whence they
come-whether they are natives of the
soil or immigrants from another region.
The great question is, whether the world
grew out Of itself, or whether it was the
work OF an intelligent Creator. The
teuds between naturalists on this ques-
ton were as great and as hotly contest
as the differences between theologians
or politicians. The animals of South
America were widely different from
those of other parts of the globe. South
America was world in itself now, and
had been in the past. He could do lit
tie more in the present lecture than COM
pare some of the more prominent types.
The animal kingdom, as before stated,
was built on four different plans, pre-
senting such fundamental differences
that one could be easily recognized and
distinguished from the other. These
four plans were represented by the radi-
ates, the moluscs, the articulates and
the vertebrates. To the radiates belong
the polypus, the starfsh, &. to the mo-
luscs belong the bivalves, as the oyster
and the like; to the articulates belong
the worms, crabs, Holsters, &c. and to
the vertebrates belong fishes, reptiles,
birds and mammala, at the head of which
is man. the lecturer here showed by
drwings on the blackboard the similar
ity in structure between the fish, reptile,
bird, qnadruped and man. These four
different types of the animal kingdom,
as represented by their distinct plans of
structure, have existed in all ages. We
find them side by side in the oldest beds
of the earth in which animals remains
have been discovered. And yet in face
ofthis fact there are theorists who would
make us believe that the higher order
of ANIMALS are of later date 1t is a
Justification of science. In spite of the
obloquy that might be heaped upon him,
he did not hesitate to assert that all the
animals of the different geological
epochs came upon the earth at the same
time, and that they could not have de-
scended from each other according to
the " development" theory SO plausibly
advanced by certain naturalists. All
the four types Of animals now existing
may be found side by side in the low
est geological strata, and were repre-.
sented from the beginning. The geo
logical epochs which were at first con.
fined to three, have now, with the prog.
ress OF science and more accurate infor-
nation, been extended to 80 or more.
and In the first ofthese epochs are found
the representatives of the four types in.
to which the animal kingdom is at pres
emit divided. Prof. Agassiz here point
z ed out the different epochs at which diff
p ferent representatives of these funda.
mental types made their first appearance
on the earth. Man did not make his
appearance until the present epoch. OF
in other words, until the order of THINGS
now existing on the earth commenced
Every district of the earth's surface has
Its peculiar inhabitants, the same as the
different parvs of the ocean, each have
their different kinds of water animals,
The fishes of the Amazon, the San Fran.
isco and the Platte belonged to families
that have no representatives with us.
Sowith the reptiles, and birds of Brazil.
u we find different families from those
existing in any other country. With
us there is only one kind of hum1nine
bird, while South America has more
than 100 different species. If we look
at the quadrupeds we find still greater
difference. The moose, the deer and
animals Of that family represented here