The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-06-04
NUMBER %.
aENEALoaY OF zee HORSE.
The Darvinian Iasery as Applied 20
dhs Aa-ae.

she Aarae.
A correspondent o. the New York
Tribune, who has visited Prof. O. @.
Marsh, OF New Havea, gives an account
Of a remarkable series of discoveries
made by the professor ~Aich seem to in
dictate the ancestry OF Gaehorse and the
gradual development Of that animal
from q remote progenitor IN distant re-
illogical eras. The Triban ssys edito.
rally, in speaking of hslsteF alluded
to, which is too long fol u &c publish
entire
The Rumber OF eminent ten who in
this great conflict attack tsI various
ferns Of the development th$o-v upon
purely scientific grounds il sSnnars-
lively small, and it suffered austabIe
loss in the death of Prof. AEhsiz
Perhaps the only opponent now lei in
America whom the believers in ev,su-
ton consider worthy Of their steelis
Prof. Dawson Of Montreal. What Pro-
Agassiz might have done If his life had
been spared, can Of course only be a
matter Of conjecture. We cannot re-
construct a statDe IS the antonliHt can a
skeleton, from few fragments Of bone;
and in what Prof. Agassiz has left, there
is little more than the pedestal and PEI
haps the feet of the image which he
had in mind. Yet it is well known
that ardent as was his opposition to the
theories of Darwin, his own belief as
to the origin of man included the crea-
tion Of several distinct races, and was
compatible with the usual formula OF
evangelical faith as 90 the origin of the
human species.
Under these circumstances it is inter
esting to know how Prof. Agassiz re-
gsrded these discoveries, in which Prof.
Marsh has had so large a share. In 4
conversation with the great naturalist
on Penikese Island, last year, when the
more complete results Of these research
es were as vet dinaly foreshsdowed, he
said, while expressing hrs warm persen-
al friendship aud admiration for Prof.
Marsh g He seems to mo like man
Who has only one page of q book be-
fore him. he has torn out the leaf of
the Tertiary formation, and from 1t he
would deduce the whole. The book
of nature is too large to be learned from
g fragment"
Bearing this criticism in mind, it must
yet be admitted that the chain Of Rrgu-
ment in regard to the genealoRy of the
horse is strikingly interesting. From
the lowest depths of strata a mile in
thickness the remains are exhumed Of
animals more like horses than like any
other living creatures, but small in
size, having four toes to the fore feet
and three to the hind, all touching the
ground. Higher up in the formation
are found larger animals, similar In 9th
er respects, but having only three toes
touching the ground, the middle one
much enlarged. Still higher in these
deposits are similar three toed animals,
still larger, with only one toe reaching
to the ground. Near the top of the
formation not only does the likeness to
the modern horse grow apparent, but
the distinction becomes imperceptible.
There are also similar changes in the
head and neck of these animals they
become gradually elongated. The
teeth and the Jaws undergo successive
changes, equally marked. Admit the
theory proposed, and there is a ready
explanation for most of these changes
in the needs of the animal for strength
and feetness in the struggle for exis-
tencs.
But after we have the whole story,
some strange and as yet uRanswerable
questions remain. The horse existed
all over this hemisphere. His fossil
remains have been dug out of the cliffs
of Escholt's Bay, in Alaska, and ont of
caves in Brazil, where he was cotempo-
rary with the megatherium, and yet no
trace of him is found in America coeval
with man till the SpRniards brought
him from Europe early in the sixteenth
century. Modern theories of geology do
not admit the notion of vast catRclysms
by which the races OF continent conld
be swept away; and thus the utter dis
appearance of all evuine forms seems
as yet almost inexplicable. But this is
always a consequences of scientific in
vestigations no sooner is one great diff
ficulty surmounted than another and
another is presented. To the student
of nature as well as TO the poet, "Hills
peep Ger hills, and alps on alps arise. F"