The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-05-28
GENEALoGY OF THE HORSE.
The DnrWlninn Theory ns Applied TO
the Horse.

A correspondent of the New York
Tribune, who has visited Prof. o. G.
Marsh, of New Haven gives an account
of remarkable series of discoveries
made by the professor which seem to IN
dictate the ancestry of the horse and the
gradual development OF that animal
from remote progenitor Ill distant ge-
illogical eras. The Tribune says edito.
rally, in speaking Of the letter alluded
to, which is too long for us tc publish
entire:
The number of eminent men who IN
this great conflict attack the various
forms of the development theory upon
purely scientific grounds is compare
lively small, and it suffered notable
loss in the death Of Prof. AgasslA
Perhaps the onl Y opponent now left IN
America whom the believers i'll evolu-
ton consider worthy of their steel ls
Prof. Dawson of Montreal. What Prof.
Agassi2 might have done il his life had
been spared, can Of course only be
matter of conjecture. We cannot re.
construct statue as the 0ntomlst can Il
skeleton, from few fragments OF bone;
and in what Prof. AgassH has left, there
is little more than the pedestal and per
haps the feet of the image which lie
had in mind. Vet it is well known
that ardent as was his opposition to the
theories of Darwin, his own bclct as
to the origin Of man included the crea-
ton OF several distinct races, and was
compatible with the usual formula OF
/ 70 i,, p1n M
human species.
Under these circumstances 1t is inter
estiug to know how Prof. Agasslz re-
garded these discoveries, i'll which Prol.
Marsh has had so large share. In II
conversation with the great naturalist
on Pcnikcse Island, last year, when the
more complete results of these research
es were as vet dimly foreshadowed, he
said, while expressing his warm person-
al friendship and admiration Tor Prol.
Marsh " He seems to me like man
who. has only one page Of book be-
| fore him. He has torn ont the leaf o.
the Tertiary formation, and from it he
would dcduce the whole. The book
of nature is too large to be learned from
a fragment. "
Bearing this criticism in mind, 1t must
vet be admitted that the chain OF arRu-
ment in regard to the gencalogy OF the
horse is strikingly interesting. From
the lowest depths of strata Il mile IN
| thickness the remains are cXhumed OF
animals more like horses than like any
other living creatures, but small III
size, having four toes to the l"ro jc't
and three to the hind, all touching the
ground. Higher up in the formation
are found larger ANIMALS, similar III 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, bu'
the distinction becomes imperceptlble
| 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 ready
explanation for most OF these changes
in the needs of the animal for strength
and heetncss in the struggle for eXlS
| tence.
But after we have the whole story
some strange and as yet unanswerablC
questions remain. The horse existed
! all over this hemisphere. His fossil
remains have been dug ont OF the cliff.
of Escholt's Bay, in Alaska, and out OF
caves in Brazil, where he was cotempo'
rary with the megatherlum, and yet nc
trace of him is found in America coeva
with man till the Spanlard5 brought
him from Europe early in the sixteenth
century. Modern theoriesof geology dt
not admit the notion of vast catacIysmi
by which the races Of continent coulc
be swept away; and thus the utter dis
appearance of all evuine forms seem
as vet almost incxplicablc. Bnt this l
always II consequences Of scientific in
vcstigations no sooner is one great dli
fculty surmouuted than another an
another is presented. To the studel
Of nature as well as to the poet, chill
peep DER hills, and alps on alps arise