516 Geological Society, 



it is presented under a new aspect, is but a slight, and, as appears to 

 me, unimportant feature, in looking at the great subject of man's ori- 

 gin. Even if we had no Divine record to guide us, it would be 

 most unphilosophical to attempt to trace back the history of man 

 "without taking into account the most remarkable facts in his nature : 

 the facts of civilization, art, government, writing, speech — his tra- 

 ditions — his internal wants — his intellectual, moral, and religious 

 constitution. If we will look backwards, we must look at all these 

 things as evidences of the origin and end of man's being. When we 

 do thus comprehend in our view the whole of the case, it is im- 

 possible for us, as I have elsewhere said, to arrive at an origin 

 homogeneous with the present state of things ; and on such a sub- 

 ject the geologist may be well content to close his own volume, 

 and open one which has man's moral and religious nature for its 

 subject. 



In order to complete the notice of the contributions to foreign geo- 

 logy, I must mention Mr. Roy's account of Upper Canada : in which 

 country he conceives that he has detected terraces which exhibit the 

 beaches of the lakes when the level of their surface was more elevated 

 than they are at present*. I must refer also to Mr. BoUaert's paper 

 on alluvial accumulations containing large masses of silver ore in 

 Peru. And, finally, I have to direct your attention to the very 

 curious information respecting the geology of South America, 

 which we have received from Mr. Darwin. In a communication 

 made to us, he gave a very striking view of the structure of a 

 large portion of that continent ; and, as I have already had occasion 

 to observe, he has brought to this country the remains of various 

 fossil animals of entirely new kinds, of exceeding interest to the 

 zoologist as well as the geologist. I need only remind you of the 

 gigantic mammifer which has been reconstructed in idea by Mr. 

 Owen, upon the evidence of a fossil skull, and has been named by 

 him the Toxodon Platensisf. This animal, although a Rodent, accord- 

 ing to its dental characters, in other respects manifests an affinity to 

 the Pachyderms ; and also to the Dinotherium, and to the cetaceous 

 order. Many other fossil animals have been discovered in South 

 America ; and all, from their magnitude, fitted to excite our wonder, 

 when we compare the diminutive size of the present races of animals 

 which inhabit that country. The animal remains found by Mr. 

 Darwin comprise, besides the Toxodon, which extraordinary animal 

 was as large as a hippopotamus, — (2, 3, 4, 5, 6.) the Megatherium, 

 and four or five other large Edentata; — (7.) an immense Mastodon ; 

 — (8.) the Horse ; — (9.) an animal larger than a horse, and of very 

 singular character, of which a fragment of the head has been found ; 

 — (10, 11, 12.') parts of Rodents, one of considerable size ; — (13.) a 

 Llama, or Guanaco, fully as large as the Camel. 



But I should very ill convey my impression of the great value 

 of the researches of Mr. Darwin, by any enumeration of special points 

 of geology or palaeontology on which they have thrown light. Look- 



[* See vol. xi. p. 201.] [f See vol. xi. p. 205.] 



