32 The Make-Up and the Worf^ings of the Earth 



borhood of Paris. Nor had there been any so far back as 

 anybody knew. Moreover, these bones belonged to elephants 

 that were different from any living species of elephant. 

 From the study of these fossils and of others, Cuvier came to 

 the conclusion that there had at various times existed upon 

 the earth species of animals that were no longer living. 

 Now, he had always assumed that each species of plant or 

 animal was a fixed reality and could not be changed into an- 

 other species. He therefore went a step further and con- 

 cluded that there had been a succession of cataclysms in the 

 history of the earth, in the course of each of which all life 

 had been destroyed. After each cataclysm, Cuvier supposed, 

 a new set of living things was created. While the fossils of 

 one period resembled those of another, as some fossils re- 

 sembled living species, there was no connection between the 

 fossils of one period and those of another. The oil lamps on 

 which we model our electric lamps were the predecessors 

 but not the ancestors of our present day lamps. In the same 

 way, the extinct animals of former ages, according to Cuvier, 

 were the predecessors of living forms, not their ancestors. 



It must be recognized that the known facts were at 

 least in part favorable to this view. First of all there are 

 earthquakes, there are volcanic eruptions, there are floods. 

 These movements in nature are sometimes very destruc- 

 tive. Then there were the fossils. These were so distributed 

 as to suggest that water had replaced land and land water. 

 They were also distinct enough in each great formation to 

 be looked upon as a separate set of creations. Finally there 

 was the ancient tradition and common sense that considered 

 each species as something apart from other living things. 



Cuvier was the foremost authority on the anatomy of 

 backboned animals. He was also thoroughly convinced of 

 the fixity of species. According to his interpretation the 

 evidence of the rocks tells us that (i) species of past ages 

 are now extinct, and that (2) there appeared upon the 

 earth, from time to time, new species that had not existed 

 in the past. There has been a succession of species. So much 



