THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



which there are to be found only a very small num- 

 ber that have exactly similar living analogues. 



"From this fact, may we conclude, with some ap- 

 pearance of certainty, that the species found in the 

 fossiliferous state, and of which no living and exactly 

 similar examples are known to us, no longer exist in 

 nature*? There are still so many portions of the sur- 

 face of the globe where we have not penetrated, so 

 many where men trained to observe have only casual- 

 ly passed through, and finally so many others, such as 

 the various parts of the sea-bottom, where we have but 

 slight means of discovering the animals which exist 

 in such parts; these various places could easily con- 

 ceal the species which we do not know. 



"If there are species really extinct, it can be with- 

 out doubt only amongst the large animals inhabiting 

 the dry portions of the earth, where man, because of 

 the absolute domination which he exercises, has been 

 able to destroy all the individuals of some of those 

 species which he has wished neither to preserve nor 

 to domesticate. From this fact arises the possibility 

 that the animals of the genera of palaeotherium, ano- 

 plotherium, magalonix, megatherium, mastodon of 

 M. Cuvier, and some other species of genera already 

 known, no longer exist in the living state; neverthe- 

 less even this is only a mere possibility. 



"But the animals which live in water, especially 

 marine animals, and, in addition, all those races of 

 minute animals, which inhabit the surface of the 



1 138] 



