46 ZOOLOGICAL PHILOSOPHY 



Let us then no longer be astonished that among the numerous fossils 

 found in all the dry parts of the world, and constituting the remains 

 of so many animals which formerly existed, there are so few of which 

 we recognise the living representatives. 



What we should wonder at, on the contrary, is finding amongst 

 these numerous fossil remains of once living bodies, any of which the 

 still existing analogues are known to us. This fact, proved by our 

 collections of fossils, suggests that the fossil remains of animals whose 

 living analogues we know are the least ancient fossils. The species 

 to which each of them belongs doubtless has not had time to undergo 

 variation. 



Naturalists who did not perceive the changes undergone by most 

 animals in course of time tried to explain the facts connected with 

 fossils, as well as the commotions known to have occurred in different 

 parts of the earth's surface, by the supposition of a universal 

 catastrophe which took place on our globe. They imagined that 

 everything had been displaced by it, and that a great number of the 

 species then existing had been destroyed. 



Unfortunately this facile method of explaining the operations of 

 nature, when we cannot see their causes, has no basis beyond the 

 imagination which created it, and cannot be supported by proof. 



Local catastrophes, it is true, such as those produced by earth- 

 quakes, volcanoes and other special causes are well known, and we 

 can observe the disorder ensuing from them. 



But why are we to assume without proof a universal catastrophe, 

 when the better known procedure of nature suffices to account for 

 all the facts which we can observe ? 



Consider on the one hand that in all nature's works nothing is done 

 abruptly, but that she acts everywhere slowly and by successive 

 stages ; and on the other hand that the special or local causes of dis- 

 orders, commotions, displacements, etc., can account for everything 

 that we observe on the surface of the earth, while still remaining subject 

 to nature's laws and general procedure. It will then be recognised 

 that there is no necessity whatever to imagine that a universal 

 catastrophe came to overthrow everything, and destroy a great part 

 of nature's own works. 



I have said enough on a subject which presents no difficulty. Let 

 us now consider the general principles and essential characters of 

 animals. 



