332 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



completed on the surface of the globe, few animals have disappeared. 

 Only some great species have become extinct, and man alone is the 

 autlior of that extinction, so much to be regretted. It has been sup- 

 posed that species, like individuals, were doomed to perish. It might 

 be difficult to form any other conclusion, were we to consider the 

 relics of those beings that have lived in the different geological periods ; 

 but if we examine the world as it exists we are forced to reject that 

 belief, except on the supposition that new disturbances will hereafter 

 occur on our globe. 



While Central Europe, almost completely given up to Nature, was 

 covered with vast forests and its inhabitants were thinly scattered, 

 animals found few obstacles to their increase. The great species, quite 

 rare in our time, were common in very many localities. Wild-oxen, 

 aurochs, moose, and stags, roved in great herds, having nothing to fear 

 but carnivora, especially bears and wolves. Men increasing in num- 

 bers changed the condition of the region ; the animals were driven 

 closer, and several of the more remarkable species, being easy to reach 

 and attack, soon disappeared. The blind cupidity and love of destruc- 

 tion that possess uncivilized races have caused the loss of animals that 

 might have been useful and valuable to man. 



In spite of all this, the number of mammals entirely destroyed since 

 the last important changes that have occurred in the climates of Eu- 

 rope is inconsiderable. It is now proved that man was already in exist- 

 ence during the epoch in which elephants clothed with a thick fleece, 

 the rhinoceros, the cave bear and hyena, lived in our countries, and 

 the reindeer was scattered over the land in abundance. Thousands 

 of bones, collected side by side wnth wrought articles, have given incon- 

 testable proofs of this ; but the disappearance of elephants and that of 

 several other species must be attributed chiefly to natural causes, and 

 with those w^e have no concern at present, even when speaking of a 

 partial destruction. In fact, various animals, extinct in some parts of 

 the world, under the influence of atmospheric conditions, have main- 

 tained an existence in regions subjected to a climate adapted to them. 

 The reindeer, which was distributed through an immense geograph- 

 ical range in the glacial period, is the most striking instance of this. 



A very large mammal, whose existence is not preserved by any 

 tradition, must nevertheless have been among those exterminated by 

 man ; that is, the great-horned stag, also called the Irish fossil elk, an 

 animal of the size of the ordinary elk, with the general form of the 

 stag, and enormous horns attaining a spread of more than nine feet. 

 Relics of this magnificent elk have been found in the boggy lands of 

 France, England, Italy, Germany, and Poland. But the remains of 

 this superb animal are chiefly found in Ireland, under those peat-beds 

 which, in all probability, were formed at no very remote period. 



