1G2 HISTOEY OF THE WORKS OF CUVIER. 



ted ; tliey arc the palcnotlieriiim, the anoj)JofJiermm, the chceropotamuSy the adapis. 

 The bones of all these genera — most of which include several species — were 

 mingled and confounded together. It was necessary to begin by separating them ; 

 it was necessary, then, to assign each bone to its species, and finally to recon- 

 struct the entire skeleton from each of them ; and it was here that tlie method 

 devised by the author for this reconstruction was exhibited in all its efficacy. 



In reo'ard to fossil species, the teeth are always the first part to be studied, 

 and the most iurportant, for it is from the teeth that it must be determined 

 whether the animal was carnivorous or herbivorous, and even, in some cases, to 

 what particular order of such animals it pertained. M. Cuvier then having 

 re-established the complete series of teeth which were found to be most common 

 amono- those which he had collected, soon saw that they proceeded from two dif- 

 ferent species, of which one was provided with prominent canine teeth, and which 

 the other wanted. The restitution of the teeth thus gave two species of pachy- 

 dermata : the one with prominent canines, being the palceotherium; the other, 

 Avithout them, or with a continuous series of teeth, the anoplothcriiim. Further, 

 this restitution of itself showed, in each of these species, the type of a new 

 genus ; two genera related to the tapir and rhinoceros, but two genera entirely 

 lost; for no living pachyderm reproduces, even generically, their dental system. 

 And such, on the other hand, was the rigor of the zoological laws followed by 

 tlie autlior, that the teeth having given him two distinct genera, it could not be 

 doubted that all the other parts of the skeleton, the head, trunk, feet, all min- 

 gled indiscriminately with one another and with these teeth, would be also of 

 two diflerent genera. He at once foresaw, therefore, for each of these genera, 

 a head, a trunk, feet of a particular form, as he had found for them an appro- 

 priate dental system ; and he was not long in finding all that he had foreseen. 



The teeth being re-established, the restitution of the heads claimed his atten- 

 tion, and it was soon evident that these also were of two genera. Next to the 

 teetli and head, the feet are the most characteristic part of the skeleton, and 

 their restitution gave likewise two genera. It remained, therefore, only to refer 

 ^ach foot to its head, and each head to its dental system. Now, the restitution 

 of the hind feet had shown them to be of two kinds, some with three toes, others 

 only two ; and the restitution of the fore feet had yielded the same result. Avail- 

 ing himself, by turns, of the general analogy of the species which he reproduced 

 with the nearest living species, and of the particular relations of proportion 

 and size' of the diiferent parts in question, one with another, M. Cuvier first 

 united the hind feet with two toes to the fore feet with two, and repeated the 

 process with those having three ; and always guided by the same analogy, the 

 same relations, he united the former with the dental system which was destitute 

 of prominent canines, and the latter with the dental system which had them. 

 He thus united in succession, for each genus, all the bones of the head, the trunk, 

 the extremities; he reproduced, finally, the entire skeleton, and scarcely was 

 this great labor terminated when, l)y a singular hazard, a nearly complete skele- 

 ton of one of them, found at Pantin, came to confirm all the results which had 

 been obtained. In this skeleton, so fortunately discovered, all the bones were 

 united together as M. Cuvier had united them ; nature having acted no other- 

 wise than the admirable laws discerned hy him and his own wonderful sagacity 

 had acted. 



A fh'st species of each genus being in this manner reconstnicted, their number 

 was not slow in augmenting. M. Cuvier soon counted five species of anoplothc- 

 riums, and not less than 11 or 12 palccotlieriums. All the former are from the 

 environs of Paris ; the most common was of the size of the ass; another of that of 

 the hog; & third, of that of the gazelle ; a fourth, of that of the hare ; a fifth was 

 still smaller. Among the pahijotheriums there were, at Paris alone, seven species ; 

 one the size of the horse, one of the tapir, one of the sheep, one of the liare, &c; 

 another species discovered near Orleans, nearly equalled in size the rhinoceros. 



