(iF.RMAN rillLUSOPHY. 225 



may also hav« been applied witli mr < hanical advantage to hook the head 

 of the animal to the l)ank, with the nostrils sustained above the water 

 so as to breathe .securely (hirinir sh^cp, while the body remained at per- 

 fect case beneath the surface ; the animal might thus repose, moored to 

 the margin of a lake or river, without the slightest muscular exertion, 

 the weight of the head and body tending to fix and keep the tuslis fast 

 enclosed in the substance of the bank, as the weight of the body of a 

 sleeping bird keeps the claws clasped firmly around the perch. In all 

 the characters of a gigantic herbivcrous, aquatic quadruped, we recog- 

 nize in the Dinotherium adaptations to the lacustrine conditions of tlic 

 earth during that portion of the tertiary periods, to which the existence 

 of this seemingly anomalous creature appears to have been chiefly lim- 

 ited. But the mind of the beholder is struck with awe when it realizes 

 the certainty, that so gigantic an animal as the Dinotherium Magnum 

 must have sustained an existence at so recent a period as the alluvial 

 formation. 



The valley of ihe Mississippi abounds hi evidence of the existence 

 of many gigantic extinct fossil animals; but so far as we have learned, 

 this is the first one of the kind that any fortunate observer has been able 

 to find." 



(;ekman philosophy. 



the doctrines of kant, ficute, schelllvg and hegel 



liy C. Dc Remuaat, Member of the Institute of France. 



(Coiiiinucil fiom page 199.) 



Such, in a summary way, is the doctrine of Kant. It has incurred 

 and appears to merit the double reproach of idealism and scepticism. 

 It is in cflcct a principle of idealism which reduces to a subjective verity 

 tlie representations, the notions and ideas of the human mind. It is a 

 sceptical view that supposes as problematic the conceptions of tiic rea- 

 son relative to the highest and most interesting questions, or at least re- 

 gards those questions as susceptible of contradictory solutions. 



It is wortli while, however, to remark that neither the scepticism nor 

 the idealism is here absolute. 



Observe in the first place what is admitted as unquestionable: 1. 

 Empirical impressions, what Kant calls experience, and vvhicii cannot 

 be less tlian the direct aj)i)carance o( internal phenomena, indirect of ex- 

 ternal phenomena, independently of the will. 2. The me of the con- 

 sciousness, or at least the consciousness of the me, cngilo. '6. The 

 principles of logic. 1. The subjcclivc necessity of the pure laws of 

 :2S 



