6 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 



the relative shapes of animals, and the different developments of 

 the same kind of bones in various animals, and especially to the 

 nature of their teeth. So great did his experience and knowledge 

 become, that he rarely failed in naming an animal from a part of its 

 skeleton. He appreciated more clearly than others before him 

 the mutual dependence of the various parts of an animal's organi- 

 sation. " The organism," he said, " forms a connected unity, in 

 which the single parts cannot change without modifications in the 

 other parts." 



It will hardly be necessary to give examples of this now well- 

 known truth \ but, just to take one case : the elephant has a 

 long proboscis with which it can reach the ground, and con- 

 sequently its neck is quite short ; but take away the long 

 proboscis, and you would seriously interfere with the relation of 

 various parts of its structure to each other. How, then, could 

 it reach or pick up anything lying on the ground? Other 

 changes would have to follow : either its legs would require to be 

 shortened, or its neck to be lengthened. In every animal, as in 

 a complex machine, there is a mutual dependence of the different 

 parts. 



As he progressed in these studies, Cuvier was able with 

 considerable success to restore extinct animals from their fossilised 

 remains, to discover their habits and manner of life, and to point 

 out their nearest living ally. To him we owe the first complete 

 demonstration of the possibility of restoring an extinct animal. 

 His "Law of Correlation " however, has been found to be not 

 infallible ; as Professor Huxley has shown, it has exceptions. 

 It expresses our experience among living animals, but, when 

 applied to the more ancient types of life, is liable to be mis- 

 leading. 



To take one out of many examples of this law : Carnivorous 

 animals, such as cats, lions, and tigers, have claws in their feet, 

 very different from the hoofs of an ox, which is herbivorous ; 

 while the teetli of the former group are very different to those of 



