154 Of the Contimiity of' the Animal Kiiigdorn, Sfc. 



ing very slight transformations, to the circumstances of tlie pre- 

 sent world. These animals, some of which occur in the fossil, 

 and others in the living state, are the elephants, rhinoceroses, 

 some didelphides, hyenas, bears, &c. 



M. Geoffroy St Hilaire cited, as the performance of an au- 

 thor who outstripped the age in which he lived, the work in 

 which M. de Lamarck treats Of the injluencc of circumstances 

 upon the actions and habitudes of living bodies, and reciprocally 

 on tlie influence of the actions and habitudes of living bodies 

 upon the modification of their parts. 



The particular facts on which M. de Lamarck rests his grand 

 idea, are far from being perfectly correct. Perhaps there is not 

 even one of them that is not blemished by some inaccuracy ; 

 and yet the conclusion which he draws from them is true — such 

 is the power of genius in foreseeing the great truths of nature. It 

 was thus that Buffon perceived, by an inspiration of his genius, 

 that the animals of the equatorial regions inhabit one of the con- 

 tinents to the exclusion of the other, although none of the proofs 

 adduced by that celebrated man in support of his opinion would 

 perhaps be admitted at the present day ; and yet this proposi- 

 tion has become a law which has received entire confirmation 

 from time. 



On the subject of M. de Lamarck's opinion, the author 

 quoted a remarkable passage from Pascal : " Animated beings," 

 says that author, " were in their commencement nothing but form- 

 less and ambiguous individuals, whose constitution was origi- 

 nally decided by the permanent circumstances in the midst of 

 which they lived,"" 



To establish M. Geoft'roy's opinion in a solid manner, the 

 important point is to demonstrate that the differences of atmo- 

 spheric constitutions may have been sufficiently great and power- 

 ful to bring the different species and genera, from the types 

 which they originally presented, to what we now see them to 

 be. Now, of this the author thinks no doubt can be enter- 

 tained. Let attention be paid to the modifications which the 

 species may still undergo, in consequence of a niere transporta- 

 tion from one latitude to another, — modifications which have 

 been determined by Dr Roulin with respect to the animals 

 transported from Europe to America. Let the important facts. 



