302 WALKS AND TALKS. 



man. When an animal was to appear whose forward ex- 

 tremity should rise above the simple function of locomotion 

 and seizing of prey an animal that should swing an imple- 

 ment of civilization, ply an oar, wield a pen, manipulate a 

 needle, make a watch, play a violin, emphasize thought by a 

 gesture, execute the behests of intelligence rather than of 



(appetite and passion then assuredly, a different and nobler 

 plan of structure must be devised. No, it is the same old 

 plan. All these resources existed potentially in the clumsy fin 

 of the fish. Thus is man related to the plans of the present ; 

 ^ thus, to a plan which has persisted for millions of years ; and 

 thus, was man all the time anticipated and approached, 

 v during the progress of the transformations wrought by 

 the ages. 



I will simply recall here what has been said about the an- 

 ticipation of man in the provision of beds of coal laid by 

 from the poison which once infected the atmosphere, and 

 barred the march of progress. No other corporeal being has 

 been capable of comprehending the uses of the coal ; no in- 

 corporeal being had need of coal. It is something which 

 i stands in relation only to man ; for man it was designed. We 

 ' may say the same of iron, silver, and the other useful products 

 of the mineral kingdom. It is only to man that they are 

 useful. Man is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the ages. 

 We understand now, that man's birthplace was foreshad- 

 owed. It was expressed in the formal gradation of the conti- 

 nents. They are graded, in the present epoch. The mam- 

 malian fauna of Australia is almost exclusively Marsupial ; 

 that of South America is characterized by abundance of 

 Edentates ; that of North America is predominantly Herbiv- 

 orous, while Carnivores take the lead on the eastern conti- 

 nent. A similar gradation existed in the age before man. 

 The mammalian fossils of the Tertiary are, in Australia, pre- 

 dominantly marsupial ; in South America, edentate ; in North 

 America, herbivorous ; in the Orient, carnivorous. The apex 

 of organization in the age before man, was located in the 

 Orient. It might have been anticipated, therefore, that when 



