82 ORIGIN OF THE 



which their vegeto-animal organization had been 

 developed, had given them, as well as all other 

 animal and vegetable productions, a grandeur 

 proportioned to the influences employed in their 

 production. Man, however, was only superior 

 to other animals, at that time, by the capacity 

 for improvement imparted to him by his Creator ; 

 but the development of this capacity was very 

 gradual, so that, we may suppose, for ages after 

 he had become an inhabitant of the earth, his 

 existence was not marked by any very striking 

 superiority over other classes of the higher order 

 of animals. 



We have now, very briefly, step by step, 

 endeavored to mark out some of the events 

 deducible from the premises laid down in the 

 commencement of this little treatise. If any 

 new facts have been educed, tending to throw 

 additional light upon this hitherto inexplicable 

 but interesting subject, the writer will deem his 



