GENERAL CHARACTER OF ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. 79 



separated succession of the evidence in its favour, that is 

 to say, of the systems of stratification, the fixed concep- 

 tion of a fossil was, that whatever had hved before the 

 appearance of man on the threshold of the Alluvial 

 period was fossil. It has been proved that the existence 

 of man is far more ancient ; that species and races which 

 surrounded the cradle of mankind have become extinct ; 

 hence that they, like the Mammoth, for example, are 

 fossil to us only, and not to our diluvial forefathers ; 

 while many other animal forms which existed before 

 man have been preserved till now. On the whole, from 

 the Tertiary period forwards, the herbivorous Mammals 

 precede the Carnivora. The monkeys appear only 

 shortly before man. 



Notwithstanding many gaps in the palaeontological 

 record, the progress of development is manifest in the 

 organic world, including the vegetal kingdom. No fossil 

 animal controverts the system. On the contrary, the most 

 varied adjustments and accommodations are afforded by 

 the antediluvian animals. If, for instance, the present 

 Pachyderms are sharply distinguished from the Rumi- 

 nants, an unbroken bridge between them is established by 

 the extinct forms. If the present time shows us only 

 single scattered genera of the Edentata, the Diluvial 

 period exhibits a considerable number under far more 

 heterogeneous forms. Thus in the types as in the divi- 

 sions of the classes, the system advances from the older 

 to the more recent periods ; while the more ancient groups 

 gradually increase and then diminish, as newer, more 

 perfectly or specifically integrated forms, are interposed. 

 The former either vanish entirely or outlast the more 

 recent periods, and continue in scanty remnants down 



