36 CREATION OF ANIMALS. 



probably here alludes to a celebrated fossil found 

 in the slate quarries of (Eningen, which Scheuch- 

 zer called an antediluvian man, but which Cuvier 

 regards as a giant species of Proteus. 



All the circumstances above stated being duly 

 weighed, and especially the discovery of a species 

 in the depths of the earth, related to one of the 

 fossil ones, I trust that my hypothesis of a sub- 

 terranean metropolis for the Saurian, and perhaps 

 other reptiles, will not be deemed so improbable 

 and startling as it may at the first blush appear ; 

 at the same time, I would by no means be thought 

 to contend that none of these animals are extinct, 

 but solely that all may not be so, and that their 

 never having been found in a recent state may 

 have arisen from the peculiar circumstances of 

 their situation. 



I have been led into this discussion by Mr. 

 Man tell's Hypothesis of &n Age of reptiles, which 

 I have seen only in an extract from one of the 

 Sussex advertisers for last year, which he was so 

 kind as to send to me; in which he supposes 

 that the Saurians were the mighty masters, as 

 well as monsters, of the primeval animal king- 

 dom, and the lords of the creation before the 

 existence of the human race. Since this hypo- 

 thesis, as stated in the above extract, cannot be 

 reconciled with the account of the creation of 

 animals as given in the first chapter of Genesis, 

 I shall not be wandering from the purpose 



