CUVIER. 157 



domesticated animals; but he regarded the peculiarities 

 of these as purely superficial. He believed that these 

 varietal differences were the result solely of differences in 

 the external conditions to which different individuals of 

 the same species were exposed. He regarded these 

 differences, therefore, as evanescent, and he would 

 certainly have rejected entirely the idea that 'varieties' 

 are ' incipient species.' 



In dealing with the views which had been put forth by 

 Lamarck, it seemed to Cuvier a sufficient argument that 

 we find in the Catacombs of Egypt the mummies of cats, 

 dogs, monkeys, and other animals, in a state of excellent 

 preservation ; and that we can therefore be certain 

 that these particular species have remained essentially 

 unchanged during the long period, from a human point of 

 view, which separates the formation of the Catacombs 

 from the present day. This argument, however, was 

 sufficiently met by Lamarck himself. Lamarck saw no 

 difficulty in accepting the fact that the species of animals 

 preserved in the Egyptian catacombs are in all essential 

 respects precisely similar to forms now in existence. On 

 the contrary, ' it would assuredly be singular,' says he, ' if 

 this was otherwise; since the position and climate of 

 Egypt remain at the present day almost precisely what 

 they were in the epoch of the catacombs.' Hence the 

 animals which now live in Egypt find themselves under 

 exactly the same conditions as they were then, and have 

 therefore retained the habitudes which they at that time 

 possessed. Besides, he adds, there is nothing in the 

 observation in question to prove that these animals have 

 existed from the beginning in their present form. It 



