THEORY OF THE EARTH. 69 



of those bones of unknown animals which we dis- 

 cover buried in the earth. Some may even con- 

 ceive, that those various monsters, which consti- 

 tute the essential rnaments of the history of the 

 heroic ages of almost all countries, are precisely 

 those very species which it was necessary to de- 

 stroy, in order to allow the establishment of civi- 

 lization. Thus the Theseuses and Bellerophons 

 of ancient times had been more fortunate than all 

 the nations of our days, which have only been 

 able to drive back the noxious animals, but have 

 never yet succeeded in exterminating a single 

 species. 



Inquiry respecting the Fabulous Animals of the An- 

 cients. 



It is easy to reply to the foregoing objection, by 

 examining the descriptions of these unknown be- 

 ings, and by inquiring into their origins. The 

 greater number of them have an origin purely my- 

 thological, and of this origin their descriptions 

 bear unequivocal marks ; for in almost all of them 

 we see merely parts of known animals united by 

 an unbridled imagination, and in contradiction to 

 all the laws of nature. 



Those which were invented or arranged by the 

 Greeks, have at least the merit of possessing ek* 

 gance in their composition. Like those ara- 



