THE HISTORY OF OUB SPECIES. 75 



earth with their varying forms in the earlier period of 

 its development. 



It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth 

 century that we were introduced to these fossil animals 

 by Cuvier. In his famous work on the fossil bones of 

 the four-footed vertebrates he gave (1812) the first 

 correct description and true interpretation of many of 

 these fossil remains. He showed, too, that a series of 

 very different animal populations have succeeded each 

 other in the various stages of the earth's history. 

 Since Cuvier held firmly to Linne's idea of the 

 absolute permanency of species, he thought their 

 origin could only be explained by the supposition that 

 a series of great cataclysms and new creations had 

 marked the history of the globe ; he imagined that all 

 living creatures were destroyed at the commencement 

 of each of these terrestrial revolutions, and an entirely 

 new population was created at its close. Although 

 this " catastrophic theory " of Cuvier's led to the most 

 absurd consequences, and was nothing more than a 

 bald faith in miracles, it obtained almost universal 

 recognition, and reigned triumphant until the coming 

 of Darwin. 



It is easy to understand that these prevalent ideas 

 of the absolute unchangeability and supernatural 

 creation of organic species could not satisfy the more 

 penetrating thinkers. We find several eminent minds 

 already, in the second half of the last century, busy 

 with the attempt to find a natural explanation of the 

 "problem of creation." Pre-eminent among them 

 was the great German poet and philosopher, Wolfgang 

 Goethe, who, by his long and assiduous study of 

 morphology, obtained, more than a hundred years 

 ago, a clear insight into the intimate connection of 



