130 THEORY OF THE EARTH, 



among the extraneous fossils ; and this furnishes 

 a strong proof that the extinct races which are 

 now found in a fossil state, were not varieties of 

 known species, since they never could have been 

 subjected to human influence. 



When I assert that human bones have not been 

 hitherto found among extraneous fossils, I must 

 be understood to speak of fossils, or petrifications, 

 properly so called : As in peat depositions or turf 

 bogs, and in alluvial formations, as well as in an- 

 cient burying-grounds, the bones of men with those 

 of horses, and other ordinary existing species of 

 animals, may readily enough be found ; but among 

 the fossil palceotheria, the elephants, the rhinoce- 

 roses, &c. the smallest fragment of human bone 

 has never been detected. Most of the labourers 

 in the gypsum quarries about Paris are firmly per- 

 suaded that the bones they contain are in a great 

 part human : but after having seen and carefully 

 examined many thousands of these bones, I may 

 safely affirm that not a single fragment of them has 

 ever belonged to our species. 



I carefully examined at Pavia the collection of 

 extraneous fossil bones brought there by Spalan- 

 zani from the island of Cerigo ; and, notwithstand- 

 ing the assertion of that celebrated observer, I 

 affirm that there is not a single fragment among 

 them that ever formed part of a human skeleton. 



