528 [Assembly 



and animals, may be the result of this system of progression, in the 

 quality of ultiraates and their adaptibility for easy assimilation'? 

 We can trace back all our fruits to inferior sources, and our vari- 

 ous garden vegetables are of comparatively modern production. 

 The same rule applies with equal force to the animal creation, 

 and possibly from the same causes. 



If we refer to the records of animals, as portrayed in Grecian 

 art, we shall discover the probable proof of this assertion. The 

 horses shown in the Elgin Marbles, although replete with beauty 

 from the graceful curved lines in their forms, may be approved of 

 by the artist, but the horse jockey will inform us, that they are 

 far inferior, both for fleetness and strength, to the horses of the 

 present day, and the very horse that carried Romulus into Rome, 

 might have failed, if Remus had mounted him at the same time. 



The cattle represented in these marbles, and those represented 

 in Egyptian art, are far inferior in figure and size to the Devons, 

 Durhams, &c., of the present day. 



This is not only true of animals, but also of man; for, while 

 we have such exceptions as Goliah of Gath, in ancient history, 

 O'Brien the Irish giant, the Belgian giant, &c., in modern history, 

 we still know that the human race have improved in figure, size, 

 and probably in mental energy. The Eglinton tournament, which 

 occurred in England twelve years since, gave proof of this fact; 

 for the noble youths who wished to emulate their great forefathers 

 on that occasion, found it impossible to wear the suits of armor, 

 which had so long ornamented their baronial halls, and black- 

 smiths were in active requisition for the enlargement of these 

 mail protectors. 



While the useful animals have been continually increasing in 

 size, those which are not required by man, but which were pro- 

 bably required as machines for the progression of ultimates, have 

 either entirely passed out of existence or materially lessened in 

 size; thus the mastodon, which once, as proved by fossil geology, 

 roamed at large over the earth's surface, no longer exists. This 

 animal was capable of consuming immense amounts of vegetable 

 food, and thus presenting it for reappropriation for new forms in 



