SCIENCE AND BELIQION. 121 



functional toes. The structure of the hind-foot corresponds with that of 

 the fore-foot ; but in the hind-leg the fibula is better developed. In some 

 cases 1 have reason to think that it is complete; at any rate this lower end 

 of it is quite distinctly recognizable. In this succession of forms you have- 

 exactly that which the hypothesis of evolution demands. The history cor- 

 responds exactly with that which you would construct a priori from the^ 

 principles of evolution. An alternative hypothesis is hardly conceivable^ 

 but the only one that could be framed would be this, that the Anchitherium,. 

 the Hipparion, and the horse, had been created separately and at separate 

 epochs of time. 



"Of late years there have been discovered on this continent — in your 

 Western Territories — that marvelous thickness of tertiary deposits to which I 

 referred the other evening, which gives us a thickness and a consecutive order 

 of older tertiary rocks admirably calculated for the preservation of organic 

 remains, such as we had hitherto no conception of in Europe. They have 

 yielded fossils in a state of preservation and in number perfectly unexam- 

 pled. And with respect to the horse, the researches of Leidy and others 

 have shown that numerous forms of that type are to be found among these 

 remains. But it is only recently that the very admirably contrived and most 

 thoroughly and patiently worked-out investigations of Prof. Marsh have 

 given us a just idea of the enormous wealth and scientific importance of 

 these deposits. I have had the advantage of glancing over his collections 

 at New Haven, and I can truly and emphatically say that, so far as my 

 knowledge extends, there is nothing in any way comparable, for extent, or 

 for the care with which the remains have been got together, or for their 

 scientific importance, to the series of fossils which he has brought together. 

 (Applause.) This enormous collection has yielded evidence of the most 

 striking character in regard to this question of the pedigree of the horse. 

 Indeed, the evidence which Prof. Marsh has collected tends to show that 

 you have in America the true original seat of the equine type — the country 

 in which the evidence of the primitive form and successive modifications of 

 the horse series is far better preserved than in Europe. The succession of 

 forms which he has brought together shows, in the first place, the great 

 care and patience to which I have referred. Secondly, there is this Plio- 

 cene form of the horse (Fliohippusy, the conformation of its limbs presents 

 some very slight deviations from the ordinary horse, and with shorter crownr 

 of the grinding teeth. Then comes the form which represents the European 

 Hipparion, which is the Protohippus, having three toes and the forearm and 

 leg and teeth to which I have referred, and which is more valuable than the 

 European Hipparion for this reason : it is devoid of some of the peculiarities 

 of that form — jDeculiarities which tend to show that the European Hipparion 

 is rather a side branch than one in the direct line of succession. Next 

 comes the Miohippus, which corresponds pretty nearly with what I spoke of 

 as the Anchitherium of Europe, but which has some interesting peculiarities.^ 

 It presents three toes — one large median and two lateral ones; of the toe- 



