



: 



* * 



" 



H 





::.:; 











on 



» 



in 



• 



v 



Vt 



be 





hi 



IV 













* 







Ch. IX. J 



AT SUCCESSIVE GEOLOGICAL PERIODS 



1G7 



back to the period when the surface on which they lived began 

 to exist.'* This proof, however, is insufficient, for many thou- 

 sands of human beings now dwell in various quarters of the 



mar 



and, on the other hand, the sea now prevails permanently 

 over large districts once inhabited by thousands of human 

 beings. Nor can this interchai 

 while the present causes are in existence. Terrestrial species, 



it be older than the continents which they 





mis 



inhabit, and aquatic species of higher antiquity than the lakes 

 and seas which they now people. 

 Introduction of Man, to what extent a change of the system. 

 I shall defer to the next volume the discussion of a theo- 

 retical question of surpassing interest with which the paleon- 

 tologist has been busily engaged ever since the time of La- 

 marck, namely, whether it is conceivable that each fossil fauna 



may 



mi 



mediately preceded it, our record being so defective that nearly 



intermediate 



from species to species, have in most 



them 



■to 



In support of this opinion, it has been argued that the earliest 



man 



ignorance of the use of metals- On the other hand, little or 

 no progress has been made in discovering 



remains 



development of 



man in the paleolithic era. It may fairly be argued that the 

 superiority of man depends, not on those faculties and attri- 

 butes which he shares in common with the lower animals, 



Knf rvTi liia -naaarvn Iw w"hip"h TlA IS dlfttlUPTlislied from them. 



When it is said that the human 



than were any pre-existing beings on the earth, it is the in- 



moral 



means 



man 



clear 



b de- 



emmence 



e was me 



* Phys. Hist, of Mankind, vol. ii, p, 594. 



