GENERAL CHARACTER OF ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. 79 
separated succession of the evidence in its favour, that is 
to say, of the systems of stratification, the fixed concep- 
tion of a fossil was, that whatever had lived before the 
appearance of man on the threshold of the Alluvial 
period was fossil. It has been proved that the existence 
of manis far more ancient ; that species and races which 
surrounded the cradle of mankind have become extinct ; 
hence that they, like the Mammoth, for example, are 
fossil to us only, and not to our diluvial forefathers ; 
while many other animal forms which existed before 
man have been preserved till now. On the whole, from 
the Tertiary period forwards, the herbivorous Mammals 
precede the Carnivora. The monkeys appear only 
shortly before man. 
Notwithstanding many gaps in the paleontological 
record, the progress of development is manifest in the 
organic world, including the vegetal kingdom. No fossil 
animal controverts the system. On the contrary, the most 
varied adjustments and accommodations are afforded by 
the antediluvian animals. If, for instance, the present 
Pachyderms are sharply distinguished from the Rumi- 
nants, an unbroken bridge between them is established by 
the extinct forms. If the present time shows us only 
single scattered genera of the Edentata, the Diluvial 
period exhibits a considerable number under far more 
heterogeneous forms. Thus in the types as in the divi- 
sions of the classes, the system advances from the older 
to the more recent periods; while the more ancient groups 
gradually increase and then diminish, as newer, more 
perfectly or specifically integrated forms, are interposed. 
The former either vanish entirely or outlast the mote 
recent periods, and continue in scanty remnants down 
