12 



in our own hemisphere ; and it is probable., 

 that, in the mountains of Peru, the granites, 

 the micaceous schists, or the different form- 

 ations of gypsum, and gritstone, existed 

 originally at the same periods as the rocks 

 of the same denominations in the Alps of 

 Switzerland. The whole globe appears to 

 have undergone the same catastrophes. At 

 a height superior to that of Mount Blanc, 

 on the summit of the Andes, we find petri- 

 fied sea-shells ; fossile bones of elephants are 

 spread over the equinoctial regions ; and 

 what is very remarkable, they are not dis- 

 covered at the feet of the palm trees in the 

 burning plains of the Orinoco, but on the 

 coldest and most elevated regions of the 

 Cordilleras. In the New World, as well as 

 in the Old, generations of species long ex- 

 tinct have preceded those*; which now people 

 the earth, the waters, and the air. 



There is no proof, that the existence of 

 man is much more recent in America than 

 in the other continent. Within the tropics, 

 the strength of vegetation, the breadth or 



