10 PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 



Ere we enter upon the examination of these facts, in relation to the 

 system which we are now contemplating, we shall he convinced, at 

 once, that, with the exception of the aliment, which must have been 

 so abundant as to be very favorable to the promotion of the size of the 

 animal body, we must be altogether ignorant of the causes of these 

 modifications. Under no possible circumstances, by no methods what- 

 ever, with which we are acquainted, can we produce any thing at all 

 resembling these ancient animals ; and hence, we conclude, that such 

 facts are absolutely mere nullities in leading us to the discovery of the 

 causes that have produced the modifications of species, together with 

 their transformations. 



We shall presently recall to the attention of our readers the fact, that 

 such a thing as one of our domesticated species was never yet seen 

 as appearing with the characters of some other species of the genus 

 to which it belongs, either domesticated or in the wild state ; neither 

 has there been a single case known, throughout the world, in which 

 one of our dogs has been found turned into a wolf or a jackal, or a 

 fox. There is no example in the records of natural history of a 

 horse having assumed the characters of an ass, or an ass taking on 

 those of a zebra. Never did we find, on any occasion, a single instance 

 in which any one variety of our goats was metamorphosed into a 

 variety of sheep, or vice versa. As a necessary consequence, it follows, 

 that, as we are destitute altogether of any fact of this nature, we can 

 have no possible foundation to justify the general inference of a real 

 transformation ; but we may turn to the particular facts alluded to 

 above, to show whether or not they are able to supply any support to 

 the conclusion just spoken of. 



Differences of dimensions are, by far, the best specific characters, 

 as is seen attested by our large and small races of domestic animals. 

 The same thing occurs, but within certain limits, in the proportions 

 of the body as is well exemplified in the sea bear, the common bear, 

 and the long-lipped bear. This character also belongs to species in 

 which it is manifested by the developement of the limbs, as is dis- 

 played in the thighs of the elk and the rein-deer, and in the tail of 

 the macacus properly so called, and the rhesus. With evidently, 

 very good reason indeed, is the length of the ears, considered under 

 this character, as well as the length and colour of the hair ; the 

 ass is the species nearest in affinity to the horse ; the very fine and 

 long-wooled fleece cannot be separated from the short-haired lama, and 

 we have yellow, grey, black, &c. squirrels. Facts, such as these, be- 

 long to the same category as those that are classed amongst the true 



