MAN 539 



In the Pleistocene of India are found many animals which now 

 live only in Africa, such as the Baboon, Spotted Hyaena, etc. 



Australia had a Pleistocene mammalian fauna composed, with 

 the exception of the Wild Dog ( Cam's dingo), of Marsupials, allied 

 to those which still inhabit that region, but many of them were of 

 vastly greater size than the living forms. 



The Pleistocene mammals are remarkable for the great size 

 which distinguishes many of them, and it is just these which have 

 passed away, leaving a world that is " zoologically impoverished," 

 but is nevertheless a much more agreeable place of residence with- 

 out them. Further we note, (i) that the Pleistocene mammals 

 are in general like the smaller forms which have succeeded them 

 in the same regions, but (2) that in Europe and North America 

 there was a commingling of types now found only in widely sepa- 

 rated regions. 



Man first appears in Europe in Glacial times ; there is no known 

 reason why he should not have existed in North America at the 

 same time, but as yet convincing proof of his presence here has 

 not been obtained. In the Recent epoch his works of art become 

 numerous, but here the science of Anthropology begins. 



We have now taken a very brief and hurried survey of the 

 earth's history from its beginning as a nebula to the condition in 

 w r hich we find it to-day. The story of millions of years has been 

 compressed into a few pages, and in this compression it is impos- 

 sible that the history should not have suffered some distortion. 

 Events widely separated in time and space are brought close to- 

 gether, just as two stars that are really separated by well-nigh infinite 

 distances may seem to touch. Yet even from an imperfect out- 

 line sketch certain great truths may be learned. We see that 

 the whole development of the earth has been under the domain 

 of law, that events do not happen capriciously or by chance, 

 but in an orderly, definite way, and for good and sufficient reasons. 

 True, the earth is but a very small member of the Solar System, 

 and the latter an inconsiderable member of the Universe, so 

 that we might be tempted to think of the earth as such a mere 



