NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 107 



5. That it was not of a larger size than the living elephant : and, lastly, that it is 

 extinct. And let not this latter assertion be deemed incompatible with the designs of 

 the Deity. Individuals perish, and why not species and genera? The dispensations of 

 providence are above the reach of human sagacity: much less can we object the fanciful 

 sysiem of the Arabian metaphysicians, adopted by Pope in his Essay on Man, and exhi- 

 bited in the following beautiful lines: 



" See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth, 

 All matter quick, and bursting into birth. 

 Above, how high, progressive life may go ! 

 Around, how wide ! how deep extend below ! 

 Vast chain of being ! which from God began, 

 Natures ethereal, human, angel, man. 

 Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, 

 No glass can reach ; from infinite to thee — 

 From thee to nothing. On superior powers 

 Were we to press, inferior might on oursj 

 Or in the full creation leave a void, 

 Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd. 

 From nature's chain, whatever link you strike, 

 Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike." 



This doctrine of a chain of being is equally a superstition of philosophy and a dream 

 of poetry. Many links have been broken in this imaginary chain : many species have 

 been destroyed, and yet the harmony of nature has not been disturbed. The indefa- 

 tigable Cuvier has classed the fossil remains of seventy-eight different quadrupeds, of 

 which forty-nine are distinct species hitherto unknown to naturalists. 



Since writing the above J have received the following well-writlen and ingenious letter 

 from a gentleman who was present when the skeleton mounted in Peale's Museum was 

 discovered, and whose knowledge of the subject and the surrounding country has given 

 such an interest to the communication that 1 have thought fit to insert it at large. 



Dear Sir, 



In the Introductory Discourse delivered by you to the "Literary and Philosophical 



Society of New York" 1 was present, and highly gratified at the organization of that 



society. It is gratifying to perceive institutions of this nature, having for their object 



useful information, springing up at a period of national peril and pressure. The acquisi- 



