6 



infancy, and in all Europe there are scarcely 

 more than two or three places where every 

 object may be found necessary to such an exact 

 comparison. 



*' It is to these two causes we must attri- 

 bute the little knowledge we possess on this 

 subject, and the errors which reign even in the 

 most esteemed w^orks." 



In this interesting memoir of M. Cuvier, 

 whose researches into this subject have been 

 indefatigable and profound, there are mien- 

 t.oned no less than twenty-three different 

 species of animals which are now extinct, but 

 whose existence in former ages is attested by 

 their fossil remains -, no recent production of 

 the sort having ever been authenticated. The 

 first on this list is that animal whose tusks af- 

 ford the fossil ivory so common in Siberia, 

 which was generally supposed to be the same 

 as the elephant of Asia, but which he has 

 proved, in another memoir, not only to have 

 .surpassed it in size, but to have differed from it 

 very considerably, although certainly a species 



