ITS NEAREST EXISTING RELATIONS 



69 



even breeds of the existing horses from those of earlier 

 periods. In the first place, they would only be intelli- 

 gible to any one possessing a full knowledge of the 

 minute anatomical characters on the comparison of which 

 the results are based; but what is of still more considera- 

 tion, the conclusions from all these researches can be 

 looked upon at present as provisional only, being founded 

 upon such imperfect materials as exist as yet in our 

 collections, and liable to be modified at any moment 

 by fresh discoveries which may be expected to be made 

 from time to time. 



That the science of paleontology has a great future 

 before it has already been intimated. The recesses of 

 the earth still teem with riches in untold numbers. 

 When they have been brought to the light of day, their 

 geological antiquity and their anatomical characters 

 will offer a fruitful field for investigation and specula- 

 tion. The harvest is indeed abundant and the labourers 

 hitherto few. The excellent work done in this subject 

 by Marie Pavlow, of Moscow, is therefore particularly 

 interesting, as showing for the first time in the history 

 of this branch of science that women are equally com- 

 petent with men to enter into the field and join in 

 gathering the golden grains of knowledge. 1 



1 The following are some of the principal works from which fuller 

 information concerning the palaeontology of the Eauiclcc can be 

 obtained : — 



E. Cope : ' The Perissodactyla ' {American Naturalist, Nov. 1887, 



