Secondly, The Nature Of The

My Object Will Be, First, To Show By What Connections The History Of The Fossil Bones Of Land Animals Is Linked To The Theory Of The Earth And Why They Have A Particular Importance In This Respect.

It Is Evident That One Cannot Say Anything Demonstrable About The Problem Before Having Resolved These Preliminary Questions, And Yet We Hardly Possess The Necessary Information To Solve Some Of Them

A Famous Anecdote Concerning Cuvier Involves The Tale Of His Visitation From The Devil—only It Was Not The Devil But One Of His Students Dressed Up With Horns On His Head And Shoes Shaped Like Cloven Hooves. This Frightening Apparition Burst Into Cuvier's Bedroom When He Was Fast Asleep And Claimed: 'wake Up Thou Man Of Catastrophes. I Am The Devil. I Have Come To Devour You!' Cuvier Studied The Apparition Carefully And Critically Said, 'i Doubt Whether You Can. You Have Horns And Hooves. You Eat Only Plants.

It Is In This Mutual Dependence Of The Functions And The Aid Which They Reciprocally Lend One Another That Are Founded The Laws Which Determine The Relations Of Their Organs And Which Possess A Necessity Equal To That Of Metaphysical Or Mathematical Laws, Since It Is Evident That The Seemly Harmony Between Organs Which Interact Is A Necessary Condition Of Existence Of The Creature To Which They Belong And That If One Of These Functions Were Modified In A Manner Incompatible With The Modifications Of The Others The Creature Could No Longer Continue To Exist.

Genius And Science Have Burst The Limits Of Space, And Few Observations, Explained By Just Reasoning, Have Unveiled The Mechanism Of The Universe. Would It Not Also Be Glorious For Man To Burst The Limits Of Time, And, By A Few Observations, To Ascertain The History Of This World, And The Series Of Events Which Preceded The Birth Of The Human Race?