which is now called 'the man of the woods.' M. Trémaux seems to think that it is not impossible to discover, in some regions of the earth, the being who may be considered as having been the most advanced during the epoch which preceded that of man (290).

This disappearance of anthropomorphous Species, proper to each soil, has made a wide gap between men and the quadrumanous animals. It has established that which is now called the human Species (290).

Men and apes resemble one another in their anatomical composition, which is in effect the only point which makes us recognize the common origin of these beings, since the difference of intellectual faculty is only the result of their different degrees of advancement and perfection, which are only secondary considerations (308).

The negro is a degenerate man, not an advanced ape : in the same way that the apes are degenerated from a more advanced Species, which, some time or other, occupied more favourable regions of the earth, and in the end gave birth to more perfect beings, which have formed the stock from which we have sprung (310).

On the whole, beings from their lowest point of separation, up to man, have been perfected by means of transformation from one Species to another (472).

It may, perhaps, be amusing to learn by what means the intelligence of apes was evoked, preparatory to their assuming the human form. The intelligence of the quadrumanes, which live in the trees, is kept on the watch; with their eyes they follow their enemies—they calculate—— they reckon in a more continued and sustained manner the chances which are for or against them. They have even to foresee the strength of the branch which is to sus

tain them, and to take into consideration its elasticity which aids them in springing from one bough to another. One may conceive that this difference of state must induce a greater exercise of the mental faculties, than with some powerful animal which has less to fear, or with the burrowing animals which find their security in that concealment which deprives them of exercise (280).

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In this way our intellect began, our sylvan ancestors watched their enemies from the tops of the trees, and calculated the strength of the boughs on which they were about to leap. This was the commencement of calculation; these faculties were more and more developed,' as the breed of anthropoidal animals improved with the soil, till the scale of being arrived at man, with whom every thing is done by calculation. He does not content himself with necessary speculations, he desires to know everything that surrounds him, even the stars, the past, the future, the infinite.' So, then, from the bough of a tree we leaped to the stars and the infinite! Who ever would have suspected that algebra and astronomy spring from an ape's lucubrations on the length of his leaps ? But why such an origin of intellect should be confined to the anthropoidal animals is not apparent, seeing that the squirrel is equally watchful of his enemies, and equally sagacious in his leaps, and lives also on the trees. Who knows, but that squirrels may be developing into geometricians in some undiscovered forests of the favoured regions'!

An incidental argument introduced by M. Trémaux,

* 'Ces seules observations nous montrent quelles voies a dû prendre le règne de l'intelligence.

'Lorsque l'on arrive à l'homme, chez lequel tout se fait par calcul. Il ne se contente pas des speculations necessaires, il veut connaître tout ce qui l'entoure, les astres mêmes, le passé, l'avenir, l'infini.'

when discussing our relationship with apes should not be omitted. 'Why should we be astonished that the hand of an ape which serves him continually for seizing the branches, in leaping from one to the other, should differ in some degree from that of a man, which is used for such different purposes ?' (319) So, then, the ape's hand was not invented and made for him to enable him to live a sylvan life amongst the trees, but by endeavouring to make use of it in leaping, it became what it is, and the ape himself became a quadrumanous animal! Our hands, also, have become human by applying them to multifarious purposes !

Here we have Lamarck again, animals making themselves what they are, by effort. But is not this, also, forgetting the great instrument of all changes, the soil? If a superior soil could make an ape of any sort, of course it could make it complete. If the soil has been the cause of the production of all species of animals, why create any difficulty about so small a matter as the formation of an ape's hand?

M.. Trémaux has been more cautious than some of his school in giving the pedigree of animals; nevertheless, he has favoured us with a slight sketch, in such points as he says are very easy to be recognized (très-saisissable). The articulated animals descend by regular series to the worms, which are themselves intimately connected with the infusoria, the vertebrated are united by unmistakable connections with the fishes and the reptiles, and with these and the mammifers. To pass from these to birds, the degree of union is not so well sustained; nevertheless, we see it in the bats, and also in the penguins, which with their rudimentary wings serve as examples. These are pretty nearly all the details with which we are furnished,

the rest is hinted in general expressions, left for the imagination to supply whatever may be deficient: and, indeed, in this matter M. Trémaux has not ventured on more than any physiologist would assert, that there is a sort of analogy or resemblance, and a chain of similitude traceable in degree, throughout the Animal Kingdom.

In his system, however, we might inquire, if, as it is pretended, there is a union between mammifers and fish, how the soil elaborated the fish? as the soil is the creator it must have produced the mammifers first, and from them the fish must have sprung. M. Trémaux says nothing about the power of water on aquatic animals, nor does he notice that which would be obvious to any one, that if it be true that the soil has produced land-animals, then it must be considered that the water has produced the aquatic tribes. This would, however, break into his system of transmutation of every Species of animal from antecedent Species-and of the unity of all animals. In his system there cannot be two producers: and it will be remembered that he has distinctly told us that all beings from the lowest point of separation, up to man, have been perfected by means of transformation from one Species to another!' There is this curious proposition of the Theory, common indeed with most of the school, that animals in the position in which they first appeared on the scene, were not perfect in their grade of life and the position which they occupied, but have become perfect by a long process of transmutation subsequently. The worm was not perfect but improved into some higher form, the reptile was not perfect, the mammifer was not perfect, the ape improved through many gradations of ameliorating Species up to man-and so of every other animal. M. Trémaux thinks, indeed, that all animals are

perfect now, and that they have reached their resting point, at least this seems to him probable, though it is by no means apparent why the inferior forms should now rest content with their inferiority, or why the soil should cease to exercise its powers of mutation. In this point, as in many others, he disagrees with Mr Darwin, who looks forward to an immense improvement in all forms of life, for with him Nature has by no means reached its Sabbath, but is gressing onwards towards perfection.

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If it were worth while to sift such a system with question, we might ask how the soil could have influenced the existence of most of the carnivorous animals? The wolf, for instance, cares nothing for the nature of the soil: primitive or recent, elaborated or simple, are all one to him. He abounds in all soils, very frequently amongst the rocky solitudes of the primary mountains, as well as in the forests or the recent' plains, and in the great steppes of wild and sterile lands. What, again, has the soil had to do in forming migratory birds, which continually pass over in long journeys to distant lands, and settle on soils of the most varying qualities? But a system like this may claim immunity from questions, its existence is in the realm of the imagination, and therefore it is free from the test of logic.

The work of M. Trémaux is certainly a curiosity in literature. It is written in a grave, philosophical tone, well sustained, and with dignity of style. Pages follow pages full of ideal statements and positions of circumstances, to account for the formation of Species; laws and rules are laid down for the events of ancient epochs; and geological combinations* and distributions of life are described, as if all

* As a striking instance of these visionary speculations take the following passage:—