WHAT SORT OF A PLACE ONCE EXISTED WHERE THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF PARIS IS
NOW.
I shall show you a picture representing a state of things much more
like the present, than the one we looked at before. It existed at a
later period, though still a great many years ago; and if you wish to
know why we conclude it to be later, since it is the other side of
the water and we are therefore prevented from distinctly tracing the
succession of the strata, I will tell you.
After leaving the formations of Dorsetshire, in which the great
_saurian_ or lizard-like reptiles are found, we come to chalk in
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight; and after the chalk, to some beds of
clay, and then some beds of limestone. The formations above the chalk,
are those called _tertiary_; those from the chalk down to the lowest
containing animal and vegetable remains, are the _secondary_; and all
below that, consisting mainly of various sorts of granite, are the
_primary_.
Now all this occurs in the same order in France, and the neighbourhood
of Paris consisting of tertiary formations, just corresponds with
the tertiary strata of the Isle of Wight, and them we know to be
more recent than the secondary formations of Dorsetshire. Of course,
therefore, the animals found at Paris, must be more recent than those
found at Lyme Regis.
The largest of the animals represented in the plate, is called the
Palæotherium.
The following is a picture of his skeleton, as it has been made out,
bone by bone. A single tooth was first discovered, and the French
naturalist, Cuvier, was able to determine from this alone, a great many
particulars which have now been proved by the subsequent discovery
of the bones; such was the knowledge he had acquired by comparing
the bones of different animals. He thus discovered that a certain
shape of tooth always accompanied a certain shape of foot, as well as
indicated what kind of food the animal lived upon. From this might be
judged a great deal about the organs of digestion, and the internal
structure, and something of its habits and disposition. In all these
points and several others, Cuvier predicted from a single bone of the
Palæotherium, what has been exactly confirmed by the entire skeleton.
[Illustration]
It was about the size of a small horse, and must have possessed a
little trunk, or proboscis, like the modern Tapir, to which indeed it
must have borne a great resemblance.
[Illustration: American Tapir.]
The reason for thinking that it had a trunk, is because there is a
peculiar contrivance in the bones to give strength to the neck, which
only exists in animals that have a proboscis. There are some Tapirs in
the Zoological Gardens, and if you have seen them, you will be able to
form a pretty good notion of what the Palæotherium must have been. It
had perhaps rather more of the hog about it, than the Tapir has, with a
more dull heavy expression of countenance.
There were three varieties of Palæotherium distinguished by their size.
The smallest was not much larger than a little dog, and you may see the
figure of one of them in the picture, going down to the water to drink.
The more slender animal, which is walking towards the water, is the
Anoplotherium, or un-armed beast. Its size varied from that of a hare,
to that of a large dog; it had a very thick tail like that of the
Kangaroo. Everything about it would lead one to suppose that it was a
timid creature, whose swiftness and agility would protect it against
stronger animals; not unlike in disposition to the antelope, or the
hare of our times.
Another animal was living at the same period, which I must describe
to you, as it was, as far as we know, the largest quadruped that ever
lived upon the earth, and in some respects the most remarkable. It was
called the Dinotherium, or _terrible wild beast_, and you will soon
know how well it deserved this name. The individual of which a part of
the head is now in the British Museum, must have been eighteen feet
long in the body, and proportionally large! If you compare this size
with that of the largest elephant you have ever seen, you will be able
to form some notion of his enormous magnitude.
In his general form he somewhat resembled the Tapirs, but by no means
so nearly as did the Palæotherium. He had a much longer trunk; and his
shoulder blade is formed like that of the mole, by which we know that
he must have used his feet in digging. It seems almost certain that
he was amphibious: and the back part of his skull has a remarkable
similarity to that of the whale, and cetaceous fishes in general.
But the most striking peculiarity in the bones which remain of this
monster, is the existence of two large tusks bending down from the
lower jaw, like two hooks, as you may see represented in this cut, of
the head preserved in the Museum. His legs were probably rather short,
and might have borne nearly the same proportion to his body, as those
of the Hippopotamus do to his. From all we can collect, this must have
been his general form and appearance.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
There can be but little doubt that he was of a savage disposition and
lead a sulky sort of life divided between the water and the land, like
the Hippopotamus. His great tusks must have rendered him a formidable
enemy; but as we know that he was a digging animal, it is very likely
that he more frequently used them as a sort of pickaxe, to grub up
such roots as he wanted to eat, for he lived wholly upon vegetables.
He might also have employed them (as Dr. Buckland has conjectured), to
stick into the banks of rivers to support his head above water, and to
anchor himself so as not to be carried down by the stream, while his
huge body lay in his favourite element: or it does not seem unlikely
that he might at times have hooked them on to the lower boughs of
trees, to sustain himself while he plucked down from above the fruit
and foliage with his trunk.
His bones have been found in various parts of France, Germany and
Austria.
When these animals were living, the climate must have been very
much warmer than it is at present in France, for their bones are
found associated with palm trees, and other vegetable remains of hot
climates, and the bones of crocodiles, tortoises, and other creatures
which only live in warm regions. The isle of Sheppey consists chiefly
of land which was deposited about the same time, and it contains
a great quantity of fossil coffee, and similar plants at present
restricted to the East and West Indies, and countries near the equator.
[Illustration]