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Show xviii PREFATORY REMARKS. introduced among the remains of the other animals mentioned; and this supposition I deem highly probable, although the bone does present the same appearance as the others w~th which it was found. 1 'vV e cannot, however, positively deuy that 1t was contemporaneous with those of the extinct animals. When America was discovered by Europeans it was thickly populated by a race of man, which appears already to ~ave .e~isted f~r many ages, and it is quite as probable that he had h1s ongm on. th~s continent as that men originated elsewhere ;2 and further, 1t 18 probable that the Red-man witnessed the declining existence .of the Mastodon and Mcgalonyx, in the later ages of the glae1al period. . . . The early existence of the genera to wh1eh our domest1c ammals belong, bas been adduced as presumptive evidence of the advent of man at a more remote period than is usually assigned. It must be remembered, however, even at the present time, that of some of these genera only a few species are domesticated: thus of the existing six species of Equus, only two have ever been freely brought under the dominion of roan. The horse did not exist in America at the time of its discovery by Europeans; but its remains, consisting chicfl.y of molar teeth, have now been so frequently found in association with those of extinct animals, that it is generally admitted once to have been an aborigillal inhabitant. When I first saw examples of these remains I was not disposed to view them as relics of an extinct species; for 1 nones of recent o.nimala, when introduced into older deposits, mo.y in many enses very soon o.ssumo the condition of the fos8ils belonging to those deposits. FossilisJLtion, petrifaction, ot· lo.pidifico.lion, is no positive indico.lion of the rclntivo o.go of Ol'ganic romo.ins. 'fhc miocene vertcbrnte remains of the Ilimo.laytLS are fo.r more eomplotoly fossilised than tho like rcmo.ins of the eocene deposits of tho Pnris basin; o.nd tho remnins of tho tortio.ry vertcbro.tiL of Ncbrnsk11 o.ro more fossilized than those of the sccond11ry deposits boneo.th. Tho Cabinet of the Aco.domy of Natural Sciences of Phi111delphin cont11ins bonos of tho Mego.lonyx nnd of tho extinct pecctLry, that aro entirely unch11nged; not 11 po.rticlo of golo.tin has been lost, nor a particle of mineral mo.tter ndded, nnd indeed some of tho bones of the former even have portions of nrticular cartilngo o.nd tendinous attachments wc11 preserved. 2 It is not nt all improbnblo that mnn (strictly tho gonns Homo) mo.y have first originntocl in ccntml Asio.. When wo reflect upon the gradunl advnnco in intelligence in tho scnlo of Jiving beings, through successive geological periods, may we not infer that the o.pparently etLrlior civilization of tho humnn ro.ce in Asio. is indico.tive of its eo.rliest advent in that portion of tho world? Vr.rious races of man, in different geographical positions, mo.y have ncquit·ed their peculio.r chnrncteristics (their specific origin) at successive periods long distant from eo.ch other. Perho.ps when tho nboriginnl progenitors of tho civilized Mexicnns o.nd Pol'Uvio.ns roamed us suvngo hordes through intortropicnl Americn, the groat Arctic Ooo11n yet concenled tho present northern United ShLtes in its depths, and Asiatic civilization wus then just dawning from ngos of night. PREFATORY Tll\J\IAHKS. XlX althougl1 some presented charaderistic differences from those of previonsly known species, others were undistinguishable from the corresponding parts of the domestic horse, and among them were intermediate varieties of form and size. The subsequent discovery of the remains of two species of tho closely allied extinct genus Tiipparion, in addition to the discovery of remains of two extinct equine genera (Ancbitberium and Mcrychippus) of an earlier geological period, leaves no room to doubt the former existence of the horse on the American continent, contemporaneously with the Mastodon and Megalonyx; and man probably was his companion. Some time since, Prof. F. S. IloLMES, of Charleston, submitted fot· my cxami nation a collection of fossil bones from a post-plcioccnc deposit on Ashley River, S. C. Among remains of the extinct horse, tho peccary, Mylodon, Mcgatherium, Mastodon, Hipparion, the tapir, the capybara, the beaver, the musk-rat, &c., were some which I considered as belonging to tho dog, the domestic ox, the sheep and the hog. Prof. Holmes observes that these remains were taken from an extensive deposit, in which similar ones exist abundantly; and he further adds, that be cannot conceive that the latter should have become mingled with the former since the introduction of domestic animals into America by Europeans. It is not improbable that the American continent once had, as part of its fauna, rcprcscnta,tiv s of our· domestic animals which subsequently became cxtinct~thongh I am inclined to doubt it; but what we have learned of the extinct American horse will lead roo carefully to investigate the subject. My lcttcL' is much extended beyond what I designed, but I hope its facts and suggestions will have sufficient interest with you to relieve its tediousness. I remain with respect, at your further service, J OSEPJI LEIDY. Mn. Pucszr<Y (infra, Chapter II., p. 109) has referred to Dn. No<r'l''S experienced consideration some very interesting points of J;~gyptian ethnology, based upon fi·cshc1· discoveries than any with which we were aeqnainted on the publication of our last wo1·k in 1854. 1 have no wish to inte1·fcre with the latter's specialty of t'CRCarclt, in which I trust the future may rank me also among the taught: but, taking for granted that tho reader can vedfy accuracy in Egyptological works (abundantly cited in this as in our preceding publication), I may here sketch some arckcological :fhcts as preliminary headings for my colleague's elaboration hereafter,- being general results in which he and myself coincide. |