In The Course Of This Short Tour,

Millions Of Our Race Are Now Supported By Lands Situated Where Deep Seas Once Prevailed In Earlier Ages. In Many Districts Not Yet Occupied By Man, Land Animals And Forests Now Abound Where The Anchor Once Sank Into The Oozy Bottom.

The Present Is The Key To The Past

Amidst The Vicissitudes Of The Earth's Surface, Species Cannot Be Immortal, But Must Perish, One After Another, Like The Individuals Which Compose Them. There Is No Possibility Of Escaping From This Conclusion.

The Question Now At Issue, Whether The Living Species Are Connected With The Extinct By A Common Bond Of Descent, Will Best Be Cleared Up By Devoting Ourselves To The Study Of The Actual State Of The Living World, And To Those Monuments Of The Past In Which The Relics Of The Animate Creation Of Former Ages Are Best Preserved And Least Mutilated By The Hand Of Time.

Man, Whose Organization Is Regarded As The Highest, Departs From The Vertebrate Archetype; And It Is Because The Study Of Anatomy Is Usually Commenced From, And Often Confined To, His Structure, That A Knowledge Of The Archetype Has Been So Long Hidden From Anatomists.