,,on ,,the ,,method ,,of ,,zadig        
,,essay #a ,,from ,,science ,,and       
,,hebrew ,,tradition  ,by ,thomas ,henry
 ,huxley     ,,retrospective ,,prophecy 
,,as ,a ,,function ,,of ,,science  ,une 
marque plus sure que toutes celles de   
,zadig4 #a--;,cuvier4   ,it is an usual 
and a commendable practice to preface   
the discussion of the views of a        
philosophic thinker by some account of  
the man and of the circumstances which  
shaped his life and coloured his way of 
looking at things2 but1 though ,zadig is
 cited in one of the most important     
chapters of ,cuvier's greatest work1    
little is known about him1 and that     
little might perhaps be better          
authenticated than it is4  ,it is said  
that he lived at ,babylon in the time of
 ,king ,moabdar2 but the name of        
,moabdar does not appear in the list of 
,babylonian sovereigns brought to light 
by the patience and the industry of the 
decipherers of cuneiform inscriptions in
 these later years2 nor indeed am ,i    

aware that there is any other authority 
for his existence than that of the      
biographer of ,zadig1 one ,arouet de    
,voltaire1 among whose more conspicuous 
merits strict historical accuracy is    
perhaps hardly to be reckoned4  ,happily
 ,zadig is in the position of a great   
many other philosophers4 ,what he was   
like when he was in the flesh1 indeed   
whether he existed at all1 are matters  
of no great consequence4 ,what we care  
about in a light is that it shows the   
way1 not whether it is lamp or candle1  
tallow or wax4 ,our only real interest  
in ,zadig lies in the conceptions of    
which he is the putative father2 and his
 biographer has stated these with so    
much clearness and vivacious            
illustration1 that we need hardly feel a
 pang1 even if critical research should 
prove ,king ,moabdar and all the rest of
 the story to be unhistorical1 and      
reduce ,zadig himself to the shadowy    
condition of a solar myth4  ,voltaire   
tells us that1 disenchanted with life by

 sundry domestic misadventures1 ,zadig  
withdrew from the turmoil of ,babylon to
 a secluded retreat on the banks of the 
,euphrates1 where he beguiled his       
solitude by the study of nature4 ,the   
manifold wonders of the world of life   
had a particular attraction for the     
lonely student2 incessant and patient   
observation of the plants and animals   
about him sharpened his naturally good  
powers of observation and of reasoning2 
until1 at length1 he acquired a sagacity
 which enabled him to perceive endless  
minute differences among objects which1 
to the untutored eye1 appeared          
absolutely alike4  ,it might have been  
expected that this enlargement of the   
powers of the mind and of its store of  
natural knowledge could tend to nothing 
but the increase of a man's own welfare 
and the good of his fellow-men4 ,but    
,zadig was fated to experience the      
vanity of such expectations4     ,one   
day1 walking near a little wood1 he saw1
 hastening that   way1 one of the       

,queen's chief eunuchs1 followed by a   
troop of   officials1 who appeared to be
 in the greatest anxiety1 running       
hither and thither like men distraught1 
in search of some   lost treasure4      
',young man1' cried the eunuch1 'have   
you seen the ,queen's dog8'   ,zadig    
answered modestly1 ',a bitch1 ,i think1 
not a dog4'   ',quite right1' replied   
the eunuch2 and ,zadig continued1 ',a   
very   small spaniel who has lately had 
puppies2 she limps with the   left      
foreleg1 and has very long ears4' ',ah6 
you have seen her   then1' said the     
breathless eunuch4 ',no1' answered      
,zadig1 ',i have   not seen her2 and ,i 
really was not aware that the ,queen    
possessed a spaniel4'    ,by an odd     
coincidence1 at the very same time1 the 
handsomest   horse in the ,king's       
stables broke away from his groom in the
   ,babylonian plain4 ,the grand        
huntsman and all his staff were         
seeking the horse with as much anxiety  
as the eunuch and his   people the      

spaniel2 and the grand huntsman asked   
,zadig if he had   not seen the ,king's 
horse go that way4    ',a first-rate    
galloper1 small-hoofed1 five feet high2 
tail three feet and a half long2 cheek  
pieces of the bit of   twenty-three     
carat gold2 shoes silver8' said ,zadig4 
',which way did he go8 ,where is he8'   
cried the grand huntsman4    ',i have   
not seen anything of the horse1 and ,i  
never heard of   him before1' replied   
,zadig4    ,the grand huntsman and the  
chief eunuch made sure that ,zadig   had
 stolen both the ,king's horse and the  
,queen's spaniel1 so   they haled him   
before the ,high ,court of ,desterham1  
which at once   condemned him to the    
knout1 and transportation for life to   
,siberia4 ,but the sentence was hardly  
pronounced when the lost   horse and    
spaniel were found4 ,so the judges were 
under the   painful necessity of        
reconsidering their decision3 but they  
fined ,zadig four hundred ounces of gold
 for saying he had seen   that which he 

had not seen4    ,the first thing was to
 pay the fine2 afterwards ,zadig was    
permitted to open his defence to the    
court1 which he did in the   following  
terms3    ',stars of justice1 abysses of
 knowledge1 mirrors of truth1   whose   
gravity is as that of lead1 whose       
inflexibility is as that   of iron1 who 
rival the diamond in clearness1 and     
possess no   little affinity with gold2 
since ,i am permitted to address your   
august assembly1 ,i swear by ,ormuzd    
that ,i have never seen the             
respectable lady dog of the ,queen1 nor 
beheld the sacrosanct   horse of the    
,king of ,kings4    ',this is what      
happened4 ,i was taking a walk towards  
the little   wood near which ,i         
subsequently had the honour to meet the 
venerable chief eunuch and the most     
illustrious grand huntsman4   ,i noticed
 the track of an animal in the sand1 and
 it was easy to   see that it was that  
of a small dog4 ,long faint streaks upon
 the   little elevations of sand between

 the footmarks convinced me   that it   
was a she dog with pendent dugs1 showing
 that she must   have had puppies not   
many days since4 ,other scrapings of the
   sand1 which always lay close to the  
marks of the forepaws1   indicated that 
she had very long ears2 and1 as the     
imprint of   one foot was always fainter
 than those of the other three1 ,i      
judged that the lady dog of our august  
,queen was1 if ,i may   venture to say  
so1 a little lame4    ',with respect to 
the horse of the ,king of ,kings1 permit
 me to   observe that1 wandering through
 the paths which traverse the   wood1 ,i
 noticed the marks of horse-shoes4 ,they
 were all   equidistant4 ,ah6 said ,i1  
this is a famous galloper4 ,in a        
narrow alley1 only seven feet wide1 the 
dust upon the trunks of   the trees was 
a little disturbed at three feet and a  
half from   the middle of the path4     
,this horse1 said ,i to myself1 had a   
tail three feet and a half long1 and1   
lashing it from one side   to the other1

 he has swept away the dust4 ,branches  
of the trees   met overhead at the      
height of five feet1 and under them ,i  
saw   newly fallen leaves2 so ,i knew   
that the horse had brushed some   of the
 branches1 and was therefore five feet  
high4 ,as to his   bit1 it must have    
been made of twenty-three carat gold1   
for he   had rubbed it against a stone1 
which turned out to be a   touchstone1  
with the properties of which ,i am      
familiar by   experiment4 ,lastly1 by   
the marks which his shoes left upon     
pebbles of another kind1 ,i was led to  
think that his shoes were   of fine     
silver4'    ,all the judges admired     
,zadig's profound and subtle            
discernment2   and the fame of it       
reached even the ,king and the ,queen4  
,from the   ante-rooms to the           
presence-chamber1 ,zadig's name was in  
everybody's mouth2 and1 although many of
 the magi were of   opinion that he     
ought to be burnt as a sorcerer1 the    
,king   commanded that the four hundred 

ounces of gold which he had been   fined
 should be restored to him4 ,so the     
officers of the court   went in state   
with the four hundred ounces2 only they 
retained   three hundred and            
ninety-eight for legal expenses1 and    
their   servants expected fees4         
,those who are interested in learning   
more of the fateful history   of ,zadig 
must turn to the original2 we are       
dealing with him only   as a            
philosopher1 and this brief excerpt     
suffices for the   exemplification of   
the nature of his conclusions and of the
   methods by which he arrived at them4 
,these conclusions may be said to be of 
the nature of retrospective prophecies2 
though it is perhaps a little hazardous 
to employ phraseology which perilously  
suggests a contradiction in terms--the  
word prophecy being so constantly1 in   
ordinary use1 restricted to foretelling4
 ,strictly1 however1 the term prophecy  
applies as much to outspeaking as to    
foretelling2 and1 even in the restricted

 sense of divination1 it is obvious that
 the essence of the prophetic operation 
does not lie in its backward or forward 
relation to the course of time1 but in  
the fact that it is the apprehension of 
that which lies out of the sphere of    
immediate knowledge2 the seeing of that 
which1 to the natural sense of the seer1
 is invisible4  ,the foreteller asserts 
that1 at some future time1 a properly   
situated observer will witness certain  
events2 the clairvoyant declares that1  
at this present time1 certain things are
 to be witnessed a thousand miles away2 
the retrospective prophet 7would that   
there were such a word as backteller67  
affirms that1 so many hours or years    
ago1 such and such things were to be    
seen4 ,in all these cases1 it is only   
the relation to time which alters--the  
process of divination beyond the limits 
of possible direct knowledge remains the
 same4  ,no doubt it was their          
instinctive recognition of the analogy  
between ,zadig's results and those      

obtained by authorised inspiration which
 inspired the ,babylonian magi with the 
desire to burn the philosopher4 ,zadig  
admitted that he had never either seen  
or heard of the horse of the king or of 
the spaniel of the queen2 and yet he    
ventured to assert in the most positive 
manner that animals answering to their  
description did actually exist and ran  
about the plains of ,babylon4 ,if his   
method was good for the divination of   
the course of events ten hours old1 why 
should it not be good for those of ten  
years or ten centuries past2 nay1 might 
it not extend ten thousand years and    
justify the impious in meddling with the
 traditions of ,oannes and the fish1 and
 all the sacred foundations of          
,babylonian cosmogony8  ,but this was   
not the worst4 ,there was another       
consideration which obviously dictated  
to the more thoughtful of the magi the  
propriety of burning ,zadig out of hand4
 ,his defence was worse than his        
offence4 ,it showed that his mode of    

divination was fraught with danger to   
magianism in general4 ,swollen with the 
pride of human reason1 he had ignored   
the established canons of magian lore2  
and1 trusting to what after all was mere
 carnal common sense1 he professed to   
lead men to a deeper insight into nature
 than magian wisdom1 with all its lofty 
antagonism to everything common1 had    
ever reached4 ,what1 in fact1 lay at the
 foundation of all ,zadig's argument but
 the coarse commonplace assumption1 upon
 which every act of our daily lives is  
based1 that we may conclude from an     
effect to the pre-existence of a cause  
competent to produce that effect8  ,the 
tracks were exactly like those which    
dogs and horses leave2 therefore they   
were the effects of such animals as     
causes4 ,the marks at the sides of the  
fore-prints of the dog track were       
exactly such as would be produced by    
long trailing ears2 therefore the dog's 
long ears were the causes of these      
marks--and so on4 ,nothing can be more  

hopelessly vulgar1 more unlike the      
majestic development of a system of     
grandly unintelligible conclusions from 
sublimely inconceivable premisses such  
as delights the magian heart4 ,in fact1 
,zadig's method was nothing but the     
method of all mankind4 ,retrospective   
prophecies1 far more astonishing for    
their minute accuracy than those of     
,zadig1 are familiar to those who have  
watched the daily life of nomadic       
people4  ,from freshly broken twigs1    
crushed leaves1 disturbed pebbles1 and  
imprints hardly discernible by the      
untrained eye1 such graduates in the    
,university of ,nature will divine1 not 
only the fact that a party has passed   
that way1 but its strength1 its         
composition1 the course it took1 and the
 number of hours or days which have     
elapsed since it passed4 ,but they are  
able to do this because1 like ,zadig1   
they perceive endless minute differences
 where untrained eyes discern nothing2  
and because the unconscious logic of    

common sense compels them to account for
 these effects by the causes which they 
know to be competent to produce them4   
,and such mere methodised savagery was  
to discover the hidden things of nature 
better than a priori deductions from the
 nature of ,ormuzd--perhaps to give a   
history of the past1 in which ,oannes   
would be altogether ignored6 ,decidedly 
it were better to burn this man at once4
  ,if instinct1 or an unwonted use of   
reason1 led ,moabdar's magi to this     
conclusion two or three thousand years  
ago1 all that can be said is that       
subsequent history has fully justified  
them4 ,for the rigorous application of  
,zadig's logic to the results of        
accurate and long-continued observation 
has founded all those sciences which    
have been termed historical or          
palaetiological1 because they are       
retrospectively prophetic and strive    
towards the reconstruction in human     
imagination of events which have        
vanished and ceased to be4  ,history1 in

 the ordinary acceptation of the word1  
is based upon the interpretation of     
documentary evidence2 and documents     
would have no evidential value unless   
historians were justified in their      
assumption that they have come into     
existence by the operation of causes    
similar to those of which documents are1
 in our present experience1 the effects4
 ,if a written history can be produced  
otherwise than by human agency1 or if   
the man who wrote a given document was  
actuated by other than ordinary human   
motives1 such documents are of no more  
evidential value than so many           
arabesques4  ,archaeology1 which takes  
up the thread of history beyond the     
point at which documentary evidence     
fails us1 could have no existence1      
except for our well grounded confidence 
that monuments and works of art or      
artifice1 have never been produced by   
causes different in kind from those to  
which they now owe their origin4 ,and   
geology1 which traces back the course of

 history beyond the limits of           
archaeology1 could tell us nothing      
except for the assumption that1 millions
 of years ago1 water1 heat1 gravitation1
 friction1 animal and vegetable life1   
caused effects of the same kind as they 
now cause4 ,nay1 even physical          
astronomy1 in so far as it takes us back
 to the uttermost point of time which   
palaetiological science can reach1 is   
founded upon the same assumption4 ,if   
the law of gravitation ever failed to be
 true1 even to a small extent1 for that 
period1 the calculations of the         
astronomer have no application4  ,the   
power of prediction1 of prospective     
prophecy1 is that which is commonly     
regarded as the great prerogative of    
physical science4 ,and truly it is a    
wonderful fact that one can go into a   
shop and buy for a small price a book1  
the ,nautical ,almanac1 which will      
foretell the exact position to be       
occupied by one of ,jupiter's moons six 
months hence2 nay1 more1 that1 if it    

were worth while1 the ,astronomer-,royal
 could furnish us with as infallible a  
prediction applicable to #aihj or #bihj4
  ,but astronomy is not less remarkable 
for its power of retrospective prophecy4
  ,thales1 oldest of ,greek             
philosophers1 the dates of whose birth  
and death are uncertain1 but who        
flourished about #fjj ,b4,c41 is said to
 have foretold an eclipse of the sun    
which took place in his time during a   
battle between the ,medes and the       
,lydians4 ,sir ,george ,airy has written
 a very learned and interesting memoir  
#b in which he proves that such an      
eclipse was visible in ,lydia on the    
afternoon of the #bhth of ,may in the   
year #ehe ,b4,c4  ,no one doubts that1  
on the day and at the hour mentioned by 
the ,astronomer-,royal1 the people of   
,lydia saw the face of the sun totally  
obscured4 ,but1 though we implicitly    
believe this retrospective prophecy1 it 
is incapable of verification4 ,in the   
total absence of historical records1 it 

is impossible even to conceive any means
 of ascertaining directly whether the   
eclipse of ,thales happened or not4 ,all
 that can be said is1 that the          
prospective prophecies of the astronomer
 are always verified2 and that1 inasmuch
 as his retrospective prophecies are the
 result of following backwards1 the very
 same method as that which invariably   
leads to verified results1 when it is   
worked forwards1 there is as much reason
 for placing full confidence in the one 
as in the other4 ,retrospective prophecy
 is therefore a legitimate function of  
astronomical science2 and if it is      
legitimate for one science it is        
legitimate for all2 the fundamental     
axiom on which it rests1 the constancy  
of the order of nature1 being the common
 foundation of all scientific thought4  
,indeed1 if there can be grades in      
legitimacy1 certain branches of science 
have the advantage over astronomy1 in so
 far as their retrospective prophecies  
are not only susceptible of             

verification1 but are sometimes         
strikingly verified4  ,such a science   
exists in that application of the       
principles of biology to the            
interpretation of the animal and        
vegetable remains imbedded in the rocks 
which compose the surface of the globe1 
which is called ,palaeontology4  ,at no 
very distant time1 the question whether 
these so-called fossils1 were really the
 remains of animals and plants was hotly
 disputed4 ,very learned persons        
maintained that they were nothing of the
 kind1 but a sort of concretion1 or     
crystallisation1 which had taken place  
within the stone in which they are      
found2 and which simulated the forms of 
animal and vegetable life1 just as frost
 on a window-pane imitates vegetation4  
,at the present day1 it would probably  
be impossible to find any sane advocate 
of this opinion2 and the fact is rather 
surprising1 that among the people from  
whom the circle-squarers1               
perpetual-motioners1 flat-earthed men   

and the like1 are recruited1 to say     
nothing of table-turners and            
spirit-rappers1 somebody has not        
perceived the easy avenue to nonsensical
 notoriety open to any one who will take
 up the good old doctrine1 that fossils 
are all lusus naturae4  ,the position   
would be impregnable1 inasmuch as it is 
quite impossible to prove the contrary4 
,if a man choose to maintain that a     
fossil oyster shell1 in spite of its    
correspondence1 down to every minutest  
particular1 with that of an oyster fresh
 taken out of the sea1 was never        
tenanted by a living oyster1 but is a   
mineral concretion1 there is no         
demonstrating his error4 ,all that can  
be done is to show him that1 by a parity
 of reasoning1 he is bound to admit that
 a heap of oyster shells outside a      
fishmonger's door may also be sports of 
nature1 and that a mutton bone in a     
dust-bin may have had the like origin4  
,and when you cannot prove that people  
are wrong1 but only that they are       

absurd1 the best course is to let them  
alone4  ,the whole fabric of            
palaeontology1 in fact1 falls to the    
ground unless we admit the validity of  
,zadig's great principle1 that like     
effects imply like causes1 and that the 
process of reasoning from a shell1 or a 
tooth1 or a bone1 to the nature of the  
animal to which it belonged1 rests      
absolutely on the assumption that the   
likeness of this shell1 or tooth1 or    
bone1 to that of some animal with which 
we are already acquainted1 is such that 
we are justified in inferring a         
corresponding degree of likeness in the 
rest of the two organisms4 ,it is on    
this very simple principle1 and not upon
 imaginary laws of physiological        
correlation1 about which1 in most cases1
 we know nothing whatever1 that the     
so-called restorations of the           
palaeontologist are based4  ,abundant   
illustrations of this truth will occur  
to every one who is familiar with       
palaeontology2 none is more suitable    

than the case of the so-called          
,belemnites4 ,in the early days of the  
study of fossils1 this name was given to
 certain elongated stony bodies1 ending 
at one extremity in a conical point1 and
 truncated at the other1 which were     
commonly reputed to be thunderbolts1 and
 as such to have descended from the sky4
 ,they are common enough in some parts  
of ,england2 and1 in the condition in   
which they are ordinarily found1 it     
might be difficult to give satisfactory 
reasons for denying them to be merely   
mineral bodies4  ,they appear1 in fact1 
to consist of nothing but concentric    
layers of carbonate of lime1 disposed in
 subcrystalline fibres1 or prisms1      
perpendicular to the layers4 ,among a   
great number of specimens of these      
,belemnites1 however1 it was soon       
observed that some showed a conical     
cavity at the blunt end2 and1 in still  
better preserved specimens1 this cavity 
appeared to be divided into chambers by 
delicate saucer-shaped partitions1      

situated at regular intervals one above 
the other4 ,now there is no mineral body
 which presents any structure comparable
 to this1 and the conclusion suggested  
itself that the ,belemnites must be the 
effects of causes other than those which
 are at work in inorganic nature4 ,on   
close examination1 the saucer-shaped    
partitions were proved to be all        
perforated at one point1 and the        
perforations being situated exactly in  
the same line1 the chambers were seen to
 be traversed by a canal1 or siphuncle1 
which thus connected the smallest or    
aphical chamber with the largest4 ,there
 is nothing like this in the vegetable  
world2 but an exactly corresponding     
structure is met with in the shells of  
two kinds of existing animals1 the      
pearly ,nautilus and the ,spirula1 and  
only in them4 ,these animals belong to  
the same division--the ,cephalopoda--as 
the cuttle-fish1 the squid1 and the     
octopus4 ,but they are the only existing
 members of the group which possess     

chambered1 siphunculated shells2 and it 
is utterly impossible to trace any      
physiological connection between the    
very peculiar structural characters of a
 cephalopod and the presence of a       
chambered shell4 ,in fact1 the squid    
has1 instead of any such shell1 a horny 
pen1 the cuttlefish has the so-called   
cuttle-bone1 and the octopus has no     
shell1 or1 at most1 a mere rudiment of  
one4  ,nevertheless1 seeing that there  
is nothing in nature at all like the    
chambered shell of the ,belemnite1      
except the shells of the ,nautilus and  
of the ,spirula1 it was legitimate to   
prophesy that the animal from which the 
fossil proceeded must have belonged to  
the group of the ,cephalopoda4 ,nautilus
 and ,spirula are both very rare        
animals1 but the progress of            
investigation brought to light the      
singular fact1 that1 though each has the
 characteristic cephalopodous           
organisation1 it is very different from 
the other4 ,the shell of ,nautilus is   

external1 that of ,spirula internal2    
,nautilus has four gills1 ,spirula two2 
,nautilus has multitudinous tentacles1  
,spirula has only ten arms beset with   
horny-rimmed suckers2 ,spirula1 like the
 squids and cuttle-fishes1 which it     
closely resembles1 has a bag of ink     
which it squirts out to cover its       
retreat when alarmed2 ,nautilus has     
none4  ,no amount of physiological      
reasoning could enable any one to say   
whether the animal which fabricated the 
,belemnite was more like ,nautilus1 or  
more like ,spirula4 ,but the accidental 
discovery of ,belemnites in due         
connection with black elongated masses  
which were3 certainly fossilised        
ink-bags1 inasmuch as the ink could be  
ground up and used for painting as well 
as if it were recent sepia1 settled the 
question2 and it became perfectly safe  
to prophesy that the creature which     
fabricated the ,belemnite was a         
two-gilled cephalopod with suckers on   
its arms1 and with all the other        

essential features of our living squids1
 cuttle-fishes1 and ,spirulae4 ,the     
palaeontologist was1 by this time1 able 
to speak as confidently about the animal
 of the ,belemnite1 as ,zadig was       
respecting the queen's spaniel4 ,he     
could give a very fair description of   
its external appearance1 and even enter 
pretty fully into the details of its    
internal organisation1 and yet could    
declare that neither he1 nor any one    
else1 had ever seen one4 ,and as the    
queen's spaniel was found1 so happily   
has the animal of the ,belemnite2 a few 
exceptionally preserved specimens have  
been discovered1 which completely verify
 the retrospective prophecy of those who
 interpreted the facts of the case by   
due application of the method of ,zadig4
  ,these ,belemnites flourished in      
prodigious abundance in the seas of the 
mesozoic1 or secondary1 age of the      
world's geological history2 but no trace
 of them has been found in any of the   
tertiary deposits1 and they appear to   

have died out towards the close of the  
mesozoic epoch4 ,the method of ,zadig1  
therefore1 applies in full force to the 
events of a period which is immeasurably
 remote1 which long preceded the origin 
of the most conspicuous mountain masses 
of the present world1 and the           
deposition1 at the bottom of the ocean1 
of the rocks which form the greater part
 of the soil of our present continents4 
,the ,euphrates itself1 at the mouth of 
which ,oannes landed1 is a thing of     
yesterday compared with a ,belemnite2   
and even the liberal chronology of      
magian cosmogony fixes the beginning of 
the world only at a time when other     
applications of ,zadig's method afford  
convincing evidence that1 could we have 
been there to see1 things would have    
looked very much as they do now4 ,truly 
the magi were wise in their generation2 
they foresaw rightly that this pestilent
 application of the principles of common
 sense1 inaugurated by ,zadig1 would be 
their ruin4  ,but it may be said that   

the method of ,zadig1 which is simple   
reasoning from analogy1 does not account
 for the most striking feats of modern  
palaeontology--the reconstruction of    
entire animals from a tooth or perhaps a
 fragment of a bone2 and it may be      
justly urged that ,cuvier1 the great    
master of this kind of investigation1   
gave a very different account of the    
process which yielded such remarkable   
results4  ,cuvier is not the first man  
of ability who has failed to make his   
own mental processes clear to himself1  
and he will not be the last4 ,the matter
 can be easily tested4 ,search the eight
 volumes of the ,recherches sur les     
,ossemens ,fossiles from cover to cover1
 and nothing but the application of the 
method of ,zadig will be found in the   
arguments by which a fragment of a      
skeleton is made to reveal the          
characters of the animal to which it    
belonged4  ,there is one well-known case
 which may represent all4 ,it is an     
excellent illustration of ,cuvier's     

sagacity1 and he evidently takes some   
pride in telling his story about it4 ,a 
split slab of stone arrived from the    
quarries of ,montmartre1 the two halves 
of which contained the greater part of  
the skeleton of a small animal4 ,on     
careful examinations of the characters  
of the teeth and of the lower jaw1 which
 happened to be exposed1 ,cuvier assured
 himself that they presented such a very
 close resemblance to the corresponding 
parts in the living opossums that he at 
once assigned the fossil to that genus4 
,now the opossums are unlike most       
mammals in that they possess two bones  
attached to the fore part of the pelvis1
 which are commonly called marsupial    
bones4 ,the name is a misnomer1         
originally conferred because it was     
thought that these bones have something 
to do with the support of the pouch1 or 
marsupium1 with which some1 but not all1
 of the opossums are provided4 ,as a    
matter of fact1 they have nothing to do 
with the support of the pouch1 and they 

exist as much in those opossums which   
have no pouches as in those which       
possess them4 ,in truth1 no one knows   
what the use of these bones may be1 nor 
has any valid theory of their           
physiological import yet been suggested4
 ,and if we have no knowledge of the    
physiological importance of the bones   
themselves1 it is obviously absurd to   
pretend that we are able to give        
physiological reasons why the presence  
of these bones is associated with       
certain peculiarities of the teeth and  
of the jaws4 ,if any one knows why four 
molar teeth and an inflected angle of   
the jaw are very generally found along  
with marsupial bones1 he has not yet    
communicated that knowledge to the      
world4  ,if1 however1 ,zadig was right  
in concluding from the likeness of the  
hoof-prints which he observed to be a   
horse's that the creature which made    
them had a tail like that of a horse1   
,cuvier1 seeing that the teeth and jaw  
of his fossil were just like those of an

 opossum1 had the same right to conclude
 that the pelvis would also be like an  
opossum's2 and so strong was his        
conviction that this retrospective      
prophecy1 about an animal which he had  
never seen before1 and which had been   
dead and buried for millions of years1  
would be verified1 that he went to work 
upon the slab which contained the pelvis
 in confident expectation of finding and
 laying bare the marsupial bones1 to the
 satisfaction of some persons whom he   
had invited to witness their            
disinterment4 ,as he says3--,cette      
operation se fit en presence de quelques
 personnes a qui j'en avais annonce     
d'avance le resultat1 dans l'intention  
de leur prouver par le fait la justice  
de nos theories zoologiques2 puisque le 
vrai cachet d'une theorie est sans      
contredit la faculte qu'elle donne de   
prevoir les phenomenes4  ,in the        
,ossemens ,fossiles ,cuvier leaves his  
paper just as it first appeared in the  
,annales du ,museum1 as a curious       

monument of the force of zoological laws
 and of the use which may be made of    
them4  ,zoological laws truly1 but not  
physiological laws4 ,if one sees a live 
dog's head1 it is extremely probable    
that a dog's tail is not far off1 though
 nobody can say why that sort of head   
and that sort of tail go together2 what 
physiological connection there is       
between the two4 ,so1 in the case of the
 ,montmartre fossil1 ,cuvier1 finding a 
thorough opossum's head1 concluded that 
the pelvis also would be like an        
opossum's4 ,but1 most assuredly1 the    
most advanced physiologist of the       
present day could throw no light on the 
question why these are associated1 nor  
could pretend to affirm that the        
existence of the one is necessarily     
connected with that of the other4 ,in   
fact1 had it so happened that the pelvis
 of the fossil had been originally      
exposed1 while the head lay hidden1 the 
presence of the marsupial bones1 though 
very like an opossum's1 would by no     

means have warranted the prediction that
 the skull would turn out to be that of 
the opossum4 ,it might just as well have
 been like that of some other marsupial2
 or even like that of the totally       
different group of ,monotremes1 of which
 the only living representatives are the
 ,echidna and the ,ornithorhynchus4     
,for all practical purposes1 however1   
the empirical laws of co-ordination of  
structures1 which are embodied in the   
generalisations of morphology1 may be   
confidently trusted1 if employed with   
due caution1 to lead to a just          
interpretation of fossil remains2 or1 in
 other words1 we may look for the       
verification of the retrospective       
prophecies which are based upon them4   
,and if this be the case1 the late      
advances which have been made in        
palaeontological discovery open out a   
new field for such prophecies4 ,for it  
has been ascertained with respect to    
many groups of animals1 that1 as we     
trace them back in time1 their ancestors

 gradually cease to exhibit those       
special modifications which at present  
characterise the type1 and more nearly  
embody the general plan of the group to 
which they belong4  ,thus1 in the       
well-known case of the horse1 the toes  
which are suppressed in the living horse
 are found to be more and more complete 
in the older members of the group1      
until1 at the bottom of the ,tertiary   
series of ,america1 we find an equine   
animal which has four toes in front and 
three behind4 ,no remains of the horse  
tribe are at present known from any     
,mesozoic deposit4 ,yet who can doubt   
that1 whenever a sufficiently extensive 
series of lacustrine and fluviatile beds
 of that age becomes known1 the lineage 
which has been traced thus far will be  
continued by equine quadrupeds with an  
increasing number of digits1 until the  
horse type merges in the five-toed form 
towards which these gradations point8   
,but the argument which holds good for  
the horse1 holds good1 not only for all 

mammals1 but for the whole animal world4
 ,and as the study of the pedigrees1 or 
lines of evolution1 to which1 at        
present1 we have access1 brings to      
light1 as it assuredly will do1 the laws
 of that process1 we shall be able to   
reason from the facts with which the    
geological record furnishes us to those 
which have hitherto remained1 and many  
of which1 perhaps1 may for ever remain1 
hidden4 ,the same method of reasoning   
which enables us1 when furnished with a 
fragment of an extinct animal1 to       
prophesy the character which the whole  
organism exhibited1 will1 sooner or     
later1 enable us1 when we know a few of 
the later terms of a genealogical       
series1 to predict the nature of the    
earlier terms4  ,in no very distant     
future1 the method of ,zadig1 applied to
 a greater body of facts than the       
present generation is fortunate enough  
to handle1 will enable the biologist to 
reconstruct the scheme of life from its 
beginning1 and to speak as confidently  

of the character of long extinct beings1
 no trace of which has been preserved1  
as ,zadig did of the queen's spaniel and
 the king's horse4 ,let us hope that    
they may be better rewarded for their   
toil and their sagacity than was the    
,babylonian philosopher2 for perhaps1 by
 that time1 the magi also may be        
reckoned among the members of a         
forgotten ,fauna1 extinguished in the   
struggle for existence against their    
great rival1 common sense4              
,,footnotes3  ,footnote #a3 ,discours   
sur les revolutions de la surface du    
globe4 ,recherches sur les ,ossemens    
,fossiles1 ,ed4 iv1 t4i4 p4#ahe4        
,footnote #b3 ,on the ,eclipses of      
,agathocles1 ,thales1 and ,xerxes1      
,philosophical ,transactions1 vol4      
cxliii4