another distinct animal has been
discovered, which Cuvier, who first described some fragments of
it, considered to be a _Palaeotherium_, but as further discoveries
threw new light on its structure, it was recognised as a distinct
genus, under the name of _Anchitherium_.

"In its general characters the skeleton of _Anchitherium_ is
very similar to that of the horse, in fact Lartet and De
Blainville called it _Palaeotherium equinum_ or _Hippoides_; and
De Cristol, in 1847, said that it differed from _Hipparion_ in
little more than the characters of the teeth, and gave it the
name of _Hipparitherium_. Each foot possesses three complete
toes: while the lateral toes are much larger in proportion to the
middle toe than in _Hipparion_, and doubtless rested on the
ground in ordinary locomotion. The ulna is complete and quite
distinct from the radius, although firmly united with the latter.
The fibula seems also to have been complete; its lower end,
though intimately united with that of the tibia, is clearly
united with that of the latter bone. There are forty-four teeth;
the incisors have no strong pit. The canines seem to have been
well developed in both sexes. The first of the seven grinders,
which, as I have said, is frequently absent, and, when it does
exist, is small in the horse, is a good-sized and permanent
tooth, while the grinder which follows it is but little larger
than the hinder ones. The crowns of the grinders are short, and,
although the fundamental pattern of the horse-tooth is
discernible, the front and back ridges are less curved, the
accessory pillars are wanting, and the valleys, much shallower,
are not filled up with cement."

Then, after describing his early efforts to trace the descent of the
horse from European fossils, Huxley goes on to relate the new light
thrown on the matter from the American discoveries of Professor Marsh:

"You are all aware that, when your country was first discovered
by Europeans, there were no traces of the existence of the horse
in any part of the American continent. The accounts of the
conquest of Mexico dwell on the astonishment of the natives of
that country when they first became acquainted with that
astounding phenomenon, a man seated upon a horse. Nevertheless,
the investigations of American geologi