12 OCTOBER 1867, Page 3

The Times' correspondent at Paris has been much impressed by

the stone implements,—implements of the age of stone,—there. He wonders how life went on when you had only a stone axe to fight with, and ichthyosauruses or megatheriums to fight against. He thinks "papa" must have felt very helpless when told, "Please, a megatherium has just carried off Johnny." Well,—perhaps. But, on the whole, the big creatures are not the most formidable. Whales are very mild. Elephants are caught and tamed in corrals without any aid from guns, or even steel. Megatheriums, perhaps, had little confidence in themselves, and were just as shy of men with their cunning and their stone axes, as elephants are of men with their cunning and their guns. It is the cunning, after all, that makes the difference. Very big creatures have a spebial disadvantage as regards cunning. A Dinornis could not hide its egg as a hen can.