THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 181 



their species and genera were in former times 

 never to be seen either in Asia or Armenia or 

 other conterminous countries." This considera- 

 tion further leads our worshiper of reason to 

 entertain doubts as to the myth which locates 

 paradise in the centre of creation, and which rep- 

 resents Adam as there bestowing upon all ani- 

 mals the names they were thenceforth to bear. 

 A multitude of strange plants and animals had 

 then been introduced from America, awakening 

 serious doubts in the minds of believers in the 

 Bible. Every one could not be so complaisant 

 as the painters, who straightway introduced the 

 turkey and the sunflower into Adam's garden of 

 paradise, as though they had been there from the 

 first. The deep impression made by this enrich- 

 ing of the " Garden of Paradise " (the name then 

 given to zoological and botanic gardens) can be 

 judged from the following passage : " My God, 

 with what wonder do we view these strange ani- 

 mals from so remote countries ! How intently we 

 consider all their lineaments, their forms, their 

 colors, their whole bodies ! Have they fallen down 

 from heaven ? What else are we to think when 

 we see so many diversified plants, trees, roots, and 

 seeds ? " 



Strong believers took the matter easy, as usu- 

 al. Without more ado they declared the Cana- 

 dian arbor-vitae to be the long-sought tree of life 

 of paradise ; and in the guaiacum-tree of Brazil 

 was found the tree from whose sacred wood was 

 fashioned the cross of Christ. The passion-flow- 

 er, which is limited to South America, originally 

 bloomed on Golgotha, and so on. Of fishes and 

 birds, as also of the seeds of plants, it was said 

 that they had been carried by the winds or by 

 the waves from the Old World to the New. " But 

 gently, gently," cries the cautious critic to these 

 orthodox Hotspurs ; " consider the matter a little 

 more, and do not be over-hasty. Are there not 

 to be found, beloved, among birds, many whose 

 feathers are coarse, thick, hard, and heavy, and 

 many that are very slow and tardy in flight? 

 Nay, are there not many that dread water, so 

 that they will not venture to fly across a brook 

 twelve paces wide, or at all events across a stream 

 that is even a short quarter of a mile in width ? 

 I say nothing at present of those which cannot 

 fly at all, as ostriches, bustards, and the like. 

 How, then, could such birds cross seas, streams, 

 and rivers ? " 



The author admits that marine fishes might 

 wander to a great distance, but here he notes 

 another difficulty : " Fishes, like all other animals, 

 do not willingly quit their own place or their • 



usual waters where they have their abode, and 

 being, and sustenance. Each species likes best 

 to remain in its own waters, in its own brook. 

 And as commonly each stream, nay, every little 

 brooklet, has its own peculiar fishes, and as the 

 latter thrive best therein, so, on the contrary, do 

 they soon perish when transferred. Then," he 

 adds, " there are many animals on the earth that 

 will not venture to swim at all. Perhaps some 

 one will object, and say that such quadruped ani- 

 mals might have been carried in ships from our 

 countries to the West Indies ; but this is absurd, 

 and hard to believe, for who could ever be so 

 reckless, nay, so crazy, as to tolerate the company 

 of lions, bears, tigers, panthers, and other such 

 ferocious beasts — to trust their cruel nature, and 

 to take such animals on board ship ? This, in 

 truth, would be the same thing as taking to one's 

 bosom venomous snakes and vipers." 



This circumspect critic, who clearly descried 

 the outliues of animal and plant geography, then 

 tells us that this experiment, were it to be made, 

 would probably end in failure. He calls attention 

 to the negative results following the attempt to 

 carry " over sea to New France, otherwise called 

 Canada, different species of domesticated ani- 

 mals." Of these animals, some were unable to 

 endure the sea-voyage, while others could not ac- 

 commodate themselves to the strange climate ; 

 and thus the experiment failed even with domes- 

 tic animals, though these are far more cosmopoli- 

 tan than wild animals. 



" But," continues the author, " let us dismiss 

 these vain ideas, and simply put this question to 

 the learned : Are there not to be found in these 

 Western Indies many and varied species, not only 

 of wild and ferocious, but also of tame animals, 

 that have never been seen or described either in 

 Asia, in Europe, or in Africa, whereof it is said 

 ' Africa semper aliquid novi ' — ' Africa is ever 

 presenting something new ? ' " And the same is 

 true of the birds, fishes, and plants, of those coun- 

 tries : " Besides, there also exist in America, Mex- 

 ico, Peru, and Magellanica, species of birds that 

 were never seen either in Asia or in Europe until 

 they were brought hither in ships. 



" But here, again, some one might ask and say : 

 ' If, then, from Asia, as the first nurse, no less of 

 mankind than of all the other animals and plants, 

 nothing was carried into the other portions of the 

 world, as Africa, Europe, and America, why then 

 do those regions possess so great an abundance 

 of all these things ? ' My reply, which perhaps 

 will to some appear singular, is that even He who 

 created all animals and vegetation, of every kind, 



