supposed Change of Climate of' the Arctic Regions. 288 



that the arctic regions once enjoyed a milder cUniate than they 

 now possess, derived from the relics of animals found imbedded 

 in the soil? — Remains of an elephant and. of a rhinoceros have 

 been found in Siberia ! These animals at present live under a 

 warm climate ; and when Siberia was peopled by such animals, 

 its climate must have been much milder than in the present day ! 

 — If the relics of the elephant and rhinoceros, found in Siberia, 

 belong to the same species which now dwell in equatorial regions, 

 we must either suppose that they were transported to their pre- 

 sent tomb, or, if they were the denizens of the country, that the 

 chmate of Siberia has greatly changed. In such circumstances, 

 our conclusions would be supported by the truths of science, for, 

 in reference to the individuals of a species, our knowledge of the 

 ordinary habits and distribution of a few of these qualifies us 

 forjudging respecting the remainder*. If, however, it shall be 

 found that the relics of the elephant and rhinoceros of Siberia 

 belong to species different from those which noiv dwell in tropi- 

 cal forests, our speculations must change their character; for the 

 truths of zoology forbid us to reason concerning the species (yf a 

 genus ia the same, manner as we do with the individuals of spe- 

 cies ; and all our prejudices, associated with the names we use, 

 must be dismissed from the mind. 



Viewing, then, the Siberian elephant and rhinoceros as dif- 

 ferent in species from those which we conceive peculiarly fitted 

 to reside in a tropical climate, and the proof of this difference 

 has been satisfactorily established ; our conjectures respecting 

 their original condition must be conducted on widely different 

 principles. If still unwilling to allow that these species ever 



• Sir Everard Home has, it is true, attempted to prove the identity of the 

 Siberian and African rhinoceros, by considering the skull of a recent indivi. 

 dual, brought by Mr Campbell from Mashow, in South Africa (and which oc- 

 cupies a place in the museum of the London Missionary Society, and is re- 

 corded in the catalogue, p. 10.), as having a perfect resemblance to those of the 

 Siberian species. — PhiL Trans. 1822. In the twenty-second number of the 

 Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, I intimated my suspicions of the accuracy 

 of this opinion, founded on the great difference in the physical and geogra- 

 phical distribution of the two animals ; and the inquiries which I made in 

 London, in the spring of the following year, justified the view which had 

 been adopted. Baron Cuvier^s inquiries, about the same time, led to a simi. 

 lar conviction, that the celebrated London anatomist had been betrayed into 

 error, by a too hasty and superficial examination of the specimen from Cafra- 

 ria^-xSe^ Cuvier, Oss. Fo9s. iv. 493. 



