MECHANICS AND USEFUL AUTS. 33 



what now forms the county of Oxfordshire! These and the like considera- 

 tions from the modifications of geographical distribution of particular forms 

 or groups of animals, warn us how inadequate must be the phenomena con- 

 nected with the present distribution of land and sea to guide to the deter- 

 mination of the primary ontological divisions of the earth's surface. Some 

 of the latest contributions to this most interesting branch of natural history 

 have been the result of endeavors to determine whether, and how many, dis- 

 tinct creations of plants and animals have taken place. But I would submit, 

 that the discovery of two portions of the globe, of which the respective 

 Faunas and Floras are different, by no means affords the requisite basis for 

 concluding as to distinct acts of creation. Such conclusion is associated, 

 perhaps, unconsciously, with the idea of the historical date of creative acts : 

 it presupposes that the portion of the globe so investigated by the botanist 

 and zoologist has been a separate and primitive creation, that its geograph- 

 ical limits and features are still in the main what they were when the creative 

 fiat went forth. But Geology has demonstrated that such is by no means the 

 case Avith respect to the portions of dry land now termed continents and 

 islands. The incalculable vistas of time past into w r hich the same science 

 has thrown light, are also shown to have periods during which the relative 

 position of land and sea have been ever changing. 



Already the directions, and to a certain extent the forms, of the submerged 

 tracts that once joined what now are islands to continents, and which once 

 united now separate or nearly disjoined continents by broad tracts of 

 continuity, begin to be laid down in geological maps, addressing to the eye 

 such successive and gradually progressive alterations of the earth's surface. 

 These phenomena shake our confidence in the conclusion that the Apteryx 

 of New Zealand and the Red-grouse of England were distinct creations in 

 and for those islands respectively. Always, also, it may be well to bear in 

 mind that by the word " creation " the zoologist means " a process, he knows 

 not what." Science has not yet ascertained the secondary causes that 

 operated when " the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after 

 his kind," and -when " the waters brought forth abundantly the moving 

 creature that hath life." And supposing both the fact and the whole process 

 of the so-called " spontaneous generation " of a fruit-bearing tree, or of a 

 fish, were scientifically demonstrated, we should still retain as strongly the 

 idea which is the chief of the "mode" or "group of ideas" we call 

 *' creation," viz., that the process was ordained by and had originated from 

 an all-wise and powerful First Cause of all things. When, therefore, the 

 present peculiar relation of the Red-grouse ( Tttrao scoticus) to Britain and 

 Ireland and I cite it as one of a large class of instances in Geographical 

 Zoulogy is enumerated by the zoologist as evidence of a distinct creation 

 of the bird in and for such islands, he chiefly expresses that he knows not 

 how the Red-grouse came to be there and there exclusively ; signifying also 

 by this mode of expressing such ignorance, his belief that both the bird and 

 the islands owed their origin to a great first Creative Cause. And this 

 analysis of the real meaning of the phrase " distinct creation," has led me to 

 suggest whether, in aiming to define the primary zoological provinces of the 

 globe, we may not be trenching upon a province of knowledge beyond our 

 present capacities; at least, in the judgment of Lord Bacon, commenting 

 upon man's efforts to pierce into the " dead beginnings of things." 



On the few occasions in which I have been led to offer observations on 

 the probable cause of the extinction of species, the chief weight has been 



