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ncceflary for the ufe of man, and thofe only of the graminivorous 

 or granivorous clafTes, the others were moft probably of fubfequent 

 creation. The univerfality of the expreflions, Gen. chap. vi. ver. 19. 

 ** Of every living thing, of all flefli, two of every fort fhalt thou 

 " 'bring into the ark," fecm to me to imply no more than the fame 

 general expreffions do in Gen. chap. i. ver. 30. " And to every 

 " beaft of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, have I given 

 " every green herb for meat ;" where it is certain that only gra- 

 minivorous animals are meant. At this early period ravenous 

 animals were not only not neceffary but would have been even 

 deftrudive to thofe who had jufl obtained exiftence, and probably 

 not in great numbers. They only became neceffary when the 

 graminivorous had multiplied to fo great a degree that their car- 

 caffes would have fpread infedion. Hence they appear to me to 

 have been of poflerior creation ; and to this alfo 1 attribute the 

 exiftence of thofe that are peculiar to America and the torrid 

 and frigid zones. 



The atmofphere itfelf muft have been exceedingly altered by 

 the confequences of the flood. Soon after the creation of vege- 

 tables, and in proportion as they grew and multiplied, vaft quan- 

 tities of oxygen muft have been thrown off by them into the then 

 exifting atmofphere without any proportional counterading dimi- 

 nution from the refpiration or putrifadion of animals, as thefe were 

 created only in pairs, and multiplied more flowly; hence it muft 

 have been much purer than at prefent ; and to this circumflance 



perhaps 



