252 —_ Sequel to the Vestiges of Creation. 
opment, and more widely varied characters, than at the present 
time, as if to compensate by this mode of variation, for the small 
variety of distinct types and forms. 'Thus at one period, ferns 
predominated, to a large extent, over other forest trees; and the 
lizards of early times were less restricted in their habits, size, and 
specific characters, than those of the present era. ‘The simple 
truth appears to be, that there was, as above stated, a general re- 
lation between the condition of the world and its productions, 
such animals living as were adapted to the peculiar temperature 
of the globe, the nature of its atmosphere and waters, and the 
disposition of the land. 
Admitting the facts as brought forward by the Vestiges and its 
Sequel, nothing more than the above conclusion, could with pro- 
priety be deduced. . Such a relation affords no evidence that the 
animals of one period originated from those of a preceding, by 
gradual improvement. This is one of those leaps in logic, espe- 
cially favored by a large development of “the function of hypo- 
thesis.” The author shows no necessary connection between 
the premises and his conclusions. Geology, if its facts mean any 
thing, fully shows that tribes of animals have successively disap- 
peared, owing to physical causes ; and that the new races have 
appeared by creation, and not by gradation, or “ progress.” 
The Acarus Crossii is the basis upon which much.of the ar 
gument in the Vestiges rests; and in the. Sequel, the author has 
offered new evidence with regard to its galvanic origin, Acknowl- 
edging the fact, it proves too much. | We have here an animal of 
the class Articulata, far above the infusoria and simple polyps in 
organization, produced by galvanism, without a gradual develop- 
ment successively through the lower grades. And if the germ | 
of an Acarus may be thus made, without such a gradation of 
changes, why may not the germ of a mollusc, or of an in- 
sect, of a crab, fish or reptile? The germ in each case is @ 
simple minute cellule, and certain favorable circumstances are all 
that is required for its development. Admitting this instance of 
galvanic creation, it might with more reason be argued that the 
germs in all instances were made by direct processes in nature, 
having been originated by the peculiar electrical conditions of the 
earth or other unknown circumstances. Such a theory would 
be a more correct deduction from the alleged fact ; and it avoids 
the objection that the necessary shades of transitions between the 
