of the Northern Regions. 151 



lakes, though the slightest local knowledge of the general confi- 

 guration of the ground in the vicinity of these fossil deposites 

 must convince any one, that, in nine instances out of ten, there is 

 no probability of the former existence of any such lakes in these 

 districts. What, I would ask, does Dr Fleming suppose to 

 have been the boundaries confining the waters of any lake which 

 could account for the gravel of the plains of Warwickshire and 

 central England ? 



I will conclude by proposing one more question as an ijlustra. 

 lion of my argument. 



Of the Arctic Seas but little is known, of the Antarctic still less. 

 We may anticipate, then, that future Parrys and Franklins will 

 illustrate the age of other Barrows by pushing still further the 

 career of discovery in these untravelled fields of ocean. How, I 

 would ask, does Dr Fleming consider it probable that, among 

 the interesting novelties to be detected by their researches, they 

 will astonish the naturalists of those days by accounts of new 

 islands discovered in those frigid seas, surrounded by coral reefs, 

 amidst which turtles are desporting themselves in such quantities 

 that aldermen might long to colonize the happy shores, the in- 

 terior overshadowed with forests of arborescent ferns and palms ; 

 the breezes fragrant with spices, as those of Ceylon ; lions, tigers, 

 and hyaenas roaming the jungle; elephants and rhinoceroses 

 stalking over the plains ; the rivers teeming with crocodiles, and 

 haunted by hippopotamuses ? I feel certain that any other na- 

 turalist's answer will be in the immediate and vehement nega- 

 tive. He will think it improbable that any one of these races 

 should be so found ; still more so that any two of them should 

 occur. The improbabiHty will go on augmenting at every fresh 

 step, and it will mount so high against the combination of all 

 these circumstances, as to hold the next rank to a physical im- 

 possibihty. 



Yet Dr Fleming's arguments, if they prove any thing, prove 

 that tfiis supposition involves no improbability at all. 



P. S. — Lest Dr Fleming should cite the supposed musk ox of 

 Pallas, found in Siberia, as an instance of an animal exclusively 

 belonging to high latitudes found in a fossil state, I must ob- 



