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224 EVOLUTION IN BIOLOGY VI 
investigation were better calculated to inspire 
distrust of the dogmas intruded upon science in 
the name of theology, than those which relate to 
the distribution of animals and plants on the 
surface of the earth. Very skilful accommodation 
was needful, if the limitation of sloths to South 
America, and of the ornithorhynchus to Australia, 
was to be reconciled with the literal interpretation 
of the history of the deluge; and with the estab- 
lishment of the existence of distinct provinces of 
distribution, any serious belief in the peopling of 
the world by migration from Mount Ararat came 
to an end, 
Under these circumstances, only one alternative 
was left for those who denied the occurrence of 
evolution—namely, the supposition that the 
characteristic animals and plants of each great 
province were created as such, within the limits in — 
which we find them. And as the hypothesis of 
“ specific centres,” thus formulated, was heterodox 
from the theological point of view, and unintelli- 
gible under its scientific aspect, it may be passed 
over without further notice, as a phase of transi- 
tion from the creational to the evolutional hypo- — 
thesis. i 
8. In fact, the strongest and most conclusive — 
arguments in favour of evolution are those which ~ 
are based upon the facts of geographical, taken — 
in conjunction with those of geological, distri- — 
bution. 
