226 THE LAW. 



[Creation still in Progress.] 



This idea of progression implies not only an onward change 

 among the rock-materials of the earth in obedience to the 

 physical laws of the universe, but also, as plants and ani- 

 mals are adapted to, as well as influenced by, external con- 

 ditions, the creation of new species and the dropping out 

 of others from the great scheme of animated nature. And 

 such, we have seen, was the fact even with respect to the 

 current era. The mastodon, mammoth, and other huge 

 pachyderms that lived from the tertiary into the modern 

 epoch, have long since become extinct, leaving their bones 

 in the silts and sands of our valleys. The Irish-deer, urus, 

 bear, wild-boar, wolf, and beaver, are now extinct in 

 Britain ; and what takes place in insular districts must also 

 occur, though more slowly, in continental regions. The 

 dodo of the Mauritius, the a3piornis of Madagascar, and the 

 dinornis of New Zealand, are now matters of history; and 

 the same causes that led to the extinction of these, are 

 hurrying forward to the obliteration of the beaver, apteryx, 

 ostrich, elephant, kangaroo, ornithorhynchus, and other 

 animals, whose circumscribed provinces are gradually being 

 broken in upon by new conditions. And here the question 

 naturally occurs, If we have now local removals and gene- 

 ral extinctions, what of New Creations'? The local re- 

 moval or the general extinction of any well-known creature 

 we readily perceive \ the introduction of new species (un- 

 less we assume with Mr Darwin that all varieties are but 

 incipient species) has as yet escaped detection, or resolved 

 itself into that more facile solution l ' the discovery of a 

 new plant or animal." Unless, however, creative energy 

 be waxing faint, and the scheme of vitality be destined to 

 come ,to an end, new creations must take place as infallibly 



