MAMMALIA. 343 



certain part ; and when that was no longer required, they were 

 annihilated, to give place to others better adapted, by some 

 new feature in their organisation, to the character of the 

 changing scene they were for a brief span designed to animate. 

 And, finally, palaeontology shows, that when the appointed 

 time arrived, Man was placed upon the earth's surface, just at 

 that period when the external world had been prepared, by a 

 long series of eventful changes, for his reception ; with the 

 furniture of the universe wonderfully adapted to his nature, 

 and calculated to arouse to action his noblest faculties. It is 

 thus the brilliant discoveries of modern geology become the 

 handmaids of natural theology, and show, in the most striking 

 and satisfactory manner, the unity of the stupendous design 

 and creative intelligence of the Great First Cause; for 

 whilst the crust of our planet was destined by its Creator 

 to pass through a series of successive though turbulent 

 changes, still do we find the structure and functions of the 

 myriads of animals that have lived and died upon its surface, 

 through all the periods of geological chronology, to present 

 the same exquisite organisation the same perfect adaptation 

 to surrounding Nature, and to their varied habits and 

 instincts, as the countless numbers of happy beings that fill 

 with life and activity, the air, the earth, and the waters of 

 the present day. 



