154 EXPLANATIONS. 



but no matter of what the differences consist. 

 Enough for the present that they are held by Mr. 

 Owen and his friends to be of that character which 

 are never passed in generation, but necessarily 

 imply a new creation, a separate effort of divine 

 power. Now it so happens that all the tertiary 

 species, or so-called species,have not been changed 

 or extirpated. There is a Badger of the Miocene, 

 which cannot be distinguished from the badger of 

 the present day. Our existing Meles Taxus is, 

 therefore, acknowledged by Mr. Owen to be " the 

 oldest known species of mammal on the face of 

 the earth." It is in like manner impossible to dis- 

 cover any difference between the present Wild 

 Cat and that which lived in the bone caves with 

 the hyaena, rhinoceros, and tiger of the ante-drift 

 era, all of which are said to be extinct species. 

 So also the otter has survived since an early pe- 

 riod in the pliocene, while so many larger animali^ 

 were shifted. The leamedanatomist takes occasiol 

 from these facts to speak of a survival by sm£ 

 and weak species of geological changes, whio| 

 have been accompanied by the extirpation 

 larger and more formidable animals of allif 

 species. The interference from the facts and doc 

 trines of this school is, that Divine Power h« 





