390 APPENDIX. NOTES. 



would account physically for the gradual reduction of the 

 former extended period of human life to its present brief 

 standard. Animals as well as man might be affected by 

 this change, their bulk might be diminished, and other 

 variations be produced in them which have not been ascer- 

 tained. When God fixed upon the rainbow as the token 

 of his covenant with Noah, the changes, here alluded to, 

 in the atmosphere might be the cause of the appearance, 

 under certain circumstances, of that phenomenon. 



Scientific men have judged it not improbable, without 

 referring to this doctrine of Revelation, that changes in 

 the composition of the atmosphere, according to circum- 

 stances, may have taken place. 1 



NOTE 14, p. 52. Whoever examines the animals of 

 North America will find a vast number that correspond 

 with European species on the Rocky Mountains, and in 

 the country westward of that range Asiatic types are dis- 

 coverable. The rein-deer, the fox, the weasel, the rat, the 

 mouse, the golden eagle, the peregrine falcon, and many 

 other birds are of the former description. In the latter 

 paragraph I allude to a fine Carabusf which is found in 

 Siberia; and likewise to a new genus 3 related to Trechus, 

 of which I possess a specimen, found in India, both taken 

 also in the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Sabine informed me 

 that several new Pceonias, and a Laurus that reached the 

 height of sixty feet, were natives of the same country. 

 In Chili, Molina found the green and temporary frogs, 

 the heron, the turtle-dove, and several other old-world 

 animals. 



1 Ann. Des Sc. Nat. xix. 432. 



2 C. Vietinghovii. Fisch. 3 hopleurus. K. M. S. 



