214 VARIETIES OF THE HUMAN SPliCIKS. 



of tliesc writings are by appropriate beauties in their respec- 

 tive parts, not inferior to those of any human compositions. 



To the grounds of doubt respecting inspiration, which 

 arise from examination of the various narratives, from know- 

 ledge of the original and other oriental languages, and from 

 the irreconcilable opposition between the passions and sen- 

 timents ascribed to the Deity by Moses, and that religion 

 of peace and love unfolded by the Evangelists, I have only 

 to add, that the representations of all the animals ^ being 

 brought before Adam in the iirst instance *, and subse- 

 quently of their being all collected in the ark f? if we are to 

 understand them as applied to the living inhabitants of the 

 whole world, are zoologically impossible. 



The collection of living beings in one central point, and 

 their gradual diffusion over the whole globe, may not be 

 greatly inconsistent with what we know of our ow^n species, 

 and of the few more common quadrupeds, which accom- 

 pany us in our various migrations, and are able to sustain 

 with us great varieties of climate, food, situation, and all 

 external influences. 



But when we extend our survey to the rest of the 

 mammalia, we find at all points abundant proofs of ani- 

 mals being confined to particular situations, and being so 

 completely adapted, by their structure and functions, by 

 their whole organization, economy, and habits, to the local 

 peculiarities of temperature, soil, food, &c. that they can- 

 not subsist where these are no longer found. In proportion 

 as our knowledge of species becomes more exact, the proofs 



* " And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, 

 and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Ada:.i to see what he would 

 call them ; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the 

 name thereof. 



" And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to 

 every beast of the field." Gen. ii. 19, 20. 



+ " And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring 

 into the ark, to keep them alive with thee: they shall be male and female. 



" Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creep- 

 ing thing of the earth after his kind: two of every sort shall come unto thee, 

 to keep them alive." Gm. vi. 19, 20. 



