54 THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCES OF 



is not yet exhausted ; for in no part of the 

 world is there an oceanic island more than a 

 certain distance from a mainland in which any 

 species of the large class of frogs, toads, and 

 newts is to be found. Why is this ? Simply 

 because these animals, and their spawn, are 

 quickly killed by contact with sea-water ; and 

 therefore frogs, toads, and newts have never 

 been able to reach oceanic islands in a living 

 state. Similarly in all oceanic islands situated 

 more than three hundred miles from land, no 

 species of the whole class of mammals is to be 

 found, excepting species of the only order of 

 mammals which can fly, viz., bats. And, as if 

 to make the case still stronger, these forlornly 

 created species of bats sometimes differ from all 

 other bats in the world. But can we,-as reasonable 

 men, suppose that the Deity has chosen, without 

 any apparent reason, never to create any frog, 

 toad, newt, or mammal on any oceanic island, 



