ORDER CARNASSIER. 81 



by refinement and sensitiveness, vainly to endeavour at 

 counteracting the impulse of nature, or rashly to oppose the 

 imperious dictates of necessity. Nor can we very satisfac- 

 torily account in reasoning and theory, for that which dis- 

 gusts us so much in practice. Why the life of one should 

 necessitate the death of another ; why many indeed should 

 die that one may li ve, is very difficult to answer. 



The Mosaic history affords negative evidence, that the 

 carnivorous necessity was not coeval with animal creation. 

 " And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the 

 air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein 

 there is life, I have given every green herb for meat," Man, 

 according to the same sacred authority, was not authorized 

 to eat flesh till after the flood. It seems, therefore, that the 

 change generally took place after the pristine state of animal 

 life, and must have been accompanied with great changes, 

 both in physical character and mental impulse. We are 

 not able to surmise any rational cause for this, unless we 

 refer it to the fall of man, which " brought death and all 

 our woes into the world." Should the suffering of innocence 

 for the crimes of guilt be deemed unjust, and therefore 

 improbable, we may observe analogous dispensations of 

 Providence around us ; the fate of many species is more or 

 less hard now, according to the direction in which man can 

 turn them to his use. In society also no man is so isolated 

 as not to confer credit or shame, misery or happiness, on 

 many connected with him. Even the mysterious doctrine 

 of atonement may be said to be in some degree analogous 

 to the subject in question. 



Fossil osteology, it is true, as far as speculative theory has 

 been hitherto deduced, from the facts offered by that branch 

 of science to our notice, offers no confirmation of an age ex- 

 cluding animal food. The oldest fossil remains, presumed 

 by their location in remote strata, to be of incalculable an- 

 Vol. II. G 



