4G0 



EXTINCTION OF >SPECIES. 



[Cir. XLII. 



thej were not reared at first without mucli difficulty ; but 

 after a few generations, tliey became habituated to the cli- 

 mate, which, in manv c,^,sps. ni^r^rnn/^lnarl Tv"mn"k -^r.^ — « -i-i.^,. 



countries. 



temper 



millions o 

 es, almost 



fc) 



largest quadrupeds and birds, 



having 



been propagated 



throughout the new continent within the short period that 

 lias elapsed since the discovery of America, while no appre- 



made 



ciable improvement can 



powers of that vast continent, affords abundant evidence of 



the extraordinary changes which accompany the diffusion 



and progressive advancement of the human .race over the 



globe. 



if exterminating species no prerogative of 



^ 



we reflect how many millions of square miles of the fertile 

 land, occupied originally by a boundless variety of animal 

 and vegetable forms, have been already brouo-ht under the 



measure 



nourishment to him, and to a limited number 



animals which he has caused to increase, we must at once be 

 convinced, that the annihilation of a multitude of species has 

 already been effected, and will continue to go on hereafter, in 

 certain regions, in a still more rapid ratio, as the colonies of 

 highly civilised nations spread themselves over unoccupied 

 lands. 



4 



Yet, if we wield the sword of extermination as we advance, 



we have no reason to repine at the havoc committed, nor to 



fancy, with the Scottish poet, that Sve violate the social 



union of nature ; ' or complain, with the melancholy Jacques, 

 that we 



Are mere usurpers, tyrants, iind wliat's worse. 

 To fright the animals and to kill them up 

 In their assigu'd and native dwelling-place. 



We have only to reflect, that in thus obtaining possession 

 of the earth by conquest, and defending our acquisitions by 

 force, we exercise no exclusive prerogative. Every species 

 which has spread itself from a small point over a wide area 

 must, in like manner, have marked its Droo^-pss bv flip dimi- 



i 



