INTRODUCTION. 73 



Noachian deluge, who escaped. Those who wish to satisfy them- 

 selves on the limited extent of the deluge, may consult with advan- 

 tage the work of Dr. John Pye Smith, " On the Relation between 

 the Holy Scriptures and some parts of Geological Science." 



The fact that so many learned men continue to attribute the varie- 

 ties in animals to climate, food, and other external circumstances, 

 and the various human races to the same causes, can only be accounted 

 for " on the supposition that they believe the subject to be settled by 

 revelation in its results; and that, however contrary to it the facts 

 may appear, they must be made to conform to it in their conclu- 

 sions ;" this, continues Van Amringe, is a perverse disregard of the 

 inductive method of philosophizing, " more particularly as, from our 

 knowledge of the various nations (if the globe, all the known facts 

 are decidedly against any such theory." That animals change to a 

 limited extent, we know ; that man thus changi B, we do not know ; 

 and that he must so change is based solely on analogy. The human 

 constitution has a remarkable power of adapting itself to climate, 

 which animals have in a less degree ; in the latter we expect change, 

 in the former we do not expect it, and have never seen it ; there is no 

 analogy, in this respect, between man and animals. 



As regards the changes produced by food, there is no analogy 

 between animals and man ; the former, in domestication, usually 

 depend upon a single article, as grass; while omnivorous man, if he 

 cannot get meat or vegetables, can fall back upon " train oil, spiders, 

 6erpe"ts, or ant eggs." If the supply fail for the former, changes 

 will ensue, against which man is better protected. The Jews are 

 a remarkable proof that climate and mode of living do not change 

 human races to any great extent; wanderers in every land, they are 

 now as distinct as they were two thousand years ago ; the unmixed 

 Jew is recognized at a glance. 



Prichard and his followers allow that, with few exceptions, the 

 varieties of domestic animals, if left to themselves, show a tendency 

 to return to a supposed primitive type. The difficulty of keeping up 

 any particular breed of pigeons or rabbits is well known ; sheep con- 

 tinually show a tendency to return to the dark color of the wild 

 mouflon ; " black sheep annoy the farmer by appearing in the midst 

 of the most carefully-bred flock." It requires continual care to pre- 

 vent even the dog, the most modified perhaps of all animals, from 

 degenerating. That time alone does not alter species is proved by 

 the mummies of animals found in the catacombs of Egypt, and the 

 representations of species, identical with the existing ones, on the 

 walla of the temples and the outer cases of human mummies. ( Mar- 

 tin, op. cit.) 



7 



