Extinction, of Organic 'Beings. 483 



Among other examples of new climates and new crea- 

 tions of animal and vegetable species, may be cited the con- 

 tinent of New Holland, whose productions in many instances 

 are apparently peculiar to itself, and are not found in any 

 other country of the known world. It cannot be argued that 

 these animals were part of the stock preserved by Noah, be- 

 cause the isolated situation of that continent, so completely 

 separated from that region from whence the antediluvian 

 species were again to diffuse themselves, at once forbids the 

 supposition, and proves beyond a doubt^ that a new creation 

 was absolutely required to replenish those regions. 



With regard to the natives of that continent, the same 

 argument, however, is by no means necessary ; since we know 

 in the case of man, that storms and shipwreck have often 

 landed him on shores previously unknown and uninhabit- 

 ed ;* and even animals have been so wafted ; but in such 

 cases they have still left species living in the countries 

 from whence they emigrated. To some of the animals of 

 New Holland we at once perceive that this reasoning will not 

 apply, since they have no living prototypes in any other 

 portion of the known world. 



As we know therefore that the elevated regions of the 

 Himalaya, the Andes, the continent of New Holland, East- 

 ern Isles, and indeed every quarter of the globe, produce 

 some species, and even genera peculiar to themselves,-}- we 

 are lead at once to perceive that in these instances no diffu- 

 sion from a central focus could have placed them in their iso- 

 lated situations, and consequently we are again obliged to 

 acknowledge that fresh creations must have occurred. 



From these clear and incontrovertible facts, we arrive at 

 the conclusion that new creations have invariably followed 

 the revolutions which the earth has undergone ; for it is evi- 



* See Lyell's Geology, passim. 

 t See J. A. S. Himalayan Geology. 



