Where did Life Begin f 35 



would have given to the polar regions a 

 torrid climate for a vast period of time. 



V. 



Let us now allude briefly to a few facts and 

 circumstances touching the existing flora and 

 fauna of the northern hemisphere, their past 

 remains and present habitat, which are en- 

 tirely consistent with the views here taken, 

 and equally inconsistent with, and contradic- 

 tory of, any other cause of dispersion or course 

 of migration and distribution over the surface 

 of the earth. 



The evidences of former tropical life, both 

 vegetal and animal, throughout the temper- 

 ate zone and within the borders at least of 

 the arctic zone, are numerous and indisputa- 

 ble. It is sufficient to mention the remains, 

 found far within the regions of perpetual ice 

 and snow, of the hairy elephant, rhinoceros, 

 and mammoth, of the plane-tree, the palm, 

 and the magnolia. It is true that the ele- 

 phantine remains are claimed to be post- 

 tertiary, and they probably are ; but does it 



