84 THEOLOGIANS AND NATURAL PHILOSOPILERS. 



considered one of the founders of the Special-Crea- 

 tion view as orthodox teaching upon the origin 

 of species, — the teaching which more than any 

 other has led to the schism among the philoso- 

 phers of Nature. Mivart quotes a number of 

 passages showing that Suarez gave this matter con- 

 siderable thought. As was later done by Linnaeus, 

 Suarez pointed out that there might be some new 

 or post-creation species which were generated by 

 the commingling of original species ; he considered 

 the mule and the leopard as instances of this kind. 



Huxley also shows that Suarez devotes a special 

 treatise, Tractatus de opere sex Dierum, to the dis- 

 cussion of all the problems which arise out of the 

 Mosaic account of Creation; he here reviews the 

 opinions of Philo and Augustine upon these ques- 

 tions, and distinctly rejects them. He suggests that 

 the failure of Aquinas to controvert Augustine's 

 interpretation, arose from his deference to the au- 

 thority of Augustine, and he maintains that the ' day ' 

 of Scripture was a natural day of twenty-four hours, 

 not a period of time as Augustine considered it ; he 

 further declares that the entire work of Creation 

 took place in the space of six days. Huxley con- 

 cludes : — 



" As regards the creation of animals and plants, therefore, it is 

 clear that Suarez, so far from distinctly asserting derivative creation, 

 denies it as distinctly and positively as he can ; that he is at much 

 pains to refute St. Augustine's opinions ; that he does not hesitate 

 to regard the faint acquiescence of St. Thomas Aquinas in the 



