GEOLOGICAL EXTERMINATIONS. 



171 



Che order been reversed, and the giants of the Quaternary 

 come last, we could easily understand that order. It then 

 would have been only a case of " the survival of the fittest." In 

 fact it was a survival of the weakest. It adds to the perplexing 

 nature of the problem that the birds of the Quaternary so 

 largely survive. So far as I can see, all that can be said with 

 certainty is that the monsters of the Quaternary would have 

 been a detriment and hindrance to the creatures which were 

 about to make their appearance, and that some " cause unknown 

 to science," probably the same cause that started the chain of 

 life, brought that section of it to an end. 



If it be said that man lived at least in the latter part of the 

 Quaternary, and that, gifted with superior intellect, and possessed 

 of weapons, it was he that exterminated those great creatures ; 

 then for some unknown reason he destroyed the stronger and 

 better protected species, and avoided killing the weaker but no 

 less tierce ones which still survive. This seems too unreason- 

 able for serious consideration, and so we are still left with 

 the conclusion that the extermination of those monstrous 

 Quaternary species just as present mammals were appearing 

 was due to a " cause unknown to science." 



Here I had intended to close my paper, but having been asked 

 to give a brief statement as to the origination of new forms to 

 succeed those exterminated, I will trespass on your patience a 

 little longer. 



What has already been said affords no assistance in the 

 solution of this problem. Gravitation and chemical affinity 

 account for the destruction of a building, but give no assistance 

 in explaining the origination of a new one to take its place. 

 For this we must invoke, in addition to physical laws, that to 

 which the painter referred when he said he " mixed his colours 

 with brains." In other words, we here find it necessary to 

 supplement those laws by an intelligence able to employ the 

 forces of nature for its purposes. 



Very few will deny the intervention of a Creator when the 

 first species came into existence. On what reasonable grounds 

 can they say that He never did it again ? So long as the train 

 is to keep its course the switchman need only watch it as it 

 goes by ; but when its course is to be changed then his brain 

 and his hand come into operation. 



Now for the application. Imagine a species which has long 

 been in existence approaching its final stage. We know that 

 it did disappear, and that in close proximity to the last of its. 

 generation a new species is found. 



