36 
that vertebrates (with the exception of fishes — and perhaps 
next, of batrachians) multiply much slower than the inferior 
tribes. Their fossil remains must therefore, of necessity, be 
very much fewer in the ages when life was young, increasing 
by degrees as the world waxed older; till, in these latter 
times, they have expanded into growth, proportionable to 
lengthened existence. Fishes are of all vertebrates the most 
prolific ; a fact which may not unreasonably be supposed to 
account for their traces, at an earlier date than their more 
slowly multiplying contemporaries. The greater the number, 
the better chance of specimens being preserved through the 
revolutions of at least 6,000 years — or, at any rate, of being 
found ; for it must not be forgot, that it is little more than an 
infinitesimal part of the earth's surface which has yet laid 
bare its secrets to the persuasions of the geological hammer. 
The extinction of genera may seem to lend something like 
a sanction to the renewal of life, by new creations. But it is 
only seeming. If one single example were found of a per- 
sistent form, through all the geological ages up to the present 
time, the necessity for new creations would be at an end; as 
others may be detected on more extensive examination ; or, if 
utterly destroyed, might still have continued had the economy 
of nature required it. Many, certainly several, instances of 
this perseverance are found. Sir C. Lyell, in commenting on 
Mr. Davidson's monograph on the British Brachiopods, 
names four genera of molluscs that “ still retain in the existing 
seas the identical shape aud character which they exhibited in 
the earliest formations." So the necessity for new creations 
is not very apparent. 
I believe I am speaking the truth in saying no man of 
science assumes that since the introduction of man one single 
new denomination, or race of beings, has appeared ; but that 
mere varieties of existing races — forms of known species 
— have spread by degeneration ; sprung up, if that term be 
better liked, though “ by degeneration " seems to me more 
correctly expressive. Geology speaks — and speaks truly — of 
extinct species. Even in our own day, several have disap- 
peared from the face of the earth; the dodo, for instance. 
And Dr. Guyon gave an account, not long since, to the 
Academy of Sciences in Paris, of the recent extinction of 
some animals in Martinique and Guadaloupe, and, indeed, from 
the West India Islands generally — the anli, a kind of dog; 
two large parrots ; two paroquets ; and a species of frog. Of 
course, species may have fulfilled the intentions of their 
creation, and become extinguished. This may, and probably 
does, occur in every latitude where there is life. But where 
