THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE HOUSE. 
77 
being one of the most ancient people in the world, and, like their 
horses, having a physiognomy and character which are quite pecu- 
liar, and which distinguishes them generally from those which 
belong to the other parts of the globe. Their manners still present 
that mixture of rude freedom and patriarchal simplicity which we 
find in the infancy of society; and in the portraits of the modern 
Bedouins we may trace the features of their ancestors, who, in the 
age of Abraham or Mahomet, dwelt under similar tents, and con- 
ducted their horses to the same springs and the same pasturage. 
There is a very important and interesting argument which pre- 
sents itself from this geological inquiry, and which may be very 
properly considered as the theological history of the horse. It is 
very generally believed, that, previous to the fall of man, death 
was not known in the world, and consequently the brute creation 
must have suffered a change in their nature and instincts since that 
time. Thus we read in Milton — • 
“ Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit 
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 
Brought death into the world, and all our woe.” 
And again — 
“Discord, first 
Daughter of Sin, among th’ irrational 
Death introduced through fierce antipathy : 
Beast now with beast ’gan war, and fowl with fowl, 
And fish with fish ; to graze the herb, all leaving, 
Devoured each other.” 
It certainly can scarcely require any argument to repudiate such 
ridiculous nonsense : Milton was a beautiful poet, but a very bad 
theologian ; and I should not have noticed the subject here, had 
not those opinions been but lately introduced to the world sanc- 
tioned by the highest authority. I allude to the Rev. Wm. Kirby’s 
Bridgewater Treatise, and the Rev. John Styles’s splendid nonsense, 
which obtained the prize of one hundred guineas for the best Essay 
on the obligations of humanity as due to the brute creation. 
Both these authors are of opinion that the different orders of 
animals originated in one quarter of the globe, and from which they 
subsequently spread themselves, according to circumstances, over 
the rest of the surface ; and to support this argument, they alter 
the natural instinct of the greater part of them. The ferocious 
hyaena, the savage lion, the treacherous tiger, and the whole race 
of carnivorous animals, are turned into herbivorous and ruminating 
beasts ! 
I need scarcely tell you, that those opinions are as much opposed 
to theology as they are to philosophy, since the sacred writings 
give no sanction for the belief that animals were included in the 
sentence of death pronounced upon the fall of man. 
VOL. XIV. L 
