ingly long. Thus Principal Dawson affirms that of the more than two hundred species of fossils, chiefly mollusca, from the Post-Pliocene deposits of Canada, no one form can be shown to have varied materially, during the long period which separates the oldest boulder clay from the present time, and in spite of notable, climatal, and geographical changes." Let it be understood, that when an order of animals is created, it is never entirely lost to creation. Molluscs, polypes, corals, crustaceans, and zoophites, the earliest creatures that occupied the globe, continued throughout every geological period up to this day. Genera and species have in some cases become extinct, but they still have their representatives, with more or less of likeness to the original stock. We must suppose, for instance, that when the higher order of fishes began to live, the lower orders of life either became extinct, or diminished. There was no change of order, only an addition made. They came by an absolute creation, and not by development. When the Saurian reptiles began their existence, neither the fishes nor the crustaceans were ejected; no, they occupied the earth together. Even so when the Tertiary mammals were created, we still find numerous serpents and crocodiles, still representing the order of reptiles. There was no changing of one race into another. As one race died out, another was brought into existence. Nature is therefore not favourable to development. Men who have most ardently studied geology reject the theory.

Hugh Miller says, "Let me briefly remark, respecting this development hypothesis, with which I have elsewhere dwelt at considerable length, that while the facts of Geolo

*"Paleontological Facts," by Dr. Nicholson, p. 26.

gists are demonstrably such, i.e., truths capable of proof, the hypothesis is a mere dream, unsupported by the shadow of proof." "Testimony of the Rocks," p. 198. Professor Agassiz says, "As a Paleontologist, I have from the beginning stood aloof from this new theory of transmutation, now so widely admitted by the scientific world. Its doctrines in fact, contradict what the animal forms buried in the rocky strata of our earth tell us of their own introduction and succession upon the surface of the earth." Hugh Miller furthermore says, "One species never developes into another. There is no such thing as spontaneous generation. Every living form comes from a parent. That geology, on the contrary, contains instances of the degradation of certain races. That a retrogressive movement in creation is perfectly inconsistent with the theory of development." We are therefore not ashamed to turn to the Hebrew cosmogony, where we not only read of special creations, but that the creatures so brought into existence were afterwards to multiply according to its kind. "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord." "The righteous shall see it, and rejoice; and all iniquity shall stop her mouth."

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CHAPTER IV.

THE EXISTING SPECIES.

In searching out the history of our race Antiquaries exhume buried cities, towns, and temples, thus collecting objects of human art, deciphering monumental inscriptions, and noticing every vestige of the different tribes that peopled any one locality; so Geologians labour in seabanks, river-beds, bone-caves, and ossiferous gravel to find remains of man, and of the animals that were created with him. And by this means they ascertain what animals were extinct, and what were brought into existence about the time that man was formed. We cannot follow them in their search, however tempting it may be to us or to any of our readers, space forbids it. Suffice it to say, that so far as geological evidence goes, we have no traces of man, or of his works, till we arrive at the superficial accumulations. It is true, there are some Geologians who connect man with the pliocene fauna, supposing that he contested for the same caverns with lions, tigers, bears, and hyænas, that he hunted the gigantic Irish deer on the plains, and speared the mammoth in the forests. But all this is mere hypothesis, void of proof. And, indeed, it is

the height of absurdity to suppose that man could live in the same caves with lions and tigers for comrades. It is much better to believe, with Hugh Miller, that “ those caverns that once were the haunts of carnivorous animals, in the first ages of man's history, furnished him with shelter when living, and with a burying place when dead; and thus his bones and his first rude attempts in pottery and weapon making have been associated with the remains of the cavern carnivora." Dr. D. Page, a very high authority on Geological Science, says, "Taking into account all that paleontology has revealed, the fair presumption is, that man was not called into being till the commencement of the current geological era." And thus it is evident, that both Geology and Genesis unite in affirming that man is God's last piece of workmanship. He is the culminating point in the great work of creation; or he is the capital of the monumental pillar, the top cornice of the mighty fabric of this mundane system. And, indeed, all our present vegetables, and our ruminant races of animals are of recent origin. It is a settled thing among geologians that all our present fruit trees, such as the pear and cherry, the plum and apple, the peach and apricot, the strawberry and the raspberry, with the various kinds of roses and flowers of our era, were introduced only a little while before man. All the cereals, such as wheat, oats, and barley; all herbage or grass that now covers hills and dales, with all domesticated animals, such as the horse, ox, ass, sheep, deer, goat, and camel, with many others, were not in being till just before the creation of man. Thus it is evident that man and the animals and vegetables of this day are far more recent than the present irregularities of

the earth's surface, for they date no further back than the Quarternary epoch. The sea and dry land have only occupied their present position since the post glacial period. Yet this fact requires considerably modifying, seeing many changes have taken place since the commencement of the current era. The land on the sea coast of our own country is mostly higher now than formerly, as nearly every coast is marked by terraces which were ancient sea shore lines; plainly showing, that either the ocean bed has sunk, or the dry land has risen. Geologians say it is the latter case. Extensive deltas have been formed at the mouth of rivers; lakes have been silted up; peat mosses have accumulated in different swamps; shoals, sand banks, and coral reefs have been formed in various oceans. Headlands have been worn down, and bogs have been scooped out, volcanic cones have been lifted up, and different other irregularities of surface have been produced by internal convulsions.

Let us now, therefore, suppose ourselves standing on the uppermost Tertiary stratum. It is now the closing of the sixth great creative day. The climate is delightful, the scenery on all sides is beautiful. The waters teem with fishes sporting in their native element. The forests swarm with animals of every size and configuration. Birds of every variety of plumage sweetly warble among the trees and groves of that most interesting era. And now that all is ready, man is issued on the scene, made in God's image and after His likeness, made to have "dominion over the fish of the sea, fowl of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Now for the first time was the earth tenanted with a living creature capable of compre