part of Upper Asia, of unknown extent ; and in this saiüë
region is to be found the native seat of most of the tribes of
animals which were domesticated by man in the earliest
tion of which was evidently well known. See Bochart’s Canaan, and Michaelis’
Specimen Geographiæ Hebræorum Exteræ.
I t wad in the higher region of Asia, that M. M. Buffon and Baillie, the former
founding his doctrine upon a physical theory of the world, the latter on the indications
of ancient astronomy and the earliest traces of the history of human society,
placed the cradle of our race. (See Buffon’s Epoques de la Nature, and Baillie's
Lettres à M. de Voltaire.) I t is interesting to observe that the same speculations
which still amuse die philosophers of Europe, were long ago anticipated. Whether
the following passage in Justin., suggested to either of thèse writers the hypothesis
which became so celebrated, I shall not pretend to determine : “ -Si ignis,” says
Justin, “ prima possessio rerum fuit, qui paullatim extinctus sedem'terris dédit;
nullam prius quam septentrionalem partem, hyemis rigoie ab igne secretam : adeo
ut nunc'quoque nulla magis rigeat frigoribus.”—“ Quod si omnes quondam terras
submersæ profiindbTuemnt ; profecto editissimam quamque partem decmrentibas
aquis primûm detectam ; humillimo autem solo eandem aquam diutissimè immo-
ratam ; et quanto prior quæque pars terrarum siccata sit, tanto prius animalia gene-
rari coepisse. Porro Scythiam adeo editiorem omnibus terris e à e ,u t cun eta flumlna
ibi nata in Mæotim, turn exinde in Ponticum et Ægyptiùm mare decurrant.” Lib.
ii. jcap. 1. From all this it appears that there were some in the time of Justin^ who
supposed the northern tract of Asia to have been the region of the world first inhabited,
and that they maintained this hypothesis by two arguments, which happen
to have been favourite speculations with some persons in more recent times. In the
first place they contended that if the clement of fire once held the whole globe,
as it/was conjectured, in a state of intense heat, and different countries became habitable
in proportion as the heat abated, the more northern region, where cold is
now most severe, would be the. first that would become suflidenüy temperate -for the
existence of organized beings. Secondly, it was argued, that if' all the countries
now inhabited were once beneath the surface of the ocean,-the most elevated re-'
gions would first emerge from the subsiding waters which would continuq for a
longer time to cover the lower levels, and the more early each country became dry
and uncovered by the sea, the-more early would it be fitted for the abode of men
and animals. Now Scythia was more elevated than other parts of the world, since
rivers there took their rise which discharged themselves into' remote seas, as into
the Maeotis, the Pontip, and the Mediterranean.
The hypothesis of a central heat formerly much greater than at present, appears
to rest, since the researches of M. M. Fourier, Cordier, and others, on a more secure
basis than the conjectures' of Justin and of Buffon ; but as for any supposed relation
between this theory and the history of mankind, it is altogether refuted by the fact,
that the rate of refrigeration appears to be so slow, that no considerable difference
can have taken place since the earliest era to which the origin of the human race
could with the slighest probability be referred.—Lettres sur les Révolutions du
Globe. Par D;Bertrand, 8vo. Paris, 1828.—Cordier sqr lâ Temperature de l’Intérieur
de la Terre, Annales du Muséum, 1827.—Bulletin des Sci. Naturelles de
Ferrussac, torn. xiii.
times, and which have accompanied him in his later wanderings
over the earth. These> at least many of them, are still
found in their wild Estate, as well as the ebrealian gramina,
which have been, perhaps, the most universal food.
: 2. That the whole earthwas submerged, and that on the
subsidence of the waters a new creation of organized beings
•took pl&ce:, suited, to the ^climate of qvery region; and that
among these new races, mankind and ;the' tribes which had
been their contemporaries and companions spread themselves
in later ages. In this representation, mankind and the races
of animals coeval with them, are survivors from an era anterior
to the last creation of organized beings.
Some persons will make an objection to this opinion, that
it assumes a fact not mentioned in the Scriptural history;
namely, a partial creation ■ posterior to the Noachian deluge.'
This must be granted.- But is it to be presumed, that the
sacred Scriptures contain an account of all that it has pleased
the Almighty to effect in the physical- creation, or only of his
dispensations 'to mankind, and of the facts with which man
is concerned ? And of what importance could 'It be for men
to S informed at what period New Holland began to contain
kanguroos, .and the woods of Paraguay ant-eaters and armadillos^;
?T ,The proof of this hypothesis, that a now creation of animals
has taken place since the era of the Noachian deluge ; or as,
perhaps, I should rather say,-the attempt to show that it is
not altogether improbable or unsupported by analogy, must
rest upon geological facts. It can scarcely be doubted,
that organized tribes have more than once disappeared, at
least from extensive, regions of the earth, to make room for
new orders of beings. If, for example, we compare the organic'
remains of the first great era of the creation, by which I
mean those which are discovered in fps older rocks and down
to and including the period of the coal formation and the carboniferous
lime-stones, the era of encrini and of gigantic mo-
nocotyledonous plants ••— if we compare these with the relics
contained in thre lias, the vestiges of the saurian period,we trace
a great epocha in nature, the. commencement of an entirely
new order bf things. The intermediate formation of sand