avour of the naturalistic
theory.

* * * * *

The first of these facts which I shall adduce is, that although the
geographical range of any given species is, as a rule, continuous, such
is far from being always the case. Very many species have more or less
discontinuous ranges--the mountain-hare, for instance, extending from
the Arctic regions over the greater portion of Europe to the Ural
Mountains and the Caucasus, and yet over all this enormous tract
appearing only in isolated or discontinuous patches, where there happen
to be either mountain ranges or climates cold enough to suit its nature.
Now, in all such cases of discontinuity in the range of a species the
theory of evolution has a simple explanation to offer--namely, either
that some representatives of the species have at some former period been
able to migrate from one region to the other, or else that at one time
the species occupied the whole of the range in question, but afterwards
became broken up as geographical, climatic, or other changes rendered
parts of the area unfit for the species to inhabit. Thus, for instance,
it is easy to understand that during the last cold epoch the
mountain-hare would have had a continuous range; but that as the Arctic
climate gradually receded to polar regions, the species would be able to
survive in southern latitudes only on mountain ranges, and thus would
become broken up into many discontinuous patches, corresponding with
these ranges. In the same way we can explain the occurrence of Arctic
vegetation on the Alps and Pyrenees--namely, as left behind by the
retreat of the Arctic climate at the close of the glacial period.

But now, on the other hand, the theory of special creation cannot so
well afford to render this obvious explanation of discontinuity. In the
case of the Arctic flora of the Alps, for instance, although it is true
that much of this vegetation is of an Arctic type, it is not true that
the species are all identical with those which occur in the Arctic
regions. Therefore the theory of special creation would here have to
assume that, although the now common species were left behind on the
Alps by the retreat of glaciation northwards, the peculiar Alpine
species were afterwards created separately upon the Alps, and yet
created with such close affinities to the pre-existing species as to be
included with them under the same genera. Looking to the absurdity of
this supposition