not to account for the work of creation by the natural agencies
and inherent qualities of matter, _as at present observable_, but to fly
off to the wild supposition, that matter and life were more richly
endowed ages ago than they are in our own day. You affirm, that this
higher principle of development did not override the inferior laws at
the earlier periods in time's history, because, in the infancy of the
universe, the conditions were wanting which are requisite for its
manifestation,--because the earth was not ready, the atmosphere was not
purified, for the nobler races of being. Very well; but these conditions
are answered _now_. All things are ready at the present day for the
innate energies of matter to put forth their utmost strength. Why do not
fishes generate reptiles, and birds produce mammifers, _now_? Ah! but
"the earth being now supplied with both kinds of tenants in great
abundance, we could only expect to find the life-originating power at
work in some very special and extraordinary circumstances." It seems,
then, that these inherent qualities of matter, once supposed to be
blind, absolute, and invariable in their operation, are really very
judicious and reasonable; they suit the supply to the demand, and
actually cease working when the market is likely to be overstocked. The
results of such "_natural_ agencies" as these are very like the effects
produced by the volitions of a wise and thinking being.

It happens that we are not obliged to grant to our author an indefinite
lapse of ages for the sake of bringing all his higher principles into
action. One of the latest events in the geological history of the earth
was a great submersion of the land, by which "terrestrial animal life
was extensively, if not universally, destroyed"; so that the creation of
the species now in being--at least, all the higher species--was "a
comparatively recent event, and one posterior, generally speaking, to
all the great natural transactions chronicled by geology." Science does
not contradict, it rather confirms, that voice of revelation or
tradition, which assigns about six thousand years as the period of man's
residence upon the earth. The action of the drama, then, is restricted
within moderate limits as to time, and the "natural agencies" and
"higher principles" must work fast in order to accomplish their task
within the prescribed period. One condition for the creation of a new
and permanent species, belonging to any of