CHAP. II - Geographical Distribution of Ditto

Summary

Having considered the first creation of the animal kingdom, and the larger features of its history to the time of the Deluge, bringing us to that era when our globe had assumed its present general characters, and its population was in those circumstances that led to their present habits and stations: the next subject to be discussed is their geographical and local distribution.

What had taken place in this respect before the Deluge we have no means of ascertaining. That the original temperature of the earth was once more equal than it is now, seems to be the general opinion of men of science, however they may differ as to its cause. If this was the case, as it probably was, any individual species might have been located in any country, north or south, and suffer no inconvenience from unaccustomed heat or cold, so as to interfere with its complete naturalization: the only other requisite would be a kind of food suited to its nature; and it is singular and worthy of particular attention, that a large proportion of the plants, as well as animals, that are found in a fossil state in our northern latitudes are of a tropical type or character.

After their creation, and perhaps the expulsion of the first pair from Paradise, we may suppose that the various animals of the antediluvian world were guided to those regions in which it was the will of Providence to place them, by a divine impulse upon them, which caused them to move in the right direction.