nd, which most probably would have been the case, they drifted there in the naked state.

he genera of animals to which the Kirkdale bones beamounted to twenty-three in number; viz., Hyena, er, Bear, Wolf, Fox, Weasel, Ox, Elephant, RhinoceHippopotamus, Horse, Deer three species, Hare, RabWater-rat, Mouse, Raven, Pigeon, Lark, Duck, and ridge.

great proportion of these animals belonged to species supposed to be extinct, though the genera of them all still living.

On examination of all the circumstances, Professor kland concludes that this cave was the den of hyenas, that the multitude of bones thus discovered, were carinto this place by these animals, and therefore that the a, an animal now inhabiting the hottest climates, once in England.

hese bones were, without exception, broken or gnawed, at, among the vast numbers the cave contained, there d hardly be found all the pieces for a single limb, h less for an entire skeleton. The great number of has which had died in this cave, or whose skulls had à carried there, was proved by the number of the canine n of this animal, which it contained.

Professor Buckland states that one collector obtained e than 300 of these teeth, and as each individual has four of this kind, these must have belonged to at t seventy-five of these animals. But from the numof such teeth found, besides the 300, and other cirstances, it was judged that not less than from 200 to hyenas had perished in this cave. Hence, it is conled, that the cave had been for a long series of years a of hyenas, and that these bones were carried there as r food.

'his supposition is supported by the well known habits appetites of these animals at the present day; their itations being the deep recesses of the rocks, and their the carcasses and bones of animals already dead, and ayed.

The immense power of the jaw, which these animals sess, enables them to break and masticate bones in a aner which no other animal can do. When they ata dog, it is said they begin by biting off his leg at a

arla anon!" and Prof Ruabland after

part of hie

x was written, had the satisfaction of seeing a Cape na, in confinement, crush the thigh bone of an ox, in anner which convinced him that the bones in the had undergone a similar operation. The animal bit ■ll the upper part of the bone, which he swallowed in shape of fragments, licking out the marrow from the y. The lower part, being exceedingly hard, he did eat; and with this Prof. Buckland compared the fragts of similar bones found in the cave. His words are, preserved all the fragments and gnawed parts of this -, for the sake of comparison, by the side of those ve from the ante-diluvian den in Yorkshire: there is lutely no difference between them, except in point of

his experiment was followed by presenting the feros animal with other bones. "I gave him, successivesays he, "three shin bones of a sheep, he snapped nasunder in a moment, dividing each into two parts, of which he swallowed entire, and without the smallnastication. On the keeper putting a spar of wood, inches in diameter, into his den, he crushed it in es, as if it had been touch-wood, and in a minute the le was reduced to a mass of splinters. The power of jaws far exceeded any animal force of the kind I ever exerted, and reminded me of nothing so much as a er's crushing mill, or the scissors with which they off bars of iron and copper, in the metal foundries."quia Diluviana, p. 37.

is not to be supposed that the carcasses of the Elet, Rhinoceros, and Hippopotamus, were carried into cave in an entire state; for neither the strength of Hyena, nor the size of the aperture would favor such opinion. The state of the bones, on the contrary, ld seem to indicate that they were dragged in, one at ne, from the carcasses of such animals as were found in the neighborhood, as food for these ferocious

ts.

n the hypothesis that these animals had entered the kdale cavern, when living, and of their own accord, it at once be objected, that unless the size of the aperwas much larger formerly than when discovered, this ld have been impossible; besides, the elephant, horse, >opotamus, and most of the other animals whose bones cave contained, never voluntarily go into such places.

The id might hav is fully as fact, that

some cata

to enter ca

imagined.
the horse
with the h
place, at th
able, and
skeleton
bones, onl
All thes

tory a ma
inhabited
belonging
have been
more imp
for the b
had they
only could
would ha

It is the

lived and nor is the ed as an a

of the cli

The

on

the hippo the hottes which al Africa. these fou did in E "To t So natura climate genera o regions me to fi that the their re

the dilu

e idea has also been suggested, that these animals t have taken shelter in this place in order to avoid catastrophe, perhaps the deluge. But this opinion ly as improbable as the other, for in addition to the that most of these animals have never been known ter caves, on any occasion-no circumstances can be ined, which would have forced the deer and the tiger, horse and the wolf, the fox and the rabbit, together the hyena and elephant, to take shelter in the same , at the same time. But what makes all this improband indeed impossible, is, that not a single entire ton was found in the cave; clearly proving that the s, only, of these animals were carried there.

1 these facts and circumstances prove, in as satisfaca manner as can be desired, that England was once bited by elephants, hyenas, tigers, and other animals ging only to hot climates; for that these bones could been drifted from a foreign climate into this cave, is improbable than any hypothesis we have mentioned; he bones alone would have sunk in the water; and they been covered with flesh, the larger animals not could not have entered, but if so, their entire skeletons d have still remained.

is therefore reasonable to conclude, that these animals and died in the country where their bones are found; Is there any one circumstance which can be employan argument against such a belief, except the coldness e climate at the present day.

he only climates in which the elephant, the rhinoceros, hippopotamus and hyena are now found, are among hottest on the earth; and it is said, the only country eh all these four animals inhabit together, is Southern ca. In the neighborhood of the Cape of Good Hope, e four animals live and die together, as they formerly n England.

To the question," says Prof. Buckland, "which here aturally presents itself, as to what might have been the ate of the northern hemisphere when peopled with era of animals, which are now confined to the warmer ons of the earth, it is not essential to the point before to find a solution; my object is to establish the fact, these animals lived and died in the regions where - romains are found and wovo not drifted thither by

nate in which these extinct species may have lived,
ecedently to the great inundation by which they were
rpated, is a distinct matter of inquiry, and on which
highest authorities are not agreed.'
Cuvier is of the opinion, that many of the extinct fossil
mals were of a different species from those now in ex-
nce, and therefore the inference may be drawn, that
e species of the same genera might have been fitted for
old, while others could live only in a warm climate.
Thus the fox is found, both in the coldest, and the hot-
regions; and the Newfoundland dog is so protected
his coat, as to endure the cold of an arctic winter,
ile the naked African species would perish in a moder-
climate.

On the other hand, it may be contended that the re-
ins of many animals are found in strata in cold regions,
ich are not liable to any such variations, and which
n their nature, or structure, are known to live only in
climates; such are the crocodiles and some species of
tortoise.

But the want of vegetation in cold climates, is an insuable objection to the hypothesis, that such animals as elephant, rhinoceros and hippopotamus, could have n maintained during the winter season in Great Britlet their natural clothing be supposed ever so warm. d besides, the bones of these animals, and especially se of the elephant, are nowhere found in such abunce, as in Siberia, one of the most inhospitable climates the earth, and in which country, at the present day, re is hardly sufficient vegetation to maintain a few elents, even during the few months of summer; and ere that most hardy of all quadrupeds, the rein-deer, with difficulty maintain itself through the rigors of eight months' winter. At present, the elephant and noceros, except through the tyranny of man, are never nd out of a country perpetually verdant.

noceros, ti well know sively in fr it from tak

Vith respect to the supposition which has been offered, these animals might have migrated with the seasons, thus enjoyed the luxury of a constant vegetation, it is n that the present geographical situation of England, ld invalidate any such hypothesis, unless it can be wn that these animals found a warmer country by ssing the straits of Dover, a distance of more than

nty miles, by water. This, so far as regards the rhi

os, tiger and hyena, is clearly impossible, and it is known that the hippopotamus not only lives exclu- in fresh water, but that its unwieldy bulk prevents n taking long and rapid journeys.

us the fact which geology has brought to light, with ct to certain portions of the animal, as well as the able kingdom, appear very clearly to concur in prothat the climate of Europe was once, at least as aras the hottest parts of Africa are at this day; and that was a time, when Siberia was clothed with a suffiy of vegetation to support herds of elephants during hole year.

uses which have produced a change of climate. With ct to the cause, or causes which have effected so great nge in the temperature of the earth's surface, there great variety of opinions.

urnet, as stated in the abstract we have given of his y, accounted for this change by supposing that the 's axis took a new and different position at the time oah's flood; but astronomy has shown the improbaof any such change in position.

ost writers who admit a deterioration of climate, supwith Burnet, that the change was sudden, and that it place about the period of the deluge. Some, howand among them Mr. Lyell, believe it to have been ual, occupying thousands of years, and to have been ed by the changes which have taken place in the relpositions of the sea and land. But in the first place, uch changes as this author supposes are proved to happened with respect to the sea and land; nor se, had such changes been proved, is it at all probable, local causes could have been adequate to effect a ge so material and universal.

ther theorists, who maintain the deterioration to have gradual, think that the most reasonable mode of aciting for it, is to suppose that the earth was created in state of a fused mass, and that it has been cooling ever

e.

ir John F. W. Herschel has recently made some caltions and inquiries, with the view of ascertaining ther there existed any astronomical causes, which

for the difference between the present and