Tropical Nature, and Other Essays - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878 edition. Excerpt: ... VIII. THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS AS INDICATING GEOGRAPHICAL CHANGES. Old Opinions on Continental Changes--Theory of Oceanic Islands--Present and Past Distribution of Land and Sea--Zoological Regions--The Palaarctic Region--The Ethiopian Region--The Oriental Region--Past Changes of the Great Eastern Continent--Regions of the New World--Past History of the American Continents--The Australian Region--Summary and Conclusion. There is a curious old book entitled Restitution of Decayed Intelligence in Antiquities Concerning the Most Noble and Renowned English Nation, written in 1605, by Ii. Verstegcn. The fourth chapter treats "Of the Isles of Albion, and how it is showed to have been continent or firm land with Gallia, now named France, since the Flood of Noe;" and after referring to several ancient writers who had held this opinion but without giving any reasons for it, the author proceeds to argue the point, referring to the narrowness of the straits, their extreme.shallowness, the similarity of the opposite coasts both in height and character, the meaning of the word "cliff" as being that which is cleft asunder, and other matters; after which comes this quaint and interesting passage:--1 This is one of the Lectures on Scientific Geography delivered before the Royal Geographical Society, but the introductory portion lias been rewritten. The original Lecture appeared in the Proceedings of the Society for September, 1877, under the title: "On the Comparative Antiquity of Continents, as indicated by the Distribution of Living and Extinct Auimals." "Another reason there is that this separation hath, been made since the flood, which is also very considerable,.and that is the patriarch Noe, having had with him in the Ark all sorts of beasts,...