But as the supernatural faded away and disappeared
in other departments where it had so long reigned
supreme, and science began to classify, arrange, and
accumulate facts as they really are, it became more and
more difficult, or rather impossible, to accept this simple
explanation. The very first step destroyed the validity
of all the traditional myths which described the origin
of life from one simultaneous act of creation at a single
centre. The earth is divided into separate zoological
provinces, each with its own peculiar animal and vege-
table world. The kangaroo, for instance, is found in
Australia and there only. By no possibility could the
aboriginal kangaroo have jumped at one bound from I
Mount Ararat to Australia, leaving no trace of his
passage in any intermediate district. This isolation
of life in separate provinces applies so rigidly, that we
may sum it up by saying generally that there are no
forms of life common to two provinces unless where



88 MODERN SCIENCE AND MODERN THOUGHT.
migration is possible, or Las been possible in past
geological periods.
