Twilight and Dawn; Or, Simple Talks on the Six Days of CreationPridham, Caroline
Religion
Twilight and Dawn; Or, Simple Talks on the Six Days of Creation
Pridham, Caroline
Creation -- Juvenile literature
Another, called the Winged-lizard, had bat-like wings and dreadful jaws
armed with numerous teeth. All these "Saurians" are believed to have
frequented the sea or rivers; but another called the Great-lizard, was a
land-animal, as was the Forest-lizard, and a monster kind of Toad with very
curiously formed teeth. But no description will give you an idea of the
size of these creatures, though I may tell you that a party of gentlemen
dined inside the body of one great extinct lizard at the Crystal Palace,
where models, not very accurately made, of the most remarkable ancient
animals are to be seen. I think my first thought when I see the actual
remains of these old-world monsters, with their terrible jaws, is that of
thankfulness that they have passed away from sea and land. But we know that
God who created them "saw that it was good," and in the Book of Job we may
read His description of mighty and terrible creatures which show forth His
power.
We were speaking of a monster toad whose fossil remains have been found;
and I must tell you that before we had done with the "Creeping Things," I
was asked a difficult question. "To what class do the frogs and toads and
newts belong? Are they Vertebrate animals? Do they belong to the land or
the water?"
I said they certainly do belong to the great Backboned family, and are
placed in a class by themselves, as they are neither Mammalia, Birds,
Fishes, nor Reptiles, properly speaking, and are called Amphibia, because
they live, as it were, a double life.
[Illustration: BROWN FROGS.]
They have gills, which enable them to breathe in water, to begin with,
and lungs which enable them to breathe in air, later on. They are mostly
without scales, and do not need to drink, because they imbibe moisture from
the air through their soft damp skin. When you see a frog hopping across
your path, you see a creature which has known many a change in its life,
for frogs are among those very interesting animals which undergo what are
called _metamorphoses_. We have met with this word before, and may remember
that it is used to express the change from one form to another which is
wrought in some living creatures in the course of their growth. I daresay
you imagine as I once did, that all young animals are like their parents,
only on a smaller scale; for you see that a young horse, or elephant, or
whale, a pup or a kitten, is at its birth in all respects just what it
will be when full-grown, only smaller. So it is with the reptiles and the
birds--the young ones, when hatched, are like the parents. But in the case
of frogs and newts, and also most insects, the young ones do not merely
increase in size as they grow, but pass from one stage of growth to
another, each different from the former, until like the butterfly when
it emerges from the chrysalis, they reach what is called their perfect
state--and these metamorphoses or changes are very curious and interesting
indeed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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