242 THE COMING OF AGE OF vn 



of the present fauna have been evolved. On 

 the contrary, there is a great deal to be said in 

 favour. 



In the course of summing up his results, M. 

 Filhol observes : 



" During the epoch of the phosphorites, great 

 changes took place in animal forms, and almost 

 the same types as those which now exist became 

 defined from one another. 



" Under the influence of natural conditions of 

 which we have no exact knowledge, though traces 

 of them are discoverable, species have been modi- 

 fied in a thousand ways : races have arisen which, 

 becoming fixed, have thus produced a corresponding 

 number of secondary species." 



In 1859, language of which this is an uninten- 

 tional paraphrase, occurring in the " Origin of 

 Species," was scouted as wild speculation ; at pres- 

 ent, it is a sober statement of the conclusions to 

 which an acute and critically-minded investigator 

 is led by large and patient study of the facts of 

 palaeontology. I venture to repeat what I have 

 said before, that so far as the animal world is 

 concerned, evolution is no longer a speculation, but 

 a statement of historical fact. It takes its place 

 alongside of those accepted truths which must be 

 reckoned with by philosophers of all schools. 



Thus when, on the first day of October next, 

 " The Origin of Species " comes of age, the pro- 

 mise of its youth will be amply fulfilled ; and we 



