Miscellaneous. 223 



alive at the present day. — He would have us believe that each new 

 species originated in consequence of some slight change in those that 

 preceded ; when every geological formation teems with types that 

 did not exist before. — He would have us believe that animals and 

 plants became gradually more and more numerous ; when most 

 species appear in myriads of individuals in the first bed in which 

 they are found. — He would have us believe that animals disappear 

 gradually ; when they are as common in the uppermost bed in which 

 they occur as in the lowest or any intermediate bed. Species appear 

 suddenly, and disappear suddenly, in successive strata. That is the 

 fact proclaimed by palaeontology. -They neither increase successively 

 in number, nor do they gradually dwindle down ; none of the fossil 

 remains thus far observed show signs of a gradual improvement or of 

 a slow decay. — He would have us believe that geological deposits 

 took place during the periods of subsidence ; when it can be proved 

 that the whole continent of North America is formed of beds which 

 were deposited during a series of successive upheavals. I quote North 

 America in preference to any other part of the world, because the 

 evidence is so complete here that it can only be overlooked by those 

 who may mistake subsidence for the general shrinkage of the earth's 

 surface in consequence of the cooling of its mass. In this part of 

 the globe, fossils are as common along the successive shores of the 

 rising deposits of the Silurian system as anywhere along our beaches ; 

 and each of these successive shores extends from the Atlantic States 

 to the foot of the Rocky Mountains . The evidence goes even further ; 

 each of these successive sets of beds of the Silurian system contains 

 peculiar fossils, neither found in the beds above nor in the beds below, 

 and between them there are no intermediate forms. And yet Darwin 

 affirms that "the littoral and sub-littoral deposits are continually 

 worn away as soon as they are brought up, by the slow and gradual 

 rising of the land, within the grinding action of the coast- waves " 

 (' Origin of Species,' p. 290). — He would also have us believe that the 

 most perfect organs of the body of animals are the product of gradual 

 improvement, when eyes as perfect as those of the Trilobites are 

 preserved with the remains of these oldest animals. — He would have 

 us believe that it required millions of years to effect any one of these 

 changes ; when far more extraordinary transformations are daily going 

 on, under our eyes, in the shortest periods of time, during the growth 

 of animals. — He would have us believe that animals acquire their 

 instincts gradually ; when even those that never see their parents 

 ^perform at birth the same acts, in the same way, as their progenitors. 

 — He would have us believe that the geographical distribution of 

 animals is the result of accidental transfers ; when most species are 

 so narrowly confined within the limits of their natural range that 

 even slight changes in their external relations may cause their death. 

 And all these, and many other calls upon our credulity, are coolly 

 made in the face of an amount of precise information, readily acces- 

 sible, which would overwhelm anyone who does not place his opinions 

 above the records of an age eminently characterized for its industry, 

 and during which that information was laboriously accumulated by 

 crowds of faithful labourers. 



