DESCENT WITH CHANGE 385 



visible animalcules has a magnificence that cannot be exaggerated. 

 It has been a process in which the time required has been, as it 

 were, of no consideration, in which for many millions of years there 

 has been neither rest nor haste, in which broad foundations have 

 been laid so that a splendid superstructure has been secured, in 

 which, in spite of the disappearance of many masterpieces, there 

 has been a conservation of great gains. It has its outcome in per- 

 sonalities who have discerned its magnificent sweep, who are 

 seeking to understand its factors, who are learning some of its 

 lessons, who cannot cease trying to interpret it. It looks as if 

 Nature were Nature for a purpose" — but this thought carries us 

 beyond the accepted sphere of science into the great fields of phi- 

 losophy and theology. 



