%M THE NEW EVOLUTION ®^ 



dependent on a similarly unbroken continuity in the 

 supply of the necessary food materials. 



Therefore in a consideration of the living world it 

 is essential to understand the origin of the food which 

 supports the animals and plants and also the widely 

 varying conditions under which that food is offered. 

 For without a proper appreciation of the setting in 

 which the development of animal forms took place 

 any discussion of the subject becomes mere futile 

 speculation. 



Eogenesis. — From the air, the water and the rocks 

 do all living things secure those substances which are 

 necessary for their existence and their increase. Ever 

 since life first appeared on earth rain has been falling 

 on the land and the water, heat and cold have been 

 weathering away the rocks, and from them liberating 

 those substances necessary for the support of life in 

 the same way that it is being done at the present 

 time. 



We cannot deny this without at the same time deny- 

 ing the validity of the comparisons between the geo- 

 logical processes of the present day and the geological 

 processes of the past, comparisons which furnish the 

 only clue to the interpretation of the latter. 



Since the conditions on the earth, in so far as they 

 affect the basic food requirements of plants and ani- 

 mals, to the best of our knowledge and belief have 

 remained unchanged from the very earliest times at 

 which we may assume that plants and animals existed, 

 is it not reasonable to suppose that in its broader 

 features the world of animals and plants has from the 



[2-10] 



