CREATION BY EVOLUTION 



the prehistorian. When this imagination restores the links 

 in the chain of life we call them hypothetical ; the links thus 

 restored are not random guesses, but carefully predicted 

 stages, and many such predictions have been shown to be 

 approximately correct by fortunate subsequent discoveries. 

 It is therefore not too much to expect that more such pre- 

 dictions may yet be verified through the intensive systematic 

 exploration of to-day, which is very different from the often 

 unorganized search of the past. Indeed, the memorable find- 

 ing of the planet Neptune, after the astronomer's mathe- 

 matical calculation had shown that it must be in a certain 

 part of the heavens at a certain time has had its parallel in 

 more than one recorded verification of a like prediction in 

 palaeontology. To trace complete continuity in the succession 

 of living forms that have inhabited the earth would necessi- 

 tate the finding of a representative of each generation, a 

 thing that is manifestly impossible. There must always be 

 breaks in the record, but we are disposed to insist that the 

 breaks should not be very great, and that they should not 

 occur at highly critical stages in evolutionary advance. To 

 find serene security in our faith in the continuity of life we 

 must still await discoveries that will bridge certain breaks. 

 The origin of living matter — of organic matter — from the 

 lifeless material of the inorganic world was a most momen- 

 tous step, for it led ultimately to the peopling of the globe 

 with its countless hosts of animals and plants. When, 

 where, and how life began, however, we do not know, 

 although much purely academic discussion has been waged 

 about the question. As students of the origin of the earth 

 must assume the preexistence of matter and energy, so stu- 

 dents of organic evolution must assume the existence of 

 something organic to evolve, but science is silent on the great 

 problems of first causation. 



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