GEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE — HAWKINS 259 



and the sure results of our actions. But valuable and salutary as this 

 knowledge may be, it leaves us completely at the mercy of our en- 

 vironment, like passengers in a train going they know not whither 

 with almost ominous smoothness. Our surroundings are impersonal, 

 insensitive, and inevitable; it is for us to make the best we can of 

 them. And here another aspect of geological history, paleontology, 

 is available to give warning and advice. The story of life through 

 the ages of the earth's history touches us more nearly than does that 

 of the inanimate fabric; for we are living creatures, and our bodily 

 lives are held on the same terms as those of the rest of the animate 

 world. 



Before attempting to discuss the influence of the paleontological 

 record on our own case, it is necessary to meet certain objections that 

 may be raised. The same childish conceit that supposes the universe 

 to be a playground made for mankind alone automatically believes 

 that man is so far superior to all other creatures that the episodes of 

 their obscure lives have no bearing on the problems of his exalted 

 existence. It is of course true that man has certain attributes and 

 capacities that are scarcely developed among other animals; but so 

 have all other types, else how could we distinguish and classify 

 them? 



For convenience we may admit that a man consists of two parts, 

 commonly called body and soul, and that these two parts are largely 

 antithetic. All respectable religions have always stressed the conflict 

 between the carnal and the spiritual; and yet many most earnest 

 enthusiasts insist that their enemy, the body, must be as peculiar and 

 sacred as their friend the soul. Confusion of thought such as this is 

 not only strange, but disastrous, for it is the beginning and end of 

 materialism. The human body, in its anatomical and physiological 

 characters, is an animal's body ; as such it is strictly comparable with 

 that of any other animal, and subject to the same laws. Anyone who 

 believes otherwise, and lives in accordance with his beliefs, will be 

 dead within an hour. 



Such evidence as is available to show the history of living creatures 

 during the course of geological time will therefore have at least a 

 partial bearing on the problems of our own lives. It will be apt for 

 comparison with our bodily and racial lives, and our reactions to our 

 physical environment, whatever complications may be introduced by 

 our special human attributes. 



A comprehensive survey of the paleontological record shows con- 

 clusively that there, as in the physical history of the earth, inviolable 

 laws are in continuous operation. Paramount among these laws is 

 that of cause and effect ; which, in its biological aspect, is called the 

 law of evolution. 



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