BY THE PKESIDEM. 95 



1st. — I believe in the continuous sucoession of what arc known 

 to naturalists as genera and species, Avith a limited extent of modi- 

 fication, but not in their evolution or transmutation from previous 

 and very different forms. 



2nd. — I believe in tlie extinction of many genera and species 

 from time to time during the world's duration, and that such extinct 

 genera and species have never been reproduced. 



3rd. — I believe that the fossiliferous deposit, so very incon- 

 siderable in extent compared Avith the area of the whole globe, 

 which we consider the most ancient, was not the only fossiliferous 

 deposit which was formed during the same period, but that 

 numerous other deposits containing fossils of various kinds, terre- 

 strial as well as marine, and also vast tracts of land and sea, must 

 have then co-existed in different parts of the world, such co-existing 

 or synchronous deposits and tracts being now inclosed and concealed 

 in the crust of the earth or covered by the ocean. "Were those 

 other deposits discoverable, we might probably find the missing 

 links of creation, and possibly the remains of the original man and 

 monkey ! The Lower Silurian or Cambrian formation, which is 

 composed of apparently the primary series of fossiliferous deposits, 

 is of enormous thickness. It clearly implies the presence of land 

 elsewhere, because such deposits could only have been made from 

 the wearing away of a continent by the long-continued action of 

 rivers. Assuming that in the primeval epoch the surface of the 

 globe consisted of land and water in the same proportions as at 

 present, or in any approximative proportions, it is improbable that 

 the fossiliferous deposit first mentioned could have been the only 

 one, inasmuch as its fauna {e.g. Liiigula) is indicative of a shallow 

 sea and the consequent proximity of land. What became of the 

 deeper seas and of the land ? 



Tliese considerations serve to show our ignorance of the origin of 

 species ; nor am I confident that the problem will ever be solved, 

 notwithstanding the prediction of Horace : 



" Quidqnid siih ten a est i» npricum proferet cetas, 

 jbej'odiet condtlque niteutia." 



In En"lish : 



' Whatever is underground time will hrintr to light ; 

 It will bury and conceal glittering things." 



The latter part of the prediction, however, is more likely to be 

 fulfilled than the former. 



Ladies and gentlemen, let me noAv express my best thanks for 

 your patient attention to this unreasonably long address. I promise 



