v CHANGE FROM A REPTILE TO A BIRD 59 



but by no means entirely, like that of a man who, know- 

 ing nothing of the facts of English history, should 

 attempt to infer them from the character and peculiar- 

 ities of our existing institutions. Many and ludicrous 

 would be his errors. The evolutionist is saved from 

 many mistakes by the geological record, which, how- 

 ever fragmentary, is a safe guide as far as it goes. 

 And if Sir Richard Owen, when presented with a 

 single bone from New Zealand, was able to some 

 extent to describe the giant bird of which it had 

 once formed part, is it not possible that, by the help 

 of animals, fossil or still existing, evolutionists have 

 drawn a picture of the primitive ancestors of our 

 present species that is at any rate not far removed 

 from the truth ? 



Books on the Subject. 



Darwin's Origin of Species. 



Wallace's Darwinism. 



Weissmann's Essays on Her edify, and Romanes Lecture. 



Miss Buckley's Wiiiners in Lifers Race. 



(The literature of the subject is endless.) 



