284 RELICS OF PRIMEVAL LIFE 



different from those at present existing as to 

 permit spontaneous generation is of no scientific 

 value. But if the existence of one primitive Pro- 

 tozoon be granted, what reason have we to beheve 

 that it contains potentially the germ of all the suc- 

 ceeding creatures in the great chain of life, and the 

 power of co-ordinating these with the successive 

 physical changes of the geological ages, and so pro- 

 ducing the vast and complicated system of the 

 animal kingdom, extending up to the present time ? 

 In doing so, we either elevate a low form of animal 

 life into the role of Creator, or fall back on in- 

 definite chance, with infinite probabilities against 

 us. Reason, in short, requires us to believe in a 

 First Cause, self-existent, omnipotent and all-wise, 

 designing from the first a great and homogeneous 

 plan, of which as yet but little has been discovered 

 by us. Thus any rational scheme of development 

 of the earth's population in geological time must 

 be, not an agnostic evolution, but a reverent inquiry 

 into the mode by which it pleased the Creator to 

 proceed in His great work. 



Regarding the matter in this way, there is legiti- 

 mate scope for science in tracing the long lines of 

 the different types of ancient animals to the 



