94 GLAUCUS ; OR, 
belief that the universe was brought into being as 
it now exists by a single fiat. We know that the 
work has been gradual; that the earth 
** In tracts of fluent heat began, 
The seeming prey of cyclic storms, 
The home of seeming random forms, 
Till, at the last, arose the man.” 
And we know, also, that these forms, “seeming 
random ” as they are, have appeared according to a 
law which, as far as we can judge, has been on the 
whole one of progress,—lower animals (though we 
cannot yet say, the lowest) appearing first, and man, 
the highest mammal, “the roof and crown of things,” 
one of the latest in the series. We have no more 
right, let it be observed, to say that man, the highest, 
appeared last, than that the lowest appeared first. 
It was probably so, in both cases; but there is as 
yet no positive proof of either; and as we know that 
species of animals lower than those which already 
existed appeared again and again during the various 
eras, so it is quite possible that they may be appear- 
ing now, and may appear hereafter: and that for 
