894 THE STORY OF THE EARTH AJND MAN. 



of brute force^ but of liiglier skill and of thouglit, 

 and even of love — a control still seen in some degree 

 in the relation of man to his faithful companion, the 

 dog. These old words of Genesis, simple though 

 they are, place the rational superiority of man on a 

 stable basis, and imply a distinction between him and 

 the lower animals which cannot be shaken by the 

 sophistries of the evolutionists. 



The theistic picture further accords with the fact 

 that the geological time immediately preceding man's 

 appearance was a time of decadence of many of 

 the grander forms of animal life, especially in that 

 area of the old continent where man was to appear. 

 Whatever may be said of the imperfection of the 

 geological record, there can be no question of the 

 fact that the Miocene and earlier Pliocene were dis- 

 tinguished by the prevalence of grand and giga^ntic 

 forms of mammalian life, some of which disappeared 

 in or before the Glacial period, while others failed 

 after that period in the subsidence of the Post-glacial, 

 or in connection with its amelioration of climate. 

 The Modern animals are also, as explained above, a 

 selection from the grander fauna of the Post-glacial 

 period. To speak for the moment in Darwinian 

 language, there was for the time an evident tendency 

 to promote the survival of the fittest^ not in mere 

 physical development, but in intelligence and sagacity. 

 A similar tendency existed even in the vegetable 

 world, replacing the flora of American aspect which 

 had existed in the Pliocene, with the richer and more 



