DARWINISM : ITS WEAK AND STRONG POINTS. 75 



Hseckel, and other brilliant expounders of biology, 

 have presented plausible arguments in favor of evolu- 

 tion doctrines. Palaeontology teaches plainly that 

 there have been tolerably regular successions of plants 

 and animals during unmeasured periods of time, an 

 appreciable improvement being made in the passage 

 of each consecutive cycle. But as stumbling blocks 

 to the even flow of succession in the development of 

 the flora and fauna of our globe, there occur at fre- 

 quent intervals a perplexing number of gaps or miss- 

 ing links ; and we are complacently asked to fill them 

 with evidence gone down with submerged conti- 

 nents! The supporters of the doctrine of evolution 

 too often are forced to rely on probabilities, possibili- 

 ties, and feeMe sequences, to bridge ugly chasms in 

 their otherwise plausible theories. 



Mr. Darwin experimented with dogs and pigeons, 

 and found variability existing so largely in them that 

 he would have his readers infer how species may have 

 been developed from varieties. The inference en- 

 forced by these examples seems to be that if the in- 

 genuity of man can accomplish so much in a few 

 years, how infinitely much more might be effected in 

 the way of variation during unlimited periods of 

 time! But before too much is conceded to the bent 

 of the argument, let it be considered that only the 

 most plastic of animals have been domesticated. Such 

 alone could be coerced or coaxed into unions that 

 promised variation. When attempts are made to ob- 

 tain varieties from more rigid forms, a discouraging 

 lack of success will be encountered. Sparrows and 

 ferrets will not display variability like pigeons and 

 rabbits. 



It is consonant with evolution views to presume 



