XIV 



PREFACE 



and under the sea, until they left the land altogether 

 and plunged into the water, where their forms became 

 further modified to suit their mode of life. But in 

 the case of these organic forms their original structure, 

 adapted primarily for life on land, is still preserved in 

 more or less rudimentary fashion, whilst, unlike true 

 fishes, they cannot live without rising at short intervals 

 to inflate their lungs with fresh supplies of air, and 

 still remain true mammals, bringing forth their young 

 alive and suckling them. 



But the earliest forms of mammal vertebrates are 

 perfectly finished forms, and do not smell of the sea. 

 Beyond the skeleton they have no structural or other 

 affinities with any kind of fishes. 



I now address myself to the orthodox Darwinian, 

 who believes in Natural Selection as the evolutionary 

 power of Nature. 



I do not ask him to solve the hopelessly insoluble 

 problem of how mammal forms were developed from 

 fish forms, but I insist on his explaining how the 

 earliest mammalia came to manifestation, without 

 father or mother, without having their appearance on 

 the stage of organic life heralded by a series of forms 

 in the making, from the fish to the mammal. 



Let us take into intelligent consideration Darwin's 

 doctrine of Natural Selection and its long-drawn-out 

 processes. 



The individual of a species who is starting on the 

 path of further development, by reason of its 

 possessing a variation superior to those possessed by 



