Xll 



PREFACE 



We see in every geological era evidence of ascent 

 in the scale of organic being, and we can trace it 

 rising ever upward, from geologic age to geologic age, 

 until it ends in man. It has been the habit of 

 Darwinians to speak confidently of the unbroken 

 chain of life from Palaeozoic forms up to the appear- 

 ance of man. But in truth there is no such chain. 

 Wherever we come to a critical ppint, the appearance, 

 that is to say, of a new generic type, the link that 

 should connect it with an antecedent lower form, is 

 wholly wanting. From bottom to top of the ascending 

 scale of life the geologic record does not convey to 

 our mind the slightest hint or suggestion that higher 

 forms of life have been evolved from lower forms. 



This is especially remarkable when some absolutely 

 different and, in respect to the older forms, entirely 

 heterogeneous form appears, such as a true fish in the 

 midst of molluscs and crustaceans. The first fish that 

 so appears is, in regard to its external form and internal 

 structure, as perfectly developed as are the later fish 

 forms, having no correspondence with any antecedent 

 form of life, and preceded by no half-way form pro- 

 phetic of its emergence. 



It is the same with respect to bird forms, which 

 from their first appearance on the stage of organic 

 existence exhibit all the essential characteristics of 

 the developed bird. Some years ago a fossil feather 

 was discovered in a rock system which at the time of 

 the discovery was supposed to have been destitute 

 of feathered life, but in which a few bird forms have 



