52 THE FUNCTIONS OF LIFE. 



trace several points of resemblance, which show 

 them to be parts of one general plan, and to 

 have emanated from the same Creator. In the 

 progress of discovery we are continually meeting 

 with species which occupy intermediate places 

 between adjacent types, and appear as links 

 of connexion in the chain of being. It often 

 happens, as I shall hereafter have occasion to 

 point out, that throughout an extensive series of 

 organic forms, the steps of gradation by which 

 one type passes into another, are so numerous 

 and so regular, as to preclude the possibility of 

 drawing a decided line of demarcation between 

 those that properly appertain to each. 



All these apparent anomalies and gradations 

 of structure tend still farther to demonstrate the 

 generality of the plans of nature, and the com- 

 prehensiveness of her design, which embraces the 

 whole series of animated beings. These views 

 are strongly corroborated by the discoveries 

 that are continually being made of species now 

 no longer in existence, but which, in former 

 ages of the world, helped to fill up many of the 

 chasms which now interrupt the continuity of 

 that series. This knowledge has been revealed 

 to us by the examination of their fossil remains, 

 those monuments of former epochs, which have 

 thrown such important light on the most inte- 

 resting questions in Geology as well as in Phy- 

 siology. 



