20 AN OUTLINE OF THE THEORY. 
their nests and young, further adaptations would occur, 
till the wonderful power of diving and flying under water 
was acquired by a true land-bird.” (“Darwinism,” p. 81- 
82.) 
Lines of Evidence. 
The evolutionary hypothesis (both in its atheistic and 
theistic or “Christian” form) is understood to rest on the 
following lines of proof: 
1. Primary: The evidence of palaeontology ‘aie 
study of fossil remains in the rocks). The surface of the 
earth underneath the top soil consists of layers of rock. 
Some of them are made up of lime deposits, others of 
the shells of shell-fish, others of sand-stone, others of dead 
trees of the forest (coal), all of them turned hard by the 
pressure of the weight lying on top of them. Besides 
these sedimentary rock there are formations like granite, 
showing the influence of heat. Digging among the sedi- 
mentary rock (limestone, sand-stone, principally) we 
come across preserved remains of all sorts of animals; 
some just like those which live to-day, some similar but 
somewhat different, others quite dissimilar from living 
animals of our day. These are the fossils. Now, evo- 
lutionists assert that the oldest and simplest animal and 
plant remains are found in the oldest layers of rock. 
This is said to prove that in the history of plants and 
animals on earth, the simplest forms are the oldest and 
that later the more complex forms were developed from 
these. LeConte states the matter thus: “The farther 
back in time we go, the simpler the forms of animal and 
plant life become, and these forms occur in the order of 
their origination, just as if they were developed one from 
another.” 
2. Corroborative: a) The Argument from Morpho- 
logy (Structure). The resemblance of the structure of 
