CONTROVERSY AND PROGRESS. 81 



he tells us, " exhibit the simultaneous creation, and 

 the simultaneous destruction of entire fauna, and a 

 coincidence between these changes in the organic 

 world and the great physical changes our earth has 

 undergone." " The origin of the great variety of 

 types of animals and plants, can never," he declares, 

 " be attributed to the limited influence of monoto- 

 nous physical causes which always act in the same 

 way." On the contrary, it necessarily displays " the 

 intervention of a Creator" in the most striking man- 

 ner, in every stage of the history of the world. 



Agassiz returns to these points time and again, 

 and illustrates his argument in ways that are always 

 interesting, if not always conclusive. As a resume 

 of his teaching respecting the origin, distribution 

 and extinction of animals and plants, and as an indi- 

 cation of his spirit of reverence and piety, nothing 

 can be more explicit or edifying than the following 

 paragraphs taken from his profound " Essay on 

 Classification," so frequently quoted : 



" The products of what are commonly called 

 physical agents are everywhere the same, that is, 

 upon the whole surface of the globe ; and have al- 

 ways been the same, that is, during all geological 

 periods ; while organized beings are everywhere 

 different, and have differed in all ages. Between 

 two such series of phenomena there can be no causal 

 or genetic connection. 



"The combination in time and space of all these 

 thoughtful conceptions, exhibits not only thought ; 

 it shows also premeditation, power, wisdom, great- 

 ness, prescience, omniscience, providence. In one 



