138 E VOL UTION A ND D OGMA . 



and a rudiment of the innermost or first digit in 

 front, with probably a rudiment of the fifth digit in 

 the hind foot ; while in still older forms the series of 

 the digits will be more and more complete, until we 

 come to the five-toed animals, in which, if the doc- 

 trine of Evolution is well founded, the whole series 

 must have taken its origin." 



Only a few months after this declaration, Prof. 

 Marsh unearthed in the Eocene deposits of the West 

 an equine animal, eohippus, having four complete 

 toes and a rudimentary one in the front foot, thus 

 making good the first part of the prophecy. As to 

 the remaining part, it is, for men of science, only a 

 question of time until it, too, sees its fulfillment. 



But the theory of Evolution enables not only pal- 

 eontologists, but also morphologists and embryolo- 

 gists, to predict the unseen and unknown. And this, 

 to say no more, is certainly a strong substantiation 

 of its truth. For we can ask no mere of a theory 

 than that it accord with the facts it is designed to 

 explain. And the more perfectly the theory har- 

 monizes with the facts observed, the more nearly is 

 it demonstrated, so far as any purely inductive con- 

 clusion can be demonstrated. 



The theory of organic Evolution may not, as yet, 

 be susceptible of an experimental demonstration 

 although there are not wanting those who think such 

 a demonstration is forthcoming, if, indeed, it has not 

 already been furnished but it unquestionably occu- 

 pies a high rank among the best accredited theories 

 of contemporary science. It seems, even now, to re- 

 pose on as firm a basis as did the Copernican theory 



