158 EVOLUTION AND DOGMA. 



temporary, Lamarck. Replying to the argument 

 based on the unchanged condition of the fauna 

 and flora of Egypt, he observed that " the animals 

 and plants referred to had not experienced any 

 modification in their specific characters, because the 

 climate, soil and other conditions of life had not 

 varied in the interval. But if," he continued, " the 

 physical geography, temperature and other natural 

 conditions of Egypt, had altered as much as we 

 know they have done in many countries in the 

 course of geological periods, the same animals and 

 plants would have deviated from their pristine types 

 so widely as to rank as new and distinct species." ' 



This answer of Lamarck's is, with some modifi- 

 cations, the answer which is now given by men of 

 science to the objection under consideration. When- 

 ever the environment remains unchanged, where the 

 conditions of life are always identical, the fauna and 

 flora of a given area may persist without any spe- 

 cific mutations for an indefinite period of time. Re- 

 garding Egypt it is notorious, that its climate and 

 soil are to-day precisely what they were during the 

 reign of the first of the Pharaohs, and precisely what 

 they were when the bull Apis was led in solemn pro- 

 cession to the temples of Memphis and Heliopolis. 

 As to other examples of animals and plants which 

 .have resisted specific change, not only during thou- 

 sands, but also millions of years, the same answer 

 may be given. The environment may have been 

 modified more or less, but not sufficiently to effect 



1 " Philosophic Zoologique," pp. 70, et seq. 



