OBJECTIONS AGAINST EVOLUTION. 173 



archaeopteryx, with a long lizard-like tail bearing a 

 pair of feathers on each joint, and with its wings 

 furnished with two free claws, has been discovered 

 in the Oolitic slates of Solenhofen. Hardly any 

 recent discovery shows more forcibly than this how 

 little we as yet know of the former inhabitants of 

 the world." 1 



Another important fact we should not lose sight 

 of is, that as yet but a comparatively small portion 

 of the earth has been explored by geologists. The 

 formations of the earth in North America are fairly 

 well known, but even in these portions of the world 

 there is still much to be learned. As to South 

 America, Asia, Africa, Australia, they are for the 

 most part terra incognita to the paleontologist. 

 Such being the case it were foolish in the extreme to 

 dogmatize on the sequence of organic forms in past 

 geologic time, or to attempt to base an argument 

 against Evolution on the absence of certain transi- 

 tional types and on the consequent imperfection of 

 the record so far at our disposal. 



It has been estimated that not so much as one 

 per cent., of the countless species of animals which 

 have flourished since the first dawn of life, has left 

 the slightest trace of its past existence. Marine 

 forms, as might be expected, are better represented 

 than land forms. Indeed there are not wanting 

 those who assert, that of terrestrial types not more 

 than one species in a thousand is represented by 

 known fossils. 



1 " The Origin of Species," vol. II, pp. 79 and So. 



