EVOLUTION. 87 



wonderful development of the two wings of a bird,, 

 slightly modified to suit the form of the animal, and' 

 from these wing-shaped structures proceeded actual 

 feathers. There was the central shaft, the barbs, and 

 the barblets clearly defined leaving no doubt what- 

 ever as to the identity of the animal in question. It 

 was a reptilian bird. And so we find two orders, or 

 rather branches, which it seemed at first sight impos- 

 sible not to distinguish, so running into each other as 

 to present an animal possible to belong to either. A 

 connecting-link, as we would call it, between the 

 birds and the reptiles. What can this be but the de- 

 velopment of the one into the other? Here we have 

 a means of communication between the two branches,. 

 but this is not all. 



"Again, look at the embryonic stages of the bird 

 and some of the higher reptiles, and you will find, that, 

 at a certain stage, the young bird is, apparently, iden- 

 tical in structure with tbe young reptile. Place the 

 two, at that stage, side by side, and you will fail to 

 tell which is the bird and which the reptile. It is 

 only at a further stage of the development that the 

 characteristics begin to change, and the bird assumes 

 the elongated beak, and the webbed toes, which, at a 

 certain stage, are found in all bird embryos; the front 

 legs then assume the form of wings, and the tail is 

 lost. The reptile retains its peculiarities." 



The professor here entered into a long and very 

 scientific discussion, by which he considered it prov- 

 en, beyond further, reasonable doubt, that "tarsal, 

 true tarsal bones," existed in birds, and could be dis- 

 covered, under medium powers of the microscope, in 

 the embryo, at a certain stage of its development. 

 This he affirmed, proved "another point of connection 

 between the birds and the reptiles" 



Again continuing, he says: 



"With a few exceptions, ante-evolutionists are 

 merely species describers. They are careless of the 

 fact that conditions and circumstances may alter 

 growth ;and are endeavoring to build up monumens for 



