1 68 Permanence and Evolution. 



enough has been done in tracing these ancient 

 geological relations as far as possible by inde- 

 pendent evidence, and comparing the results 

 arrived at with the distribution past and present 

 of organised beings. When this has been done, 

 I believe that it will be evident that though a 

 certain appearance will still be presented as if 

 of evolution, yet this appearance is not one 

 which gains on being pressed into detail, as it 

 ought to gain if it is to be the foundation ot 

 a scientific hypothesis ; but, on the contrary, 

 that it has something of the nature of the 

 mirage, which when approached recedes further 

 into the distance. 



