314 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



more general manner, new species become superior to their pred- 

 ecessors ; for they have to beat in the struggle for life all the older 

 forms, with which they come into close competition. We may 

 therefore conclude that if under a nearly similar climate the 

 eocene inhabitants of the world could be put into competition with 

 the existing inhabitants, the former would be beaten and ex- 

 terminated by the latter, as would the secondary by the eocene, 

 and the palaeozic by the secondary forms. So that by this funda- 

 mental test of victory in the battle for life, as well as by the 

 standard of the specialization of organs, modern forms ought, on 

 the theory of natural selection, to stand higher than ancient forms. 

 Is this the case? A large majority of palaeontologists would an- 

 swer in the affirmative; and it seems that this answer must be 

 admitted as true, though difficult of proof. 



It is no valid objection to this conclusion, that certain Brachio- 

 pods have been but shghtly modified from an extremely remote 

 geological epoch; and that certain land and fresh-water shells 

 have remained nearly the same, from the time when, as far as is 

 known, they first appeared. It is not an insuperable difficulty that 

 Foraminifera have not, as insisted on by Dr. Carpenter, progressed 

 in organization since even the Laurentian epoch; for some or- 

 ganisms would have to remain fitted for simple conditions of life, 

 and what could be better fitted for this end than these lowly or- 

 ganized Protozoa? Such objections as the above would be fatal 

 to my view, if it included advance in organization as a necessary 

 contingent. They would likewise be fatal, if the above Foramini- 

 fera, for instance, could be proved to have first come into existence 

 during the Laurentian epoch, or the above Brachiopods during 

 the Cambrian formation; for in this case, there would not have 

 been time sufficient for the development of these organisms up to 

 the standard which they had then reached. When advanced up 

 to any given point, there is no necessity, on the theory of natural 

 selection, for their further continued process; though they will, 

 during each successive age, have to be slightly modified, so as to 

 hold their places in relation to slight changes in their conditions. 

 The foregoing objections hinge on the question whether we really 

 know how old the world is, and at what period the various forms 

 of life first appeared; and this may well be disputed. 



The problem whether organization on the whole has advanced 

 is in many ways excessively intricate. The geological record, at 

 all times imperfect, does not extend far enough back to show with 

 unmistakable clearness that within the known history of the 

 world organization has largely advanced. Even at the present day. 



