88 IMPERFECTION OF GEOLOGICAL RECORD. [Chap. X. 



The several difficulties here discussed, namely — that, 

 though we find in our geological formations many links 

 between the species which now exist and which formerly 

 existed, we do not find infinitely numerous fine transi- 

 tional forms closely joining them all together ; — the 

 sudden manner in which several groups of species first 

 appear in our European formations ; — the almost entire 

 absence, as at present known, of formations rich in fossils 

 beneath the Cambrian strata, — are all undoubtedly of the 

 most serious nature. We see this in the fact that the 

 most eminent palaeontologists, namely, Cuvier, Agassiz 

 Barrande, Pictet, Falconer, E. Forbes, &c., and all. our 

 greatest geologists, as Lyell, Murchison, Sedgwick, &c., 

 have unanimously, often vehemently, maintained the 

 immutability of species. But Sir Charles Lyell now 

 gives the support of his high authority to the opposite 

 side ; and most geologists and palaeontologists are much 

 shaken in their former belief Those who believe that 

 the geological record is in any degree perfect, will un- 

 doubtedly at once reject the theory. For my part, 

 following out Lyell's metaphor, I look at the geological 

 record as a history of the world imperfectly kej)t, and 

 written in a changing dialect ; of this liistory we possess 

 the last volume alone, relating only to two or three 

 countries. Of this volume, only here and there a short 

 chapter has been preserved ; and of each page, only here 

 and there a few lines. Each word of the slowly-changing 

 language, more or less different in the successive chapters, 

 may represent the forms of life, which are entombed in 

 our consecutive formations, and which falsely appear 

 to have been abruptly introduced. On this view, the 

 difficulties above discussed are greatly diminished, or 

 even disappear. 



