SCIENCE AND REVOLUTION 



made for the transfer of some vertebrate life 

 from the water to the dry land and to the open 

 air. 



Another terrestrial age passes away, and the 

 surface of the earth has become fully ripe for 

 organic life on land. The plant has wandered 

 ashore even faster than the animal. A miracu- 

 lous transformation has taken place since the 

 departure of the nebulous whirl of the earth from 

 the ether-universe, which still extends its inex- 

 haustible infinity all around the circling spheres. 

 The Carboniferous and Permian periods abound 

 in the amphibian successors of the lungfishes 

 and in the reptilian followers of the amphibians. 

 The brain, the nerve system, the finger system, 

 the skeleton, have made further progress. 



From fishes to reptiles, the foundation has 

 been securely laid for the earthly supremacy of 

 animals with brains, nerves, lungs, and bones. 

 The higher evolution of these things by natural 

 selection through use in the struggle for adapta- 

 tion is assured. 



Now the line of evolution comes once more to 

 a parting of the ways. Among fishes, amphibia, 

 and reptiles, there are exceptional cases of a de- 

 velopment of the forelegs into wings, and of 

 propagation by the birth of living young ones, 



182 



