Teachings of Thomas Huxley 15 



the carboniferous period, which is an absurdity. 

 We have here a dilemma which may be stated 

 thus: either the animals which came into ex- 

 istence on the fifth day were not like those 

 which we find at present; were not the direct 

 or immediate ancestors of those that now exist 

 (in which case fresh creations or a process of 

 evolution must have occurred of which nothing 

 is said in the Bible) ; or else the whole story 

 must be given up as hopeless. 



3. The present state has had a limited dura- 

 tion, but has been evolved from some antecedent 

 state ar\d that from a pre-antecedent state and 

 so on without limit so far as finite reasoning 

 goes. For this view there are three kinds of 

 evidence — a kind which neither helps nor 

 hinders in establishing the facts of evolution 

 and is therefore neutral evidence ; a kind which 

 indicates strong probability but which proves 

 nothing and is therefore merely favorable evi- 

 dence ; and a third kind which is so convincing 

 as to be fairlv termed demonstrative evidence. 



The neutral evidence would become negative 

 evidence were it not for two facts: First, Dar- 

 win has shown that two chief factors are patent 

 in the process of evolution — one of them is the 

 tendency to vary, which may be well observed 

 in all present living forms; the other is the in- 

 fluence of environment upon the parent form 

 and the variations thus evolved from it. Sec- 

 ondly, the imperfection of the geological record 



