"A Puerile Hypothesis" 59 



my theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the 

 extreme imperfection of the geological record." * 



But " the extreme imperfection of the geo- 

 logical record" here hypothecated by way of 

 "explanation," is so far from being a scientific 

 fact, that it was never imagined even by Mr. 

 Darwin himself until he perceived that unless it 

 were assumed, " the testimony of the rocks," 

 not less than that of the " structures " presented 

 by " man, as well as every other animal," would 

 be " fatal " to his theory. 



" I do not pretend that I should ever have suspected 

 how poor a record of the mutations of life the best pre- 

 served geological section presented, had not the difficulty 

 of our not discovering innumerable transitional links 

 between the species which appeared at the commence- 

 ment and close of each formation, pressed so hardly on my 

 theory." 2 And again : " He who rejects these views on 

 the nature 3 of the geological record, will rightly reject my 

 whole theory." 4 



On Mr. Darwin's own showing therefore, cadit 

 qucsstio. " These views " of his are to be re- 

 jected as unscientific, because they are unveri- 



i Origin of Species." Murray, 1859, p. 280. 



* Ibid., p. 302. 



* i.e., the alleged " extreme imperfection." 



* " Origin of Species," p. 342. 



