94 EVOLUTION OF TO-DAY. 



are being thus filled. One striking evidence of this 

 is in the gradual disappearance of the lines of 

 demarkation between the different geological ages. 

 Geologists no longer recognize the history of the 

 world as divided into distinct ages, but look upon 

 it as continual progression. The lines of demarka- 

 tion between the formerly accepted ages are due to 

 the almost universal gaps in the record at certain 

 periods gaps which are slowly being filled by new 

 discoveries. 



Having reached this conception of the imperfec- 

 tion of the record, the evolutionist seems to have 

 assumed an unassailable position. For whatever 

 connecting links chance to be found, they are 

 immediately claimed as positive arguments, while 

 the difficulties arising from absence of links are 

 readily answered by appeal to the imperfection of 

 the record. It is not easy, therefore, to discuss the 

 subject except by beginning with the begging of the 

 question. 



The First Appearance of Life. 



The chief difficulties offered by this branch of 

 science to the theory of evolution, cluster around 

 the life of the Silurian age, the earliest age in 

 which fossils appear. The still earlier archean rocks 

 do contain the well-known Eozoan Canadense, 

 which is supposed by some to be a fossil. But it is 

 very questionable whether this deposit is any thing 

 more than a mineral. It is found in the oldest 

 rocks, which contain no other traces whatsoever of 

 any other organic remains. Dawson, its discoverer, 



