TIME AND CHANGE 



speculation. There can be little doubt that in early 

 Tertiary times our ancestor was a small, feeble 

 mammal, maj^'be of the lemur, maybe of the mar- 

 supial kind, powerless before the great carnivorous 

 mammals of that time, and probably escaping them 

 by his greater agility, perhaps by his arboreal habits. 

 The ancestor of the horse was also a small creature 

 at that time, not larger than a fox. It was not cut 

 off; the line of descent seems complete to the horse 

 of our day. Small beginnings seem to be the rule in 

 all provinces of life. There is little doubt that the 

 great animals of our day — the elephant, the whale, 

 the lion, — all had their start in small forms. Many 

 of these small forms have been found. But a com- 

 plete series of any of the animal forms that eventu- 

 ated in any of the dominant species is yet wanting. 

 It is quite certain that the huge, the gigantic, the 

 monstrous in animal, as in vegetable life, lies far be- 

 hind us. Is it not quite certain that evolution in the 

 life of the globe has run its course, and that it will 

 not again bring forth reptiles or mammals of the 

 terrible proportions of those of past geologic ages? 

 nor ferns, nor mosses, nor as gigantic trees as those 

 of Carboniferous times? Probably the redwoods of 

 the Far West, the gigantic sequoias, are the last race 

 of gigantic trees. The tide of life of the globe is un- 

 doubtedly at the full. The flood has no doubt been 

 checked many times. The glacial periods, of which 

 there seem to have been several in different parts 



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