UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



whence he sprang where was that? If we could 

 trace it back to the unicellular life of Cambrian 

 times, could we find its beginning then? 



All these questions about the beginning of things 

 return forever into themselves; and their final 

 solution baffles us. 



IX. EVOLUTION 



We are apt to think the book of evolution closed, 

 the tale finished. But can it be true? The evolution 

 or transformation of the earth's surface certainly is 

 not finished, and never can be finished. As long as 

 the rains continue to fall, and the seasons to change, 

 and vegetation to grow, the land surface of the 

 globe must continue to alter. As long as the secu- 

 lar cooling of the earth goes on, the crust must 

 continue to fold and in places to be lifted up. Geol- 

 ogy shows us that millions of years ago it was vastly 

 different from what we now behold it. How will it 

 be as many millions of years hence? How different, 

 too, was the animal life of the globe during the past 

 geologic periods from the animal life of to-day ! Will 

 it not differ as much from that of to-day millions of 

 years hence? The changes and transformations will 

 doubtless be slower in the future than in the past, 

 because the globe is older, life is older, the physical 

 forces are less riotous, life is less gross and turbulent; 

 still, radical changes must slowly appear. I cannot 

 believe that the race of man has run its evolutionary 

 306 



