94 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



morphic rocks, which must have been heated under great 

 pressure, have always seemed to me to require some spe- 

 cial explanation; and we may perhaps believe that we 

 see in these large areas the many formations long an- 

 terior to the Cambrian epoch in a completely metamor- 

 phosed and denuded condition. 



The several difficulties here discussed — namely, that, 

 though we find in our geological formations many links 

 between the species which now exist and which formerly 

 existed, we do not find infinitely numerous fine tran- 

 sitional forms closely joining them all together; the sud- 

 den manner in which several groups of species first 

 appear in our European formations; the almost entire 

 absence, as at present known, of formations rich in fos- 

 sils beneath the Cambrian strata — are all undoubtedly or 

 the most serious nature. We see this in the fact that the 

 most eminent paleontologists, namely, Cuvier, Agassiz, 

 Barrande, Pictet, Falconer, E. Forbes, etc., and all our 

 greatest geologists, as Lyell, Murchison, Sedgwick, etc., 

 have unanimously, often vehemently, maintained the im- 

 mutability of species. But Sir Charles Lyell now gives 

 the support of his high authority to the opposite side; 

 and most geologists and paleontologists are much shaken 

 in their former belief. Those who believe that the geo- 

 logical record is in any degree perfect will undoubtedly 

 at once reject the theory. For my part, following out 

 Lyell's metaphor, I look at the geological record as a 

 history of the world imperfectly kept, and written in 

 a changing dialect; of this history we possess the lasv 

 volume alone, relating only to two or three countries. 

 Of this volume, only here and there a short chapter has 

 been preserved; and of each page, only here and there 



.A- 



