" The Origin of Species " 187 



thetic," "prophetic," and "embryonic" types, and pointed out the 

 parallelism which obtains between the geological succession of ancient 

 animals and the ontogenetic development of recent forms. In 

 Darwin's words : "This view accords admirably well with our theory 1 ." 

 Of similar import were Owen's views on "generalised types" and 

 " archetypes." 



The appearance of The Origin of Species in 1859 revolutionised 

 all the biological sciences. From the very nature of the case, Darwin 

 was compelled to give careful consideration to the palaeontological 

 evidence ; indeed, it was the palaeontology and modern distribution 

 of animals in South America which first led him to reflect upon the 

 great problem. In his own words : " I had been deeply impressed 

 by discovering in the Pampean formation great fossil animals covered 

 with armour like that on the existing armadillos ; secondly, by the 

 manner in which closely allied animals replace one another in pro- 

 ceeding southward over the Continent ; and thirdly, by the South 

 American character of most of the productions of the Galapagos 

 archipelago, and more especially by the manner in which they differ 

 slightly on each island of the group 2 ." In the famous tenth and 

 eleventh chapters of the Origin, the palaeontological evidence is 

 examined at length and the imperfection of the geological record 

 is strongly emphasised. The conclusion is reached, that, in view of 

 this extreme imperfection, palaeontology could not reasonably be 

 expected to yield complete and convincing proof of the evolutionary 

 theory. " 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 last 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 few lines 3 ." 

 Yet, aside from these inevitable difficulties, he concludes, that " the 

 other great leading facts in palaeontology agree admirably with the 

 theory of descent with modification through variation and natural 

 selection 4 ." 



Darwin's theory gave an entirely new significance and importance 

 to palaeontology. Cuvier's conception of the science had been a 

 limited, though a lofty one. " How glorious it would be if we could 

 arrange the organised products of the universe in their chronological 

 order!... The chronological succession of organised forms, the exact 

 determination of those types which appeared first, the simul- 

 taneous origin of certain species and their gradual decay, would 

 perhaps teach us as much about the mysteries of organisation as 



1 Origin of Species (6th edit.), p. 310. 



2 Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, I. p. 82. 



3 Origin of Species, p. 289. 4 Ibid. p. 313. 



