Proofs of Evolution. 299 



sea. Rocked on its billowed breast, these cliildren grew 

 and tilled the early waters with their kind, from which 

 developed all divergent forms. Throughout this upward 

 struggle of elemental life, Heredity, like a miser hoarding 

 his bags ot gold, has kept brief remnants of family traits 

 for ages, letting them go only as compelled by the iron 

 grip of that " fierce Spirit of the glass and scythe, Remorse- 

 less Tinie." 



AVe will note a few of the Rudiments which inheritance 

 has still preserved, and let them serve as exam])les of the 

 multitudinous whole. It is well known that the baleen 

 whale has no teeth, and no use for any ; yet its embryo 

 has a full set, which disappear before birth by absorption. 

 The plain inference is that the whale has not always been 

 a water-animal ; that his ancestors had teeth and legs, and 

 roamed through forest, swamp and marsh. In some whales, 

 also, pelvic bones are found, and yet they have no hind 

 legs. Such bones are mere rudiments of the former attach- 

 ment of legs. Again, rudimentary hairs are found in the 

 skin, being but fragments of the hairy coat their ancestors 

 once wore, before they paddled their own canoes on the 

 briny deep. The breathing organs of the whale are modeled 

 for air-breathing, not for water-breathing. It would thus 

 appear that our great oil-producer came first from the water, 

 then acquired the structure of a quadruped, and finally 

 went back again to his native deep. Why did he go back ? 

 Will our theological friends say, ''It was to swallow 

 Jonah"? 



The Python, also, has rudiments of legs ; and the embryo 

 of the calf has teeth which are absorbed before birth. The 

 splint-bones of a horse's foot, the turtle's flipper, the dew- 

 claw of dogs, the tails of birds, and the gill-arches of rep- 

 tiles, are all useless rudiments. The crabs and fish in the 

 Mammoth Cave have lost their eyes by disuse, but the 

 sockets remain as rudimentary remnants. But more sig- 

 nificant than all these, are the proofs furnished by the 

 highest animal — Man. In all parts of his bodily structure 

 are found the strongest evidences of his animal origin. He 

 has dormant scalp and skin muscles, which were of great 

 service to his ancestors, but of no use to him. Many per- 

 sons are found who still jjossess the faculty of moving the 

 scalp and ears in a remarkable degree, owing, no doubt, to 

 the fact that their ancestors have continued the habit. 



