208 Traces of Unity in the Personal, 



to yield to the temptation of making use of faith and 

 prayer in opposition to law. Indeed, it is not too much 

 to say that along with the power of faith and prayer 

 there will ever be a strong disposition to say " not my 

 will, but thine be done," and that, for this reason, the 

 man who is full of faith and prayer will be as little 

 likely to interfere with the natural workings of law as 

 the most unbelieving and prayerless Aristotelian. 



And certainly I know of no evidence in favour of 

 the doctrine of evolution which ought to lead to a 

 different conclusion. 



It is taken for granted that the fossil remains of the 

 plants and animals which are entombed in the cemetery 

 of the rocks supply such conclusive evidence, but, as it 

 seems to me, upon very insufficient grounds. It is quite 

 true that the remains of dicotyledonous plants are con- 

 fined to the cainozoic or more recent fossiliferous rocks : 

 that those of monocotyledons are met with, not only in 

 the lower mesozoic rocks (palmae in the trias), but also 

 in the upper palaeozoic rocks (aroideae in the coal 

 measures) ; and that remains of gymnosperms (conifers) 

 vascular plants (lycopodiaceae, ferns, equisitaceae) reach 

 down far into, and cellular plants (algae) almost to the 

 bottom of, the palaeozoic series of rocks. It is quite 

 true that the remains of mammals with the exception 

 of those of marsupials, which are met with in the 

 mesozoic rocks are confined to the cainozoic rocks ; 

 that the remains of birds reach down to some depth in 

 the mesozoic rocks ; that those of reptiles over-pass 

 those of birds and reach the upper palaeozoic rocks ; 

 that those of fishes (ganoids and plagiostomi) are met 

 with in the latter rocks ; and that the remains of 

 invertebrata are buried deeper down still, the more 

 simple forms the deepest of all. To some extent also, 



