56 UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION 



specimens in the Cambrian to the Post Pliocene. 

 Romanes thought the evidence from Paleontology is very 

 rich. Prof. Marsh's geological specimens prove the evo- 

 lution of the horse, from a very inferior form, in the 

 Eocene epoch to the fine forms of the present day horse. 

 In each epoch, the feet were structurally adapted to the 

 then surface of the earth, for locomotion; and the teeth 

 to the mastication of the existing food of the period. 

 But the principal point is, that each successive form, 

 was a modified descendant of a preceding one, changed 

 by the natural method of variation and heredity. In 

 this case of the horse and his ancestors, the missing 

 links are produced by Prof. Marsh. 



In speaking of the missing links in general, Prof. Le 

 Conte says, in reply to the question, "Where are inter- 

 mediate forms?" "We answer, the intermediate forms 

 are eliminated in the struggle for life, and are not re- 

 produced by cross-breeding." This disposes of the miss- 

 ing link. It is absurd to talk of the missing link, for 

 the further reason, that the gradations are so gradual,, 

 each modification has been so slight, that it could not 

 be perceived by the human senses, even if it did exist, 

 except in mutations, and in those there is but one link, 

 which may not be noticed in the wild state. Each 

 gradual change from a low type, toward a higher ani- 

 mal, would be classified by naturalists as either a 

 variety, or a new species, and would be the missing 

 link, but unrecognized as such. 



Were all the variations through which the first form 

 has passed in its development into the species now 

 existing, before the naturalist for classification, the 

 whole might be called one species with innumerable 

 varieties. Agassiz examined several thousand shells of 

 one species, and found no two exactly alike. Those 



