et Imbecillitate Darwiniana. 67 



such as we see in celestial nebulae and sea 

 shells : so that the true geological concep- 

 tion is not that of a constant identity of 

 conditions, which is impossible^ but on the 

 contrary, and this is necessary, a constantly 

 changing development or unfolding of the 

 implications of the definitely determined 

 starting point : and thus the present era is 

 not only not the same as the past, but be- 

 yond a doubt and by an inevitable necessity, 

 utterly unlike it : the unlikeness growing 

 greater, the further back we go into the 

 chronological abyss. And from this it fol- 

 lows : first, that our ignorance of the ori- 

 ginal and early conditions must inevitably 

 make all speculation as to earlier periods 

 conjectural : and secondly, that the efforts 

 of Lyell, Darwin, and others of their school 

 to explain the past on present principles 

 are essentially vicious in their heart, and pre- 

 determined to be erroneous. To insist, as 



