COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



firmly soldered together. Turning to the annu- 

 losa, we find that all insects and crustaceans — 

 dragon-flies and mosquitoes as well as crabs and 

 shrimps — are composed of just twenty seg- 

 ments. " What now," asks Mr. Spencer, " can 

 be the meaning of this community of structure 

 among these hundreds of thousands of species 

 filling the air, burrowing in the earth, swimming 

 in the water, creeping about among the sea- 

 weed, and having such enormous differences of 

 size, outline, and substance that no community 

 would be suspected between them ? Why, un- 

 der the down-covered body of the moth and 

 under the hard wing-cases of the beetle, should 

 there be discovered the same number of divi- 

 sions as in the calcareous framework of the 

 lobster?" But two answers are possible. We 

 may either say, with the Mussulman, " it so 

 pleased Allah, whose name be exalted ; " or we 

 may honestly acknowledge the scientific im- 

 plication that such community of structure is 

 strong evidence in favour of community of 

 origin. 



IV. The facts of geographical distribution 

 and geological succession are likewise in com- 

 plete harmony with the development theory. 

 On the hypothesis of special creations, no good 

 reason can be given why the extinct animals 

 found in any geographical area should resemble, 

 both in general structure and in special modifi- 

 404 



