ROR eT re oP fae a 
aR Ee PRL ORE OC RE 
a — h idieaine 
area ee er 
Miscellaneous. 223 
alive at the present day.—He would have us believe that each new 
species originated in consequence of some slight change in those that 
preceded ; when every geological formation teems with types that 
did not exist before.—He would have us believe that animals and 
plants became gradually more and more numerous; when most 
species appear in myriads of individuals in the first bed in which 
they are found.—He would have us believe that animals disappear 
gradually ; when they are as common in the uppermost bed in which 
they occur as in the lowest or any intermediate bed. Species appear 
suddenly, and disappear suddenly, in successive strata. That is the 
fact proclaimed by paleontology. They neither increase successively 
in number, nor do they gradually dwindle down ; none of the fossil 
remains thus far observed show signs of a gradual improvement or of 
a slow decay.—He would have us believe that geological deposits 
took place during the periods of subsidence ; when it can be proved 
that the whole continent of North America is formed of beds which 
were deposited during a series of successive upheavals. I quote North 
America in preference to any other part of the world, because the 
evidence is so complete here that it can only be overlooked by those 
who may mistake subsidence for the general shrinkage of the earth’s 
surface in consequence of the cooling of its mass. In this part of 
the globe, fossils are as common along the successive shores of the 
rising deposits of the Silurian system as anywhere along our beaches ; 
and each of these successive shores extends from the Atlantic States 
to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The evidence goes even further ; 
each of these successive sets of beds of the Silurian system contains 
peculiar fossils, neither found in the beds above nor in the beds below, 
and between them there are no intermediate forms. And yet Darwin 
affirms that “the littoral and sub-littoral deposits are continually 
worn away as soon as they are brought up, by the slow and gradual 
rising of the land, within the grinding action of the coast-waves ” 
(«Origin of Species,’ p. 290).—He would also have us believe that the 
most perfect organs of the body of animals are the product of gradual 
improvement, when eyes as perfect as those of the Trilobites are 
preserved with the remains of these oldest animals.—He would have 
us believe that it required millions of years to effect any one of these 
changes ; when far more extraordinary transformations are daily going 
on, under our eyes, in the shortest periods of time, during the growth 
of animals.—He would have us believe that animals acquire their 
instincts gradually ; when even those that never see their parents 
perform at birth the same acts, in the same way, as their progenitors. 
—RHe would have us believe that the geographical distribution of 
animals is the result of accidental transfers; when most species are 
so narrowly confined within the limits of their natural range that 
even slight changes in their external relations may cause their death. 
And all these, and many other calls upon our credulity, are coolly 
made in the face of an amount of precise information, readily acces- 
sible, which would overwhelm anyone who does not place his opinions 
above the records of an age eminently characterized for its industry, 
and during which that information was laboriously accumulated by 
crowds of faithful labourers. 
