298 Proofs of Evolution. 



reasonable explanation of these facts outside of the theory 

 of development. There is no escape from the conclusion 

 that man, and all mammals, have a common origin and a 

 similar philogenic history. How strange and stirring is the 

 thought. The changes of ages are compressed into the 

 brief span of embryonic life ! 



PROOFS FROM METAMORPHOSIS. 



Metamorphosis is closely allied to embryological develop- 

 ment. In the latter the changes are all pre-natal ; in the 

 former, they continue after birth, — the transformations 

 taking place before our very eyes. All are familiar with 

 the common examples. The frog begins life as a fish> 

 limbs grow, and lungs displace gills, as he passes on to the 

 condition of a tailless croaker. Butterflies, bees and beetles 

 start out as grubs, and undergo what wondrous transforma- 

 tions ! The star-fish is first a swimming worm ; the crab is 

 born a tail-like shrimp. 



Metamorphosis is simply a term to describe the trans- 

 formations which take place under our own eyes, but the 

 pre-natal development is equally metamorphic. All living- 

 creatures pass through all the stages common to the race 

 below them, finally branching off to their own special class. 

 This is the most mysterious and deeply-seated principle of 

 life-growth. The stepping-stones of upward life are the 

 vanishing forms of all the past. Each new stage is a birth 

 from the preceding. All is metamorphosis from first to 

 last. What can all this mean ? In vain we ask the advo- 

 cates of the Creation theory to explain. Like Sir John 

 Ealstaff, they will give no reasons on compulsion. We find 

 in Metamorphosis the strongest support to the great law of 

 Evolution, modification and adaptation operating everywhere 

 on the children of life. 



PROOFS FROM RUDIMENTARY ORGANS. 



The proofs of the Evolution theory from the existence 

 of Rudimentary Organs are as interesting as convincing. 

 Nature has strewn the life-path with dwarfed and dying 

 forms, which testify to her marvelous work in moulding 

 mind and matter. She never quite hides her tracks, but 

 leaves in bone and tissue, in rock and flower, memorials of 

 her brooding care. Her earliest children were lowly born, 

 and over their natal-bed arose the rythmic murmur of the 



