132 LOUIS AGASSIZ 



years ago, a series of world- wide cata- 

 clysms or catastrophes liad transformed 

 the surface of the earth, doubtless de- 

 stroying all living things and hence 

 separating different creations. If this be 

 true, while the succession of more various 

 and complicated creatures always goes 

 on from where it was left when flood and 

 fire and earthquake turned the earth into 

 a cemetery and the rocks into a museum, 

 then there must be some creative force at 

 work very different from ordinary crea- 

 tion through parent and child 5 and, in 

 Agassiz's own words, "This is not a 

 matter to be argued : it is one to be in- 

 vestigated. 77 



Agassiz declared that the word "evolu- 

 tion 7 ? might be applied to his own theory, 

 the connection between species being, as 

 he continually repeats, "ideal, not mate- 

 rial, 77 the thought of the Creator being 

 gradually unrolled. It is hardly neces- 

 sary to say that his work toward laying 

 bare the laws of such evolution is as 



