PALEONTOLOGY AND THE DOCTRINE 

 OF EVOLUTION 



[1870] 



IT is now eight years since, in the absence of 

 the late Mr. Leonard Homer, who then presided 

 over us, it fell to my lot, as one of the Secretaries 

 of this Society, to draw up the customary Annual 

 Address. I availed myself of the opportunity to 

 endeavour to " take stock " of that portion of the 

 science of biology which is commonly called 

 " paleontology," as it then existed ; and, dis- 

 cussing one after another the doctrines held by 

 palaeontologists, I put before you the results of 

 my attempts to sift the well-established from 

 the hypothetical or the doubtful. Permit me 

 briefly to recall to your minds what those results 

 were : 



1. The living population of all parts of the 

 earth's surface which have yet been examined 



