ORGANIC EVOLUTION. 19 



in such a representative tree of life, the height 

 of any branch from the ground may be taken 

 to indicate the grade of organization which the 

 leaves, or species, present ; so that, if we picture 

 to ourselves such a tree, we will understand that 

 while there is a general advance of organization 

 from below upwards, there are numberless slight 

 variations in this respect between leaves growing 

 even on the same branch ; but in a still greater 

 number of cases, leaves growing on the same 

 branch are growing on the same level — that is, 

 although they represent different species, it cannot 

 be said that one is more highly organized than 

 the other. Now, this tree-like arrangement of 

 specific organisms in nature is an arrangement 

 for which Mr. Darwin is not responsible. I mean 

 that the framing of this natural classification has 

 been the work of naturalists for centuries past ; 

 and although they did not know what they were 

 doing, it is now evident to evolutionists that they 



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