1 90 HUTTONIAN THEORY 



easily demonstrate the length of time represented there 

 by still existing sedimentary strata to be vastly less 

 than the time indicated by some of the gaps in the 

 series. 



There is yet a further and impressive body of 

 evidence furnished by the successive races of plants 

 and animals which have lived upon the earth and have 

 left their remains sealed up within its rocky crust. 

 No one now believes in the exploded doctrine that 

 successive creations and universal destructions of or- 

 ganic life are chronicled in the stratified rocks. It is 

 everywhere admitted that, from the remotest times up 

 to the present day, there has been an onward march 

 of development, type succeeding type in one long 

 continuous progression. As to the rate of this evolu- 

 tion precise data are wanting. There is, however, the 

 important negative argument furnished by the absence 

 of evidence of recognisable specific variations of organic 

 forms since man began to observe and record. We 

 know that within human experience a few species have 

 become extinct, but there is no conclusive proof that a 

 single new species has come into existence, nor are 

 appreciable variations readily apparent in forms that 

 live in a wild state. The seeds and plants found with 

 Egyptian mummies, and the flowers and fruits depicted 

 on Egyptian tombs, are easily identified with the 

 vegetation of modern Egypt. The embalmed bodies 

 of animals found in that country show no sensible 

 divergence from the structure or proportions of the 

 same animals at the present day. The human races 

 of Northern Africa and Western Asia were already 

 as distinct when portrayed by the ancient Egyptian 



