30 THE PAST CONDITION 



in the same manner to put before you the facts that 

 are to be discovered in the Past history of the living 

 world, in the past conditions of organic nature. We 

 have, to-night, to deal with the facts of that history 

 — a history involving periods of time before which our 

 mere human records sink into utter insignificance — a 

 history the variety and physical magnitude of whose 

 events cannot even be foreshadowed by the history of 

 human life and human phenomena — a history of the 

 most varied and complex character. 



We must deal with the history, then, in the first 

 place, as we should deal with all other histories. 

 The historical student knows that his first business 

 should be to inquire into the validity of his evi- 

 dence, and the nature of the record in which the 

 evidence is contained, that he may be able to form 

 a proper estimate of the correctness of the conclusions 

 which have been drawn from that evidence. So, 

 here, we must pass, in the first place, to the considera- 

 tion of a matter which may seem foreign to the question 

 under discussion. We must dwell upon the nature of 

 the records, and the credibility of the evidence they 

 contain ; we must look to the completeness or incom- 

 pleteness of those records themselves, before we turn 

 to that which they contain and reveal. The question 

 of the credibility of the history, happily for us, will not 

 require much consideration, for, in this history, unlike 

 those of human origin, there can be no cavilling, no 

 differences as to the reality and truth of the facts of 

 which it is made up; the facts state themselves, and 

 are laid out clearly before us. 



But, although one of the greatest difficulties of 



