288 The Morality of Nature 



But In the admixture of truth and errors which always 

 makes the fact, the examples of error characterize the 

 mental power of the races and show the old lower status, 

 and thus prove progress. It must be conceded that progress 

 is not regular and even; that an epoch-making wave may 

 reach abnormally high, and be succeeded by a recession; 

 and so on. It is even possible that these visible oscillations 

 are as ripples borne upon a larger series of waves ; that a 

 previous era has seen civilization higher than ours, which 

 has passed to leave only an inheritance in a physical brain- 

 power of men. It may even be granted that cataclysms 

 of nature at some time may have affected life so overwhelm- 

 ingly as to spare only men whose intellectual ability was 

 great for the task of self -saving. But such is not probably 

 true. The geological record is consistent in the evidence 

 that the progress of evolution was fairly even, and that 

 man appeared after the earth had assumed the present degree 

 of stability of conditions, which permitted of his develop- 

 ment in a series of advances. Perhaps the best place in 

 which to commence a study of evolution is in the Geological 

 record. But what a stupendous prospect is there opened to 

 our view ! It is idle to contemplate the geological periods 

 with a pretense to comprehend their age but we must make 

 an effort to realize their immense capacity. 



