Il8 yACTS AND FANCIES 



causes. The greater part, however, of the 

 more experienced palaeontologists, or students 

 of fossils, have long ago seen that in the larger 

 field of the earth's history there is very much 

 that cannot be found in the narrower field of 

 the development of the individual animal ; and 

 they have endeavored to reduce the succession 

 of life to such general expressions as shall ren- 

 der it more comprehensible and may at length 

 enable us to arrive at explanations of il3 com- 

 plex phenomena. Of these general expressions 

 or conclusions I may state a few here, as appo- 

 site to our present subject, and as showing how 

 little of real support the facts of the earth's 

 history give to the pseudo-gnosis of monistic 

 evolution. 



I. The chain of life in geological time pre- 

 sents a wonderful testimony to the reality of 

 a beginning. Just as we know that any indi- 

 vidual animal must have had its birth, its 

 infancy, its maturity, and will reach an end 

 of life, so we trace species and groups of 

 species to their beginning, watch their culmi- 

 nation, and perhaps follow them to their, ex- 

 tinction. It is true that there is a sense in 

 which geology shows " no sign of a beginning, 

 no prospect of an end ;" but this is manifestly 



