128 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



tions. Both genealogies can scarcely be true, 

 and there is no actual proof of either. The 

 existing American horses, which are of European 

 parentage, are, according to the theory, descend- 

 ants of PalcBotherium, not of Orohippus ; but 

 if we had not known this on historical evidence, 

 there would have been nothing to prevent us 

 from tracing them to the latter animal. This 

 simple consideration alone is sufficient to show 

 that such genealogies are not of the nature of 

 scientific evidence. 



It is further to be observed that some of the 

 ablest palaeontologists, and those who have en- 

 joyed the largest opportunities of observation 

 and comparison, attach no value whatever to 

 theories of evolution as accounting for the 

 origin of species. One of these is Joachim 

 Barrande, the palaeontologist of Bohemia, and 

 the first authority in Europe on the fossils of 

 the older formations. Barrande, like some 

 other eminent palaeontologists, has the misfor- 

 tune to be an unbeliever in the modern gospel 

 of evolution, but he has certainly labored to 

 overcome his doubts with greater assiduity than 

 even many of the apostles of the new doctrine ; 

 and if he is not convinced, the stubbornness of 

 the facts he has had to deal with must bear the 



I'!!!! 



