262 THE CHAIN OF LIFE. 



but I believe that in so far as palaeontology is concerned, in 

 substance they must hold good, at least as steps to higher 

 truths. And now I may be permitted to add that we should 

 be thankful that it is given to us to deal with so great questions, 

 and that in doing so deep humility, earnest seeking for truth, 

 patient collection of all facts, self-denying abstinence from 

 hasty generalisations, forbearance and generous estimation with 

 regard to our fellow-labourers, and reliance on that Divine Spirit 

 which has breathed into us our intelligent life, and is the source 

 of all true wisdom, are the (jualities which best become us. 



As we have traced onward the succession of life, reference 

 has been made here and there to the defects of those bold 

 theories of descent with modification which are held forth in 

 our time as the true bond of the links of the chain of life. It 

 must have been apparent that these theories, however specious 

 when placed in connection with a limited induction of facts 

 selected for the purpose of illustrating them, are very far from 

 affording a satisfactory solution of all difficulties. They can- 

 not perhaps be expected to take us back to the origin ot 

 living beings; but they also fail to explain why so vast 



- numbers of highly organised species* struggle into existence 

 simultaneously in one age and disappear in another, why no 



J continuous chain of succession in time can be found gradually 

 blending species into each other, and why in the natural 



' succession of things degradation under the influence of ex- 

 ternal conditions and final extinction seem to be laws ot 

 organic existence. It is useless here to appeal to the imper- 

 fection of the record or to the movements or migrations ot 

 species. The record is now in many important parts too 

 complete, and the simultaneousness of the entrance of the 

 faunas and floras too certainly established, while the moving 

 of species from place to place only evades the difficulty. The 

 truth is that such hypotheses are at present premature, and that 

 we require to have larger collections of facts. Independently 

 of this, however, it would seem that from a philosophical 



