32 EVOLUTION. 



est outcome of nature's development, the top branch 

 of the tree of life. And yet, though so late in the 

 world's history, it i. probable than man has existed 

 upon the earth for hundreds of thousands of years. 

 The evidence for the antiquity of man may be found 

 in the writings of Lyell, Lubbock, and Dawkins. 



The rocks, therefore, show that both animal and 

 plant life have developed gradually from lower to 

 higher forms, from the simple structures in the 

 earliest ages to the most varied and elaborate organ- 

 isms of the present. If the special-creation theory is 

 true, and each order of life was made at once, we 

 should find all the ranks of each order in the rocks 

 of one period ; whereas, the lower forms always 

 come before the higher, proving conclusively that no 

 race or species has been made all at once, and that 

 the forms of life have not degenerated as under 

 a curse, but that the course of nature is an onward 

 march of progress. ** Of special creation the rocks 

 tell no tale." 



The Impeffedion of the Record, 



That the geological record is not more perfect is 

 easily explained. Only the hard* parts of animals are 

 preserved and the soft-bodied animals would not 

 leave many traces, though the tracks of sea- worms 

 and even the impress of a jelly fish have been found. 

 Many animals have existed at a distance from bodies 

 of water, which are necessary for the preservation of 



