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which would have been some omission of fact, or some slip in the reasoning 
of the author. I do not think that anything of this kind can be charged 
against the admirable essay to which we have listened, and I am pleased to 
find that the testimony of our great leader on this subject, Mr. Carruthers, 
confirms my own impression, as he has nothing to express but admira- 
tion. It seems to me that Mr. James has not only abolished the argument 
deduced from the synthetic form of plants, as it now stands, but that that 
argument-is doubly abolished if, as Mr. Carruthers has said, there is no 
synthetic form at all; because, in that case, the very basis of the argu- 
ment is removed. With regard to the permanence of genera, Mr. James 
has fought that point on every stage of the geological record, and has taken 
his stand on every platform on which vegetable life is found, the result being 
that he has shown, in the case of the plants to which he has referred, that 
they display an entire constancy and permanence from the earliest forms ; 
and that this is not only true of genera, but, to a very great extent, of 
species also. This seems to me to be absolutely fatal to the dogma Mr. 
James has combated. Again, the burst of new life in the upper chalk also 
seems to me to be fatal to the evolution theory. I hold also that the doc- 
trine of the imperfection of the geological record would not be maintained 
by any one who has at all familiarised himself with the evidences afforded 
by the coal measures and the shale which is found in contiguity with the coal, 
for no one can examine one of our numerous coal-pits without being con- 
vineced that it affords the fullest possible development of the flora of that 
particular epoch ; and not only is this the case with regard to one coal 
working, but all round the world the same phenomena present themselves in 
amanner that must be accepted as quite conclusive. I need not dwell 
further upon the subject, and have only to add that Iam very glad indeed 
to have had the advantage of hearing Mr. James read so able and interesting 
a paper. (Applause.) 
Rev. F. A. Wauxer, D.D., F.L.S.—With regard to the question of the 
permanence or persistence of types, I may state that there is a very interest- 
ing case exhibited in the Boulaq Museum which probably some of those 
now present may have seen, showing the permanence of types in plants, 
not in the shape of fossil remains, but in those of which we have the earliest 
historical knowledge. We are there enabled to see the crocus and the lotus, 
one or two species of moss, and two or three more plants that have been 
taken out of mummy-cases, and which date back three and probably four 
thousand years, side by side with specimens of the very same flowers recently 
gathered and dried in Cairo, the species and varieties of the crocus and lily 
being the same as are found at the present day—the crocus, as far as I can 
see, being identical with that which is found in the Campagna, and generally 
in the outskirts of Rome. I suppose the permanence of this type is to be 
attributed to the fact that it has always been a non-cultivated species. I 
may add, that growers in the neighbourhood of Cairo have tried to produce 
different species. The more I go about, the more am I struck with the 
