84^ GLAUCUS; OR, 



And we know, also, that these forms, seeming 

 random as they are, have appeared according to 

 a law which, as far as we can judge, has been only 

 the whole one of progress, — lower animals (though 

 we cannot say, the lowest) appearing first, and 

 man, the highest mammal, "the roof and crown 

 of things," one of the latest in the series. We 

 have no more right, let it be observed, to say that 

 man, the highest, appeared last, than that the lowest 

 appeared first. Both may have been the case ; but 

 there is utterly no proof of either ; and as we know 

 that species of animals lower than those which 

 already existed appeared again and again during 

 the various eras, so it is quite possible that they 

 may be appearing now, and may appear hereafter : 

 and that for every extinct Dodo or Moa, a new 

 species may be created, to keep up the equilibrium 

 of the whole. This is but a surmise : but it may 

 be wise, perhaps, just now, to confess boldly, even 

 to insist on, its possibility, lest the advocates of the 

 " Vestiges of Creation " theory should claim the 

 notion as making for them, and fancy, from our 



