HUMANITY IN GEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE 551 



part to play in the world-drama ; but it also reveals the grandeur of the 

 theatre and the impartiality of the management. It induces humility, 

 but gives security. The establishment we have so recently entered is 

 soundly constructed and consistently managed ; with reasonable observa- 

 tion we can learn the way to our own rooms and the sure results of our 

 actions. But valuable and salutary as this knowledge may be, it leaves 

 us completely at the mercy of our environment, like passengers in a 

 train going they know not whither with almost ominous smoothness. 

 Our surroundings are impersonal, insensitive and inevitable ; it is for 

 us to make the best we can of them. .\nd here another aspect of geological 

 history, Palaeontology, is available to give warning and advice. The 

 story of life through the ages of the earth's history touches us more 

 nearly than does that of the inanimate fabric ; for we are living creatures, 

 and our bodily lives are held on the same terms as those of the rest of 

 the animate world. 



Before attempting to discuss the influence of the palaeontological 

 record on our own case, it is necessary to meet certain objections that 

 may be raised. The same childish conceit that supposes the Universe 

 to be a playground made for mankind alone automatically believes that 

 man is so far superior to all other creatures that the episodes of their 

 obscure lives have no bearing on the problems of his exalted existence. 

 It is of course true that man has certain attributes and capacities that are 

 scarcely developed among other animals ; but so have all other types, 

 else how could we distinguish and classify them .'' 



For convenience we may admit that a man consists of two parts, 

 commonly called body and soul, and that these two parts are largely 

 antithetic. All respectable religions have always stressed the conflict 

 between the carnal and the spiritual ; and yet many most earnest en- 

 thusiasts insist that their enemy the body must be as peculiar and sacred 

 as their friend the soul. Confusion of thought such as this is not only 

 strange, but disastrous, for it is the beginning and end of materialism. 

 The human body, in its anatomical and physiological characters, is an 

 animal's body ; as such it is strictly comparable with that of any other 

 animal, and subject to the same laws. Anyone who believes otherwise, 

 and lives in accordance with his beliefs, will be dead within an hour. 



Such evidence as is available to show the history of living creatures 

 during the course of geological time wifl, therefore, have at least a partial 

 bearing on the problems of our own lives. It will be apt for comparison 

 with our bodily and racial lives, and our reactions to our physical 

 environment, whatever complications may be introduced by our special 

 human attributes. 



A comprehensive survey of the pateontological record shows con- 

 clusively that there, as in the physical history of the earth, inviolable 

 laws are in continuous operation. Paramount among these laws is that 

 of cause and effect ; which, in its biological aspect, is called the law of 

 Evolution. 



In many cases, and for various reasons, our apprehension of the causes 

 of evolutionary change is far less complete than in the case of physical 

 processes ; but the constant repetition of similar effects gives presumptive 

 evidence of oft-recurring cause. The chief difficulty in appraising the 



