JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 55 
‘““Nor have our great explorers in the realm of geologic and 
other natural science reclined upon a bed of roses. Huxley, Tyn- 
dale, Herbert Spencer, Darwin and other great geologists, archzolo- 
gists and originators, had to contend against charges of atheism and 
blasphemy, against the denunciations of the clergy, and the frowns 
of the good, but short-sighted class, who could not appreciate the 
fact that science and true religion always walk hand in hand.” 
The writer hopes no layman of our immediate district is alluded 
to in the concluding paragraph, otherwise an expressed opinion may 
require modification. 
The Doctor asserts he has been a student of geology for a life- 
time, and having some convictions of his own, they may be as foolish 
as those of others. Let us suppose he has not expressed misgiving 
on this point. Much depends on the field of observation, that may 
be very restricted ; much time may also be wasted in poring over 
the crude speculations of the early writers on the subject, and little 
real knowledge acquired. A quarter of a century ago it was merely 
* in its infancy, and as a critic recently remarked, ‘‘more has been 
learned since then of the earth we inhabit, and its past life, than in 
all the centuries preceding ” 
Modern research has shattered theories unquestioned until now. 
“We deny,” says the Doctor, “the evolution of one species from 
another, and our second point for consideration is that species that 
have lived have been zudividually perfect. When it appears it is 
immediately seen that it is not capable of azy improvement.” 
Deny evolution, and there remains but one thing to fall back 
upon—countless creations at vast intervals. The deposits in De- 
vonian and carboniferous seas alone reach a thickness of six miles; 
Cambrian and lower Silurian, about 48,000 feet; middle and upper 
Silurians, about 8,000 feet. Since Bigsby’s compilation (Schuchert 
remarks in his work on “ Fossil Brachiopoda, America”) the total 
number of the Brachiopods has probably been increased to 6,000, 
one-third of which occur in this continent. These Palzozoic rocks, 
divided for convenience into distinct formations, hold organic 
remains peculiar to themselves, but in some cases you will find shells, 
etc., unchanged, going up from a lower to a higher series. 
It is claimed, remarks Dr. Grant, that lower types are found in 
the older strata, with higher types of life succeeding them. Then, 
