220 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



introduction of higher and higher Forms of Life. 

 Very recently, a discovery has been made, to 

 which Mr Darwin only a few years ago referred, 

 as " a discovery of which the chance is very small," 

 viz., of fossil Organisms in beds far beneath the 

 lowest Silurian strata. This discovery has been 

 made in Canada — in beds far down, near the 

 bottom even, of the rocks hitherto termed "Azoic." 

 But what are the Forms of Life which have been 

 found here ? They belong to the very lowest of 

 living types, — to the " Rhizopods." So far as this 

 discovery goes, therefore, it is in strict accordance 

 with all the facts previously known, — that as we go 

 back in time, we lose, one after another, the higher 

 and more complex organisms, — first, the Mamma- 

 lia ; then, the Vertebrata ; and now lastly, even the 

 Mollusca. It is in accordance, too, with another 

 fact which has been observed before, viz., that par- 

 ticular Forms of Life have attained, at particular 

 epochs, a maximum development both in respect 

 to size and distribution, — the favourites, as it were, 

 of Creation for a time. These earliest Rhizopods 

 seem to have been of enormous size and developed 

 on an enormous scale, since there is good reason 



