﻿XCii 
  PKOCEEDINGS 
  OF 
  THE 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SOCIETY. 
  [May 
  1 
  897, 
  

  

  place 
  were 
  only 
  such 
  as 
  had 
  been 
  going 
  on 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  continuously 
  

   on 
  the 
  surface 
  of 
  the 
  globe 
  from 
  the 
  moment 
  when 
  the 
  waters 
  

   began 
  to 
  collect 
  or, 
  at 
  any 
  rate, 
  became 
  suitable 
  for 
  the 
  existence 
  of 
  

   life. 
  The 
  earliest 
  records 
  may 
  have 
  been 
  completely 
  blotted 
  out 
  by 
  

   the 
  repeated 
  changes 
  which 
  had 
  previously 
  taken 
  place, 
  or 
  may 
  

   be 
  entirely 
  buried 
  beneath 
  and 
  hidden 
  from 
  our 
  view 
  in 
  the 
  great 
  

   oceanic 
  areas. 
  Still 
  the 
  results 
  obtained 
  within 
  comparatively 
  

   recent 
  years 
  lead 
  us 
  to 
  hope 
  that 
  there 
  is 
  yet 
  room 
  to 
  discover 
  much 
  

   in 
  those 
  areas 
  which 
  hitherto 
  have 
  been 
  but 
  imperfectly 
  examined 
  

   or 
  not 
  at 
  all 
  explored. 
  

  

  In 
  conclusion, 
  I 
  may, 
  I 
  think, 
  venture 
  to 
  say 
  that 
  as 
  geologists 
  

   we 
  feel 
  quite 
  certain 
  that 
  from 
  the 
  earliest 
  Cambrian 
  to 
  the 
  present 
  

   time, 
  we 
  are 
  dealing 
  only 
  with 
  a 
  comparatively 
  recent 
  period 
  in 
  the 
  

   world's 
  history 
  ; 
  and, 
  as 
  biologists, 
  that 
  we 
  are 
  convinced 
  that 
  

   innumerable 
  successions 
  of 
  organic 
  beings 
  must 
  have 
  lived 
  and 
  

   passed 
  away 
  in 
  the 
  pre-Cambrian 
  era 
  before 
  such 
  an 
  advance 
  could 
  

   have 
  been 
  attained 
  as 
  is 
  manifest 
  in 
  those 
  forms 
  which 
  tenanted 
  

   the 
  earliest 
  Cambrian 
  seas. 
  We 
  may 
  also, 
  I 
  think, 
  venture 
  to 
  

   congratulate 
  ourselves 
  that 
  recent 
  researches 
  have 
  enabled 
  geologists 
  

   to 
  take 
  up 
  a 
  far 
  more 
  satisfactory 
  position 
  in 
  regard 
  to 
  the 
  theory 
  of 
  

   evolution 
  than 
  when 
  Darwin 
  felt 
  constrained 
  to 
  pen 
  the 
  following 
  

   words 
  in 
  referring 
  to 
  the 
  imperfection 
  of 
  the 
  geological 
  record 
  

   ('Origin 
  of 
  Species,' 
  p. 
  310) 
  : 
  — 
  'The 
  several 
  difficulties 
  here 
  discussed, 
  

   namely, 
  our 
  not 
  finding 
  in 
  the 
  successive 
  formations 
  infinitely 
  

   numerous 
  transitional 
  links 
  between 
  the 
  many 
  species 
  which 
  now 
  

   exist 
  or 
  have 
  existed 
  ; 
  the 
  sudden 
  manner 
  in 
  which 
  whole 
  groups 
  

   of 
  species 
  appear 
  in 
  our 
  European 
  formations 
  ; 
  the 
  almost 
  entire 
  

   absence, 
  as 
  at 
  present 
  known, 
  of 
  fossiliferous 
  formations 
  beneath 
  the 
  

   Silurian 
  strata, 
  are 
  all 
  undoubtedly 
  of 
  the 
  gravest 
  nature. 
  We 
  see 
  

   this 
  in 
  the 
  plainest 
  manner 
  by 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  all 
  the 
  most 
  eminent 
  

   palaeontologists, 
  namely, 
  Cuvier, 
  Owen, 
  Agassiz, 
  Barrande, 
  Falconer, 
  

   E. 
  Forbes, 
  etc., 
  and 
  all 
  our 
  greatest 
  geologists, 
  as 
  Lyell, 
  Murchison, 
  

   Sedgwick, 
  etc., 
  have 
  unanimously, 
  often 
  vehemently, 
  maintained 
  

   the 
  immutability 
  of 
  species.' 
  

  

  No 
  one 
  could 
  now 
  venture 
  to 
  blame 
  our 
  predecessors 
  for 
  the 
  

   cautious 
  attitude 
  which 
  they 
  assumed 
  in 
  consequence 
  of 
  the 
  evidence 
  

   then 
  available 
  to 
  them; 
  but 
  I 
  think 
  that 
  we 
  may 
  take 
  a 
  lesson 
  from 
  

   the 
  results 
  since 
  then 
  obtained, 
  and 
  not 
  be 
  too 
  ready 
  to 
  condemn 
  

   or 
  cast 
  a 
  doubt 
  on 
  new 
  discoveries 
  which 
  may 
  not 
  quite 
  fit 
  in 
  with 
  

   our 
  preconceived 
  ideas. 
  

  

  