FIVE LINKS TO THE CHAIN 63 



most fit to survive were able to hold to life long enough to 

 become ancestors. By the law of heredity the characters 

 of those that did survive were passed on to their codfish 

 descendants. 



Scientists are still discussing Darwin's chain. Some put 

 the emphasis on this link, some on that, but all agree in 

 his claim that, even as all kinds of pigeons are descended 

 from the same original ancestor, so too are all kinds of fish 

 descended from their original ancestor, all kinds of birds 

 from theirs, all mammals from theirs, and so on through the 

 entire list. 



With one accord, indeed, scientists of to-day accept Dar- 

 win's conclusion that, from the beginning of time until now, 

 laws of nature have controlled the changing forms of life ; 

 that each living creature of to-day is joined by close connec- 

 tion to its ancestors of the past ; that living creatures both 

 of the past and of the present move through the ages as a 

 procession marching in lock step, and that every form of life 

 is linked to distant ancestors by an endless chain of cause 

 and effect. 



Through Darwin's discoveries we see that creative power 

 has raised a structure of life on the earth which is welded 

 together from foundation to summit. The evidences of this 

 evolution are about us on every hand, and the next chapter 

 points out a few of them. 



