CHAP, in.] PROTECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS. 93. 



tion, as also its direction at different times and under 

 different conditions, are at present unknown. The per- 

 son opposed to evolution or the numerous class that are 

 quite indifferent on the subject and are only acquainted 

 with the traditional origin of all forms of life, while com- 

 pelled to admit a certain amount of individual variation, 

 argue that every given plant and animal was always what 

 it is at the present day, and ask, why do not the marked 

 changes from one form to another, that you ask us to 

 believe, still go on at the present day ? The first state- 

 ment, that things are now what they always were, is- 

 simply expressing an opinio a that finds no support in 

 nature ; if species had been the same in all time past, 

 then we should expect to find their fossil remains in the 

 rocks, but this is not the case ; what we do find is, as 

 already stated, in the early geological formations, the 

 remains of plants belonging to types that have long ago 

 become entirely extinct; the same is true of animal 

 remains ; in other instances vast remains of plants occur 

 in a fossil condition, which, from their abundance and 

 structure, prove that geological ages ago they were far 

 more abundant and highly organized than their sur- 

 vivors are at the present day ; such groups may be said 

 to have long ago passed the maximum of their develop- 

 ment and are now on the decline. This condition of 

 things is illustrated by the group of plants known as 

 Oymnosperms, which includes the pines, firs, yews,, 

 cycads, etc., characterized by the absence of fruit in a 

 botanical sense, and by the naked ovules or young seeds. 

 The Gymnosperms as a group were in the heyday of their 

 prosperity, and the monarchs of the vegetable world, 

 both on account of the high organization and size during 



