426 Darwin, and after Darwin. 
Spain, Italy, and Great Britain all put together; and, more 
remarkable still, over the area of the United States and 
Canada, granitic rocks exceed in the proportion of 19 to 124 
the whole of the newer Paleozoic formations. Lastly, after 
giving these examples, Darwin adds the important con- 
sideration, that “in many regions the metamorphic and 
granitic rocks would be found much more widely extended 
than they appear to be, if all the sedimentary beds were 
removed which rest unconformably on them, and which 
could not have formed part of the original mantle under 
which they were crystallized.” 
The above is a brief condensation of the already condensed 
statement which Darwin has given of the imperfection of the 
geological record; but I think it is enough to show, in a 
general way, how precarious must be the nature of any 
objections to the theory of evolution which are founded 
merely upon the silence of paleontology in cases where, if 
the record were anything like complete, we should be entitled 
to expect from it some positive information. But, as we 
have seen in the text, imperfect though the record be, in as 
far as it furnishes positive information at all, this is well-nigh 
uniformly in favour of the theory; and therefore, even on 
grounds of palzontology alone, it appears to me that Darwin 
is much too liberal where he concludes his discussion by 
saying,—“ Those who believe that the geological record is 
in any degree perfect, wiil undoubtedly at once reject the 
theory.” If in any measure reasonable, such persons ought 
rather to examine their title to such a belief; and even if they 
disregard the consensus of testimony which is yielded by all 
the biological sciences to the theory of evolution, they ought 
at least to hold their judgment in suspense until they shall 
have not only set against the apparently negative testimony 
which is yielded by geology its unquestionably positive testi- 
mony, but also well considered the causes which may—or 
rather must—have so gravely impaired ihe geological record, 
