150 ORGANIC EVOLUTION CONSIDERED 



essence of things, while it takes no notice of the 

 essential, well-known, but unseen differences. 



Le Conte, in speaking of the six aortic arches in 

 adult lizards, says: " Now there is no conceivable use 

 in having so many aortic arches. We know this, 

 because there is but one in birds and mammals, and 

 the circulation is as effective, nay, much more effec- 

 tive in these than in reptiles. If the thing were done 

 out of hand, unconditioned by the previous structure 

 in fishes, to have made six was surely but a bungling 

 piece of work."* 



From this it would seem that the lizard has not 

 made the progress that it should have made under 

 the circumstances, for one gill-arch would serve its 

 purpose better than the six which it possesses. Yet 

 the extra five gill-arches have been preserved mill- 

 ions of years, just as if they had been best for the 

 lizard. How did it happen, according to the theory 

 of natural selection, that the five have been pre- 

 served so long, not only in the embryo, but also in 

 the adult lizard? If they might have been disposed 

 of to the great advantage of the lizard, why has it 

 retained them? The fact that they have been re- 

 tained is evidence that they have been useful. If 

 anything better could have been done for the lizard 

 to make its circulation more perfect for an animal of 

 its kind, then natural selection ought to have made 

 the improvement in the vast time it has been at 

 work. If the evolutionist claims that the lizard's cir- 

 culation would be improved by dropping five of the 

 six aortic arches, then he cannot account for their 

 preservation. 



Le Conte tells us that if the lizard was not evolved, 

 but created by fiat, then the six gill-arches were 

 surely " but a bungling piece of work." This seems 

 * Evolution, etc,, p. 134. 



