THE ARGUMENT FROM PALAEONTOLOGY 59 



Human customs and people have often been 

 referred to for examples of the laws of biology, and 

 there is no need to look beyond them. As an 

 example of a persistent type, cannot we at once call 

 to mind a nation, a homeless nation, the members of 

 which occur in all countries, yet have no country of 

 their own ; a nation which, in spite of persecution of 

 unexampled severity, endured not once only, but 

 many times repeated and in most diverse forms, 

 has held its own ; a nation which, in spite of 

 various and shifting environments to which it 

 has been exposed, has with singular tenacity 

 retained and preserved its language, traditions, 

 and ceremonial observances in all essential features 

 intact. 



The Imperfection of the Geological Record. 



Undoubtedly the most interesting and important 

 point concerning fossils yet remains to be considered. 

 Fossils are the former inhabitants of the globe, and 

 therefore, on the Theory of Evolution, the ancestors 

 of the animals now living. Now, fossil forms are un- 

 like existing ones, therefore modification, and very 

 considerable modification, must have occurred. Do 

 the fossils themselves show evidence of such modi- 

 fication ? Can we point to a series of forms showing 

 progressive modification towards the present con- 

 dition ? I admit at once that fossils do not give us 

 all the evidence we could wish for ; in some instances 

 a fairly complete series can be pointed out, but in 

 most cases we are unable to do this. This is 



