DARWIN AND PALEONTOLOGY 



over long periods of time or through a series of 

 lifetimes. The mortality of the zoologist, the 

 experimentalist, the botanist, is a fatal handicap, 

 for the reason that they are alike too short-lived 

 to observe and measure those changes in the hard 

 parts (if they exist) which are so excessively slow 

 as to be invisible and immeasurable by mortal 

 eye; while the paleontologist alone is in a posi- 

 tion to demonstrate the existence and importance 

 of such slow origins. With his short-time vision 

 is not the zoologist and botanist more prone to 

 fall into the error of " exclusive hypotheses," and 

 conclude that visible, measurable changes, such 

 as saltations, discontinuities, mutations of De 

 Vries are the most important if not the only 

 changes which are going on in organisms? Thus 

 the paleontologist Hstens serenely to the fanfare 

 of trumpets of exclusive hypotheses; he knows 

 that time and time alone will show whether these 

 will with other fashions fade. 



Sudden origins demonstrable by zoology and 

 botany,, but not by paleontology. As regards 

 the soft parts of animals and even as regards pro- 

 portions, changes which occur geographically or 

 in space can be measured by the zoologist, but 

 this does not apply to origins. The first point 

 as to origin, namely, the question of rate or speed 

 of origin, finds paleontology at a disadvantage 

 as a sphere of research. The law of sudden or 

 discontinuous principles has repeatedly been 

 demonstrated in zoology and in botany. It 



