ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS TO THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 529 
or plants is quite incompatible with the hypothesis that all living 
forms are the results of a necessary process of progressive develop- 
ment, entirely comprised within the time represented by the fossili- 
ferous rocks. 
Contrariwise, any admissible hypothesis of progressive modification 
must be compatible with persistence without progression through 
indefinite periods. And should such an hypothesis eventually be 
proved to be true, in the only way in which it can be demonstrated, 
viz., by observation and experiment upon the existing forms of life, 
the conclusion will inevitably present itself, that the Palaeozoic, Meso- 
zoic, and Cainozoic faune and flore, taken together, bear somewhat 
the same proportion to the whole series of living beings which have 
occupied this globe, as the existing fauna and flora do to them. 
Such are the results of paleontology as they appear, and have for 
some years appeared, to the mind of an inquirer who regards that 
study simply as one of the applications of the great biological sciences, 
and who desires to see it placed upon the same sound basis as other 
branches of physical inquiry. If the arguments which have been 
brought forward are valid, probably no one, in view of the present 
state of opinion, will be inclined to think the time wasted which 
has been spent upon their elaboration. 
VOL. II MM 
