364 The Evolution Theory. [July, 



nature will be quite reversed, so that instead of studying 

 facts in order to arrive at general principles, we shall return 

 to the mediaeval plan of setting up dogmas based on 

 authority only, or on metaphysical considerations of the 

 most flimsy character, and forcibly twisting nature into con- 

 formity w T ith their requirements. Thus "advanced" views 

 in science lend themselves to the destruction of science, and 

 to a return to semi-barbarism. 



In these circumstances, the only resource of the true 

 naturalist is an appeal to the careful study of groups of 

 animals and plants in their succession in geological time. 

 I have myself endeavoured to apply this test in my recent 

 report on the Devonian and Silurian flora of Canada, and 

 have shown that the ' succession of Devonian and Carbon- 

 iferous plants does not seem explicable on the theory of 

 derivation. Still more recently, in a memoir on the Post- 

 pliocene Deposits of Canada, now in course of publication in 

 the " Canadian Naturalist," I have by a close and detailed 

 comparison of the numerous species of shells found embedded 

 in our clays and gravels, with those living in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and on the coasts of Labrador and Greenland, 

 shown, that it is impossible to suppose that any changes of 

 the nature of evolution were in progress ; but, on the con- 

 trary, that all these species have remained the same, even 

 in their varietal changes, from the Post-pliocene period until 

 now. Thus the inference is that these species must have 

 been introduced in some abrupt manner, and that their 

 variations have been within narrow limits and not progres- 

 sive. This is the more remarkable, since great changes of 

 level and of climate have occurred, and many species have 

 been obliged to change their geographical distribution, but 

 have not been forced to vary more widely than in the Post- 

 pliocene period itself. 



Facts of this kind will attract little attention in compari- 

 son with the bold and attractive speculations of men who 

 can launch their opinions from the vantage ground of Lon- 

 don journals; but their gradual accumulation must some 

 day sweep away the fabric of evolution, and restore our 

 English science to the domain of common sense and sound 

 induction. Fortunately, also, there are workers in this field 

 beyond the limits of the English-speaking world. As an 

 eminent example we may refer to Joachim Barrande, the 

 illustrious palaeontologist of Bohemia, and the greatest 

 authority on the wonderful fauna of his own primordial 

 rocks. In his recent memoir on those ancient and curious 

 crustaceans, the Trilobites, published in advance of the 



