METHOD IN THE HISTORY OF LIFE. 321 



which human license for a time has been suffered to wrestle 

 against the Almighty Will. 



Equally profound is the lesson taught by the Pentacrinus 

 of the Caribbean Sea, for it stands there the sole survivor 

 of the Crinoids of the Paleozoic world. A delicate stony 

 stem, affixed to the submarine soil, bears upon its summit 

 a symmetrical cup or body, around the margin of which 

 are supported the five stony arms which ramify into scores 

 of fingers. The whole structure is composed of many thou- 

 sands of little stony pieces, many of them handsomely sculp- 

 tured, and all fitted together with mathematical precision. 

 Dr. Buckland demonstrated that the number of separate 

 pieces in a fossil Pentacrinus was more than 150,000, while 

 M. de Koninck calculated that an adult specimen of the 

 same species {Pentacrinus Briareus) was composed of not 

 less than 615,000 separate pieces. Strange that a type so 

 remarkable in its characteristics should persist, in a single 

 representative, so many ages after the period to which it 

 was assigned, to play its part in the wonderful drama of 

 life ! 



The Trilobites have long since ceased to exist ; but afar 

 off, in the Antarctic, science has brought to light a curious 

 Crustacean (Glyptonotus Antarcticus) , which strongly re- 

 calls the extinct form of the Trilobite, as if Nature fondly 

 cherished the reminiscences of her youth. The Araucaria 

 imbricata of Chili is, in like manner, a souvenir of the Con- 

 ifers of the Coal Period, as the Chinese Salisburia is of its 

 Sigillarians and Ferns. 



Thus, on a review of the history of organic life, we are 

 enabled to draw forth its manifold lessons. We learn that 

 the marshaling of its forms is not in such an order as to 

 justify the fascinating doctrine of genealogical succession, 

 as taught by De Maillet, St. Hilaire, Lamarck, Darwin, 

 Spencer, and others. Still, we learn that order has exist- 



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