S8 iMPBRPECTiOIl OP CHOLOGlCAL RECORD. [Chap JC 



The several difSculties here discussed, namely — ;that,^ 

 though we find in our geological formations many links 

 between the species which now exist and which formerly 

 existed, we do not find infinitely numerous fine transi- 

 tional forms closely joining them all together;— the 

 sudden manner in which several groups of species first 

 appear in our European formations; — the almost entire 

 absence, as at present known, of formations rich in fos- 

 sils beneath the Cambrian strata, — are all undoubtedly 

 of the most serious nature. "We see this in the fact that 

 the most eminent palaeontologists, namely, Cuvier, 

 Agassiz, Barrande, Pictet, Falconer, E. Forbes, &c., and ' 

 all our greatest geologists, as Lyell, Murchison, Sedgwick, 

 &c., have unanimously, often vehemently, maintained 

 the immutability of species. But Sir Charles Lyell 

 now gives the support of his high authority to the op- 

 posite side; and most geologists and palaeontologists are 

 much shaken in their former belief. Those who believe 

 that the geological record is in any degree perfect, will 

 undoubtedly at once reject the theory. For my part, 

 following out Lyell's metaphor, I look at the geological 

 record as a history of the world imperfectly kept, and 

 written in a changing dialect; of this history we pos- 

 sess the last volume alone, relating only to two or three 

 countries. Of this volume, only here and there a short 

 chapter has been preserved; and of each page, only here 

 and there a few lines. Each word of the slowly-changing 

 language, more or less different in the successive chap- 

 ters, may represent the forms of life, which are en- 

 tombed in our consecutive formations, and which falsely 

 appear to have been abruptly introduced. On this 

 view, the difficulties above discussed are greatly dimin- 

 ished, or even disappear. 



