﻿374 
  H. 
  B. 
  Guppy 
  — 
  Fossil 
  Botany 
  in 
  Western 
  World. 
  

  

  changing, 
  just 
  as 
  one 
  moving 
  picture 
  melts 
  into 
  another 
  

   on 
  the 
  screen. 
  Those 
  old 
  genera 
  become 
  the 
  genera 
  of 
  

   today 
  ; 
  and 
  the 
  genera 
  of 
  today, 
  though 
  the 
  genera 
  of 
  a 
  

   thousand 
  ages, 
  are 
  " 
  but 
  as 
  yesterday" 
  in 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  

   the 
  flowering 
  plants. 
  As 
  he 
  looks 
  to 
  see 
  what 
  happened 
  

   in 
  the 
  "great 
  between" 
  he 
  sees 
  dim 
  pictures 
  of 
  the 
  

   translation 
  of 
  continents 
  and 
  seas, 
  scenes 
  where 
  all 
  is 
  

   mutable 
  except 
  the 
  organic 
  shapes, 
  and 
  they 
  seem 
  to 
  have 
  

   no 
  beginning 
  and 
  no 
  end. 
  The 
  pre-Cretaceous 
  history 
  of 
  

   these 
  plants 
  is 
  presented 
  as 
  occupying 
  untold 
  ages 
  that 
  

   in 
  their 
  extension 
  towards 
  eternity 
  transcended 
  a 
  thou- 
  

   sandfold 
  the 
  time 
  that 
  has 
  since 
  elapsed. 
  

  

  . 
  Returning 
  to 
  his 
  waking 
  self 
  he 
  realizes 
  that 
  his 
  point 
  

   of 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  story 
  of 
  plant-life 
  on 
  the 
  earth 
  has 
  shifted, 
  

   and 
  that 
  his 
  previous 
  sense 
  of 
  values 
  has 
  altogether 
  dis- 
  

   appeared. 
  The 
  eons 
  he 
  has 
  lost 
  in 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  the 
  

   plants, 
  to 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  which 
  he 
  has 
  devoted 
  his 
  life, 
  carry 
  

   him 
  back 
  to 
  ages 
  seemingly 
  co-eval 
  with 
  those 
  he 
  had 
  

   been 
  accustomed 
  to 
  regard 
  as 
  possessing 
  the 
  first 
  traces 
  

   of 
  organic 
  life 
  ; 
  and 
  his 
  interest 
  in 
  the 
  order 
  of 
  succes- 
  

   sion 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  plant-groups 
  has 
  left 
  him. 
  He 
  does 
  not 
  

   even 
  trust 
  himself 
  to 
  state 
  the 
  problem 
  of 
  Evolution. 
  

   There 
  are 
  no 
  modern 
  problems, 
  he 
  laments. 
  "All 
  seems 
  

   eternal 
  now." 
  

  

  Yet 
  the 
  new 
  lesson 
  was 
  there 
  for 
  him 
  to 
  learn. 
  In 
  the 
  

   woods 
  around 
  him 
  were 
  growing 
  the 
  Liquidambar, 
  the 
  

   Sassafras, 
  and 
  other 
  shrubs 
  and 
  trees 
  that 
  had 
  flourished 
  

   in 
  the 
  Mesozoic 
  ages 
  in 
  the 
  spot 
  where 
  he 
  was 
  standing. 
  

   Their 
  remains 
  crowded 
  the 
  Cretaceous 
  deposits 
  exposed 
  

   in 
  the 
  cliffs 
  near 
  by. 
  Specimens 
  of 
  the 
  past 
  and 
  of 
  the 
  

   present 
  were 
  in 
  his 
  hands. 
  Though 
  the 
  difference 
  in 
  

   kind 
  was 
  very 
  slight, 
  he 
  reflected 
  that 
  the 
  difference 
  in 
  

   time, 
  measured 
  in 
  human 
  lives, 
  amounted 
  almost 
  to 
  eter- 
  

   nity. 
  It 
  is 
  a 
  story 
  of 
  perpetuity 
  rather 
  than 
  of 
  change, 
  

   he 
  perceived 
  ; 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  one 
  that 
  for 
  a 
  long 
  while 
  we 
  have 
  

   been 
  trying 
  to 
  decipher 
  from 
  the 
  wrong 
  end. 
  We 
  must 
  

   write 
  it 
  all 
  afresh 
  from 
  its 
  beginnings. 
  

  

  Bedland, 
  Bristol, 
  England. 
  

  

  