464 RECAPITULATION. Chap. XIV. 



strata must somewhere have been deposited at these 

 ancient and utterly unknown epochs in the world's 

 history. 



I can answer these questions and grave objections 

 only on the supposition that the geological record is far 

 more imperfect than most geologists believe. It cannot 

 be objected that there has not been time sufficient for 

 any amount of organic change ; for the lapse of time 

 has been so great as to be utterly inappreciable by the 

 human intellect. The number of specimens in all our 

 museums is absolutely as nothing compared with the 

 countless generations of countless species which certainly 

 have existed. We should not be able to recognise a 

 species as the parent of any one or more species if we 

 were to examine them ever so closely, unless we like- 

 wise possessed many of the intermediate links between 

 their past or parent and present states ; and these many 

 links we could hardly ever expect to discover, owing to 

 the imperfection of the geological record. Numerous 

 existing doubtful forms could be named which are pro- 

 bably varieties ; but who will pretend that in future 

 ages so many fossil links will be discovered, that natu- 

 ralists will be able to decide, on the common view, 

 whether or not these doubtful forms are varieties ? As 

 long as most of the links between any two species are 

 unknown, if any one link or intermediate variety be dis- 

 covered, it will simply be classed as another and distinct 

 species. Only a small portion of the world has been 

 geologically explored. Only organic beings of certain 

 classes can be preserved in a fossil condition, at least 

 in any great number. Widely ranging species vary 

 most, and varieties are often at first local, — both causes 

 rendering the discovery of intermediate links less likely. 

 Local varieties will not spread into other and distant 

 regions until they are considerably modified and im- 





