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CHARLES B. WARRING, M.A., PH.D., ON 



continued orderly advance towards the present conditions. So after 

 all it seems to me that the conclusion of his argument is reached, that 

 behind any causes that can be imagined to have worked in the 

 building up of biological history, there must have been a constant 

 directive energy designing that such results should come. The 

 instance he gives of the evident " survival of the unfittest " in the 

 Quaternary age — that is, the " unfittest physically, though the fittest 

 cosmically," is certainly remarkable. 



In the closing paragraph he suggests a relationship between 

 " natural law " and " the supernatural." This raises the question 

 whether the general conception of " natural law " is not in itself 

 defective. To us " natural laws " appear binding rules, necessitating 

 effects. But from the point of view of the divine Lawgiver natural 

 laws are not necessities but perfection of will. He, being what the 

 Christian believes Him to be, has not enacted regulations by which 

 the work and progress of nature shall be independently governed ; 

 but He Himself evolves it throughout and to the minutest particu- 

 lar by the infinite congruity and consistency of His will. The law 

 of God is perfect from its inception to its action. His law is His 

 will ; voluntary to the minutest degree, but also consistent to the 

 minutest degree. And so the supernatural to us is only a further mani- 

 festation of His volition, which to our eyes seems above natural law, 

 but which in itself is only another cycle in the active consistency of 

 God. 



Professor Edward Hull, F.R.S. (Secretary). — The subject 

 brought before us is one of great interest and great difficulty. Mr. 

 Hudleston writes on this subject : " Exterminations in the Earth's 

 history are more apparent than real and are largely due to the 

 imperfection of the Geological Record." I concur in Mr. Hudles- 

 ton's view — yet there are some points bearing on the subject which 

 require explanation. In the first place, we may notice the great 

 longevity (so to speak) of some genera and the brief duration of 

 others. Thus the Nautilus which survives in our oceanic waters 

 commenced its career in the Silurian period ; so with the Lingula 

 and a few other forms. On the other hand, a most prolific oceanic 

 genus, the Trilobite, ended its career in the Carboniferous. It is 

 difficult to account for the longer duration of the former as com- 

 pared with the latter, for both were inhabitants of the successive 

 oceans. Another biological fact of great interest and obscurity is 



