490 
THE DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS AND PLANTS. 
for its old world creation of animals and plants were as start- 
ling now as ever they were. There were many people who 
regarded these extinct forms as something monstrous and 
abnormal ; whereas he should have to show them that they 
were so connected with living animals and plants as to have a 
common bond of unity conjoining them. For instance, all the 
great divisions of kingdoms, orders, and classes now compre- 
hending animal and vegetable forms, would equally compre- 
hend those forms which had existed in the youth of the 
world. In fact, properly to understand the Divine plan 
concerning the organic creations of our globe, we must 
look upon the whole series of life forms, past and present, 
living and extinct, as constituting one grand whole. There 
were many people who were willing to accept the broad 
teachings of geology, who yet looked upon the present flora 
and fauna of our globe as a distinct creation separated 
from any that had gone before, and created specially to 
accommodate the needs or requirements of man. Those who 
held such a doctrine found themselves constantly travelling 
through bogs and quagmires. The animals and plants now in 
existence had come into being at various times. They did not 
form a distinct creation any more than as they existed to- 
gether at present. They made their debut at distinct periods, 
although they were now all playing their several parts in the 
great drama of physical life. As an illustration, one species 
of mollusc found fossilized in our Norwich chalk beds was 
still living in the deeper parts of the British seas. Since 
its introduction the whole of the Tertiary beds had been de- 
posited in various parts of the w r orld, to the thickness of many 
thousands of feet. This particular life-form had been obliged 
to shift its residence on account of alternate depressions and 
upheaval of areas, and yet it had existed through all these 
changing circumstances, and the living object was so like the 
fossil one, that the most experienced naturalist could detect 
no difference. It was to Tertiary geology that we had to look 
for the appearance of those life-forms which now lived on the 
surface of the earth. Many of the audience would be aware 
that the past history of our globe was divided into three great 
divisions of time. The first of these was named the Palaeozoic, 
or ancient life 3 division ; the second was termed Mesozoic, 
or f middle life and the third Cainozoic, or f recent life/ 
What did these three terms mean ? Simply that that great 
division of rocks termed the Primary included the fossils of a 
distinct type, and, generally speaking, utterly unlike those now 
in existence. In fact, the further we went back in time the 
more unlike were the organic forms, and vice versa. The 
