DARWINISM. 
215 
until then, the evolutionist would be able to say whether the pro- 
cess of evolution had been slow or rapid. One of the most 
formidable objections to the Darwinian theory was founded on the 
absence of fossil remains of connecting links. The answer was 
twofold. In the first place the geological record was so imperfect 
that it could not possibly be called on to supply a complete life 
history of the earth. It was like a work in one hundred volumes, 
the first fifty-four of which had been burnt, while half the re- 
mainder were out of their reach, and those they could get at had 
lost more than half their pages. The earlier sedimentary rocks — 
the Laurentian group, attaining a thickness of 30,000 feet — had been 
so changed by igneous action that only one fossil, and that a dis- 
puted one, had been found in them, though the presence of graphite 
gave a strong hint that organic life was abundant when the rocks 
were formed. In a few instances, however, where the record had 
been preserved for a considerable period, the evidence was wholly 
in favour of evolution. The lecturer illustrated his statement by 
numerous instances, the most important of which, by the aid of a 
series of diagrams, went to prove the evolution of the horse. The 
horse, he said, was an extreme modification of the general mam- 
malian plan, deviating widely from the common structure of 
mammals, and showing very obvious signs of being a special 
creation ; and it had been urged that if the evolutionary theory 
was true, the intermediate forms between the horse and the lower 
mammals ought to be produced. Confining himself to one strongly- 
marked divergence — the one toe of the horse compared with the 
five toes of the general mammalian fore-arm — he said that for many 
years the evolutionists were unable to produce the record of the 
intermediate changes, the only facts in support of the theory being 
that foals were not unfrequently born with three toes, and that the 
rudiments of two toes were visible in the skeleton of the horse's 
foot, the "splint" bones. Within a recent period, however, 
American geologists had discovered a series of fossil horses leading 
up to an animal with four toes and a rudimentary fifth. Huxley 
said if that was not scientific proof there were no merely inductive 
conclusion that could be proved. In conclusion, the lecturer 
acknowledged that Darwinism could not be received without great 
mental disturbance. It would cause the recasting of many forms 
of thought ; yet not the less the foundations would endure. No 
principle dear to mankind would perish. But the imperfection that 
