THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 199 
question, from an Evolutionist’s point of view, seems to be greatly 
increased by the fact that the animal most nearly resembling man 
in outward form, does not most nearly resemble man in sagacity or 
intelligence. A monkey is not to be compared to a dog, whether 
for its intelligence or its fidelity ; and in all respects is an inferior 
animal to it. 
There is yet another means of testing the soundness of the theory 
so unreservedly adopted by the President of the Association; and 
that is, by the conclusions reached by Palzeontologists. 
It is pretty well agreed that the real basis of the theory must 
be found in the records of the past history of the earth. Objections 
made to the theory on the ground that no single case of the evolu- 
tion of one species from another has been discovered, are at once 
met by a plea for time. Give the Evolutionist time enough, have 
patience and wait, and all will be made plain. No reasonable 
Evolutionist can demand more time than is allowed to him in the 
indefinite lapse of ages offered by the geologist; and in the “ Testi- 
mony of the Rocks” he ought therefore to find his theory. 
That testimony is against him. 
The President of the Geologists’ Association, William Carruthers, 
Esq., F-B.8., F.L.S., F.G.8., Keeper of the Botanical Department in 
the British Museum, in his Inaugural Address at the last Session, 
1876-77, gives the result of his enquiries in his own department 
of science—the Fossil Flora. He discusses the evidence in favour 
of Evolution furnished by the Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons 
of the geologic periods. 
Of the first he says, ‘‘ The evolution of the Vascular Cryptogams 
and the Phanerogams, from the green sea-weeds through the 
liverworts and mosses, must have been carried on through a long 
succession of ages, and by an innumerable series of gradually 
advancing steps; and yet we find not a single trace of the early 
water forms, or of the later and still more numerous dry-land forms. 
The complete absence of such forms, and the sudden and con- 
temporaneous appearance of highly-organized and widely-separated 
groups, deprive the hypothesis of genetic Evolution of any 
countenance from the plant record of the (older Paleozoic) rocks. 
The whole evidence is against Evolution, and there is none in 
favour of it.” 
Mr. Carruthers next proceeds to the consideration of the Di- 
cotyledons. Their testimony he regards as more important. 
o 2 
