ABSTRACT
The amount of organic change, as Pictet has remarked, does not strictly correspond with the succession of our geological formations; so that between each two consecutive formations, the forms of life have seldom changed in exactly the same degree. The horizontal lines may represent successive geological formations, and all the forms beneath the uppermost line may be considered as extinct. Agassiz insists that ancient animals resemble to a certain extent the embryos of recent animals of the same classes. The succession of the same types of structure within the same areas during the later geological periods ceases to be mysterious, and is simply explained by inheritance. If then the geological record be as imperfect as author believe it to be, and it may at least be asserted that the record cannot be proved to be much more perfect, the main objections to the theory of Natural Selection are greatly diminished or disappear.
