formation, lived during the preceding formation, it results that in no case
is the proportion less than _one-third_, or 33 per cent. It is the
triassic formation, or the commencement of the mesozoic epoch, which has
received the smallest inheritance from preceding ages. The other formations
not uncommonly exhibit 60, 80, or even 94 per cent, of genera in common
with those whose remains are imbedded in their predecessor. Not only is
this true, but the subdivisions of each formation exhibit new species
characteristic of, and found only in, them; and, in many cases, as in the
lias for example, the separate beds of these subdivisions are distinguished
by well-marked and peculiar forms of life. A section, a hundred feet thick,
will exhibit, at different heights, a dozen species of ammonite, none of
which passes beyond its particular zone of limestone, or clay, into the
zone below it or into that above it; so that those who adopt the doctrine
of special creation must be prepared to admit, that at intervals of time,
corresponding with the thickness of these beds, the Creator thought fit to
interfere with the natural course of events for the purpose of making a new
ammonite. It is not easy to transplant oneself into the frame of mind of
those who can accept such a conclusion as this, on any evidence short of
absolute demonstration; and it is difficult to see what is to be gained by
so doing, since, as we have said, it is obvious that such a view of the
origin of living beings is utterly opposed to the Hebrew cosmogony.
Deserving no aid from the powerful arm of Bibliolatry, then, does the
received form of the hypothesis of special creation derive any support from
science or sound logic? Assuredly not much. The arguments brought forward
in its favour all take one form: If species were not supernaturally
created, we cannot understand the facts _x_, or _y_, or _z_;
we cannot understand the structure of animals or plants, unless we suppose
they were contrived for special ends; we cannot understand the structure of
the eye, except by supposing it to have been made to see with; we cannot
understand instincts, unless we suppose animals to have been miraculously