shells of _Foraminifera_, sprinkled with remains of small
_Entomostraca_, and probably a few Pteropod-shells; though the sounding
lines have not yet brought up any of these last. Thus, in so far as all
high forms of life are concerned, this new chalk-formation must be a
blank. At rare intervals, perhaps, a polar bear, drifted on an iceberg,
may have its bones scattered over the bed; or a dead, decaying whale
may similarly leave traces. But such remains must be so rare, that this
new chalk-formation, if accessible, might be examined for a century
before any of them were disclosed. If now, some millions of years hence,
the Atlantic-bed should be raised, and estuary deposits or shore
deposits laid upon it, these would contain remains of a Flora and a
Fauna so distinct from everything below them, as to appear like a new
creation.

Thus, along with continuity of life on the Earth's surface, there not
only _may_ be, but there _must_ be, great gaps in the series of fossils;
and hence these gaps are no evidence against the doctrine of Evolution.

* * * * *

One other current assumption remains to be criticized; and it is the one
on which, more than on any other, depends the view taken respecting the
question of development.

From the beginning of the controversy, the arguments for and against
have turned upon the evidence of progression in organic forms, found in
the ascending series of our sedimentary formations. On the one hand,
those who contend that higher organisms have been evolved out of lower,
joined with those who contend that successively higher organisms have
been created at successively later periods, appeal for proof to the
facts of Paleontology; which, they say, countenance their views. On the
other hand, the Uniformitarians, who not only reject the hypothesis of
development, but deny that the modern forms of life are higher than the
ancient ones, reply that the paleontological evidence is at present very
incomplete; that though we have not yet found remains of
highly-organized creatures in strata of the greatest antiquity, we must
not assume that no such creatures existed when those strata were
deposited; and that, probably, search will eventually disclose them.

It must be admitted that thus far, the evidence has gone in favour of
the latter party. Geological discovery has year after year shown the
small value of negative facts. The conviction that there are no traces
of high