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Huxley + + + + + [footnote] *"Macmillan's Magazine", December 1859. + +EVERYONE knows that that superficial film of the earth's substance, +hardly ten miles thick, which is accessible to human investigation, is +composed for the most part of beds or strata of stone, the consolidated +muds and sands of former seas and lakes, which have been deposited one +upon the other, and hence are the older the deeper they lie. These +multitudinous strata present such resemblances and differences among +themselves that they are capable of classification into groups or +formations, and these formations again are brigaded together into still +larger assemblages, called by the older geologists, primary, secondary, +and tertiary; by the moderns, palaeozoic, mesozoic, and cainozoic: the +basis of the former nomenclature being the relative age of the groups +of strata; that of the latter, the kinds of living forms contained in +them. + +Though but a film if compared with the total diameter of our planet, the +total series of formations is vast indeed when measured by any human +standard, and, as all action implies time, so are we compelled to +regard these mineral masses as a measure of the time which has elapsed +during their accumulation. The amount of the time which they represent +is, of course, in the inverse proportion of the intensity of the forces +which have been in operation. If, in the ancient world, mud and sand +accumulated on sea-bottoms at tenfold their present rate, it is clear +that a bed of mud or sand ten feet thick would have been formed then in +the same time as a stratum of similar materials one foot thick would be +formed now, and 'vice versa'. + +At the outset of his studies, therefore, the physical geologist had to +choose between two hypotheses; either, throughout the ages which are +represented by the accumulated strata, and which we may call 'geologic +time', the forces of nature have operated with much same average +intensity as at present, and hence the lapse of time which they +represent must be something prodigious and inconceivable, or, in the +primeval epochs, the natural powers were infinitely more intense than +now, and hence the time through which they acted to produce the effects +we see was comparatively short. + +The earlier geologists adopted the latter view almost with one consent. +For they had little knowledge of the present workings of nature, and +they read the records of geologic time as a child reads the history of +Rome or Greece, and fancies that antiquity was grand, heroic, and +unlike the present because it is unlike his little experience of the +present. + +Even so the earlier observers were moved with wonder at the seeming +contrast between the ancient and the present order of nature. The +elemental forces seemed to have been grander and more energetic in +primeval times. Upheaved and contorted, rifted and fissured, pierced +by dykes of molten matter or worn away over vast areas by aqueous +action, the older rocks appeared to bear witness to a state of things +far different from that exhibited by the peaceful epoch on which the +lot of man has fallen. + +But by degrees thoughtful students of geology have been led to perceive +that the earliest efforts of nature have been by no means the +grandest. Alps and Andes are children of yesterday when compared with +Snowdon and the Cumberland hills; and the so-called glacial epoch--that +in which perhaps the most extensive physical changes of which any +record remaining occurred--is the last and the newest of the +revolutions of the globe. And in proportion as physical +geography--which is the geology of our own epoch--has grown into a +science, and the present order of nature has been ransacked to find +what, 'hibernice', we may call precedents for the phenomena of the +past, so the apparent necessity of supposing the past to be widely +different from the present has diminished. + +The transporting power of the greatest deluge which can be imagined +sinks into insignificance beside that of the slowly floating, slowly +melting iceberg, or the glacier creeping along at its snail's pace of a +yard a day. The study of the deltas of the Nile, the Ganges, and the +Mississippi has taught us how slow is the wearing action of water, how +vast its effects when time is allowed for its operation. The reefs of +the Pacific, the deep-sea soundings of the Atlantic, show that it is to +the slow-growing coral and to the imperceptible animalcule, which lives +its brief space and then adds its tiny shell to the muddy cairn left by +its brethren and ancestors, that we must look as the agents in the +formation of limestone and chalk, and not to hypothetical oceans +saturated with calcareous salts and suddenly depositing them. + +And while the inquirer has thus learnt that existing forces--'give them +time'--are competent to produce all the physical phenomena we meet with +in the rocks, so, on the other side, the study of the marks left in the +ancient strata by past physical actions shows that these were similar +to those which now obtain. Ancient beaches are met with whose pebbles +are like those found on modern shores; the hardened sea-sands of the +oldest epochs show ripple-marks, such as may now be found on every +sandy coast; nay, more, the pits left by ancient rain-drops prove that +even in the very earliest ages, the "bow in the clouds" must have +adorned the palaeozoic firmament. So that if we could reverse the +legend of the Seven Sleepers,--if we could sleep back through the past, +and awake a million ages before our own epoch, in the midst of the +earliest geologic times,--there is no reason to believe that sea, or +sky, or the aspect of the land would warn us of the marvellous +retrospection. + +Such are the beliefs which modern physical geologists hold, or, at any +rate, tend towards holding. But, in so doing, it is obvious that they +by no means prejudge the question, as to what the physical condition of +the globe may have been before our chapters of its history begin, in +what may be called (with that licence which is implied in the often-used +term "prehistoric epoch") "pre-geologic time." The views indicated, in +fact, are not only quite consistent with the hypothesis, that, in the +still earlier period referred to, the condition of our world was very +different; but they may be held by some to necessitate that hypothesis. +The physical philosopher who is accurately acquainted with the velocity +of a cannon-ball, and the precise character of the line which it +traverses for a yard of its course, is necessitated by what he knows of +the laws of nature to conclude that it came from a certain spot, whence +it was impelled by a certain force, and that it has followed a certain +trajectory. In like manner, the student of physical geology, who fully +believes in the uniformity of the general condition of the earth +through geologic time, may feel compelled by what he knows of causation, +and by the general analogy of nature, to suppose that our solar system +was once a nebulous mass; that it gradually condensed, that it broke up +into that wonderful group of harmoniously rolling balls we call planets +and satellites, and that then each of these underwent its appointed +metamorphosis, until at last our own share of the cosmic vapour passed +into that condition in which we first meet with definite records of its +state, and in which it has since, with comparatively little change, +remained. + +The doctrine of uniformity and the doctrine of progression are, +therefore, perfectly consistent; perhaps, indeed, they might be shown +to be necessarily connected with one another. + +If, however, the condition of the world, which has obtained throughout +geologic time, is but the sequel to a vast series of changes which took +place in pre-geologic time, then it seems not unlikely that the +duration of this latter is to that of the former as the vast extent of +geologic time is to the length of the brief epoch we call the +historical period; and that even the oldest rocks are records of an +epoch almost infinitely remote from that which could have witnessed the +first shaping of our globe. + +It is probable that no modern geologist would hesitate to admit the +general validity of these reasonings when applied to the physics of his +subject, whence it is the more remarkable that the moment the question +changes from one of physics and chemistry to one of natural history, +scientific opinions and the popular prejudices, which reflect them in a +distorted form, undergo a sudden metamorphosis. Geologists and +palaeontologists write about the "beginning of life" and the +"first-created forms of living beings," as if they were the most +familiar things in the world; and even cautious writers seem to be on +quite friendly terms with the "archetype" whereby the Creator was +guided "amidst the crash of falling worlds." Just as it used to be +imagined that the ancient world was physically opposed to the present, +so it is still widely assumed that the living population of our globe, +whether animal or vegetable, in the older epochs, exhibited forms so +strikingly contrasted with those which we see around us, that there is +hardly anything in common between the two. It is constantly tacitly +assumed that we have before us all the forms of life which have ever +existed; and though the progress of knowledge, yearly and almost +monthly, drives the defenders of that position from their ground, they +entrench themselves in the new line of defences as if nothing had +happened, and proclaim that the 'new' beginning is the 'real' +beginning. + +Without for an instant denying or endeavouring to soften down the +considerable positive differences (the negative ones are met by another +line of argument) which undoubtedly obtain between the ancient and the +modern worlds of life, we believe they have been vastly overstated and +exaggerated, and this belief is based upon certain facts whose value +does not seem to have been fully appreciated, though they have long +been more or less completely known. + +The multitudinous kinds of animals and plants, both recent and fossil, +are, as is well known, arranged by zoologists and botanists, in +accordance with their natural relations, into groups which receive the +names of sub-kingdoms, classes, orders, families, genera and species. +Now it is a most remarkable circumstance that, viewed on the great +scale, living beings have differed so little throughout all geologic +time that there is no sub-kingdom and no class wholly extinct or +without living representatives. + +If we descend to the smaller groups, we find that the number of orders +of plants is about two hundred; and I have it on the best authority +that not one of these is exclusively fossil; so that there is +absolutely not a single extinct ordinal type of vegetable life; and it +is not until we descend to the next group, or the families, that we +find types which are wholly extinct. The number of orders of animals, +on the other hand, may be reckoned at a hundred and twenty, or +thereabouts, and of these, eight or nine have no living representatives. +The proportion of extinct ordinal types of animals to the existing +types, therefore, does not exceed seven per cent.--a marvellously small +proportion when we consider the vastness of geologic time. + +Another class of considerations--of a different kind, it is true, but +tending in the same direction--seems to have been overlooked. Not only +is it true that the general plan of construction of animals and plants +has been the same in all recorded time as at present, but there are +particular kinds of animals and plants which have existed throughout +vast epochs, sometimes through the whole range of recorded time, with +very little change. By reason of this persistency, the typical form of +such a kind might be called a "persistent type," in contradistinction +to those types which have appeared for but a short time in the course of +the world's history. Examples of these persistent types are abundant +enough in both the vegetable and the animal kingdoms. The oldest group +of plants with which we are well acquainted is that of whose remains +coal is constituted; and as far as they can be identified, the +carboniferous plants are ferns, or club-mosses, or Coniferae, in many +cases generically identical with those now living! + +Among animals, instances of the same kind may be found in every +sub-kingdom. The 'Globigerina' of the Atlantic soundings is identical +with that which occurs in the chalk; and the casts of lower silurian +'Foraminifera', which Ehrenberg has recently described, seem to +indicate the existence at that remote period of forms singularly like +those which now exist. Among the corals, the palaeozoic 'Tabulata' are +constructed on precisely the same type as the modern millepores; and if +we turn to molluscs, the most competent malacologists fail to discover +any generic distinction between the 'Craniae', 'Lingulae' and +'Discinae' of the silurian rocks and those which now live. Our +existing 'Nautilus' has its representative species in every great +formation, from the oldest to the newest; and 'Loligo', the squid of +modern seas, appears in the lias, or at the bottom of the mesozoic +series, in a form, at most, specifically different from its living +congeners. In the great assemblage of annulose animals, the two highest +classes, the insects and spider tribe, exhibit a wonderful persistency +of type. The cockroaches of the carboniferous epoch are exceedingly +similar to those which now run about our coal-cellars; and its locusts, +termites and dragon-flies are closely allied to the members of the same +groups which now chirrup about our fields, undermine our houses, or +sail with swift grace about the banks of our sedgy pools. And, in like +manner, the palaeozoic scorpions can only be distinguished by the eye +of a naturalist from the modern ones. + +Finally, with respect to the 'Vertebrata', the same law holds good: +certain types, such as those of the ganoid and placoid fishes, having +persisted from the palaeozoic epoch to the present time without a +greater amount of deviation from the normal standard than that which is +seen within the limits of the group as it now exists. Even among the +'Reptilia'--the class which exhibits the largest proportion of entirely +extinct forms of any one type,--that of the 'Crocodilia', has persisted +from at least the commencement of the Mesozoic epoch up to the present +time with so much constancy, that the amount of change which it exhibits +may fairly, in relation to the time which has elapsed, be called +insignificant. And the imperfect knowledge we have of the ancient +mammalian population of our earth leads to the belief that certain of +its types, such as that of the 'Marsupialia', have persisted with +correspondingly little change through a similar range of time. + +Thus it would appear to be demonstrable, that, notwithstanding the great +change which is exhibited by the animal population of the world as a +whole, certain types have persisted comparatively without alteration, +and the question arises, What bearing have such facts as these on our +notions of the history of life through geological time? The answer to +this question would seem to depend on the view we take respecting the +origin of species in general. If we assume that every species of +animal and of plant was formed by a distinct act of creative power, and +if the species which have incessantly succeeded one another were placed +upon the globe by these separate acts, then the existence of persistent +types is simply an unintelligible irregularity. Such assumption, +however, is as unsupported by tradition or by Revelation as it is +opposed by the analogy of the rest of the operations of nature; and +those who imagine that, by adopting any such hypothesis, they are +strengthening the hands of the advocates of the letter of the Mosaic +account, are simply mistaken. If, on the other hand, we adopt that +hypothesis to which alone the study of physiology lends any +support--that hypothesis which, having struggled beyond the reach of +those fatal supporters, the Telliameds and Vestigiarians, who so nearly +caused its suffocation by wind in early infancy, is now winning at +least the provisional assent of all the best thinkers of the day--the +hypothesis that the forms or species of living beings, as we know them, +have been produced by the gradual modification of pre-existing +species--then the existence of persistent types seems to teach us +much. Just as a small portion of a great curve appears straight, the +apparent absence of change in direction of the line being the exponent +of the vast extent of the whole, in proportion to the part we see; so, +if it be true that all living species are the result of the modification +of other and simpler forms, the existence of these little altered +persistent types, ranging through all geological time, must indicate +that they are but the final terms of an enormous series of +modifications, which had their being in the great lapse of pregeologic +time, and are now perhaps for ever lost. + +In other words, when rightly studied, the teachings of palaeontology are +at one with those of physical geology. Our farthest explorations carry +us back but a little way above the mouth of the great river of Life: +where it arose, and by what channels the noble tide has reached the +point when it first breaks upon our view, is hidden from us. + +The foregoing pages contain the substance of a lecture delivered before +the Royal Institution of Great Britain many months ago, and of course +long before the appearance of the remarkable work on the "Origin of +Species" just published by Mr. Darwin, who arrives at very similar +conclusions. Although, in one sense, I might fairly say that my own +views have been arrived at independently, I do not know that I can +claim any equitable right to property in them; for it has long been my +privilege to enjoy Mr. Darwin's friendship, and to profit by +corresponding with him, and by, to some extent, becoming acquainted with +the workings of his singularly original and well-stored mind. It was +in consequence of my knowledge of the general tenor of the researches +in which Mr. Darwin had been so long engaged; because I had the most +complete confidence in his perseverance, his knowledge, and, above all +things, his high-minded love of truth; and, moreover, because I found +that the better I became acquainted with the opinions of the best +naturalists regarding the vexed question of species, the less fixed +they seemed to be, and the more inclined they were to the hypothesis of +gradual modification, that I ventured to speak as strongly as I have +done in the final paragraphs of my discourse. + +Thus, my daw having so many borrowed plumes, I see no impropriety in +making a tail to this brief paper by taking another handful of feathers +from Mr. Darwin; endeavouring to point out in a few words, in fact, +what, as I gather from the perusal of his book, his doctrines really +are, and on what sort of basis they rest. And I do this the more +willingly, as I observe that already the hastier sort of critics have +begun, not to review my friend's book, but to howl over it in a manner +which must tend greatly to distract the public mind. + +No one will be better satisfied than I to see Mr. Darwin's book refuted, +if any person be competent to perform that feat; but I would suggest +that refutation is retarded, not aided, by mere sarcastic +misrepresentation. Every one who has studied cattle-breeding, or +turned pigeon-fancier, or "pomologist," must have been struck by the +extreme modifiability or plasticity of those kinds of animals and +plants which have been subjected to such artificial conditions as are +imposed by domestication. Breeds of dogs are more different from one +another than are the dog and the wolf; and the purely artificial races +of pigeons, if their origin were unknown, would most assuredly be +reckoned by naturalists as distinct species and even genera. + +These breeds are always produced in the same way. The breeder selects a +pair, one or other, or both, of which present an indication of the +peculiarity he wishes to perpetuate, and then selects from the +offspring of them those which are most characteristic, rejecting the +others. From the selected offspring he breeds again, and, taking the +same precautions as before, repeats the process until he has obtained +the precise degree of divergence from the primitive type at which he +aimed. + +If he now breeds from the variety thus established for some generations, +taking care always to keep the stock pure, the tendency to produce this +particular variety becomes more and more strongly hereditary; and it +does not appear that there is any limit to the persistency of the race +thus developed. + +Men like Lamarck, apprehending these facts, and knowing that varieties +comparable to those produced by the breeder are abundantly found in +nature, and finding it impossible to discriminate in some cases between +varieties and true species, could hardly fail to divine the possibility +that species even the most distinct were, after all, only exceedingly +persistent varieties, and that they had arisen by the modification of +some common stock, just as it is with good reason believed that +turnspits and greyhounds, carrier and tumbler pigeons, have arisen. + +But there was a link wanting to complete the parallel. Where in nature +was the analogue of the breeder to be found? How could that operation +of selection, which is his essential function, be carried out by mere +natural agencies? Lamarck did not value this problem; neither did he +admit his impotence to solve it; but he guessed a solution. Now, +guessing in science is a very hazardous proceeding, and Lamarck's +reputation has suffered woefully for the absurdities into which his +baseless suppositions led him. + +Lamarck's conjectures, equipped with a new hat and stick, as Sir Walter +Scott was wont to say of an old story renovated, formed the foundation +of the biological speculations of the 'Vestiges', a work which has done +more harm to the progress of sound thought on these matters than any +that could be named; and, indeed, I mention it here simply for the +purpose of denying that it has anything in common with what essentially +characterises Mr. Darwin's work. + +The peculiar feature of the latter is, in fact, that it professes to +tell us what in nature takes the place of the breeder; what it is that +favours the development of one variety into which a species may run, +and checks that of another; and, finally, shows how this natural +selection, as it is termed, may be the physical cause of the production +of species by modification. + +That which takes the place of the breeder and selector in nature is +Death. In a most remarkable chapter, 'On the Struggle for Existence', +Mr. Darwin draws attention to the marvellous destruction of life which +is constantly going on in nature. For every species of living thing, +as for man, "Eine Bresche ist ein jeder Tag."--Every species has its +enemies; every species has to compete with others for the necessaries +of existence; the weakest goes to the wall, and death is the penalty +inflicted on all laggards and stragglers. Every variety to which a +species may give rise is either worse or better adapted to surrounding +circumstances than its parent. If worse, it cannot maintain itself +against death, and speedily vanishes again. But if better adapted, it +must, sooner or later, "improve" its progenitor from the face of the +earth, and take its place. If circumstances change, the victor will be +similarly supplanted by its own progeny; and thus, by the operation of +natural causes, unlimited modification may in the lapse of long ages +occur. + +For an explanation of what I have here called vaguely "surrounding +circumstances," and of why they continually change--for ample proof +that the "struggle for existence" is a very great reality, and +assuredly 'tends' to exert the influence ascribed to it--I must refer to +Mr. Darwin's book. I believe I have stated fairly the position upon +which his whole theory must stand or fall; and it is not my purpose to +anticipate a full review of his work. If it can be proved that the +process of natural selection, operating upon any species, can give rise +to varieties of species so different from one another that none of our +tests will distinguish them from true species, Mr. Darwin's hypothesis +of the origin of species will take its place among the established +theories of science, be its consequences whatever they may. If, on the +other hand, Mr. Darwin has erred, either in fact or in reasoning, his +fellow-workers will soon find out the weak points in his doctrines, and +their extinction by some nearer approximation to the truth will +exemplify his own principle of natural selection. + +In either case the question is one to be settled only by the +painstaking, truth-loving investigation of skilled naturalists. It is +the duty of the general public to await the result in patience; and, +above all things, to discourage, as they would any other crimes, the +attempt to enlist the prejudices of the ignorant, or the +uncharitableness of the bigoted, on either side of the controversy. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Time and Life by Thomas H. Huxley + |