The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1882-07-12
NOT Pro YEN.

Cne nrsG authority IN Europe on the los
sils of the older geological formations
in connection with his splendid work on
the Silurian fossils of Bohemia, he has
made thorough study of the correspond
ing fossils in all the other countries of
the globe, and he has, to use the words of
Prof. Dawson, used this immense mass of
material in preparing statistics of the
population of the Paleozoic world more
perfect than any other naturalist has been
able to produce. In his latest memoir
he takes up the brachiopods, or lamp
shells, group of bivalve she'll fishes very
abundantly represented in all the older
formations of every part of the world,
and which, as Prof. Dawson truly OBJ
serves, thus affords the most ample ma
terial for tracing its evolution, with the
least possible difficulty in the nature of
"imperfection in the record" "Imper-
fiction" in the geological record, owing
to the non-preservation of the fossils, can
not fairly be alleged with regard to the
remains of this most persistent and most
widely diffused of archaeological forms
If there has been any derivation of one
species from another the abundant re-
mains of the brachiopods in the older, as
well as the more recent rocks, it appears
to US, ought to demonstrate the fact We
believe that nothing comparable to the
patient and thorough examination of
these Silurian fossils has been attempted
by any of those naturalists who affirm so
Dramatically that the derivation of one
species from another is an established
fact, which, as Prof. Huxley boldly af-
firms, is no longer denied.
1t is important, in order to check the
noisy assertions which are so fippantly
made on this subject, to publish the facts
which have been elected by the studies
of M. Barrande, man who can not be
brushed aside by advocates of evolution
with any pretence of superior knowledge.
The following extract is taken from the
lectures delivered by Prof. ]. w. Dawson
before the Grocer Theological Seminary
in Philadelphia in 1881.
We hope it will be carefully read and
considered, and we should be glad to see
these lectures widely circulated.
Barrande, in the publication before
us, discusses the brachiopods with refer
ence, first, to the variations observed
within the limits of the species, elimi-
mating in this way mere synonyms and
varieties mistaken for species. He also
arrives at various important conclusions
with reference to the origin of species
and varietal forms, which apply to the
cephalopods and trilobites as well as to
the brachiopods, and some of which, as
the writer has elsewhere shown, apply
very generally to fossil animals and
plants. One of these is that different
contemporaneous species, living under
the same conditions, exhibit very differ
ent degrees of vitality and variability.
Another is the sudden appearance at GER
tain horizons of great number of species,
each manifesting its complete specific
characters. With very rare exceptions,
also, varietal forms are contemporaneous
with the normal form of their specific
type, and occur in the same localities.
Only in very few cases do they survive
it. This and the previous results, as
we'll as the fact that parallel changes go
on in groups having no direct reaction
on each other, prove that variation is not
a progressive influence, and that specific
distinctions are not dependent on it, but
on the sovereign action of one and the
same creative cause, as Barrande ex-
presses it. These conclusions il may be
observed, are not arrived at by that slap
dash method Of mere assertion SO often
followed on the other side Of these ques-
tions, but by the most severe and pains
taking induction, and with careful elab-
Grafton Of few apparent exceptions and
doubtful cases.
His second heading relates to the dis
tribution in time Of the genera and spe-
cies Of brachiopods This he illustrates
with a series Of elaborate tables, accom-
panied by explanations He then pro-
ceeds to consider the animal population