The Coalville times. [volume] (Coalville, Utah) 1894-1923, 1897-06-11
FHE ACE OF THE WORLD.


u h Much Greater Than Tia. lice,
supposed.
one Of the questions considered b,
Prof1E b. poulton In his presidential
addr1s before The geological section
Of ~ British association related to
the hngth Of time required for the
development OF animal life on the earth
TO us present condition. says Popular
Science Monthly: whether the pres.
Ont state Of archaeological and zoolog.
ical knowledge dimlnishcs or increases
the weight Of the opinion Of Darwin
Huxley aud Spencer. that the tlmc
during which the biologists concluded
that The fossIllferous rocks had been
formed was utterly insufficient for or.
ganic evolution" The arguments of
the physicists. derived from the sup.
poseu effect Of tidal action upon the
length OF the day. ard from the csti.
mated length ot time occupied by the
earth In cooling from an assumed tenn
pera'ure TO It's present condition. are
shown TO have been proved invalid as
bases Tor calculating the probable age
OF the earth as life-bearlng body.
Inc argument derived from the sup
posed life Of the sun has not yet been
ruled out and that gives maximum Of
bOOOoo'OOO years. The computation Of
the time required for depositing the
geological strata gives a minimum OF
7S,OOO,O0O and maximum OF GS0.O00.-
900 years possibly iOO0O0.OO0 years.
The authors inquiry as to how much
Of the whole scheme OF organic ovolu-
tlon has been worked out In the time
during which the fossilferous rocks
were formed does not deal with the
time required for the origin Of life or
for the development Of the lowest be-
ings with which we are acquainted
from the first formed beings Of which
We Know nothing: but only with 80
much Of the process Of evolution as
we can infer frcm the structure OF lly-
Ing and fossil forms.
The comparison IA made from q
study Of the evolution OF the phyla. All
available evidence points to the ex.
treme slownoss OF progressive eyolu-
tlonary changes In the coelonterato
phyla, although the protozoa are even
more conservative. when We consider
further on the Ave coelenterate phyla
that occur fossil We shall ind that tho
progressive changes were slower and
indeed hardly approclable In the echi-
noderms and gephyrea. as compared
whit the mollusca. appendiculata aud
vertebrate. Within these latter phyla
We have evidence for the evolution OF
higher groups. presenting a more OF
less marked advance In organization.
Az whole. the comparison Ia quite
enough TO necessltate n very large In
crease In the time estimated by the
geologiit We can hardly escape the
couclnilon that, for the development
OF the hrthropod branches from com
mon chctopodlike ancestor and for th'
further development OF the classes o.
each branch. period many times thu
length OF the fossillferoua series ls re-
qulrcd. The evolution OF the ancestor
OF each OF the higher animal phylI
probably occupied as long a period q
tia squirrel fq2 the evolution While
subsequently occurred within the ply
lum. But the consideration OF III
higher phyla which occur fossil, excep
tho vertebrate, leads to the lrresistibl
conclusion that the whole period Il
which the fossillferous rocks were lal
down must be multiplied several time
for this later history alone. The perio,
thus obtained requires to be again in
creased and perhaps doubled for III
earlier history.