ood. Then, following up the frozen
streams into the mountains, they would be able to live there during the
winter; and as such places afforded them much protection from enemies
and ample shelter for their nests and young, further adaptations would
occur, till the wonderful power of diving and flying under water was
acquired by a true land-bird." (_"Darwinism,"_ p. 81-82.)

Lines of Evidence.

The evolutionary hypothesis (both in its atheistic and theistic or
"Christian" form) is understood to rest on the following lines of proof:

i. _Primary:_ The evidence of palaeontology (the study of fossil remains
in the rocks). The surface of the earth underneath the top soil consists
of layers of rock. Some of them are made up of lime deposits, others of
the shells of shell-fish, others of sand-stone, others of dead trees of
the forest (coal), all of them turned hard by the pressure of the weight
lying on top of them. Besides these sedimentary rock there are
formations like granite, showing the influence of heat. Digging among
the sedimentary rock (limestone, sand-stone, principally) we come across
preserved remains of all sorts of animals; some just like those which
live to-day, some similar but somewhat different, others quite
dissimilar from living animals of our day. These are the fossils. Now,
evolutionists assert that the oldest and simplest animal and plant
remains are found in the oldest layers of rock. This is said to prove
that in the history of plants and animals on earth, the simplest forms
are the oldest and that later the more complex forms were developed
from these. LeConte states the matter thus: "The farther back in time
we go, the simpler the forms of animal and plant life become, and these
forms occur in the order of their origination, just as if they were
developed one from another."

2. _Corroborative:_ a) The Argument from Morphology (Structure). The
resemblance of the structure of various animal types is asserted to
imply a community of descent. "Large groups of species, whose habits are
widely different, present certain fundamental likenesses of structure.
The arms of men and apes, the fore-legs of quadrupeds, the paddles of
whales, the wings of birds, the breast-fins of fishes, are constructed
on the same pattern, but altered to suit their several functions. Nearly
all mammals, from the long-necked giraffe to the short-necked elephant,
have seven neck-bones; the eyes of the lamprey are moved by six mus