'I have thus far had the task of showing how negative evidence,. in the
non-appearance and the subsequent varied forms, contradict the order of
oneness in the creation or "formation" of vegetable life.
'I will now produce positive evidence bearing upon the same
discrepancies. We have in the third day the creation of vegetable life,
but _no animal life_ until the fifth day--then we have (we must be
excused reiteration) fish and fowl and the whales, whilst on the sixth
and last day were brought forth creeping things. The first sign of
animal life yet discovered is of the radiate class, in the lowest
zone of the lower Silurian. We have another class of animal life, the
_articulata_,
in the same zone; and we have some three hundred species of molluscs
through the silurian. Nay, so large is the last named class at this
early period, that it is denominated by American geologists "the age
of molluscs." I must remind our readers that during the whole of this
immeasurable age, we have not a single authenticated _land plant_; nay,
further, we have _fish_, the creation of the _fifth_ day, before aught
of the _third day's_ creation appears.
'We have, also, a reptilian vertebrate land animal in the Devonian ages
incalculably before the appearance of any seed bearing herbs or fruit
bearing plants. Here, then, is positive and direct evidence of the
appearance of types of the four great groups of animal life--the
_radiate_, the _articulate_, the molusca, and the vertebrata--not a
few hours {13} or days or months, or a few years, but thousands upon
thousands of years before a single evidence of the seed-bearing and
fruit-bearing plants of the first day's creation existed. It must not be
said they might have existed yet are not preserved, for this is opposed
to the facts previously stated of the preservation of the algae and
fucoids during these periods, and of the immense flora during the
subsequent coal formation, and the pollen, flowers, fruits, leaves,
and trees in still younger formations. Nor can it be met by an argument
against the fitness of the condition of the earth at this time.
'If, on the other hand, it is urged, Where are the evidences of the
existence of these several forms of life at the periods stated? I
answer, the facts bearing out my assertions will be found recorded in
Lyell, Murchison, Phillips, and Morris (the collectors from the several
strata named), all geological writers of repute; and the fossil forms
themselves can be examined in the museums of the country.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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