5. _The change in species has been a gradual differentiation._ Tracing
the lines of descent of various animals and plants of the present
backward through the divisions of geologic time, we find that these
lines of descent converge and unite in simpler and still simpler
types. The development of life may be represented by a tree whose
trunk is found in the earliest ages and whose branches spread and
subdivide to the growing twigs of present species.
6. _The change in organisms throughout geologic time has been a
progressive change._ In the earliest ages the only animals and plants
on the earth were lowly forms, simple and generalized in structure;
while succeeding ages have been characterized by the introduction of
types more and more specialized and complex, and therefore of higher
rank in the scale of being. Thus the Algonkian contains the remains of
only the humblest forms of the invertebrates. In the Cambrian,
Ordovician, and Silurian the invertebrates were represented in all
their subkingdoms by a varied fauna. In the Devonian, fishes--the
lowest of the vertebrates--became abundant. Amphibians made their
entry on the stage in the Carboniferous, and reptiles came to rule the
world in the Mesozoic. Mammals culminated in the Tertiary in strange
forms which became more and more like those of the present as the long
ages of that era rolled on; and latest of all appeared the noblest
product of the creative process, man.
Just as growth is characteristic of the individual life, so gradual,
progressive change, or evolution, has characterized the history of
life upon the planet. The evolution of the organic kingdom from its
primitive germinal forms to the complex and highly organized
fauna-flora of to-day may be compared to the growth of some noble oak
as it rises from the acorn, spreading loftier and more widely extended
branches as it grows.
7. While higher and still higher types have continually been evolved,
until man, the highest of all, appeared, _the lower and earlier types
have generally persisted_. Some which reached their culmination early
in the history of the earth have since changed only in slight
adjustments to a changing environment. Thus the brachiopods, a type of
shellfish, have made no progress since the Paleozoic, and some of
their earliest known genera are represented by living forms hardly to
be distinguished from their ancient ancestors. The lowest and earliest
branches of the tree of life have risen to no higher levels since they
reached their climax of development long ago.
8. A strange parallel has been found to exist between the evolution of
organisms and the development of the individual. In the embryonic
stages of its growth the individual passes swiftly through the
successive stages through which its ancestors evolved during the
millions of years of geologic time. _The development of the individual
recapitulates the evolution of the race._
* * * * *
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