But we would ask, what does Science and its exact discoveries and now axiomatic theories prove against _our_ Occult theory? Those who believe in the law of evolution and gradual progressive development from a cell—which from a vital became a morphological cell, until it finally awoke as protoplasm pure and simple—can surely never limit their belief to one line of evolution! The types of life are innumerable; and the progress of evolution, moreover, does not go at the same rate in every kind of species. The constitution of primordial matter in the Silurian age—we mean the “primordial” _matter_ of Science—was the same in every essential particular, save its degree of present grossness, as the primordial _living_ matter of to‐day. Nor do we find that which ought to be found, if the now orthodox theory of evolution were _quite_ correct, namely, a constant, ever‐flowing progress in every species of being. Instead of this, what does one see? While the intermediate groups of animal beings all tend toward a higher type, and while specializations, now of one type and now of another, develop through the geological ages, change forms, assume new shapes, appear and disappear with a kaleidoscopic rapidity, in the description of Palæontologists from one period to another, the two solitary exceptions to the general rule are those at the two opposite poles of life and type, namely—_man_ and the _lower genera_ of being! Certain well‐marked forms of living beings have existed through enormous epochs, surviving not only the changes of physical conditions, _but persisting comparatively unaltered_, while other forms of life have appeared and disappeared. Such forms may be termed “persistent types” of life; and examples of them are abundant enough in both the animal and the vegetable worlds.(583)