CREATION BY EVOLUTION
the prehistorian. When this imagination restores the links in the chain of life we call them hypothetical; the links thus restored are not random guesses, but carefully predicted stages, and many such predictions have been shown to be approximately correct by fortunate subsequent discoveries. It is therefore not too much to expect that more such predictions may yet be verified through the intensive systematic exploration of to-day, which is very different from the often unorganized search of the past. Indeed, the memorable finding of the planet Neptune, after the astronomer's mathematical calculation had shown that it must be in a certain part of the heavens at a certain time has had its parallel in more than one recorded verification of a like prediction in palaeontology. To trace complete continuity in the succession of living forms that have inhabited the earth would necessitate the finding of a representative of each generation, a thing that is manifestly impossible. There must always be breaks in the record, but we are disposed to insist that the breaks should not be very great, and that they should not occur at highly critical stages in evolutionary advance. To find serene security in our faith in the continuity of life we must still await discoveries that will bridge certain breaks.
The origin of living matter—of organic matter—from the lifeless material of the inorganic world was a most momentous step, for it led ultimately to the peopling of the globe with its countless hosts of animals and plants. When, where, and how life began, however, we do not know, although much purely academic discussion has been waged about the question. As students of the origin of the earth must assume the preexistence of matter and energy, so students of organic evolution must assume the existence of something organic to evolve, but science is silent on the great problems of first causation.
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