Download or read book The Chain of Life in Geological Time A Sketch of the Origin and Succession of Animals and Plants written by Sir John William Dawson and published by Library of Alexandria. This book was released on 2020-09-28 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Questions as to the origin and history of life are not at the present time answered by mere philosophical speculation and poetical imagining. Such solutions of these questions as science can profess to have obtained are based on vast accumulations of facts respecting the remains of animals and plants preserved in the rocky beds of the earth’s crust, which have been successively accumulated in the course of its long geological history. These facts undoubtedly afford the means of attaining to very certain conclusions on many points relating to the history of life on the earth. But, on the other hand, they have furnished the material for hypotheses which, though confidently affirmed to be indisputable, have no real foundation in nature, and are indirectly subversive of some of the most sacred beliefs of mankind. In these circumstances it is most desirable that those who are not specialists in such matters should be in a position to judge for themselves; and it does not appear impossible in the actual state of knowledge, to present, in terms intelligible to the general reader, such a view of the ascertained sequence of the forms of life as may serve at once to give exalted and elevating views of the great plan of creation, and to prevent the deceptions of pseudo-scientists from doing their evil work. Difficulties, no doubt, attend the attempt. They arise from the number and variety of the facts, from the uncertainties attending many important points, from the new views constantly opening up in the progress of discovery, and from the difficulty of presenting in an intelligible form the preliminary data in biology and geology necessary for the understanding of the questions in hand. In order, as far as possible, to obviate these difficulties, the plan adopted in this work has been to note the first known appearance of each leading type of life, and to follow its progress down to the present time or until it became extinct. This method is at least natural and historical, and has commended itself to the writer as giving a very clear comprehension of the actual state of our knowledge, and as presenting some aspects of the subject which may be novel and suggestive even to those who have studied it most deeply. In selecting examples and illustrations, the writer has endeavoured to avoid, as far as possible, those already familiar to the general reader. He has carefully sought for the latest facts, while rejecting as unproved many things that are confidently asserted; and has endeavoured to avoid all that is irrelevant to the subject in hand, and to abstain from all technical terms not absolutely essential. In a work at once so wide in its scope, so popular in its character, and so limited in its dimensions, a certain amount of hostile criticism on the part of specialists is to be expected, some portion of it perhaps just, other portions arising from narrow prejudices due to limited lines of study. The writer is willing to receive such comments with attention and gratitude, but he would deprecate the misuse of them in the interest of those coteries which are at present engaged in the effort to torture nature into a confession of belief in the doctrines of a materialistic or agnostic philosophy.
Download or read book The Chain of Life in Geological Time written by Sir John William Dawson and published by [London] : Religious Tract Society. This book was released on 1885 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The chain of life in geological time written by sir John William Dawson and published by . This book was released on 1880 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Men and Women of the Time written by Victor Plarr and published by . This book was released on 1899 with total page 2856 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Geological Magazine written by Henry Woodward and published by . This book was released on 1899 with total page 738 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bulletin of the Salem Public Library written by Salem Public Library and published by . This book was released on 1893 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Brief Biographical Sketch of Sir John William Dawson written by Henry Marc Ami and published by . This book was released on 1900 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Encyclop dic Catalogue written by Guille-Allès library and museum, Guernsey and published by . This book was released on 1891 with total page 1602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Meeting Place of Geology and History written by Sir John William Dawson and published by . This book was released on 1894 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Clergyman s Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1880 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hand book for the City of Montreal and Its Environs written by American Association for the Advancement of Science and published by Published for the Local Committee. This book was released on 1882 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Pamphlets on Biology written by and published by . This book was released on 1898 with total page 942 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Men and Women of the Time written by George Washington Moon and published by . This book was released on 1891 with total page 1040 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Canadian Naturalist and Quarterly Journal of Science written by and published by . This book was released on 1882 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Finding List of the Minneapolis Public Library written by Minneapolis Public Library and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Catalogue of the Minneapolis Public Library written by Minneapolis Public Library and published by . This book was released on 1901 with total page 1068 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors Living and Deceased from the Earliest Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century written by Samuel Austin Allibone and published by . This book was released on 1899 with total page 760 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
