When On My Return To England I

In The Shallow Parts Of Many Swiss Lakes, Where There Is A Depth Of No More Than From 5 To 15 Feet Of Water, Ancient Wooden Piles Are Observed At The Bottom Sometimes Worn Down To The Surface Of The Mud, Sometimes Projecting Slightly Above It.

Amidst The Vicissitudes Of The Earth's Surface, Species Cannot Be Immortal, But Must Perish, One After Another, Like The Individuals Which Compose Them. There Is No Possibility Of Escaping From This Conclusion.

Probably There Was A Beginning-it Is A Metaphysical Question, Worthy A Theologian-species Have Begun And Ended-but The Analogy Is Faint And Distant.

Geology Differs As Widely From Cosmogony, As Speculations Concerning The Creation Of Man Differ From History.

Each Species May Have Had Its Origin In A Single Pair, Or Individual, Where An Individual Was Sufficient, And Species May Have Been Created In Succession At Such Times And In Such Places As To Enable Them To Multiply And Endure For An Appointed Period, And Occupy An Appointed Space On The Globe.