Page:Evolution of Life (Henry Cadwalader Chapman, 1873).djvu/190

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EVOLUTION OF LIFE.

but in still earlier forms, like Coryphodon, Pliolophus, and Lophiodon, we find teeth combining the characteristics of the Paleotherium and Anoplotherium. So that just as the Rhinoceros and Horse are specialized forms of the Paleotherium, the Pig and Sheep of the Anoplotherium, so the Paleotherium and Anoplotherium are specialized forms of the Coryphodon. Accepting the theory of the specialized higher forms of life having descended from a more general lower form, we have an explanation of the harmony offered by the anatomy, embryology, and petrified remains of these animals. But the theory of Evolution explains not only the most important facts in reference to this particular order of animals, but we hope to have shown that it is equally applicable to the whole vegetal and animal kingdom. The question now naturally arises, Are there any natural causes sufficient to effect the development of the animal and vegetal kingdoms out of a monad?

To that subject we now turn.