Very little of Africa or South America existed.
It will be seen at a glance that the physical story of the earth
from that time is a record of the emergence from the waters of
larger continents and the formation of lofty chains of mountains.
Now this world-old battle of land and sea has been waged with
varying fortune from age to age, and it has been one of the most
important factors in the development of life. We are just
beginning to realise what a wonderful light it throws on the
upward advance of animals and plants. No one in the scientific
world to-day questions that, however imperfect the record may be,
there has been a continuous development of life from the lowest
level to the highest. But why there was advance at all, why the
primitive microbe climbs the scale of being, during millions of
years, until it reaches the stature of humanity, seems to many a
profound mystery. The solution of this mystery begins to break
upon us when we contemplate, in the geological record, the
prolonged series of changes in the face of the earth itself, and
try to realise how these changes must have impelled living things
to fresh and higher adaptations to their changing surroundings.
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