Lindstrom  are  preparing  a  paper  upon  it,  and  have  given  it  the  name
of  Pah'ophoneus  nuncius.  No  scorpions,  nor  indeed  any  Arachnida,
have  before  been  found  fossil  in  beds  lower  than  the  carboniferous
deposits,  in  which  some  twenty-five  species  have  been  found  in  this
country  and  Europe  ;  yet  this  Silurian  exa>nple  is  more  perfect  than
any  speci7nen  of  a  fossil  scorpion  from  anv  formation^''

^  "  That  man,  equally  with  the  monad  and  the  Conferva,  owes  his


PHILOSOPHY  OF  HISTORY.  413

4  If  Paleontology  presents  to  us  certain  types  of
life  which  indicate  in  their  successions  a  certain
progress,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  tiiat  the  same
science  presents  us  other  types,  whose  successions
with  equal  clearness  reveal  a  progressive  degeneracy
and  an  ultimate  disappearance.  The  movement
may  be  forward,  but  it  vtay  also  be  backward.  "  As
to  the  class  Reptilia,"  says  Sir  Charles  L'yell,  "some
of  the  orders  which  prevailed  when  the  Secondary
rocks  were  formed  are  confessedly  much  higher  in
their  organization  than  any  of  the  same  class  now
living.  If  the  less  perfect  Ophidians,  or  snakes,
which  now  abound  on  earth  had  taken  the  lead  in
those  ancient  days  among  the  land  reptiles,  and  the
Deinosaurians  had  been  contemporary  with  Man,
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  progressionist  would
have  seized  upon  this  fact  with  unfeigned  satisfac-
tion as  confirmatory  of  his  views.  Now  that  the
order  of  succession   is  precisely  reversed,  and  that

origin  to  a  protoplasmic  germ,  in  which  are  contained  all  the  possi-
bilities of  his  after  development,  is  no  piece  of  scientific  romance,
but  demonstrable  truth.  .  .  .  All  forms  of  protoplasm,  however  alike
in  appearance  and  composition  science  may  and  does  declare  them  to
be,  are  not  identical  in  their  potentialities.  They  do  not,  in  other
words,  all  possess  similar  powers  of  becoming  similar  organisms.
