We began this chapter with a consideration of the permanence of continental areas, and may close with a reference to the same great fact in connection with the continuity of life. Whether with some we attach more importance to the support of the continents by lateral pressure and rigidity, or with others to what may be termed flotation, by virtue of their less density, as compared with that of the lower parts of the earth; there can be little doubt that both principles have been applied, and that both admit of some vertical movement. Thus the stability of the continents is one of position rather than height, and their internal plateaus as well as their partially submerged marginal slopes have undergone great and unequal elevations and depressions, causing most important geographical changes. Among these are the formation of connecting bridges of shoals, islands, or low land, connecting the continental masses at different periods, and permitting migrations of shallow-water animals and even of denizens of the land. The facts adduced in previous pages are sufficient to show connections across the north of the Atlantic at intervals reaching from the Cambrian to the Modern.
The conclusion of the whole matter is that there is a fixity and unchangeableness in determinations and arrangements of force just as much as in natural laws; and that while God has made everything beautiful in its time He has also made everything beautiful and useful in some sense for all time. With all this, while the great principles and modes of operation remain unchanged, there is ample scope for development, modification and adaptation to new ends, without deviation from essential properties and characters. It is a wise and thoughtful philosophy which can distinguish what is fixed and unchangeable from that which is fluctuating and capable of development. Until this distinction is fully understood, we may expect one-sided views and faulty generalizations in our attempts to understand nature.
References:--"The Chain of Life in Geological Times." London. New Species of Fossil Sponges from the Quebec Group at Little Metis. Trans. Royal Society of Canada, 1889. Fossil Fishes from the Lower Carboniferous of New Brunswick. _Canadian Naturalist_, "Acadian Geology," 1855, and later editions to 1892. London and Montreal. "The Story of the Earth," 1872 and later editions to 1891. London.