.. beyond our
reach. Most of the gaps in the geological series may thus be
filled up, and vast numbers of unknown and unimaginable animals
which might help to elucidate the affinities of the numerous
isolated groups which are a perpetual puzzle to the zoologist may
be buried there, till future revolutions may raise them in turn
above the water, to afford materials for the study of whatever
race of intelligent beings may then have succeeded us. These
considerations must lead us to the conclusion that our knowledge
of the whole series of the former inhabitants of the earth is
necessarily most imperfect and fragmentary--as much as our
knowledge of the present organic world would be, were we forced to
make our collections and observations only in spots equally
limited in area and in number with those actually laid open for
the collection of fossils.... The hypothesis of Prof. Forbes is
essentially one that assumes to a great extent the _completeness_
of our knowledge of the _whole series_ of organic beings which
have existed on earth.
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