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It
was
a
bird
's
-
eye
view
of
creation
,
as
interpreted
by
science
,
which
,
in
language
always
clear
and
sometimes
picturesque
,
he
unfolded
before
us
.
He
told
us
of
the
globe
,
a
huge
mass
of
flaming
gas
,
flaring
through
the
heavens
.
Then
he
pictured
the
solidification
,
the
cooling
,
the
wrinkling
which
formed
the
mountains
,
the
steam
which
turned
to
water
,
the
slow
preparation
of
the
stage
upon
which
was
to
be
played
the
inexplicable
drama
of
life
.
On
the
origin
of
life
itself
he
was
discreetly
vague
.
That
the
germs
of
it
could
hardly
have
survived
the
original
roasting
was
,
he
declared
,
fairly
certain
.
Therefore
it
had
come
later
.
Had
it
built
itself
out
of
the
cooling
,
inorganic
elements
of
the
globe
?
Very
likely
.
Had
the
germs
of
it
arrived
from
outside
upon
a
meteor
?
It
was
hardly
conceivable
.
On
the
whole
,
the
wisest
man
was
the
least
dogmatic
upon
the
point
.
We
could
not
--
or
at
least
we
had
not
succeeded
up
to
date
in
making
organic
life
in
our
laboratories
out
of
inorganic
materials
.
The
gulf
between
the
dead
and
the
living
was
something
which
our
chemistry
could
not
as
yet
bridge
.
But
there
was
a
higher
and
subtler
chemistry
of
Nature
,
which
,
working
with
great
forces
over
long
epochs
,
might
well
produce
results
which
were
impossible
for
us
.
There
the
matter
must
be
left
.
This
brought
the
lecturer
to
the
great
ladder
of
animal
life
,
beginning
low
down
in
molluscs
and
feeble
sea
creatures
,
then
up
rung
by
rung
through
reptiles
and
fishes
,
till
at
last
we
came
to
a
kangaroo-rat
,
a
creature
which
brought
forth
its
young
alive
,
the
direct
ancestor
of
all
mammals
,
and
presumably
,
therefore
,
of
everyone
in
the
audience
.
(
"
No
,
no
,
"
from
a
sceptical
student
in
the
back
row
.
)
If
the
young
gentleman
in
the
red
tie
who
cried
"
No
,
no
,
"
and
who
presumably
claimed
to
have
been
hatched
out
of
an
egg
,
would
wait
upon
him
after
the
lecture
,
he
would
be
glad
to
see
such
a
curiosity
.
(
Laughter
.
)
It
was
strange
to
think
that
the
climax
of
all
the
age-long
process
of
Nature
had
been
the
creation
of
that
gentleman
in
the
red
tie
.
But
had
the
process
stopped
?
Was
this
gentleman
to
be
taken
as
the
final
type
--
the
be-all
and
end-all
of
development
?
He
hoped
that
he
would
not
hurt
the
feelings
of
the
gentleman
in
the
red
tie
if
he
maintained
that
,
whatever
virtues
that
gentleman
might
possess
in
private
life
,
still
the
vast
processes
of
the
universe
were
not
fully
justified
if
they
were
to
end
entirely
in
his
production
.
Evolution
was
not
a
spent
force
,
but
one
still
working
,
and
even
greater
achievements
were
in
store
.
Having
thus
,
amid
a
general
titter
,
played
very
prettily
with
his
interrupter
,
the
lecturer
went
back
to
his
picture
of
the
past
,
the
drying
of
the
seas
,
the
emergence
of
the
sand-bank
,
the
sluggish
,
viscous
life
which
lay
upon
their
margins
,
the
overcrowded
lagoons
,
the
tendency
of
the
sea
creatures
to
take
refuge
upon
the
mud-flats
,
the
abundance
of
food
awaiting
them
,
their
consequent
enormous
growth
.
"
Hence
,
ladies
and
gentlemen
,
"
he
added
,
"
that
frightful
brood
of
saurians
which
still
affright
our
eyes
when
seen
in
the
Wealden
or
in
the
Solenhofen
slates
,
but
which
were
fortunately
extinct
long
before
the
first
appearance
of
mankind
upon
this
planet
.
"
"
Question
!
"
boomed
a
voice
from
the
platform
.
Mr.
Waldron
was
a
strict
disciplinarian
with
a
gift
of
acid
humor
,
as
exemplified
upon
the
gentleman
with
the
red
tie
,
which
made
it
perilous
to
interrupt
him
.
But
this
interjection
appeared
to
him
so
absurd
that
he
was
at
a
loss
how
to
deal
with
it
.
So
looks
the
Shakespearean
who
is
confronted
by
a
rancid
Baconian
,
or
the
astronomer
who
is
assailed
by
a
flat-earth
fanatic
.
He
paused
for
a
moment
,
and
then
,
raising
his
voice
,
repeated
slowly
the
words
:
"
Which
were
extinct
before
the
coming
of
man
.
"
"
Question
!
"
boomed
the
voice
once
more
.
Waldron
looked
with
amazement
along
the
line
of
professors
upon
the
platform
until
his
eyes
fell
upon
the
figure
of
Challenger
,
who
leaned
back
in
his
chair
with
closed
eyes
and
an
amused
expression
,
as
if
he
were
smiling
in
his
sleep
.
"
I
see
!
"
said
Waldron
,
with
a
shrug
.
"
It
is
my
friend
Professor
Challenger
,
"
and
amid
laughter
he
renewed
his
lecture
as
if
this
was
a
final
explanation
and
no
more
need
be
said
.
