For the Carboniferous--_the_ age of
acrogen plants, _par excellence_--does not occur till after swarms of
_Trilobite_ Crustaceans had filled the sea and passed away, and after
the Devonian fish-age had nearly passed away; and so on throughout.
The groups in nature overlap each other so closely, that though
plant-life (in elementary forms) probably had the actual start;
virtually the two kingdoms--plant and animal--appeared almost
simultaneously. There is nothing like the appearance of a first period
in which one _alone_ predominated. And long before the plants are
established in all classes, the great reptiles, birds, and some mammals,
had appeared. The seed-bearing plants--true grasses and exogens with
seed capsules (angiosperms) did not appear till quite Tertiary times.
That is the essential difference between the facts and the theory. If we
make a diagram, and let the squares represent the main groups, the order
(according to the period interpretation) ought to be as in A, whereas
it really more resembles B. Thus.
[Illustration: The dotted extensions of the squares indicate the fore
runners of the families, i.e., their first indications in the ages.]
[Illustration: _A New Interpretation suggested_]
But then it will be asked, if the day means only an ordinary day--not a
long period--what is there that actually could have happened, and did
happen, in _three days_ (for that is the real point, as we shall see),
such as the writer describes as the third, fifth, and sixth days?
I answer that on those days, and on the previous ones, God did exactly
what He is recorded to have done.
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