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A Short History of the World

Chapter 4 THE AGE OF FISHES

Word Count: 1225    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

s, it was supposed that the different species of plants and animals were fixed and f

se of ages, and this again expanded into a belief in what is called Organic Evolution, a belief that all species of life upon earth, animal and vegetable alike, are desce

ble with sound Christian, Jewish and Moslem doctrine. That time has passed, and the men of the most orthodox Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Mohammedan belief are now free to accept this newer and broader view of a common origin of all living thi

assimilate other matter into themselves and make it part of themselves, and they can reproduce themselves. They eat and they breed. They can give rise to other individuals, for the most part like themselves, but always also a little different from

THYS MILLERI OR SEA SCO

vidual differences make them better adapted to the new conditions under which the species has to live, and a number whose individuals whose individual differences make it rather harder for them to live. And on the whole the former sort will live longer, bear more offspring, and reproduce themselves more abundantly than the latter, and so generation by generation the average of the species will change in the favourable direction. This process, which is called

ly no definite knowledge and no convincing guess yet of the way in which life began. But nearly all authorities are agreed that it probably beg

CLADOSELACHE,

Hist.

d sun. Early conditions favoured the development of every tendency to root and hold on, every tendency to form an outer skin and casing to protect the stranded individual from immediate desiccation. From the very earliest any tendency to sensitivene

ere protections against drying rather than against active en

ocks called the Silurian division, which many geologists now suppose to be as old as five hundred million years, there appears a new type of being, equipped with e

NOIDS OF THE

ice W

attern now gone from the earth, and fishes allied to the sharks and sturgeons of to-day, rushed through the waters, leapt in the air, browsed among the seaweeds, pursued and preyed upon one another, and gave a new l

living relations, and from other sources. Apparently the ancestors of the vertebrata were soft-bodied and perhaps quite small swimming creatures who began first to develop hard parts as teeth round and about their mouths. The teeth of a skate or dogfish cover the roof and floor of

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1 Chapter 1 THE WORLD IN SPACE2 Chapter 2 THE WORLD IN TIME3 Chapter 3 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE4 Chapter 4 THE AGE OF FISHES5 Chapter 5 THE AGE OF THE COAL SWAMPS6 Chapter 6 THE AGE OF REPTILES7 Chapter 7 THE FIRST BIRDS AND THE FIRST MAMMALS8 Chapter 8 THE AGE OF MAMMALS9 Chapter 9 MONKEYS, APES AND SUB-MEN10 Chapter 10 THE NEANDERTHALER AND THE RHODESIAN MAN11 Chapter 11 THE FIRST TRUE MEN12 Chapter 12 PRIMITIVE THOUGHT13 Chapter 13 THE BEGINNINGS OF CULTIVATION14 Chapter 14 PRIMITIVE NEOLITHIC CIVILIZATIONS15 Chapter 15 SUMERIA, EARLY EGYPT AND WRITING16 Chapter 16 PRIMITIVE NOMADIC PEOPLES17 Chapter 17 THE FIRST SEAGOING PEOPLES18 Chapter 18 EGYPT, BABYLON AND ASSYRIA19 Chapter 19 THE PRIMITIVE ARYANS20 Chapter 20 THE LAST BABYLONIAN EMPIRE AND THE EMPIRE OF DARIUS I21 Chapter 21 THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE JEWS22 Chapter 22 PRIESTS AND PROPHETS IN JUDEA23 Chapter 23 THE GREEKS24 Chapter 24 THE WARS OF THE GREEKS AND PERSIANS25 Chapter 25 THE SPLENDOUR OF GREECE26 Chapter 26 THE EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT27 Chapter 27 THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY AT ALEXANDRIA28 Chapter 28 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA29 Chapter 29 KING ASOKA30 Chapter 30 CONFUCIUS AND LAO TSE31 Chapter 31 ROME COMES INTO HISTORY32 Chapter 32 ROME AND CARTHAGE33 Chapter 33 THE GROWTH OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE34 Chapter 34 BETWEEN ROME AND CHINA35 Chapter 35 THE COMMON MAN'S LIFE UNDER THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE36 Chapter 36 RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS UNDER THE ROMAN EMPIRE37 Chapter 37 THE TEACHING OF JESUS38 Chapter 38 THE DEVELOPMENT OF DOCTRINAL CHRISTIANITY39 Chapter 39 THE BARBARIANS BREAK THE EMPIRE INTO EAST AND WEST40 Chapter 40 THE HUNS AND THE END OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE41 Chapter 41 THE BYZANTINE AND SASSANID EMPIRES42 Chapter 42 THE DYNASTIES OF SUY AND TANG IN CHINA43 Chapter 43 MUHAMMAD AND ISLAM44 Chapter 44 THE GREAT DAYS OF THE ARABS45 Chapter 45 THE DEVELOPMENT OF LATIN CHRISTENDOM46 Chapter 46 THE CRUSADES AND THE AGE OF PAPAL DOMINION47 Chapter 47 RECALCITRANT PRINCES AND THE GREAT SCHISM48 Chapter 48 THE MONGOL CONQUESTS49 Chapter 49 THE INTELLECTUAL REVIVAL OF THE EUROPEANS50 Chapter 50 THE REFORMATION OF THE LATIN CHURCH51 Chapter 51 THE EMPEROR CHARLES V52 Chapter 52 THE AGE OF POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS; OF GRAND MONARCHY AND PARLIAMENTS AND REPUBLICANISM IN EUROPE53 Chapter 53 THE NEW EMPIRES OF THE EUROPEANS IN ASIA AND OVERSEAS54 Chapter 54 THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE55 Chapter 55 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE RESTORATION OF MONARCHY IN FRANCE56 Chapter 56 THE UNEASY PEACE IN EUROPE THAT FOLLOWED THE FALL OF NAPOLEON57 Chapter 57 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MATERIAL KNOWLEDGE58 Chapter 58 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION59 Chapter 59 THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN POLITICAL AND SOCIAL IDEAS60 Chapter 60 THE EXPANSION OF THE UNITED STATES61 Chapter 61 THE RISE OF GERMANY TO PREDOMINANCE IN EUROPE62 Chapter 62 THE NEW OVERSEAS EMPIRES OF STEAMSHIP AND RAILWAY63 Chapter 63 EUROPEAN AGGRESSION IN ASIA AND THE RISE OF JAPAN64 Chapter 64 THE BRITISH EMPIRE IN 191465 Chapter 65 THE AGE OF ARMAMENT IN EUROPE, AND THE GREAT WAR OF 1914-1866 Chapter 66 THE REVOLUTION AND FAMINE IN RUSSIA67 Chapter 67 THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE WORLD68 Chapter 68 No.6869 Chapter 69 No.6970 Chapter 70 No.7071 Chapter 71 No.71