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1859
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recently have been 1859 1860 1861 1866
have been recently 1869 1872

of level in our continents; 1859 1860 1861 1866
in the level of the land or sea; 1869 1872

as 1859 1860 1861 1866
of our continents, as 1869 1872

migration. In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked, as I believe, by rings of coral or atolls standing over them. 1860
migration. 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872

Whenever it is fully admitted, 1860
In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked, 1859
In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked 1861 1866 1869 1872

as I believe 1860
as I believe, 1859
OMIT 1861 1866 1869 1872

it will some day be, that each species has proceeded from a single birthplace, and when in the course of time we know something definite about the means of distribution, we shall be enabled to speculate with security on the former extension of the land. 1860
by rings of coral or atolls standing over them. 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872

1 blocks not present in 1860; present in 1859 1861 1866 1869 1872
Whenever it is fully admitted, as I believe it will some day be, that each species has proceeded from a single birthplace, and when in the course of time we know something definite about the means of distribution, we shall be enabled to speculate with security on the former extension of the land.

possibly even continents together, and thus have allowed terrestrial productions to pass from one to the other. No geologist
will
will
disputes
dispute
that great mutations of
level,
level
have occurred within the period of existing organisms. Edward Forbes insisted that all the islands in the Atlantic must recently have been connected with Europe or Africa, and Europe likewise with America. Other authors have thus hypothetically bridged over every ocean, and
have
have
united almost every island to some mainland. If indeed the arguments used by Forbes are to be trusted, it must be admitted that scarcely a single island exists which has not recently been united to some continent. This view cuts the Gordian knot of the dispersal of the same species to the most distant points, and removes many a
difficulty;
difficulty:
but to the best of my judgment we are not authorized in admitting such enormous geographical changes within the period of existing species. It seems to me that we have abundant evidence of great oscillations of level in our continents; but not of such vast changes in
the
their
position and
extension
extension,
as to have united them within the recent period to each other and to the several intervening oceanic islands. I freely admit the former existence of many islands, now buried beneath the sea, which may have served as
halting-places
halting- places
halting places
for plants and for many animals during their migration. In the coral-producing oceans such sunken islands are now marked, as I believe, by rings of coral or atolls standing over them. Whenever it is fully admitted, as I believe it will some day be, that each species has proceeded from a single birthplace, and when in the course of time we know something definite about the means of distribution, we shall be enabled to speculate with security on the former extension of the land. But I do not believe that it will ever be proved that within the