Pura especulaci\u00f3n sobre un gr\u00e1fico imaginario y err\u00f3neo. \u00bfEsto es Ciencia? No parece<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n 602<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n By looking at the diagram we can see that if many of the extinct forms supposed to be embedded in the successive formations, were discovered at several points low down in the series, the three existing families on the uppermost line would be rendered less distinct from each other. If, for instance, the genera a1, a5, a10, f8, m3, m6, m9, were disinterred, these three families would be so closely linked together that they probably would have to be united into one great family, in nearly the same manner as has occurred with ruminants and certain pachyderms. Yet he who objected to consider as intermediate the extinct genera, which thus link together the living genera of three families, would be partly justified, for they are intermediate, not directly, but only by a long and circuitous course through many widely different forms. If many extinct forms were to be discovered above one of the middle horizontal lines or geological formations\u2014for instance, above No. VI.\u2014but none from beneath this line, then only two of the families (those on the left hand a14, etc., and b14, etc.) would have to be united into one; and there would remain two families which would be less distinct from each other than they were before the discovery of the fossils. So again, if the three families formed of eight genera (a14 to m14), on the uppermost line, be supposed to differ from each other by half-a-dozen important characters, then the families which existed at a period marked VI would certainly have differed from each other by a less number of characters; for they would at this early stage of descent have diverged in a less degree from their common progenitor. Thus it comes that ancient and extinct genera are often in a greater or less degree intermediate in character between their modified descendants, or between their collateral relations.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Mirando el cuadro podemos ver que, si en diferentes puntos de la parte inferior de la serie fuesen descubiertas muchas de las formas extinguidas, que se supone que est\u00e1n enterradas en las formaciones sucesivas, las tres familias vivientes que est\u00e1n encima de la l\u00ednea superior resultar\u00edan menos distintas entre s\u00ed. Si, por ejemplo, los g\u00e9neros a1, a5, a10, f8, m3, m6, m9, fuesen desenterrados, estas tres familias estar\u00edan tan estrechamente unidas entre s\u00ed, que probablemente habr\u00edan tenido que ser reunidas, formando una gran familia, casi del mismo modo que ha ocurrido con los rumiantes y ciertos paquidermos. Sin embargo, el que se opusiese a considerar como intermedios los g\u00e9neros extinguidos que enlazan de este modo los g\u00e9neros vivientes de tres familias, tendr\u00eda en parte raz\u00f3n, pues son intermedios no directamente, sino s\u00f3lo mediante un camino largo y tortuoso, pasando por muchas y muy diferentes formas. Si fuesen descubiertas muchas formas extinguidas por encima de una de las l\u00edneas horizontales o formaciones geol\u00f3gicas intermedias -por ejemplo, por encima de VI-, y ninguna por debajo de esta l\u00ednea, entonces s\u00f3lo dos de las familias -las de la izquierda, a14, etc., y b14, etc.-, tendr\u00edan que ser reunidas en una sola, y quedar\u00edan dos familias, que ser\u00edan menos distintas entre s\u00ed de lo que lo eran antes del descubrimiento de los f\u00f3siles. Del mismo modo tambi\u00e9n, si se supone que las tres familias formadas por los ocho g\u00e9neros (a14 a m14), situados sobre la l\u00ednea superior difieren entre s\u00ed por media docena de caracteres importantes, en este caso, las familias que existieron en el per\u00edodo se\u00f1alado por la l\u00ednea VI habr\u00edan seguramente diferido entre s\u00ed por un n\u00famero menor de caracteres, pues en este estado primitivo habr\u00edan divergido menos a partir de su antepasado com\u00fan. As\u00ed ocurre que los g\u00e9neros antiguos y extinguidos son con frecuencia, en mayor o menor grado, de caracteres intermedios entre sus modificados descendientes o entre sus parientes colaterales.<\/em><\/p>\n \n Lectura aconsejada:<\/p>\n