--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Why then is not every geological…" description: "\"Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such fine graduated..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b9/charles-darwin-507_evolution_why-then-is-not-every-geological-formati_2288809.jpg" --- # Why then is not every geological formation and every… ![“Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such fine graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against the theory.” quote by Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b9/charles-darwin-507_evolution_why-then-is-not-every-geological-formati_2288809.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b9/charles-darwin-507_evolution_why-then-is-not-every-geological-formati_2288809.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6b9/charles-darwin-507_evolution_why-then-is-not-every-geological-formati_2288809.jpg) > “Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such fine graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against the theory.” [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Darwin questions that the fossil record lacks many transitional forms, challenging his evolutionary theory. **In simple terms:** Fossils miss many intermediate stages. Key Takeaway Recognize gaps but seek more evidence. Themes evolution fossils science skepticism Mood inquisitive analytical Type scientific critical When to use this quote - education - research - museum exhibits - public debates Key Concepts gradualism missing data paleontology Questions to Reflect On - How do we address missing fossils? - What methods improve fossil discovery? A Different Perspective Fossil gaps may be due to preservation bias, not theory failure. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Geological](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/geological/) [Geological Formation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/geological-formation-4880775/) [Geology Assuredly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/geology-assuredly-5369899/) [Links Geology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/links-geology-4880778/) [Organic Chain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organic-chain-5369900/) ## Related quotes > [But just in proportion as this process of extermination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the number of intermediate varieties, which have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/but-just-in-proportion-as-this-process-of-extermination-has-acted-on/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I look at the natural geological record as a history of the world imperfectly kept and written in a changing dialect; of this history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/i-look-at-the-natural-geological-record-as-a-history-of-the-world/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Geology is rapidly taking its place as an introduction to the higher history of man. If the author has sought to exalt a favorite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-dwight-dana/geology-is-rapidly-taking-its-place-as-an-introduction-to-the-higher/) [James Dwight Dana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-dwight-dana/) > [Over most of history, threats have come from nature - disease, earthquakes, floods, and so forth. But the worst now come from us. We've…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-rees/over-most-of-history-threats-have-come-from-nature-disease/) [Martin Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-rees/) > [Four geological eras had to pass so that human beings would be able to outsing the birds and die for love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/four-geological-eras-had-to-pass-so-that-human-beings-would-be-able/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [“GEOLOGY, n. The science of the earth's crust --to which, doubtless, will be added that of its interior whenever a man shall come up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/geology-n-the-science-of-the-earth-s-crust-to-which-doubtless-will-be/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [There is no foundation in geological facts, for the popular theory of the successive development of the animal and vegetable world, from the simplest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lyell/there-is-no-foundation-in-geological-facts-for-the-popular-theory-of/) [Charles Lyell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lyell/) > [The more clearly the immensely speculative nature of geological science is recognized, the easier it becomes to remodel our concepts of any inferred terrestrial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-morris-davis/the-more-clearly-the-immensely-speculative-nature-of-geological/) [William Morris Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-morris-davis/) > [The most exciting thing that we have found with Cassini is the geological activity, the geysering activity at the south pole of Enceladus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-porco/the-most-exciting-thing-that-we-have-found-with-cassini-is-the/) [Carolyn Porco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-porco/) > [“... I left Caen, where I was living, to go on a geological excursion under the auspices of the School of Mines. The incidents…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-poincare/i-left-caen-where-i-was-living-to-go-on-a-geological-excursion-under/) [Henri Poincaré](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-poincare/) > [Living matter is the most powerful geological force.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-vernadsky/living-matter-is-the-most-powerful-geological-force/) [Vladimir Vernadsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-vernadsky/) > [The rest of my work, besides sketching and keeping a diary, which was the most troublesome of all, consisted in making geological and zoological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-rest-of-my-work-besides-sketching-and-keeping-a-diary-which-was/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Geological age plays the same part in our views of the duration of the universe as the Earth's orbital radius does in our views…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-joly/geological-age-plays-the-same-part-in-our-views-of-the-duration-of/) [John Joly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-joly/) > [The deciphering of ancient scripts changed forever the way Europeans were able to imagine the story of humanity, destroying centuries of received authority about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-macgregor/the-deciphering-of-ancient-scripts-changed-forever-the-way-europeans/) [Neil MacGregor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-macgregor/) > [I do believe that enduring geological features are important, though I don't think I can be clear about exactly why.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-kidder/i-do-believe-that-enduring-geological-features-are-important-though-i/) [Tracy Kidder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-kidder/) ## More by Charles Darwin > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-main-conclusion-here-arrived-at-is-that-man-is-descended-from/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [So great is the economy of nature, that most flowers which are fertilised by crepuscular or nocturnal insects emit their odour chiefly or exclusively…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/so-great-is-the-economy-of-nature-that-most-flowers-which-are/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/i-see-no-good-reasons-why-the-views-given-in-this-volume-should-shock/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science…It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/i-am-quite-conscious-that-my-speculations-run-beyond-the-bounds-of/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [If worms have the power of acquiring some notion, however rude, of the shape of an object and over their burrows, as seems the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/if-worms-have-the-power-of-acquiring-some-notion-however-rude-of-the/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/we-can-allow-satellites-planets-suns-universe-nay-whole-systems-of/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Formerly Milton's Paradise Lost had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the Beagle, when I could take only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/formerly-milton-s-paradise-lost-had-been-my-chief-favourite-and-in-my/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [May we not suspect that the vague but very real fears of children, which are quite independent of experience, are the inherited effects of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/may-we-not-suspect-that-the-vague-but-very-real-fears-of-children/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-may-be-said-that-natural-selection-is-daily-and-hourly/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“Darwin, landing in Brazil in 1832, had a similar reaction, colored by his reading of his predecessor." Humboldt's glorious descriptions are & will for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/darwin-landing-in-brazil-in-1832-had-a-similar-reaction-colored-by/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [...all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/all-nature-is-perverse-will-not-do-as-i-wish-it/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“To admit that species generally become rare before they become extinct—to feel no surprise at the comparative rarity of one species with another, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/to-admit-that-species-generally-become-rare-before-they-become/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/to-suppose-that-the-eye-could-have-been-formed-by-natural-selection/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank clothed with many plants of many kinds with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-is-interesting-to-contemplate-an-entangled-bank-clothed-with-many/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) [Explore all 497 Charles Darwin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) ## More Evolution quotes > [I rap when I'm rich. I rap when I'm broke. I rap when I'm bullshit in the street. I rap about only having one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/killer-mike/i-rap-when-i-m-rich-i-rap-when-i-m-broke-i-rap-when-i-m-bullshit-in/) [Killer Mike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/killer-mike/) > [At the deepest level, all living things that have ever been looked at have the same DNA code. And many of the same genes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/at-the-deepest-level-all-living-things-that-have-ever-been-looked-at/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [“A question for Christians who accept evolution: When did we gain a "soul"? Did Homo habilis have a soul? Homo ergaster? Did God only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-g-mcafee/a-question-for-christians-who-accept-evolution-when-did-we-gain-a/) [David G. McAfee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-g-mcafee/) > [If the polymer chain assumes a helicoidal conformation in the crystalline state, and if it does not contain asymmetric carbon atoms, it can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giulio-natta/if-the-polymer-chain-assumes-a-helicoidal-conformation-in-the/) [Giulio Natta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giulio-natta/) > [“Genetics is a science full of gods, Mr. Sanchez.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valeria-luiselli/genetics-is-a-science-full-of-gods-mr-sanchez/) [Valeria Luiselli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valeria-luiselli/) > [We became Homo sapiens not that long ago, from the scientific perspective, and we've retained a lot of our beast nature. We've done all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wangechi-mutu/we-became-homo-sapiens-not-that-long-ago-from-the-scientific/) [Wangechi Mutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wangechi-mutu/) > [Guns have little or nothing to do with juvenile violence. The causes of youth violence are working parents who put their kids into daycare,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-delay/guns-have-little-or-nothing-to-do-with-juvenile-violence-the-causes/) [Tom DeLay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-delay/) > [The fact -- not theory -- that evolution has occurred and the Darwinian theory as to how it occurred have become so confused in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-gaylord-simpson/the-fact-not-theory-that-evolution-has-occurred-and-the-darwinian/) [George Gaylord Simpson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-gaylord-simpson/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [Evolution happens in jumps, very rapidly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-ferguson/evolution-happens-in-jumps-very-rapidly/) [Marilyn Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-ferguson/) > [The true nature of soul is right knowledge, right faith and right conduct. The soul, so long as it is subject to transmigration, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virchand-gandhi/the-true-nature-of-soul-is-right-knowledge-right-faith-and-right/) [Virchand Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virchand-gandhi/) > [“Toshiaki learned that all living organisms were governed by their DNA. He was impressed by perfection of this system.Why did existence have the ability…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hideaki-sena/toshiaki-learned-that-all-living-organisms-were-governed-by-their-dna/) [Hideaki Sena](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hideaki-sena/) > [The shelves of many evangelicals are full of books that point out the flaws in evolution, discuss it only as a theory, and almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-collins/the-shelves-of-many-evangelicals-are-full-of-books-that-point-out-the/) [Francis Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-collins/) > [I'm all about evolution. I'm the first person to judge myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-weeknd/i-m-all-about-evolution-i-m-the-first-person-to-judge-myself/) [The Weeknd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-weeknd/) > [The next evolution of content marketing is not more content; it's better distribution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-penn/the-next-evolution-of-content-marketing-is-not-more-content-it-s/) [Chris Penn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-penn/) [Browse all 6,185 Evolution quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? 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