“ Biologists of the spiritualistic school and the theologians, although accepting evolution, believe in a final causality of a universe and a creative spirit, superior and pre-existing to nature, which leads the latter by the laws he has ordained without direct interference.
“From a philosophical point of view there is without doubt a precipice between the two conceptions. Concerning the first one, the finality of the organs is the result of chance variation and selection. Concerning the second one, evolution is directed by the will of a spirit, after an ordained scheme of implied causes. ”

“ But biologists since Darwin have been pure mechanics. If organs have an end, they say, it is because they fulfill a useful purpose in the co-ordinated organisms; that they have reached their present state by the play of natural causes (evolutional factors) , merciless selection having allowed only the persistence of such organs that were useful or slightly superfluous, never organs harmful to the species. ”

“ Cuentot will be a reptile-bird with feathers, but without the wing or tail spread necessary for flight. Such a link between reptiles and birds would show the long growth of feathers by reptiles before they became sufficiently birdlike to make attempts at flying. ”