Before Darwin, almost everybody believed that species had been created by God. They also believed that species were ΓÇÿimmutableΓÇÖ, that is, that they remained forever as God had created them. But the discovery of fossils posed - and continues to pose - some serious problems for these beliefs. It is clear that many fossils are of animals that no longer exist. This raises the problem of extinction: if God is both good and all-powerful, surely he would not allow his creations to go extinct. Moreover, the fossil record shows new species appearing: where did they come from? Did God create them especially?
Some argued that fossils were the creations of the devil, others that they were the bones of sinners drowned in NoahΓÇÖs flood. Such beliefs, however, were not easily reconciled with the geological discoveries of the eighteenth-century. Geologists found not just one but many layers of extinct life, and uncovered a whole record of previous existence in the layers of rock that make up the earth.
