The affinities of all the beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree. I believe this simile largely speaks the truth. ... As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The affinities of all the beings of the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree. I believe this simile largely speaks the truth. ... As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications." in the context of "Charles Darwin: The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (Sixth Edition), ch. 4, "Natural Selection", pp. 104–105. John Murray (1876). Republished by Cambridge University Press (2009). ISBN: 1-108-00548-9." to mean that wisdom is timeless.