Good post ...
Missing in this thread is the fact that Chapter IX in Darwin’s “Origin of Species” is titled “On the Imperfection of the Geological Record.”
And now, in Steve Jones’ “Darwin’s Ghost,” subtitled “The Origin of Species - Updated,” Jones writes in his same titled chapter ...
“Geology assuredly does not reveal any finely graduated organic chain, and this is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against the theory of evolution” ... and ... “The archive of the rocks is a series of snapshots, taken at long intervals with a badly focused camera.”
Jones goes further in his Chapter IX by revealing the extent geological knowledge has increased since Darwin.
The current accepted age of the Earth, for instance, is based on moon rocks collected on Apollo missions.
Did you manage to assign verse numbers to each sentence of “Darwin’s Ghost” yet???