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diff --git a/42466-h/42466-h.htm b/42466-h/42466-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7ebcd30 --- /dev/null +++ b/42466-h/42466-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6680 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Facts and Fancies in Modern Science, + by J. W. Dawson. + </title> + + +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover-page.jpg"/> + + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + line-height: 1.5; + clear: both; +} + +small { font-size:60%; } +big { font-size:140%; } + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.tdl {text-align: left;} /*left align cell*/ +.tdlp {text-align: left; padding-left: .5em;} /*left align cell*/ + +.tdc {text-align: center;} /*center align cell, td class="tdc tdblr" width="_%" */ + +.tdr {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} /*right align cell*/ + +.tdblr {border-left: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black;} /*borders left and right*/ + +.tdball {border: 1px solid black;} /*all borders*/ + +.tdblrb {border-left: 1px solid black; border-right: 1px solid black; +border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding-bottom: .5em;} /* borders left, right, and bottom*/ + +.tdbl {border-left: 1px solid black;} /*borders left*/ +.tdbr {border-right: 1px solid black;} /*borders right*/ +.tdblb {border-left: 1px solid black; border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding-bottom: .5em;} /*borders left*/ +.tdbrb {border-right: 1px solid black; border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding-bottom: .5em;} /*borders right*/ + +.tdbb {border-bottom: 1px solid black; padding-bottom: .5em;} /* borders left, right, and bottom*/ + + +.spaced { + line-height: 1.5; +} + +.space-above { + margin-top: 3em; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.transnote {background-color:#EEE; color: inherit; margin: 2em 10% 1em 10%; +font-size: 80%; padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em; text-align: left;} + + +.signature { + margin-right: 30%; + text-align: right;} + + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} +.captionr {font-weight: bold; margin-left: 5em; + margin-right: 5em; } + + +ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} +.tnote {border:dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; +padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; padding-left: .5em; +padding-right: .5em;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: 1em auto; + text-align: center; +} + + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ + +.cpoem1 {width: 20em; margin: 0 auto;} +.cpoem1 br {display: none;} +.cpoem1 .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} +.cpoem1 span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Facts and fancies in modern science, by +John William Dawson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Facts and fancies in modern science + Studies of the relations of science to prevalent + speculations and religious belief + +Author: John William Dawson + +Release Date: April 3, 2013 [EBook #42466] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FACTS, FANCIES IN MODERN SCIENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Albert László, JoAnn Greenwood, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 384px;"> +<img src="images/cover-page.jpg" width="384" height="600" alt="Cover" title="" /> +</div> + + +<h1> +FACTS AND FANCIES<br /> +<small>IN</small><br /> +MODERN SCIENCE:<br /><br /> + +<small>STUDIES OF THE RELATIONS OF SCIENCE TO +PREVALENT SPECULATIONS AND +RELIGIOUS BELIEF.</small></h1> + +<p class="center space-above"><i>BEING THE LECTURES ON THE SAMUEL A. +CROZER FOUNDATION IN CONNECTION WITH THE CROZER THEOLOGICAL +SEMINARY, FOR 1881.</i></p> + +<p class="center space-above spaced">BY<br /> +J. W. DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S. <span class="smcap">Etc.</span></p> + +<p class="center space-above spaced">PHILADELPHIA:<br /> +AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,<br /> +1420 CHESTNUT STREET. +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + +<p class="center spaced"> +Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1882, by the<br /> +AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY,<br /> +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.</p> + +<p class="center space-above"><span class="smcap">Westcott & Thomson</span>,<br /> +<i>Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Philada</i>.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><big>PREFACE.</big></p> + +<p>The object before the mind of the author +in preparing these Lectures was to present +a distinct and rational view of the present +relation of scientific thought to the religious +beliefs of men, and especially to the Christian +revelation.</p> + +<p>The attempt to make science, or speculations +based on science, supersede religion is +one of the prevalent fancies of our time, and +pervades much of the popular literature of +the day. That such attempts can succeed the +author does not believe. They have hitherto +given birth only to such abortions as Positivism, +Nihilism, and Pessimism.</p> + +<p>There is, however, a necessary relation and +parallelism of all truths, physical and spiritual; +and it is useful to clear away the apparent +antagonisms which proceed from partial and +imperfect views, and to point out the harmony +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +which exists between the natural and the spiritual—between +what man can learn from the +physical creation, and what has been revealed +to him by the Spirit of God. To do this with +as much fairness as possible, and with due +regard to the present state of knowledge and +to the most important difficulties that are likely +to be met with by honest inquirers, is the +purpose of the following pages.</p> + +<p>It is proper to add that, in order to give completeness +to the discussion, it has been necessary +to introduce, in some of the lectures, topics +previously treated of by the author, in a similar +manner, in publications bearing his name.</p> + +<p class="signature">J. W. D.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">April, 1882.</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><big>CONTENTS.</big><br /><br /></p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">LECTURE I.</td> +<td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#LECTURE_I">GENERAL RELATIONS OF SCIENCE AND AGNOSTIC SPECULATION</a></td> +<td class="tdr">9</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">LECTURE II.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#LECTURE_II">THE SCIENCE OF LIFE AND MONISTIC EVOLUTION</a></td> +<td class="tdr">47</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">LECTURE III.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#LECTURE_III">EVOLUTION AS TESTED BY THE RECORDS OF THE ROCKS</a></td> +<td class="tdr">103</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">LECTURE IV.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#LECTURE_IV">THE ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN</a></td> +<td class="tdr">137</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">LECTURE V.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#LECTURE_V">NATURE AS A MANIFESTATION OF MIND</a></td> +<td class="tdr">175</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc">LECTURE VI.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><a href="#LECTURE_VI">SCIENCE AND REVELATION</a></td> +<td class="tdr"><ins title="Note: original reads '217'">219</ins></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_I" id="LECTURE_I"></a>LECTURE I.<br /> + +<small>GENERAL RELATIONS OF SCIENCE AND AGNOSTIC +SPECULATION.</small></h2> + + +<p>The infidelity and the contempt for sacred +and spiritual things which pervade +so much of our modern literature are largely +attributable to the prevalence of that form of +philosophy which may be designated as Agnostic +Evolution, and this in its turn is popularly +regarded as a result of the pursuit of physical +and natural science. The last conclusion is +obviously only in part, if at all, correct, since it +is well known that atheistic philosophical speculations +were pursued, quite as boldly and ably +as now, long before the rise of modern science. +Still, it must be admitted that scientific discoveries +and principles have been largely employed +in our time to give form and consistency +to ideas otherwise very dim and shadowy, and +thus to rehabilitate for our benefit the philosophical +dreams of antiquity in a more substantial +shape. In this respect the natural sciences—or, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +rather, the facts and laws with which they +are conversant—merely share the fate of other +things. Nothing, however indifferent in itself, +can come into human hands without acquiring +thereby an ethical, social, political, or even religious, +significance. An ounce of lead or a +dynamite cartridge may be in itself a thing +altogether destitute of any higher significance +than that depending on physical properties; +but let it pass into the power of man, and at +once infinite possibilities of good and of evil +cluster round it according to the use to which +it may be applied. This depends on essential +powers and attributes of man himself, of which +he can no more be deprived than matter can +be denuded of its inherent properties; and if +the evils arising from misuse of these powers +trouble us, we may at least console ourselves +with the reflection that the possibility of such +evils shows man to be a free agent, and not an +automaton.</p> + +<p>All this is eminently applicable to science +in its relation to agnostic speculations. The +material of the physical and natural sciences +consists of facts ascertained by the evidence of +our senses, and for which we depend on the +truthfulness of those senses and the stability +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +of external nature. Science proceeds, by comparison +of these facts and by inductive reasoning, +to arrange them under certain general +expressions or laws. So far all is merely physical, +and need have no connection with our +origin or destiny or relation to higher powers. +But we ourselves are a part of the nature +which we study; and we cannot study it without +more or less thinking our own thoughts +into it. Thus we naturally begin to inquire +as to origins and first causes, and as to the +source of the energy and order which we perceive; +and to these questions the human mind +demands some answer, either actual or speculative. +But here we enter into the domain of +religious thought, or that which relates to a +power or powers beyond and above nature. +Whatever forms our thoughts on such subjects +may take, these depend, not directly on the facts +of science, but on the reaction of our minds on +these facts. They are truly anthropomorphic. +It has been well said that it is as idle to inquire +as to the origin of such religious ideas as to +inquire as to the origin of hunger and thirst. +Given the man, they must necessarily exist. +Now, whatever form these philosophical or +religious ideas may take—whether that of Agnosticism +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +or Pantheism or Theism—science, +properly so called, has no right to be either +praised or blamed. Its material may be used, +but the structure is the work of the artificer +himself.</p> + +<p>It is well, however, to carry with us the truth +that this border-land between science and religion +is one which men cannot be prevented +from entering; but what they may find therein +depends very much on themselves. Under wise +guidance it may prove to us an Eden, the very +gate of heaven, and we may acquire in it larger +and more harmonious views of both the seen +and the unseen, of science and of religion. But, +on the other hand, it may be found to be a battle-field +or a bedlam, a place of confused cries +and incoherent ravings, and strewn with the +wrecks of human hopes and aspirations.</p> + +<p>There can be no question that the more unpleasant +aspect of the matter is somewhat prevalent +in our time, and that we should, if possible, +understand the causes of the conflict and the +confusion that prevail, and the way out of +them. To do this it will be necessary first to +notice some of the incidental or extraneous +causes of difficulty and strife, and then to inquire +more in detail as to the actual bearing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +of the scientific knowledge of nature on Agnosticism.</p> + +<p>One fruitful cause of difficulty in the relations +of science and religion is to be found in +the narrowness and incapacity of well-meaning +Christians who unnecessarily bring the doctrines +of natural and revealed religion into +conflict, by misunderstanding the one or the +other, or by attaching obsolete scientific ideas +to Holy Scripture, and identifying them with +it in points where it is quite non-committal. +Much mischief is also done by a prevalent habit +of speaking of all, or nearly all, the votaries +of science as if they were irreligious.</p> + +<p>A second cause is to be found in the extravagant +speculations indulged in by the adherents +of certain philosophical systems. Such speculations +often far overpass the limits of actual +scientific knowledge, and are yet paraded before +the ignorant as if they were legitimate results +of science, and so become irretrievably +confounded with it in the popular mind.</p> + +<p>A third influence, more closely connected +with science itself, arises from the rapidity of +the progress of discovery and of the practical +applications of scientific facts and principles. +This has unsettled the minds of men, and has +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +given them the idea that nothing is beyond +their reach. There is thus a vague notion that +science has overcome so many difficulties, and +explained so many mysteries, that it may ultimately +satisfy all the wants of man and leave +no scope for religious belief. Those who know +the limitations of our knowledge of material +things may not share this delusion; but there +is reason to fear that many, even of scientific +men, are carried away by it, and it widely affects +the minds of general readers.</p> + +<p>Again, science has in the course of its growth +become divided into a great number of small +specialties, each pursued ardently by its own +votaries. This is beneficial in one respect; for +much more can be gained by men digging downward, +each on his own vein of valuable ore, +than by all merely scraping the surface. But +the specialist, as he descends fathom after fathom +into his mine, however rich and rare the +gems and metals he may discover, becomes +more and more removed from the ordinary +ways of men, and more and more regardless +of the products of other veins as valuable as +his own. The specialist, however profound he +may become in the knowledge of his own limited +subject, is on that very account less fitted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +to guide his fellow-men in the pursuit of general +truth. When he ventures to the boundaries +between his own and other domains of +truth, or when he conceives the idea that his +own little mine is the sole deposit of all that +requires to be known, he sometimes makes +grave mistakes; and these pass current for a +time as the dicta of high scientific authority.</p> + +<p>Lastly, the lowest influence of all is that which +sometimes regulates what may be termed the +commercial side of science. Here the demand +is very apt to control the supply. New facts +and legitimate conclusions cannot be produced +with sufficient rapidity to satisfy the popular +craving, or they are not sufficiently exciting to +compete with other attractions. Science has +then to enter the domain of imagination, and +the last new generalization—showy and specious, +but perhaps baseless as the plot of the +last new novel—brings grist to the mill of the +"scientist" and his publisher.</p> + +<p>Only one permanent and final remedy is possible +for these evils, and that is a higher moral +tone and more thorough scientific education on +the part of the general public. Until this can +be secured, true science is sure to be surrounded +with a mental haze of vague hypotheses clothed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +in ill-defined language, and which is mistaken by +the multitude for science itself. Yet true science +should not be held responsible for this, except +in so far as its material is used to constitute the +substance of the pseudo-gnosis which surrounds +it. Science is in this relation the honest householder +whose goods may be taken by thieves +and applied to bad uses, or the careful amasser +of wealth which may be dissipated by spendthrifts.</p> + +<p>It may be said that if these statements are +true, the ordinary reader is helpless. How can +he separate the true from the false? Must he +resign himself to the condition of one who +either believes on mere authority or refuses to +believe anything? or must he adopt the attitude +of the Pyrrhonist who thinks that anything may +be either true or false? But it is true, nevertheless, +that common sense may suffice to deliver +us from much of the pseudo-science of our +time, and to enable us to understand how little +reason there is for the conflicts promoted +by mere speculation between science and other +departments of legitimate thought and inquiry.</p> + +<p>In illustrating this, we may in the present +lecture consider that form of sceptical philosophy +which in our time is the most prevalent, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +and which has the most specious air of dependence +on science. This is the system of +Agnosticism combined with evolution of which +Mr. Herbert Spencer is the most conspicuous +advocate in the English-speaking world. This +philosophy deals with two subjects—the cause +or origin of the universe and of things therein, +and the method of the progress of all from the +beginning until now. Spencer sees nothing in +the first of these but mere force or energy, +nothing in the second but a spontaneous evolution. +All beyond these is not only unknown, +but unknowable. The theological and philosophical +shortcomings of this doctrine have been +laid bare by a multitude of critics, and I do not +propose to consider it in these relations so much +as in relation to science, which has much to say +with respect to both force and evolution.</p> + +<p>An agnostic is literally one who does not +know; and, were the word used in its true +and literal sense, Agnosticism would of necessity +be opposed to science, since science is +knowledge and quite incompatible with the +want of it. But the modern agnostic does +not pretend to be ignorant of the facts and +principles of science. What he professes not +to know is the existence of any power above +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +and beyond material nature. He goes a little +farther, however, than mere absence of knowledge. +He holds that of God nothing can be +known; or he may put it a little more strongly, +in the phrase of his peculiar philosophy, by saying +that the existence of a God or of creation +by divine power is "unthinkable." It is in this +that he differs from the old-fashioned and now +extinct atheist, who bluntly denied the existence +of a God. The modern agnostic assumes +an attitude of greater humility and disclaims +the actual denial of God. Yet he practically +goes farther, in asserting the impossibility of +knowing the existence of a Divine Being; and +in taking this farther step Agnosticism does +more to degrade the human reason and to cut +it off from all communion with anything beyond +mere matter and force, than does any other form +of philosophy, ancient or modern.</p> + +<p>Yet in this Agnosticism there is in one point +an approximation to truth. If there is a God, +he cannot be known directly and fully, and his +plans and procedure must always be more +or less incomprehensible. The writer of the +book of Job puts this as plainly as any modern +agnostic in the passage beginning "Canst thou +by searching find out God?"—literally, "Canst +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +thou sound the depths of God?"—and a still +higher authority informs us that "no man hath +seen God"—that is, known him as we know +material things. In short, absolutely and essentially +God is incomprehensible; but this is no +new discovery, and the mistake of the agnostic +lies in failing to perceive that the same difficulty +stands in the way of our perfectly knowing +anything whatever. We say that we know +things when we mean that we know them in +their properties, relations, or effects. In this +sense the knowledge of God is perfectly possible. +It is impossible only in that other sense +of the word "know"—if it can have such a +sense—in which we are required to know +things in their absolute essence and thoroughly. +Thus the term "agnostic" contains an initial +fallacy in itself; and this philosophy, like +many others, rests, in the first instance, on a +mere jugglery of words. The real question is, +"Is there a God who manifests himself to us +mediately and practically?" and this is a question +which we cannot afford to set aside by a +mere play on the meanings of the verb "to +know."</p> + +<p>If, however, any man takes this position and +professes to be incapable of knowing whether +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +or not there is any power above and behind +material things, it will be necessary to begin +with the very elements of knowledge, and to +inquire if there is anything whatever that he +really knows and believes.</p> + +<p>Let us ask him if he can subscribe to the +simple creed expressed in the words "I am, I +feel, I think." Should he deny these propositions, +then there is no basis left on which to +argue. Should he admit this much of belief, +he has abandoned somewhat of his agnostic +position; for it would be easy to show that in +even uttering the pronoun "I" he has committed +himself to the belief in the unknowable. +What is the <i>ego</i> which he admits? Is it the +material organism or any one of its organs or +parts? or is it something distinct, of which the +organism is merely the garment, or outward +manifestation? or is the organism itself anything +more than a bundle of appearances partially +known and scarcely understood by that +which calls itself "I"? Who knows? And if +our own personality is thus inscrutable, if we +can conceive of it neither as identical with the +whole or any part of the organism nor as existing +independently of the organism, we should +begin our Agnosticism here, and decline to utter +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +the pronoun "I" as implying what we cannot +know. Still, as a matter of faith, we must hold +fast to the proposition "I exist" as the only +standpoint for science, philosophy, or common +life. If we are asked for evidence of this faith, +we can appeal only to our consciousness of +effects which imply the existence of the <i>ego</i>, +which we thus have to admit or suppose before +we can begin to prove even its existence.</p> + +<p>This fact of the mystery of our own existence +is full of material for thought. It is in +itself startling—even appalling. We feel that +it is a solemn, a dreadful, thing to exist, and to +exist in that limitless space and that eternal time +which we can no more understand than we can +our own constitution, though our belief in their +existence is inevitable. Nor can we divest ourselves +of anxious thoughts as to the source, +tendencies, and end of our own being. Here, +in short, we already reach the threshold of that +dread unknown future and its possibilities, the +realization of which by hope, fear, and imagination +constitutes, perhaps, our first introduction +to the unseen world as distinguished from the +present world of sense. The agnostic may +smile if he pleases at religion as a puerile +fancy, but he knows, like other men, that the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +mere consciousness of existence necessarily +links itself with a future—nay, unending—existence, +and that any being with this consciousness +of futurity must have at least a religion +of hope and fear. In this we find an intelligible +reason for the universality of religious +ideas in relation to a future life. Even where +this leads to beliefs that may be called superstitious, +it is more reasonable than Agnosticism; +for it is surely natural that a being inscrutable +by himself should be led to believe in the existence +of other things equally inscrutable, but +apparently related to himself.</p> + +<p>But the thinking "I" dwells in the midst of +what we term external objects. In a certain +sense it treats the parts of its own bodily organism +as if they were things external to it, +speaking of "my hand," "my head," as if they +were its property. But there are things practically +infinite beyond the organism itself. We +call them objects or things, but they are only +appearances; and we know only their relations +to ourselves and to each other. Their essence, +if they have any, is inscrutable. We say that +the appearances indicate matter and energy, +but what these are essentially we know not. +We reduce matter to atoms, but it is impossible +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +for us to have any conception of an atom or of +the supposed ether, whether itself in some +sense atomic or not, including such atoms. +Our attempts to form rational conceptions of +atoms resolve themselves into complex conjectures +as to vortices of ethers and the like, of +which no one pretends to have any distinct +mental picture; yet on this basis of the incomprehensible +rests all our physical science, the +first truths in which are really matters of pure +faith in the existence of that which we cannot +understand. Yet all men would scoff at the +agnostic who on this account should express +unbelief in physical science.</p> + +<p>Let us observe here, further, that since the +mysterious and inscrutable "I" is surrounded +with an equally mysterious and inscrutable +universe, and since the <i>ego</i> and the external +world are linked together by indissoluble relations, +we are introduced to certain alternatives +as to origins. Either the universe or "nature" +is a mere phantom conjured up by the <i>ego</i>, or +the <i>ego</i> is a product of the universe, or both +are the result of some equally mysterious power +beyond us and the material world. Neither +of these suppositions is absurd or unthinkable; +and, whichever of them we adopt, we are again +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +introduced to what may be termed a religion as +well as a philosophy. On one view, man becomes +a god to himself; on another, nature becomes +his god; on the third, a Supreme Being, +the Creator of both. All three religions exist +in the world in a vast variety of forms, and it +is questionable if any human being does not +more or less give credence to one or the other.</p> + +<p>Scientific men, even when they think proper +to call themselves idealists, must reject the first +of the above alternatives, since they cannot +doubt the objective existence of external nature, +and they know that its existence dates +from a time anterior to our possible existence +as human beings. They may hold to either +of the others; and, practically, the minds of students +of science are divided between the idea +of a spontaneous evolution of all things from +self-existent matter and force, and that of the +creation of all by a self-existent, omnipotent, and +all-wise Creator. From certain points of view, +it may be of no consequence whether a scientific +man holds one or other of these views. +Self-existent force or power, capable of spontaneous +inception of change, and of orderly +and infallible development according to laws +of its own imposition or enactment, which is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +demanded on the one hypothesis, scarcely +differs from the conception of an intelligent +Creator demanded on the other, while it is, to +say the least, equally incomprehensible. It is, +besides, objectionable to science, on the ground +that it requires us to assume properties in +matter and energy quite at variance with the +results of experience. The remarkable alternative +presented by Tyndall in his Belfast Address +well expresses this: "Either let us open +our doors freely to the conception of creative +acts, or, abandoning them, let us radically +change our notions of matter." The expression +"creative acts" here is a loose and not +very accurate one for the operation of creative +power. The radical change in "our notions of +matter" involves an entire reversal of all that +science knows of its essential properties. This +being understood, the sentence is a fair expression +of the dilemma in which the agnostic and +the materialist find themselves.</p> + +<p>Between the two hypotheses above stated +there is, however, one material and vital difference, +depending on the nature of man himself. +The universe does not consist merely of +insensate matter and force and automatic vitality; +there happens to be in it the rational and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +consciously responsible being man. To attribute +to him an origin from mere matter and +force is not merely to attach to them a fictitious +power and significance: it is also to reject the +rational probability that the original cause must +be at least equal to the effects produced, and to +deprive ourselves of all communion and sympathy +with nature. Further, wherever the "presence +and potency" of human reason resides, +there seems no reason to prevent our searching +for and finding it in the only way in which +we can know anything, in its properties and +effects. The dogma of Agnosticism, it is true, +refuses to permit this search after God, but it +does so with as little reason as any of those +self-constituted authorities that demand belief +without questioning. Nay, it has the offensive +peculiarity that in the very terms in which it +issues its prohibition it contradicts itself. The +same oracle which asserts that "the power +which the universe manifests to us is wholly +inscrutable" affirms also that "we must inevitably +commit ourselves to the hypothesis of a +first cause." Thus we are told that a power +which is "manifest" is also "inscrutable," and +that we must "commit ourselves" to a belief +in a "first cause" which on the hypothesis cannot +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +be known to exist. This may be philosophy +of a certain sort, but it certainly should not +claim kinship with science.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it may be well here to place in comparison +with each other the doctrine of the +agnostic philosophy as expounded by Herbert +Spencer, and that of Paul of Tarsus—an older, +but certainly a not less acute, thinker—and we +may refer to their utterances respecting the +origin of the universe.</p> + +<p>Spencer says: "The verbally intelligent suppositions +respecting the origin of the universe +are three: (1) It is self-existent; (2) It is self-created; +(3) It is created by an external agency." +On these it may be remarked that the +second is scarcely even "verbally intelligent;" +it seems to be a contradiction in terms. The +third admits of an important modification, which +was manifest to Spinosa if not to Spencer—namely, +that the Creator may—nay, must—be +not merely "external," but within the universe +as well. If there is a God, he must be <em>in</em> the +universe as a pervading power, and in every +part of it, and must not be shut out from his +own work. This mistaken conception of God +as building himself out of his own universe and +acting on it by external force is both irrational +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +and unscientific, being, for example, quite at +variance with the analogy of force and life. +Rightly understood, therefore, Spencer's alternatives +resolve themselves into two—either the +universe is self-existent, or it is the work of a +self-existent Creator pervading all things with +his power. Of these, Spencer prefers the first. +Paul, on the other hand, referring to the mental +condition of the civilized heathens of his time, +affirms that rationally they could believe only +in the hypothesis of creation. He says of +God: "His invisible things, even his eternal +power and divinity, can be perceived (by the +reason), being understood by the things that +are made." Let us look at these rival propositions. +Is the universe self-existent, or does it +show evidence of creative power and divinity?</p> + +<p>The doctrine that the universe is self-existent +may be understood in different ways. It may +mean either an endless succession of such +changes as we now see in progress, or an +eternity of successive cycles proceeding through +the course of geological ages and ever returning +into themselves. The first is directly contrary +to known facts in the geological history +of the earth, and cannot be maintained by any +one. The second would imply that the known +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +geological history is merely a part of one great +cycle of an endless series, and of which an infinite +number have already passed away. It is +evident that this infinite succession of cycles is +quite as incomprehensible as any other infinite +succession of things or events. But, waiving +this objection, we have the alternative either +that all the successive cycles are exactly alike—which +could not be, in accordance with evolution, +nor with the analogy of other natural +cycles—or there must have been a progression +in the successive cycles. But this last supposition +would involve an uncaused beginning somewhere, +and this of such a character as to determine +all the successive cycles and their progress; +which would again be contrary to the hypothesis +of self-existence. It is useless, however, +to follow such questions farther, since it is evident +that this hypothesis accounts for nothing +and would involve us in absolute confusion.</p> + +<p>Let us turn now to Paul's statement. This +has the merit, in the first place, of expressing a +known fact—namely, that men do infer power +and divinity from nature. But is this a mere +superstition, or have they reason for it? If +the universe be considered as a vast machine +exceeding all our powers of calculation in its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +magnitude and complexity, it seems in the last +degree absurd to deny that it presents evidence +of "power." Dr. Carpenter, in a recent lecture, +illustrates the position of the agnostic in this +respect by supposing him to examine the machinery +of a great mill, and, having found that +this is all set in motion by a huge iron shaft +proceeding from a brick wall, to suppose that +this shaft is self-acting, and that there is no +cause of motion beyond. But when we consider +the variety and the intricacy of nature, +the unity and the harmony of its parts, and the +adaptation of these to an incalculable number +of uses, we find something more than power. +There is a fitting together of things in a manner +not only above our imitation, but above our +comprehension. To refer this to mere chance +or to innate tendencies or potencies of things +we feel to be but an empty form of words; +consequently, we are forced to admit superhuman +contrivance in nature, or what Paul +terms "divinity." Further, since the history +of the universe goes back farther than we can +calculate, and as we can know nothing beyond +the First Cause, we infer that the Power and +Divinity which we have ascertained in nature +must be "eternal." Again, since the creative +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +power must at some point in past time have +spontaneously begun to act, we regard it as a +"living" power, which is the term elsewhere +used by Paul in expressing the idea of "personality" +as held by theologians. Lastly, if +everything that we know thus testifies to an +eternal power and divinity, to maintain that +we can know nothing of this First Cause must +be simply nonsense, unless we are content to +fall back on absolute nihilism, and hold that +we know nothing whatever, either relatively or +absolutely; but in this case not only is science +dethroned, but reason herself is driven from +her seat, and there is nothing left for us to discuss. +Paul's idea is thus perfectly clear and +consistent, and it is not difficult to see that +common sense must accept this doctrine of an +Eternal Living Power and Divinity in preference +to the hypothesis of Spencer.</p> + +<p>So far we have considered the general bearing +of agnostic and theistic theories on our +relations to nature; but if we are to test these +theories fully by scientific considerations, we +must look a little more into details. The existences +experimentally or inductively known to +science may be grouped under three heads—matter, +energy, and law; and each of these +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +has an independent testimony to give with reference +to its origin and its connection with a +higher creative power.</p> + +<p>Matter, it is true, occupies a somewhat equivocal +place in the agnostic philosophy. According +to Spencer, it is "built up or extracted from +experiences of force," and it is only by force +that it "demonstrates itself to us as existing." +This is true; but that which "demonstrates +itself to us as existing" must exist, in whatever +way the demonstration is made, and Spencer +does not, in consequence of the lack of direct +evidence, extend his Agnosticism to matter, +though he might quite consistently do so. In +any case, science postulates the existence of +matter. Further, science is obliged to conceive +of matter as composed of atoms, and of atoms +of different kinds; for atoms differ in weight +and in chemical properties, and these differences +are to us ultimate, for they cannot be +changed. Thus science and practical life are +tied down to certain predetermined properties +of matter. We may, it is true, in future be +able to reduce the number of kinds of matter, +by finding that some bodies believed to be simple +are really compound; but this does not +affect the question in hand. As to the origin +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +of the diverse properties of atoms, only two +suppositions seem possible: either in some past +period they agreed to differ and to divide themselves +into different kinds suitable in quantity +and properties to make up the universe, or +else matter in its various kinds has been skilfully +manufactured by a creative power.</p> + +<p>But there is a scientific way in which matter +may be resolved into force. An iron knife +passed through a powerful magnetic current is +felt to be resisted, as if passing through a solid +substance, and this resistance is produced merely +by magnetic attraction. Why may it not be +so with resistance in general? To give effect +to such a supposition, and to reconcile it with +the facts of chemistry and of physics, it is necessary +to suppose that the atoms of matter are +merely minute vortices or whirlwinds set up in +an ethereal medium, which in itself, and when +at rest, does not possess any of the properties +of matter. That such an ethereal medium exists +we have reason to believe from the propagation +of light and heat through space, though we +know little, except negatively, of its properties. +Admitting, however, its existence, the setting up +in it of the various kinds of vortices constituting +the atoms of different kinds of matter is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +just as much in need of a creative power to +initiate it as the creation of matter out of nothing +would be. Besides this, we now have to +account for the existence of the ether itself; +and here we have the disadvantage that this +substance possesses none of the properties of +ordinary matter except mere extension; that, +in so far as we know, it is continuous, and not +molecular; and that, while of the most inconceivable +tenuity, it transmits vibrations in a manner +similar to that of a body of the extremest +solidity. It would seem, also, to be indefinite in +extent and beyond the control of the ordinary +natural forces. In short, ether is as incomprehensible +as Deity; and if we suppose it to have +instituted spontaneously the different kinds of +matter, we have really constituted it a god, which +is what, in a loose way, some ancient mythologies +actually did. We may, however, truly say +that this modern scientific conception of the +practically infinite and all-pervading ether, the +primary seat of force, brings us nearer than +ever before to some realization of the Spiritual +Creator.</p> + +<p>But to ether both science and Agnosticism +must superadd energy—the entirely immaterial +something which moves ether itself. The rather +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +crude scientific notion that certain forces are +"modes of motion" perhaps blinds us somewhat +to the mystery of energy. Even if we +knew no other form of force than heat, which +moves masses of matter or atoms, it would be +in many respects an inscrutable thing. But +as traversing the subtle ether in such forms as +radiant heat, light, chemical force, and electricity, +energy becomes still more mysterious. Perhaps +it is even more so in what seems to be one of +its primitive forms—that of gravitation, where +it connects distant bodies apparently without +any intervening medium. Facts of this kind +appear to bring us still nearer to the conception +of an all-pervading immaterial creative +power.</p> + +<p>But perhaps what may be termed the determinations +of force exhibit this still more clearly, +as a very familiar instance may show. Our +sun—one of a countless number of similar +suns—is to us the great centre of light and +heat, sustaining all processes, whether merely +physical or vital, on our planet. It was a grand +conception of certain old religions to make the +sun the emblem of God, though sun-worship +was a substitution of the creature for the Creator, +and would have been dispelled by modern +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +discovery. But our sun is not merely one +of countless suns, some of them of greater +magnitude, but it is only a temporary depository +of a limited quantity of energy, ever +dissipating itself into space, calculable as to its +amount and duration, and known to depend for +its existence on gravitative force. We may +imagine the beginning of such a luminary in +the collision of great masses of matter rushing +together under the influence of gravitation, and +causing by their impact a conflagration capable +of enduring for millions of years. Yet our imagining +such a rude process for the kindling +of the sun will go a very little way in accounting +for all the mechanism of the solar system +and things therein. Further, it raises new +questions as to the original condition of matter. +If it was originally in one mass, whence +came the incalculable power by which it was +rent into innumerable suns and systems? If +it was once universally diffused in boundless +space, when and how was the force of gravity +turned on, and what determined its action in +such a way as to construct the existing universe? +This is only one of the simplest and +baldest possible views of the intricate determinations +of force displayed in the universe, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +yet it may suffice to indicate the necessity of a +living and determining First Cause.</p> + +<p>The fact that all the manifestations of force +are regulated by law by no means favors the +agnostic view. The laws of nature are merely +mental generalizations of our own, and, so far +as they go, show a remarkable harmony between +our mental nature and that manifested +in the universe. They are not themselves powers +capable of producing effects, but merely +express what we can ascertain of uniformity +of action in nature. The law of gravitation, +for example, gives no clew to the origin of that +force, but merely expresses its constant mode +of action, in whatever way that may have been +determined at first. Nor are natural laws decrees +of necessity. They might have been +otherwise—nay, many of them may be otherwise +in parts of the universe inaccessible to us, +or they may change in process of time; for the +period over which our knowledge extends may +be to the plans of the Creator like the lifetime +of some minute insect which might imagine +human arrangements of no great permanence +to be of eternal duration.</p> + +<p>Unless the laws of nature were constant, in +so far as our experience extends, we could have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +no certain basis either for science or for practical +life. All would be capricious and uncertain, +and we could calculate on nothing. Law thus +adapts the universe to be the residence of rational +beings, and nothing else could. Viewed +in this way, we see that natural laws must be, in +their relation to a Creator, voluntary limitations +of his power in certain directions for the benefit +of his creatures. To secure this end, nature +must be a perfect machine, all the parts of which +are adjusted for permanent and harmonious +action. It may perhaps rather be compared +to a vast series of machines, each running independently +like the trains on a railway, but all +connected and regulated by an invisible guidance +which determines the time and the distance +of each, and the manner in which the less +urgent and less important shall give place to +others. Even this does not express the whole +truth; for the harmony of nature must be connected +with constant change and progress toward +higher perfection. Does this conception +of natural law give us any warrant for the idea +that the universe is a product of chance? Is +it not the highest realization of all that we can +conceive of the plans of superhuman intelligence? +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + +<p>The stupid notion—still lingering in certain +quarters—that when anything has been referred +to a natural law or to a secondary cause under +law, God may be dispensed with in relation to +that thing, is merely a survival of the superstition +that divine action must be of the nature +of a capricious interference. The true theistic +conception of law is that already stated, of a +voluntary limitation of divine power in the interest +of a material cosmos and its intelligent +inhabitants. Nor is the permanence of law +dependent on necessity or on mere mechanical +routine, but on the unchanging will of the Legislator; +while the countless varieties and vicissitudes +of nature depend, not on caprice or on +accidental interference, but on the interactions +and adjustments of laws of different grades, and +so numerous and varied in their scope and application +and in the combinations of which they +are capable that it is often impossible for finite +minds to calculate their results.</p> + +<p>If, now, in conclusion, we are asked to sum +up the hypotheses as to the origin of natural +laws and of the properties and determinations +of matter and force, we may do this under the +following heads:</p> + +<p>1. Absolute creation by the will of a Supreme +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +Intelligence, self-existent and omnipotent. This +may be the ultimate fact lying behind all materials, +forces, and laws known to science.</p> + +<p>2. Mediate creation, or the making of new +complex products with material already created +and under laws previously existing. This is +applicable not so much to the primary origin +of things as to their subsequent determinations +and modifications.</p> + +<p>3. Both of the above may be included under +the expression "creation by law," implying the +institution from the first of fixed laws or modes +of action not to be subsequently deviated from.</p> + +<p>4. Theistic evolution, or the gradual development +of the divine plans by the apparently +spontaneous interaction of things made. This +is universally admitted to occur in the minor +modifications of created things, though of course +it can have no place as a mode of explaining +actual origins, and it must be limited within +the laws of nature established by the Creator. +Practically, it might be difficult to make any +sharp distinctions between such evolution and +mediate creation.</p> + +<p>5. Agnostic and monistic evolution, which +hold the spontaneous origination and differentiation +of things out of primitive matter and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +force, self-existent or fortuitous. The monistic +form of this hypothesis assumes one primary +substance or existence potentially embracing +all subsequent developments.</p> + +<p>These theories are, of course, not all antagonistic +to one another. They resolve themselves +into two groups, a theistic and an atheistic. +The former includes the first four; the +latter, the fifth. Any one who believes in God +may suppose a primary creation of matter and +energy, a subsequent moulding and fashioning +of them mediately and under natural law, and +also a gradual evolution of many new things +by the interaction of things previously made. +This complex idea of the origin of things seems, +indeed, to be the rational outcome of Theism. It +is also the idea which underlies the old record +in the book of Genesis, where we have first an +absolute creation, and then a series of "makings" +and "placings," and of things "bringing +forth" other things, in the course of the creative +periods.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, Agnosticism postulates +primary force or forces self-existent and including +potentially all that is subsequently evolved +from them. The only way in which it approximates +to theism is in its extreme monistic form, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +where the one force or power supposed to underlie +all existence is a sort of God shorn of +personality, will, and reason.</p> + +<p>The actual relations of these opposing theories +to science cannot be better explained than +by a reference to the words of a leading monist, +whose views we shall have to notice in the +next lecture. "If," says Haeckel, "anybody feels +the necessity of representing the origin of matter +as the work of a supernatural creative force +independent of matter itself, I would remind +him that the idea of an immaterial force creating +matter in the first instance is an article of +faith which has nothing to do with science. +Where faith begins, science ends."</p> + +<p>Precisely so, if only we invert the last sentence +and say, "Where science ends, faith begins." +It is only by faith that we know of any +force, or even of the atoms of matter themselves, +and in like manner it is "by faith we +know that the creative ages have been constituted +by the word of God."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The only difference +is that the monist has faith in the potency +of nothing to produce something, or of something +material to exist for ever and to acquire +at some point of time the power spontaneously +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +to enter on the process of development; while +the theist has faith in a primary intelligent Will +as the Author of all things. The latter has this +to confirm his faith—that it accords with what +we know of the inertia of matter, of the constancy +of forces, and of the permanence of +natural law, and is in harmony with the powers +of the one free energy we know—that of the +human will. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_II" id="LECTURE_II"></a>LECTURE II.<br /> + +<small>THE SCIENCE OF LIFE AND MONISTIC EVOLUTION.</small></h2> + + +<p>In the last lecture we have noticed the general +relations of agnostic speculations with +natural science, and have exposed their failure +to account for natural facts and laws. We +may now inquire into their mode of dealing +with the phenomena of life, with regard to the +supposed spontaneous evolution of which, and +its development up to man himself, so many +confident generalizations have been put forth +by the agnostic and monistic philosophy.</p> + +<p>In the earlier history of modern natural science, +the tendency was to take nature as we +find it, without speculation as to the origin of +living things, which men were content to regard +as direct products of creative power. But at +a very early period—and especially after the +revelations of geology had disclosed a succession +of ascending dynasties of life—such +speculations, which, independently of science, +had commended themselves to the poetical and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +philosophical minds of antiquity, were revived. +In France more particularly, the theories of Buffon, +Lamarck, and Geoffroy St. Hilaire opened +up these exciting themes, and they might even +then have attained to the importance they have +since acquired but for the great and judicial +intellect of Cuvier, which perceived their futility +and guided the researches of naturalists +into other and more profitable fields. The +next stimulus to such hypotheses was given +by the progress of physiology, and especially +by researches into the embryonic development +of animals and plants. Here it was seen that +there are homologies and likenesses of plan +linking organisms with each other, and that in +the course of their development the more complex +creatures pass through stages corresponding +to the adult condition of lower forms. The +questions raised by the geographical distribution +of animals, as ascertained by the numerous +expeditions and scientific travellers of modern +times, tended in the same direction. The way +was thus prepared for the broad generalizations +of Darwin, who, seizing on the idea of artificial +selection as practised by breeders of animals +and plants, and imagining that something similar +takes place in the natural struggle for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +existence, saw in this a plausible solution for +the question of the progress and the variety +of organized beings.</p> + +<p>The original Darwinian theory was soon +found to be altogether insufficient to account +for the observed facts, because of the tendency +of the bare struggle for existence to produce degradation +rather than elevation; because of the +testimony of geology to the fact that introduction +of new species takes place in times of expansion +rather than of struggle; because of the +manifest tendency of the breeds produced by +artificial selection to become infertile and die +out in proportion to their deviation from the +original types; and because of the difficulty +of preventing such breeds from reverting to +the original forms, which seem in all cases to +be perfectly equilibrated in their own parts and +adapted to external nature, so that varieties +tend, as if by gravitative law, to fall back +into the original moulds. A great variety of +other considerations—as those of sexual selection, +reproductive acceleration and retardation, +periods of more and less rapid evolution, innate +tendency to vary at particular times and in particular +circumstances—have been imported into +the original doctrine. Thus the original Darwinism +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +is a thing of the past, even in the mind +of its great author, though it has proved the +fruitful parent of a manifold progeny of allied +ideas which continue to bear its name. In this +respect Darwinism is itself amenable to the +law of evolution, and has been continually +changing its form under the influence of the controversial +struggles which have risen around it.</p> + +<p>Darwinism was not necessarily atheistic or +agnostic. Its author was content to assume a +few living beings or independent forms to begin +with, and did not propose to obtain them by any +spontaneous action of dead matter, nor to account +for the primary origin of life, still less of +all material things. In this he was sufficiently +humble and honest; but the logical weakness +of his position was at once apparent. If creation +was needed to give a few initial types, it +might have produced others also. The followers +of Darwin, therefore, more especially in Germany, +at once pushed the doctrine back into +Agnosticism and Monism, giving to it a greater +logical consistency, but bringing it into violent +conflict with theism and with common sense.</p> + +<p>Darwin himself early perceived that his doctrine, +if true, must apply to man—in so far, at +least, as his bodily frame is concerned. Man is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +in this an animal, and closely related to other +animals. To have claimed for him a distinct +origin would have altogether discredited the +theory, though it might be admitted that, man +having appeared, his free volition and his moral +and social instincts would at once profoundly +modify the course of the evolution. On the +other hand, the gulf which separates the reason +and the conscience of man from instinct and +the animal intelligence of lower creatures opposed +an almost impassable barrier to the union +of man with lower animals; and the attempt to +bridge this gulf threatened to bring the theory +into a deadly struggle with the moral, social, +and religious instincts of mankind. In face of +this difficulty, Darwin and most of his followers +adopted the more daring course of maintaining +the evolution of the whole man from lower +forms, and thereby entered into a warfare, +which still rages, with psychology, ethics, philology, +and theology.</p> + +<p>It is easy for shallow evolutionists unaware +of the tendencies of their doctrine, or for latitudinarian +churchmen careless as to the maintenance +of truth if only outward forms are preserved +and comprehension secured, to overlook +or make light of these antagonisms, but science +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +and common sense alike demand a severe adherence +to truth. It becomes, therefore, very +important to ascertain to what extent we are +justified in adopting the agnostic evolution in +its relation to life and man on scientific grounds. +Perhaps this may best be done by reviewing the +argument of Haeckel in his work on the evolution +of man—one of the ablest, and at the same +time most thorough, expositions of monistic evolution +as applied to lower animals and to men.</p> + +<p>Ernst Haeckel is an eminent comparative +anatomist and physiologist, who has earned a +wide and deserved reputation by his able and +laborious studies of the calcareous sponges, the +radiolarians, and other low forms of life. In +his work on <i>The Evolution of Man</i> he applies +this knowledge to the solution of the problem +of the origin of humanity, and sets himself not +only to illustrate, but to "prove," the descent +of our species from the simplest animal types, +and even to overwhelm with scorn every other +explanation of the appearance of man except +that of spontaneous evolution. He is not +merely an evolutionist, but what he terms a +"monist," and the monistic philosophy, as defined +by him, includes certain negations and +certain positive principles of a most comprehensive +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +and important character. It implies +the denial of all spiritual or immaterial existence. +Man is to the monist merely a physiological +machine, and nature is only a greater +self-existing and spontaneously-moving aggregate +of forces. Monism can thus altogether +dispense with a Creative Will as originating +nature, and adopts the other alternative of self-existence +or causelessness for the universe and +all its phenomena. Again, the monistic doctrine +necessarily implies that man, the animal, the +plant, and the mineral are only successive stages +of the evolution of the same primordial matter, +constituting thus a connected chain of being, all +the parts of which sprang spontaneously from +each other. Lastly, as the admixture of primitive +matter and force would itself be a sort of +dualism, Haeckel regards these as ultimately +one, and apparently resolves the origin of the +universe into the operation of a self-existing +energy having in itself the potency of all things. +After all, this may be said to be an approximation +to the idea of a Creator, but not a living and +willing Creator. Monism is thus not identical +with pantheism, but is rather a sort of atheistic +monotheism, if such a thing is imaginable; and +vindicates the assertion attributed to a late lamented +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +physical philosopher—that he had found +no atheistic philosophy which had not a God +somewhere.</p> + +<p>Haeckel's own statement of this aspect of +his philosophy is somewhat interesting. He +says: "The opponents of the doctrine of evolution +are very fond of branding the monistic +philosophy grounded upon it as 'materialism' +by comparing <i>philosophical</i> materialism with the +wholly different and censurable <i>moral</i> materialism. +Strictly, however, our 'monism' might as +accurately or as inaccurately be called spiritualism +as materialism. The real materialistic philosophy +asserts that the phenomena of vital +motion, like all other phenomena of motion, +are effects or products of matter. The other +opposite extreme, spiritualistic philosophy, +asserts, on the contrary, that matter is the +product of motive force, and that all material +forms are produced by free forces entirely independent +of the matter itself. Thus, according +to the materialistic conception of the universe, +matter precedes motion or active force; according +to the spiritualistic conception of the universe, +on the contrary, active force or motion +precedes matter. Both views are dualistic, and +we hold them both to be equally false. A contrast +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +to both is presented in the <i>monistic</i> philosophy, +which can as little believe in force without +matter as in matter without force."</p> + +<p>It is evident that if Haeckel limits himself +and his opponents to matter and force as the +sole possible explanations of the universe, he +may truly say that matter is inconceivable without +force and force inconceivable without matter. +But the question arises, What is the +monistic power beyond these—the "power behind +nature"? and as to the true nature of this +the Jena philosopher gives us only vague generalities, +though it is quite plain that he cannot +admit a Spiritual Creator. Further, as to the +absence of any spiritual element from the +nature of man, he does not leave us in doubt +as to what he means; for immediately after the +above paragraph he informs us that "the 'spirit' +and the 'mind' of man are but forces which +are inseparably connected with the material +substance of our bodies. Just as the motive-power +of our flesh is involved in the muscular +form-element, so is the thinking force of our +spirit involved in the form-element of the +brain." In a note appended to the passage, +he says that monism "conceives nature as +one whole, and nowhere recognizes any but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +mechanical causes." These assumptions as +to man and nature pervade the whole book, +and of course greatly simplify the task of the +writer, as he does not require to account for the +primary origin of nature, or for anything in man +except his physical frame; and even this he can +regard as a thing altogether mechanical.</p> + +<p>It is plain that we might here enter our +dissent from Haeckel's method, for he requires +us, before we can proceed a single step in the +evolution of man, to assume many things +which he cannot prove. What evidence is +there, for example, of the possibility of the +development of the rational and moral nature +of man from the intelligence and the instinct +of the lower animals, or of the necessary +dependence of the phenomena of mind on +the structure of brain-cells? The evidence, +so far as it goes, seems to tend the other way. +What proof is there of the spontaneous evolution +of living forms from inorganic matter? +Experiment so far negatives the possibility +of this. Even if we give Haeckel, to begin +with, a single living cell or granule of protoplasm, +we know that this protoplasm must +have been produced by the agency of a living +vegetable cell previously existing; and we +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +have no proof that it can be produced in +any other way. Again, what particle of evidence +have we that the atoms or the energy of +an incandescent fire-mist have in them anything +of the power or potency of life? We +must grant the monist all these postulates as +pure matters of faith, before he can begin his +demonstration; and, as none of them are +axiomatic truths, it is evident that so far he is +simply a believer in the dogmas of a philosophic +creed, and in this respect weak as other +men whom he affects to despise.</p> + +<p>We may here place over against his authority +that of another eminent physiologist, of more +philosophic mind, Dr. Carpenter, who has recently +said: "As a physiologist I must fully recognize +the fact that the physical force exerted +by the body of man is not generated <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">de novo</i> by +his will, but is derived directly from the oxidation +of the constituents of his food. But, holding +it as equally certain—because the fact is +capable of verification by every one as often as +he chooses to make the experiment—that in +the performance of every volitional movement +physical force is put in action, directed, and +controlled by the individual personality or <i>ego</i>, +I deem it as absurd and illogical to affirm that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +there is no place for a God in nature, originating, +directing, and controlling its forces by his +will, as it would be to assert that there is no +place in man's body for his conscious mind."</p> + +<p>Taking Haeckel on his own ground, as above +defined, we may next inquire as to the method +which he employs in working out his argument. +This may be referred to three leading modes +of treatment, which, as they are somewhat diverse +from those ordinarily familiar to logicians +and are extensively used by evolutionists, deserve +some illustration, more especially as +Haeckel is a master in their use.</p> + +<p>An eminent French professor of the art of +sleight-of-hand has defined the leading principle +of jugglers to be that of "appearing and disappearing +things;" and this is the best definition +that occurs to me of one method of reasoning +largely used by Haeckel, and of which +we need to be on our guard when we find him +employing, as he does in almost every page, +such phrases as "it cannot be doubted," "we +may therefore assume," "we may readily suppose," +"this afterward assumes or becomes," +"we may confidently assert," "this developed +directly," and the like, which in his usage are +equivalent to the "<em>Presto!</em>" of the conjurer, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +which, while we are looking at one structure or +animal, enable him to persuade us that it has +been suddenly transformed into something else.</p> + +<p>In tracing the genealogy of man he constantly +employs this kind of sleight-of-hand in the +most adroit manner. He is perhaps describing +to us the embryo of a fish or an amphibian, and, +as we become interested in the curious details, +it is suddenly by some clever phrase transformed +into a reptile or a bird; and yet, without +rubbing our eyes and reflecting on the differences +and difficulties which he neglects to +state, we can scarcely doubt that it is the same +animal, after all.</p> + +<p>The little lancelet, or <i>Amphioxus</i> (see Fig. 1), +of the European seas—a creature which was at +one time thought to be a sea-snail, but is really +more akin to fishes—forms his link of connection +between our "fish-ancestors" and the invertebrate +animals. So important is it in this +respect that our author Waxes eloquent in exhorting +us to regard it "with special veneration" +as representing our "earliest Silurian +vertebrate ancestors," as being of "our own +flesh and blood," and as better worthy of being +an object of "devoutest reverence" than the +"worthless rabble of so-called 'saints.'" In describing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +this animal he takes pains to inform us +that it is more different from an ordinary fish +than a fish is from a man. Yet, as he illustrates +its curious and unique structure, before we are +aware, the lancelet is gone and a fish is in its +place, and this fish with the potency to become +a man in due time. Thus a creature intermediate +in some respects between fishes and mollusks, +or between fishes and worms, but so far +apart from either that it seems but to mark the +width of the gap between them, becomes an +easy stepping-stone from one to the other.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 119px;"> +<img src="images/i_063.jpg" width="119" height="600" alt="Fig. 1." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 1.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">The Lancelet (<i>Amphioxus</i>), the supposed earliest +type of vertebrate animal, and, according to +Haeckel, the ancestor of man. The figure is a section +enlarged to twice the natural size.</p> + +<p class="captionr"><i>a</i>, mouth;<br /> + +<i>b</i>, anus;<br /> + +<i>c</i>, gill-opening;<br /> + +<i>d</i>, gill;<br /> + +<i>e</i>, stomach;<br /> + +<i>f</i>, liver;<br /> + +<i>g</i>, intestine;<br /> + +<i>h</i>, gill-cavity;<br /> + +<i>i</i>, notochord, or rudimentary back-bone;<br /> + +<i>k</i>, <i>l</i>, <i>m</i>, <i>n</i>, <i>o</i>, arteries and veins.</p> + +<p>In like manner, the ascidians, or sea-squirts—mollusks +of low grade, or, as Haeckel prefers +to regard them, allied to worms—are most remote +in almost every respect from the vertebrates. +But in the young state of some of +these creatures, and in the adult condition of +one animal referred to this group (<i>Appendicularia</i>), +they have a sort of swimming tail, +which is stiffened by a rod of cartilage to enable +it to perform its function, and which for a +time gives them a certain resemblance to the +lancelet or to embryo fishes; and this usually +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +temporary contrivance—curious as an imitative +adaptation, but of no other significance—becomes, +by the art of "appearing and disappearing," +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +a rudimentary backbone, and enables us +at once to recognize in the young ascidian an +embryo man.</p> + +<p>A second method characteristic of the book, +and furnishing, indeed, the main basis of its argument, +is that of considering analogous processes +as identical, without regard to the difference +of the conditions under which they may be +carried on. The great leading use of this argument +is in inducing us to regard the development +of the individual animal as the precise +equivalent of the series of changes by which +the species was developed in the course of geological +time. These two kinds of development +are distinguished by appropriate names. +<i>Ontogenesis</i> is the embryonic development of +the individual animal, and is, of course, a short +process, depending on the production of a germ +by a parent animal or parent pair, and the further +growth of this germ in connection more or +less with the parent or with provision made by +it. This is, of course, a fact open to observation +and study, though some of its processes +are mysterious and yet involved in doubt and +uncertainty. <i>Phylogenesis</i> is the supposed development +of a species in the course of geological +time and by the intervention of long +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +series of species, each in its time distinct and +composed of individuals each going regularly +through a genetic circle of its own.</p> + +<p>The latter is a process not open to observation +within the time at our command—purely +hypothetical, therefore, and of which the possibility +remains to be proved; while the causes +on which it must depend are necessarily altogether +different from those at work in ontogenesis, +and the conditions of a long series of +different kinds of animals, each perfect in its +kind, are equally dissimilar from those of an +animal passing through the regular stages from +infancy to maturity. The similarity, in some +important respects, of ontogenesis to phylogenesis +was inevitable, provided that animals +were to be of different grades of complexity, +since the development of the individual must +necessarily be from a more simple to a more +complex condition. On any hypothesis, the +parallelism between embryological facts and +the history of animals in geological time affords +many interesting and important coincidences. +Yet it is perfectly obvious that the causes and +the conditions of these two successions cannot +have been the same. Further, when we consider +that the embryo-cell which develops into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +one animal must necessarily be originally distinct +in its properties from that which develops +into another kind of animal, even though no +obvious difference appears to us, we have no +ground for supposing that the early stages of +all animals are alike; and when we rigorously +compare the development of any animal whatever +with the successive appearance of animals +of the same or similar groups in geological +time, we find many things which do not correspond—not +merely in the want of links +which we might expect to find, but in the more +significant appearance, prematurely or inopportunely, +of forms which we would not anticipate. +Yet the main argument of Haeckel's book is +the quiet assumption that anything found to +occur in ontogenetic development must also +have occurred in phylogenesis, while manifest +difficulties are got rid of by assuming atavisms +and abnormalities.</p> + +<p>A third characteristic of the method of the +book is the use of certain terms in peculiar +senses, and as implying certain causes which +are taken for granted, though their efficacy and +their mode of operation are unknown. The +chief of the terms so employed are "heredity" +and "adaptation." "Heredity" is usually understood +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +as expressing the power of permanent +transmission of characters from parents to offspring, +and in this aspect it expresses the constancy +of specific forms; but, as used by +Haeckel, it means the transmission by a parent +of any exceptional characters which the individual +may have accidentally assumed. "Adaptation" +has usually been supposed to mean the +fitting of animals for their place in nature, +however that came about; as used by Haeckel, +it imports the power of the individual animal +to adapt itself to changed conditions and to +transmit these changes to its offspring. Thus +in this philosophy the rule is made the exception +and the exception the rule by a skilful use +of familiar terms in new senses; and heredity +and adaptation are constantly paraded as if +they were two potent divinities employed in +constantly changing and improving the face +of nature.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely too much to say that the conclusions +of the book are reached almost solely by +the application of the above-mentioned peculiar +modes of reasoning to the vast store of facts +at command of the author, and that the reader +who would test these conclusions by the ordinary +methods of judgment must be constantly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +on his guard. Still, it is not necessary to +believe that Haeckel is an intentional deceiver. +Such fallacies are those which are especially +fitted to mislead enthusiastic specialists, to be +identified by them with proved results of science, +and to be held in an intolerant and dogmatic +spirit.</p> + +<p>Having thus noticed Haeckel's assumptions +and his methods, we may next shortly consider +the manner in which he proceeds to work out +the phylogeny of man. Here he pursues a +purely physiological method, only occasionally +and slightly referring to geological facts. He +takes as a first principle the law long ago formulated +by Hunter, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Omne vivum ex ovo</i>—a law +which modern research has amply confirmed, +showing that every animal, however complex, +can be traced back to an egg, which in its simplest +state is no more than a single cell, though +this cell requires to be fertilized by the addition +of the contents of another dissimilar cell, produced +either in another organ of the same individual +or in a distinct individual. This process +of fertilization Haeckel seems to regard as +unnecessary in the lowest forms of life; but, +though there are some simple animals in which +it has not been recognized, analogy would lead +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +us to believe that in some form it is necessary +in all. Haekel's monistic view, however, requires +that in the lowest forms it should be absent +and should have originated spontaneously, +though how does not seem to be very clear, as +the explanation given of it by him amounts to +little more than the statement that it must have +occurred. Still, as a "dualistic" process it is +very significant with reference to the monistic +theory.</p> + +<p>Much space is, of course, devoted to the tracing +of the special development or ontogenesis +of man, and to the illustration of the fact that +in the earlier stages of this development the +human embryo is scarcely distinguishable from +that of lower animals. We may, indeed, affirm +that all animals start from cells which, in so far +as we can see, are similar to each other, yet +which must include potentially the various properties +of the animals which spring from them. +As we trace them onward in their development, +we see these differences manifesting themselves. +At first all pass, according to Haeckel, through a +stage which he calls the "gastrula," in which the +whole body is represented by a sort of sac, the +cavity of which is the stomach and the walls of +which consist of two layers of cells. It should +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +be stated, however, that many eminent naturalists +dissent from this view, and maintain that +even in the earliest stages material differences +can be observed. In this they are probably right, +as even Haeckel has to admit some degree of +divergence from this all-embracing "gastrĉa" +theory. Admitting, however, that such early +similarity exists within certain limits, we find +that, as the embryo advances, it speedily begins +to indicate whether it is to be a coral-animal, a +snail, a worm, or a fish. Consequently, the +physiologist who wishes to trace the resemblances +leading to mammals and to man has to +lop off one by one the several branches which +lead in other directions, and to follow that which +conducts by the most direct course to the type +which he has in view. In this way Haeckel can +show that the embryo <i>Homo sapiens</i> is in successive +stages so like to the young of the fish, the +reptile, the bird, and the ordinary quadruped +that he can produce for comparison figures +in which the cursory observer can detect scarcely +any difference.</p> + +<p>All this has long been known, and has been +regarded as a wonderful evidence of the homology +or unity of plan which pervades nature, +and as constituting man the archetype of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +animal kingdom—the highest realization of a plan +previously sketched by the Creator in many +ruder and humbler forms. It also teaches +that it is not so much in the mere bodily +organism that we are to look for the distinguishing +characters of humanity as in the higher +rational and moral nature.</p> + +<p>But Haeckel, like other evolutionists of the +monistic and agnostic schools, goes far beyond +this. The ontogeny, on the evidence of analogy, +as already explained, is nothing less than +a miniature representation of the phylogeny. +Man must in the long ages of geological time +have arisen from a monad, just as the individual +man has in his life-history arisen from an +embryo-cell, and the several stages through +which the individual passes must be parallel +to those in the history of the race. True, the +supposed monad must have been wanting in all +the conditions of origin, sexual fertilization, parental +influence, and surroundings. There is +no perceptible relation of cause and effect, any +more than between the rotation of a carriage-wheel +and that of the earth on its axis. The +analogy might prompt to inquiries as to common +laws and similarities of operation, but it +proves nothing as to causation. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span></p> + +<p>In default of such proof, Haeckel favors us +with another analogy, derived from the science +of language. All the Indo-European languages +are believed to be descended from +a common ancestral tongue, and this is analogous +to the descent of all animals from one +primitive species. But unfortunately the languages +in question are the expressions of the +voice and the thought of one and the same +species. The individuals using them are known +historically to have descended by ordinary generation +from a common source, and the connecting-links +of the various dialects are unbroken. +The analogy fails altogether in the +case of species succeeding each other in geological +time, unless the very thing to be proved +is taken for granted in the outset.</p> + +<p>The actual proof that a basis exists in nature +for the doctrine of evolution founded on these +analogies, might be threefold. <i>First.</i> There +might be changes of the nature of phylogenesis +going on under our own observation, and even +a very few of these would be sufficient to give +some show of probability. Elaborate attempts +have been made to show that variations, as +existing in the more variable of our domesticated +species, lead in the direction of such +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +changes; but the results have been unsatisfactory, +and our author scarcely condescends to +notice this line of proof. He evidently regards +the time over which human history has extended +as too short to admit of this kind of demonstration. +<i>Secondly.</i> There might be in the existing +system of nature such a close connection +or continuous chain of species as might at least +strengthen the argument from analogy; and +undoubtedly there are many groups of closely +allied species, or of races confounded with true +specific types, which it might not be unreasonable +to suppose of common origin. These are, +however, scattered widely apart; and the contrary +fact of extensive gaps in the series is so +frequent, that Haeckel is constantly under the +necessity of supposing that multitudes of +species, and even of larger groups, have +perished just where it is most important to +his conclusion that they should have remained. +This is, of course, unfortunate for the theory; +but then, as Haeckel often remarks, "we must +suppose" that the missing links once existed. +But, <i>thirdly</i>, these gaps which now unhappily +exist may be filled up by fossil animals; and +if in the successive geological periods we could +trace the actual phylogeny of even a few groups +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +of living creatures, we might have the demonstration +desired. But here again the gaps are +so frequent and so serious that Haeckel scarcely +attempts to use this argument further than by +giving a short and somewhat imperfect summary +of the geological succession in the beginning +of his second volume. In this he attempts +to give a continuous series of the ancestors of +man as developed in geological time; but, +of twenty-one groups which he arranges in +order from the beginning of the Laurentian +to the modern period, at least ten are not +known at all as fossils, and others do not +belong, so far as known, to the ages to which +he assigns them. This necessity of manufacturing +facts does not speak well for the testimony +of geology to the supposed phylogeny +of man.</p> + +<p>In point of fact, it cannot be disguised that, +though it is possible to pick out some series +of animal forms, like the horses and camels +referred to by some palĉontologists, which +simulate a genetic order, the general testimony +of palĉontology is, on the whole, adverse to +the ordinary theories of evolution, whether +applied to the vegetable or to the animal +kingdom. This the writer has elsewhere endeavored +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +to show; but he may refer here to +the labors of Barrande, perhaps unrivalled in +extent and accuracy, which show that in the +leading forms of life in the older geological +formations the succession is not such as to +correspond with any of the received theories +of derivation.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +Even evolutionists, when +sufficiently candid, admit their case not proven +by geological evidence. Gaudry, one of the +best authorities on the Tertiary mammalia, +admits the impossibility of suggesting any +possible derivation for some of the leading +groups, and Saporta, Mivart, and Le Conte +fall back on periods of rapid or paroxysmal +evolution scarcely differing from the idea of +creation by law, or mediate creation, as it has +been termed.</p> + +<p>Thus the utmost value which can be attached +to Haeckel's argument from analogy would be +that it suggests a possibility that the processes +which we see carried on in the evolution of the +individual may, in the laws which regulate them, +be connected in some way more or less close +with those creative processes which on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +wider field of geological time have been concerned +in the production of the multitudinous +forms of animal life. That Haeckel's philosophy +goes but a very little way toward any +understanding of such relations, and that our +present information, even within the more limited +scope of biological science, is too meagre +to permit of safe generalization, will appear +from the consideration of a few facts taken +here and there from the multitude employed +by him to illustrate the monistic theory.</p> + +<p>When we are told that a moner or an embryo-cell +is the early stage of all animals alike, we +naturally ask, Is it meant that all these cells +are really similar, or is it only that they appear +similar to us, and may actually be as profoundly +unlike as the animals which they are destined +to produce? To make this question more +plain, let us take the case as formally stated: +"From the weighty fact that the egg of the human +being, like the egg of all other animals, is +a simple cell, it may be quite certainly inferred +that a one-celled parent-form once existed, from +which all the many-celled animals, man included, +developed."</p> + +<p>Now, let us suppose that we have under our +microscope a one-celled animalcule quite as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +simple in structure as our supposed ancestor. +Along with this we may have on the same slide +another cell, which is the embryo of a worm, +and a third, which is the embryo of a man. All +these, according to the hypothesis, are similar +in appearance; so that we can by no means +guess which is destined to continue always an +animalcule, or which will become a worm or +may develop into a poet or a philosopher. Is +it meant that the things are actually alike or +only apparently so? If they are really alike, +then their destinies must depend on external +circumstances. Put either of them into a pond, +and it will remain a monad. Put either of them +into the ovary of a complex animal, and it will +develop into the likeness of that animal. But +such similarity is altogether improbable, and it +would destroy the argument of the evolutionist. +In this case he would be hopelessly shut +up to the conclusion that "hens were before +eggs;" and Haeckel elsewhere informs us that +the exactly opposite view is necessarily that of +the monistic evolutionist. Thus, though it may +often be convenient to speak of these three +kinds of cells as if they were perfectly similar, +the method of "disappearance" has immediately +to be resorted to, and they are shown to be, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +fact, quite dissimilar. There is, indeed, the best +ground to suppose that the one-celled animals +and the embryo-cells referred to, have little in +common except their general form. We know +that the most minute cell must include a sufficient +number of molecules of protoplasm to +admit of great varieties of possible arrangement, +and that these may be connected with +most varied possibilities as to the action of +forces. Further, the embryo-cell which is produced +by a particular kind of animal, and whose +development results in the reproduction of a +similar animal, must contain potentially the +parts and structures which are evolved from +it; and fact shows that this may be affirmed of +both the embryo and the sperm-cells where +there are two sexes. Therefore it is in the +highest degree probable that the eggs of a +worm and those of man, though possibly alike +to our coarse methods of investigation, are as +dissimilar as the animals that result from them. +If so, the "egg may be before the hen;" but it +is as difficult to imagine the spontaneous production +of the egg which is potentially the hen +as of the hen itself. Thus the similarity of the +eggs and early embryos of animals of different +grades is apparent only; and this fact, which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +embodies a great, and perhaps insoluble, mystery, +invalidates the whole of Haeckel's reasoning +on the alleged resemblances of different +kinds of animals in their early stages.</p> + +<p>A second difficulty arises from the fact that +the simple embryo-cell of any of the higher +animals rapidly produces various kinds of specialized +cells different in structure and appearance +and capable of performing different functions, +whereas in the lower forms of life such +cells may remain simple or may merely produce +several similar cells little or not at all differentiated. +This objection, whenever it occurs, +Haeckel endeavors to turn by the assertion +that a complex animal is merely an aggregate +of independent cells, each of which is a sort of +individual. He thus tries to break up the integrity +of the complex organism and to reduce +it to a mere swarm of monads. He compares +the cells of an organism to the "individuals +of a savage community," who, at first separate +and all alike in their habits and occupations, at +length organize themselves into a community +and assume different avocations. Single cells, +he says, at first were alike, and each performed +the same simple offices of all the others. "At +a later period isolated cells gathered into communities; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +groups of simple cells which had +arisen from the continued division of a single +cell remained together, and now began gradually +to perform different offices of life."</p> + +<p>But this is a mere vague analogy. It does +not represent anything actually occurring in +nature, except in the case of an embryo produced +by some animal which already shows all +the tissues which its embryo is destined to reproduce. +Thus it establishes no probability +of the evolution of complex tissues from simple +cells, and leaves altogether unexplained that +wonderful process by which the embryo-cell +not only divides into many cells, but becomes +developed into all the variety of dissimilar tissues +evolved from the homogeneous egg; but +evolved from it, as we naturally suppose, because +of the fact that the egg represents potentially +all these tissues as existing previously +in the parent organism.</p> + +<p>But if we are content to waive these objections +or to accept the solutions given of them +by the "appearance-and-disappearance" argument, +we still find that the phylogeny, unlike +the ontogenesis, is full of wide gaps only to be +passed <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">per saltum</i> or to be accounted for by the +disappearance of a vast number of connecting-links. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +Of course, it is easy to suppose that +these intermediate forms have been lost through +time and accident, but why this has happened +to some rather than to others cannot be explained. +In the phylogeny of man, for example, +what a vast hiatus yawns between the ascidian +and the lancelet, and another between +the lancelet and the lamprey! It is true that +the missing links may have consisted of animals +little likely to be preserved as fossils; but why, +if they ever existed, do not some of them remain +in the modern seas? Again, when we +have so many species of apes and so many +races of men, why can we find no trace, recent +or fossil, of that "missing link" which we are +told must have existed, the "ape-like men," +known to Haeckel as the "Alali," or speechless +men?</p> + +<p>A further question which should receive consideration +from the monist school is that very +serious one, Why, if all is "mechanical" in the +development and actions of living beings, should +there be any progress whatever? Ordinary people +fail to understand why a world of mere dead +matter should not go on to all eternity obeying +physical and chemical laws without developing +life; or why, if some low form of life were introduced +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +capable of reproducing simple one-celled +organisms, it should not go on doing so.</p> + +<p>Further, even if some chance deviations should +occur, we fail to perceive why these should go on +in a definite manner producing not only the most +complex machines, but many kinds of such machines—on +different plans, but each perfect in its +way. Haeckel is never weary of telling us that +to monists organisms are mere machines. Even +his own mental work is merely the grinding of +a cerebral machine. But he seems not to perceive +that to such a philosophy the homely argument +which Paley derived from the structure +of a watch would be fatal: "The question is +whether machines (which monists consider all +animals to be, including themselves) infinitely +more complicated than watches could come into +existence without design +somewhere"<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +—that is, +by mere chance. Common sense is not likely +to admit that this is possible.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_083.jpg" width="600" height="481" alt="Fig. 2." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 2.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Impression of five fingers and five toes of an Amphibian of the +Lower Carboniferous Age, from the lowest Carboniferous beds in +Nova Scotia—an evidence of the fact that the number five was +already selected for the hands and feet of the earliest known land +vertebrates, and that the decimal system of notation, with all that +it involves to man, was determined in the Palĉozoic Age. The upper +figure natural size, the lower reduced.</p> + +<p>The difficulties above referred to relate to the +introduction of life and of new species on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +monistic view. Others might be referred to in +connection with the production of new organs. +An illustration is afforded, among others, by the +discussion of the introduction of the five fingers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +and toes of man, which appear to descend to us +unchanged from the amphibians or batrachians +of the Carboniferous period. In this ancient +age of the earth's geological history, feet with +five toes appear in numerous species of reptilians +of various grades (Fig. 2). They are +preceded by no other vertebrates than fishes, +and these have numerous fin-rays instead of +toes. There are no properly transitional forms +either fossil or recent. How were the five-fingered +limbs acquired in this abrupt way? Why +were they five rather than any other number? +Why, when once introduced, have they continued +unchanged up to the present day? Haeckel's +answer is a curious example of his method: +"The great significance of the five digits depends +on the fact that this number has been +transmitted from the Amphibia to all higher +vertebrates. It would be impossible to discover +any reason why in the lowest Amphibia, +as well as in reptiles and in higher vertebrates +up to man, there should always originally be +five digits on each of the anterior and posterior +limbs, if we denied that heredity from a common +five-fingered parent-form is the efficient +cause of this phenomenon; heredity can alone +account for it. In many Amphibia certainly, as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +well as in many higher vertebrates, we find less +than five digits. But in all these cases it can +be shown that separate digits have retrograded, +and have finally been completely lost. The +causes which affected the development of the +five-fingered foot of the higher vertebrates in +this amphibian form from the many-fingered +foot (or properly fin), must certainly be found +in the adaptation to the totally altered functions +which the limbs had to discharge during the +transition from an exclusively aquatic life to one +which was partially terrestrial. While the many-fingered +fins of the fish had previously served +almost exclusively to propel the body through +the water, they had now also to afford support +to the animal when creeping on the land. This +effected a modification both of the skeleton and +of the muscles of the limbs. The number of fin-rays +was gradually lessened, and was finally reduced +to five. These five remaining rays were, +however, developed more vigorously. The soft +cartilaginous rays became hard bones. The rest +of the skeleton also became considerably more +firm. The movements of the body became not +only more vigorous, but also more varied;" and +the paragraph proceeds to state other ameliorations +of muscular and nervous system supposed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +to be related to or caused by the improvement +of the limbs.</p> + +<p>It will be observed that in the above extract, +under the formula "the causes which affected +the development of the five-fingered foot ... +must certainly be found," all that other men +would regard as demanding proof is quietly +assumed, and the animal grows before our +eyes from a fish to a reptile as under the +wand of a conjurer. Further, the transmission +of the five toes is attributed to heredity or unchanged +reproduction, but this, of course, gives +no explanation of the original formation of the +structure, nor of the causes which prevented +heredity from applying to the fishes which +became amphibians and acquired five toes, +or to the amphibians which faithfully transmitted +their five toes, but not their other +characteristics.</p> + +<p>It is perhaps scarcely profitable to follow +further the criticism of this extraordinary +book. It may be necessary, however, to repeat +that it contains clear, and in the main +accurate, sketches of the embryology of a +number of animals, only slightly colored by +the tendency to minimize differences. It may +also be necessary to say that in criticising +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +Haeckel we take him on his own ground—that +of a monist—and have no special reference +to those many phases which the philosophy +of evolution assumes in the minds of other +naturalists, many of whom accept it only partially +or as a form of mediate creation more or +less reconcilable with theism. To these more +moderate views no reference has been made, +though there can be no doubt that many of +them are quite as assailable as the position +of Haeckel in point of argument. It may +also be observed that Haeckel's argument is +almost exclusively biological and confined to +the animal kingdom, and to the special line +of descent attributed to man. The monistic +hypothesis becomes, as already stated, still +less tenable when tested by the facts of palĉontology. +Hence most of the palĉontologists +who favor evolution appear to shrink from +the extreme position of Haeckel. Gaudry, +one of the ablest of this school, in his recent +work on the development of the Mammalia, +candidly admits the multitude of facts for +which derivation will not account, and perceives +in the grand succession of animals in +time the evidence of a wise and far-reaching +creative plan, concluding with the words: "We +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +may still leave out of the question the processes +by which the Author of the world has +produced the changes of which palĉontology +presents the picture." In like manner, the +Count de Saporta in his <i>World of Plants</i> +closes his summary of the periods of vegetation +with the words: "But if we ascend from +one phenomenon to another, beyond the sphere +of contingent and changeable appearance, we +find ourselves arrested by a Being unchangeable +and supreme, the first expression and +absolute cause of all existence, in whom diversity +unites with unity, an eternal problem, insoluble +to science, but ever present to the +human consciousness. Here we reach the +true source of the idea of religion, and there +presents itself distinctly to the mind that conception +to which we apply instinctively the +name of God."</p> + +<p>Thus these evolutionists, like many others +in this country and in England, find a <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">modus +vivendi</i> between evolution and theism. They +have committed themselves to an interpretation +of nature which may prove fanciful and +evanescent, and which certainly up to this +time remains an hypothesis, ingenious and +captivating, but not fortified by the evidence +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +of facts. But in doing so they are not prepared +to accept the purely mechanical creed +of the monist, or to separate themselves from +those ideas of morality, of religion, and of +sonship to God which have hitherto been the +brightest gems in the crown of man as the +lord of this lower world. Whether they can +maintain this position against the monists, and +whether they will be able in the end to retain +any practical form of religion along with the +doctrine of the derivation of man from the +lower animals, remains to be seen. Possibly +before these questions come to a final issue +the philosophy of evolution may itself have +been "modified" or have given place to some +new phase of thought.</p> + +<p>One curious point in this connection, to which +little attention has been given by evolutionists, +is that to which Herbert Spencer has given the +name of "direct equilibration," though he is sufficiently +wise not to invite too much attention +to it. This is the balance of parts and forces +within the organism itself. The organism is a +complex machine; and if its parts have been +put together by chance and are drifting onward +in the path of evolution, there must of necessity +be a continual struggle going on between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +the different organs and functions, each tending +to swallow up the others and each struggling +for its own existence. This resolution of the +body of each animal into a house divided +against itself is at first sight so revolting to +common sense and right feeling that few like +to contemplate it. Roux and other recent +writers, however, especially in Germany, have +brought it into prominence, and it is no doubt +a necessary consequence of the evolutionary +idea, though altogether at variance with the +theory of intelligent design, which supposes +the animal machine put together with care +and for a purpose, and properly adjusted in +all its parts. On the hypothesis of evolution, +the animal thus ceases to be, in the proper +sense of the term, even a machine, and becomes +a mere mass of conflicting parts depending +for any constancy they may have on a +chance balancing of hostile forces, without any +compelling power to bring them together at +first, or any means to bind them to joint action +in the system. The more such a doctrine is +considered, the more difficult does it seem to +believe in the possibility of its truth. Evolution +has already reduced the cosmos into chaos, +the harmony of the universe into discord; but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +it seems past belief to introduce this into the +microcosm itself, and to see nothing in its exquisite +adjustments except the momentary equilibrium +of a well-balanced fight. Geological +history also adds to the absurdity of such a +view by showing the marvellous permanence +of many forms of life which have continued to +perpetuate themselves through almost immeasurable +ages without material changes, thus +proving unanswerably the perfect adjustment +of their parts.</p> + +<p>Viewed rightly, this direct equilibration of the +parts of the animal seems to throw the greatest +possible doubt on the capacity of any form of +evolution to produce new species. It is certain, +from the facts collected by Mr. Darwin +himself in his work on animals under domestication, +that when man disturbs the balance of +any organism by changing in any way the relations +of its parts, he introduces elements of +instability and weakness, which, despite the efforts +of nature to correct the evils resulting, +speedily lead to degeneracy, infertility, and extinction. +Mr. T. Warren O'Neil of Philadelphia +has recently argued this point with much +ability,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +and has shown, on the testimony of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +Darwin's facts, that unless "natural selection" +is a much more skilful breeder than man, and +possesses some secrets not yet discovered by +us, the effects of this imaginary power would +lead, not to the production of new species, but +merely to the extinction of those already existing. +In short, all the evidence goes to show +that—so beautifully balanced are the parts of +the organism—any excess or deficiency in any +of them, when artificially or accidentally introduced, +brings in elements not only of instability, +but of decay and destruction. This subject +is deserving of a more full treatment than it +can receive here, but enough has been said to +show that in this evolutionists have unwittingly +furnished us with a new confirmation of the +theory of intelligent design.</p> + +<p>In some places there are in Haeckel's book +touches of a grim humor which are not without +interest, as showing the subjective side of the +monistic theory and illustrating the attitude +of its professors to things held sacred by other +men. For example, the following is the introduction +to the chapter headed "From the Primitive +Worm to the Skulled Animal," and which +has for its motto the lines of Goethe beginning: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Not like the gods am I! full well I know;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But like the worms which in the dust must go."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Both in prose and poetry man is very often +compared to a worm; 'a miserable worm,' 'a +poor worm,' are common and almost compassionate +phrases. If we cannot detect any deep +phylogenetic reference in this zoological metaphor, +we might at least safely assert that it +contains an unconscious comparison with a +low condition of animal development which +is interesting in its bearing on the pedigree +of the human race."</p> + +<p>If Haeckel were well read in Scripture, he +might have quoted here the melancholy confession +of the man of Uz: "I have said to the +worm, Thou art my mother and my sister." +But, though Job, like the German professor, +could humbly say to the worm, "Thou art my +mother," he could still hold fast his integrity +and believe in the fatherhood of God.</p> + +<p>The moral bearing of monism is further +illustrated by the following extract, which +refers to a more advanced step of the evolution—that +from the ape to man—and which +shows the honest pride of the worthy professor +in his humble parentage: "Just as most +people prefer to trace their pedigree from a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +decayed baron, or if possible from a celebrated +prince, rather than from an unknown humble +peasant, so they prefer seeing the progenitor +of the human race in an Adam degraded by +the fall, rather than in an ape capable of higher +development and progress. It is a matter of +taste, and such genealogical preferences do +not, therefore, admit of discussion. It is more +to my individual taste to be the more highly-developed +descendant of an ape, who in the +struggle for existence had developed progressively +from lower mammals as they from +still lower vertebrates, than the degraded descendant +of an Adam, Godlike but debased +by the fall, who was formed from a clod of +earth, and of an Eve created from a rib of +Adam. As regards the celebrated 'rib,' I must +here expressly add, as a supplement to the +history of the development of the skeleton, +that the number of ribs is the same in man +and in woman.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +In the latter as well as in +the former the ribs originate from the skin-fibrous +layer, and are to be regarded phylogenetically +as lower or ventral +vertebrĉ."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<p>There is no accounting for tastes, yet we +may be pardoned for retaining some preference +for the first link of the old Jewish genealogical +table: "Which was the son of Adam, +which was the son of God." As to the "debasement" +of the fall, it is to be feared that +the aboriginal ape would object to bearing the +blame of existing human iniquities as having +arisen from any improvement in his nature +and habits; and it is scarcely fair to speak of +Adam as "formed from a <i>clod</i> of earth," which +is not precisely in accordance with the record. +As to the "rib," which seems so offensive to +Haeckel, one would have thought that he +would, as an evolutionist, have had some fellow-feeling +in this with the writer of Genesis. +The origin of sexes is one of the acknowledged +difficulties of the hypothesis, and, using +his method, we might surely "assume," or even +"confidently assert," the possibility that, in some +early stage of the development, the unfinished +vertebral arches of the "skin-fibrous layer" +might have produced a new individual by a +process of budding or gemmation. Quite as +remarkable suppositions are contained in some +parts of his own volumes, without any special +divine power for rendering them practicable. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +Further, if only an individual man originated +in the first instance, and if he were not provided +with a suitable spouse, he might have +intermarried with the unimproved anthropoids, +and the results of the evolution would have +been lost. Such considerations should have +weighed with Haeckel in inducing him to speak +more respectfully of Adam's rib, especially in +view of the fact that in dealing with the hard +question of human origin the author of Genesis +had not the benefit of the researches of Baer +and Haeckel. He had, no doubt, the advantage +of a firm faith in the reality of that Creative +Will which the monistic prophets of the nineteenth +century have banished from their calculations. +Were Haeckel not a monist, he might +also be reminded of that grand doctrine of the +lordship and superiority of man based on the +fact that there was no "help meet for him;" +and the foundation of the most sacred bond +of human society on the saying of the first +man: "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh +of my flesh." But monists probably attach +little value to such ideas.</p> + +<p>It may be proper to add here that in his references +to Adam, Haeckel betrays a weakness +not unusual with his school, in putting a false +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +gloss on the old record of Genesis. The statement +that man was formed from the dust of +the ground implies no more than the production +of his body from the common materials +employed in the construction of other animals; +this also in contradistinction from the higher nature +derived from the inbreathing or inspiration +of God. The precise nature of the method by +which man was made or created is not stated by +the author of Genesis. Further, it would have +been as easy for Divine Power to create a pair +as an individual. If this was not done, and if +after the lesson of superiority taught by the inspection +of lower animals, and the lesson of +language taught by naming them, the first man +in his "deep sleep" is conscious of the removal +of a portion of his own flesh, and then on awaking +has the woman "brought" to him, all this is +to teach a lesson not to be otherwise learned. +The Mosaic record is thus perfectly consistent +with itself and with its own doctrine of creation +by Almighty Power.</p> + +<p>I have quoted the above passages as examples +of the more jocose vein of the Jena physiologist; +but they constitute also a serious revelation +of the influence of his philosophy on his +own mind and heart, in lowering both to a cold, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +mechanical, and unsympathetic view of man and +nature. This is especially serious when we remember +how earnestly in a recent address he +advocated the teaching of the methods and results +of this book, as those which, in the present +state of knowledge, should supersede the Bible +in our schools. We may well say, with his great +opponent on that occasion, that if such doctrines +should be proved to be true, the teaching of +them might become a necessity, but one that +would bring us face to face with the darkest and +most dangerous moral problem that has ever +beset humanity; and that so long as they remain +unproved it is both unwise and criminal +to propagate them among the mass of men +as conclusions which have been demonstrated +by science.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, we may notice shortly a few +of the consequences of the monistic evolution +as held by Haeckel and others. Doctrines are +perhaps not to be judged by the consequences—at +least, by the immediate consequences—of +their acceptance. Yet if their logical consequences +are such as to introduce confusion into +our higher ideas and sentiments, we have reason +to hesitate as to their adoption—if on no +other ground, because we ourselves are a part +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +of nature and should be in harmony with any +true explanation of it.</p> + +<p>We may affirm in this connection that agnostic +evolution reduces all our science to mere +evanescent anthropomorphic fancies; so that, +like a parasite, it first supports itself on the +strength and substance of science, and then +strangles it to death. Physical science is a +product of our thinking as to external things. +If, therefore, the thinking brain and the external +nature which it studies are both of them +the fortuitous products of blind tendencies in a +process of continuous flux and vicissitude, our +science can embody no elements of eternal +truth nor any conceptions as to the plans of +a higher creative reason. In that case it is absolutely +worthless, and a pure waste of time +and energy, except in so far as it may yield any +temporary material advantages.</p> + +<p>Further, the agnostic evolution thus leaves +us as orphans in the midst of a cold and insensate +nature. We are no longer dwellers in our +Father's house, beautiful and fitted for us, but +are thrown into the midst of a hideous conflict +of dead forces, in which we must finally perish +and be annihilated. In a struggle so hopeless +it is a mere mockery to tell us that in millions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +of years something better may come out of it, +for we know that this will be of no avail to us, +and we feel that it is impossible. Thus the +agnostic philosophy, if it be once accepted as +true, seriously raises the question whether life +is worth living.</p> + +<p>But if worth living, then it must be for the +immediate and selfish gratification of our desires +and passions; and since we are deprived +of God and conscience, and right and wrong, +and future reward or punishment, and all men +are alike in this position, there can be nothing +left for us but to rend and fight with our fellows +for such share of good as may fall to us in the +deadly struggle, that we may reach such happiness +as may be possible for us in such an +existence, ere we drift into nonentity. Here, +again, we are told that the struggle will some +time lead to the survival of the fittest, and that +the fittest may inaugurate a new and better +reign of peace. But the world has already +lasted countless ages without arriving at this +result. It cannot concern me individually, any +more than what happens to-day concerns the +extinct ichthyosaur or the megatherium. All +that is left for me is to "eat and drink, for +to-morrow I die." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>If any one thinks that this is an exaggerated +picture of the effects of agnostic evolution as +applied to man, I may refer him to the study +of Herbert Spencer's recent work <i>The Data +of Ethics</i>, which has contributed very much to +open the eyes of thoughtful men to the depth +of spiritual, moral, and even social and political, +ruin into which we shall drift under the guidance +of this philosophy. In this work the data +of ethics are reduced to the one consideration +of what is "pleasurable" to ourselves and +others, and it is admitted that our ideas of +conscience, duty, and even of social obligation, +are merely fictions of temporary use until +the time shall come when what is pleasurable +to ourselves shall coincide with what is pleasurable +to others; and this is to come, not out +of the love of God and the influence of his +Spirit, but out of the blind struggle of opposing +interests. It has been well said that this +system of morals—if it can be dignified with +such a name—is inferior, logically and practically, +not only to the "supernatural ethics" +which it boastfully professes to replace, but to +the ethics of Aristotle and Cicero, and that "it +will not supersede revelation, nor is it likely to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +displace the old data of ethics, whether Greek, +Roman, or English." Independently of its antagonism +to theism and Christianity, it is foredoomed +by the common sense and the right +feeling of even imperfect human nature. +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_III" id="LECTURE_III"></a>LECTURE III.<br /> + +<small>EVOLUTION AS TESTED BY THE RECORDS OF THE +ROCKS.</small></h2> + + +<p>Having discussed those vague analogies +and fanciful pedigrees by which it has +been attempted to drag the science of Biology +into the service of Agnostic Evolution, we may +now turn to another science—that of the earth—and +inquire how far it justifies us in affirming +the spontaneous evolution of plants and animals +in the progress of geological time. This +subject is one which would require a lengthy +treatise for its full development, and it cannot +be pursued in the most satisfactory way without +much previous knowledge of geological facts +and principles, and of the classification of animals +and plants. On the present occasion it +must therefore be treated in the most general +possible manner, and with reference merely to +the results which have been reached. There +is the more excuse for this mode of treatment +that, in works already published and widely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +circulated,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +I have endeavored to present its +details in a popular form to general readers.</p> + +<p>Geological investigation has disclosed a great +series of stratified rocks composing the crust +of the earth, and formed at successive times, +chiefly by the agency of water. These can +be arranged in chronological order; and, so +arranged, they constitute the physical monuments +of the earth's history. We must here +take for granted, on the testimony of geology, +that the accumulation of this series of deposits +has extended over a vast lapse of time, and +that the successive formations contain remains +of animals and plants from which we can learn +much as to the succession of life on the earth. +Without entering into geological details, it may +be sufficient to present in tabular form (see p. +107) the grand series of formations, with the +general history of life as ascertained from them.</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Tabular View of Geological Periods +and of Life-Epochs.</span></p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Geological Periods" width="100%"> +<tr> +<td class="tdc tdball" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Geological Periods.</span></td> +<td class="tdc tdball" width="25%"><span class="smcap">Animal Life.</span></td> +<td class="tdc tdball" width="25%"><span class="smcap">Vegetable Life.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc tdblr" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Cainozoic</span> or <span class="smcap">Neozoic</span>.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdbl" width="20%"><i>Post-Tertiary</i> or <i>Modern</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbr" width="30%">{Recent.<br />{Post-Glacial.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblr">Age of <i>Man</i> and <i>Modern Mammals</i>.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblrb" rowspan="2">Age of <i>Angiosperms</i> and <i>Palms</i>.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdblb"><i>Tertiary</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbrb">{Pleistocene, or Glacial.<br />{Pliocene.<br />{Miocene.<br />{Eocene.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblrb">Age of <i>Extinct Mammals</i>. (Earliest Placental Mammals.)</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc tdblr" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Mesozoic.</span></td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdbl"><i>Cretaceous</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbr">{Upper,<br />{Lower, or Neocomian.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblr" rowspan="2">Age of <i>Reptiles</i> and <i>Birds</i>.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblr">(Earliest Modern Trees.)</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdbl"><i>Jurassic</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbr">{Oolite.<br />{Lias.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblrb" rowspan="2">Age of <i>Cycads</i> and <i>Pines</i>.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdblb"><i>Triassic</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbrb">{Upper,<br />{Middle, or Muschelkalk.<br />{Lower.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblrb">(Earliest Marsupial Mammals.)</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc tdblr" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Palĉozoic.</span></td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdbl"><i>Permian</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbr">{Upper,<br />{Middle, or Magnesian Limestone.<br />{Lower.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblr">(Earliest True Reptiles.)</td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdbl"><i>Carboniferous</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbr">{Upper Coal-Formation.<br />{Coal-Formation.<br />{Carboniferous Limestone.<br />{Lower Coal-Formation.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblr" rowspan="2">Age of <i>Amphibians</i> and <i>Fishes</i>.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblr" rowspan="2">Age of <i>Acrogens</i> and <i>Gymnosperms</i>.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl tdbl"><i>Erian</i> or <i>Devonian</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbr">{Upper.<br />{Middle.<br />{Lower.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdbl"><i>Silurian</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbr">{Upper,<br />{Lower, or Siluro-Cambrian.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblrb" rowspan="2">Age of <i>Mollusks</i>, <i>Corals</i> and <i>Crustaceans</i>.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblrb" rowspan="2">(Earliest Land Plants.) Age of <i>Algĉ</i>.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdblb"><i>Cambrian</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbrb">{Upper.<br />{Middle.<br />{Lower.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdc tdblr" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Eozoic.</span></td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td> +<td class="tdc tdblr"> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdbl"><i>Huronian</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbr">{Upper.<br />{Lower.</td> +<td class="tdc tdblrb" rowspan="2">Age of <i>Protozoa</i>. (First AnimalRemains.)</td> +<td class="tdc tdblrb" rowspan="2">Indications of Plants not determinable.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdlp tdblb"><i>Laurentian</i></td> +<td class="tdl tdbrb">{Upper, or Norian.<br />{Middle,<br />{Lower, or Bojian.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>In the oldest rocks known to geologists—those +of the Eozoic time—some indications of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +the presence of life are found. Great beds of +limestone are contained in these formations, +vast quantities of carbon in the form of graphite, +and thick beds of iron-ore. All these are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +known, from their mode of occurrence in later +deposits, to be results, direct or indirect, of the +agency of life; and if they afforded no traces +of organic forms, still their chemical character +would convey a presumption of their organic +origin. But additional evidence has been obtained +in the presence of certain remarkable +laminated forms penetrated by microscopic +tubes and canals, and which are supposed to +be the remains of the calcareous skeletons of +humbly-organized animals akin to the simplest +of those now living in the sea. Such animals—little +more than masses of living animal jelly—now +abound in the waters, and protect themselves +by secreting calcareous skeletons, often +complex and beautiful, and penetrated by pores, +through which the soft animal within can send +forth minute thread-like extensions of its body, +which serve instead of limbs. The Laurentian +fossil known as <i>Eozoon Canadense</i> (see Fig. 3) +may have been the skeleton of such a lowly-organized +animal; and if so, it is the oldest +living thing that we know. But if really the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +skeleton or covering of such an animal, <i>Eozoon</i> +is larger than any of its successors, and quite +as complex as any of them. There is nothing +to show that it could have originated from dead +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +matter by any spontaneous action, any more +than its modern representatives could do so. +There is no evidence of its progress by evolution +into any higher form, and the group of animals +to which it belongs has continued to inhabit +the ocean throughout geological time without +any perceptible advance in rank or complexity +of structure. If, then, we admit the animal +nature of this earliest fossil, we can derive +from it no evidence of monistic evolution; and +if we deny its animal nature, we are confronted +with a still graver difficulty in the next succeeding +formations.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 482px;"> +<img src="images/i_109.jpg" width="482" height="600" alt="Fig. 3." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 3.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">1. Small specimen of <i>Eozoon Canadense</i>, weathered out from the containing +rock, and showing its laminated structure.</p> + +<p class="captionr">2. Casts of irregular or acervaline chambers of upper part (magnified).</p> + +<p class="captionr">3. Surface of a cast of a flat chamber, showing its constituent chamberlets +(magnified).</p> + +<p class="captionr">4. Section of casts of flat chambers (magnified). From the Laurentian +of Canada.</p> + +<p>Between the rocks which contain <i>Eozoon</i> and +the next in which we find any abundant remains +of life, there is a gap in geological history, +either destitute of evidence of life or showing +nothing materially in advance of <i>Eozoon</i>. In +the Cambrian Age, however, we obtain a vast +and varied accession of life. Here we find evidence +that the sea swarmed with living creatures +near akin to those which still inhabit it, +and nearly as varied. Referring merely to +leading groups, we have here the soft shellfishes +and the worms, the ordinary shellfishes, +the sea-stars, and the corals, with the sponges. +In short, had we been able to drop our dredge +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +into the Cambrian or Lower Silurian ocean, +we should have brought up representatives of +all the leading types of invertebrate life that +exist in the modern seas—different, it is true, +in details of structure from those now existing, +but constructed on the same principles and filling +the same places in nature.</p> + +<p>If we inquire as to the history of this swarming +marine life of the early Palĉozoic, we find +that its several species, after enduring for a +longer or a shorter time, one by one became +extinct and were replaced by others belonging +to the same groups. Thus there is in each +great group a succession of new forms, distinct +as species, but not perceptibly elevated in the +scale of being. In many cases, indeed, the reverse +seems to be the case; for it is not unusual +to find the successive dynasties of life in +any one family manifesting degradation rather +than elevation. New, and sometimes higher, +forms, it is true, appear in the progress of time, +but it is impossible, except by violent suppositions, +to connect them genetically with any predecessors. +The succession throughout the Palĉozoic +presents the appearance rather of the +unchanged persistence of each group under a +succession of specific forms, and the introduction +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +from time to time of new groups, as if to +replace others which were in process of decay +and disappearance.</p> + +<p>In the later half of the Palĉozoic we find a +number of higher forms breaking upon us with +the same apparent suddenness as in the case of +the early Cambrian animals. Fishes appear, and +soon abound in a great variety of species, representing +types of no mean rank, but, singularly +enough, belonging, in many cases, to groups +now very rare; while the commoner tribes of +modern fish do not appear. On the land, batrachian +reptiles now abound, some of them +very high in the sub-class to which they belong. +Scorpions, spiders, insects, and millipedes +appear, as well as land-snails, and this +not in one locality only, but over the whole +northern hemisphere. At the same time, the +land appears clothed with an exuberant vegetation—not +of the lowest types nor of the +highest, but of intermediate forms, such as +those of the pines, the club-mosses, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +ferns, all of which attained in those days to +magnitudes and numbers of species unsurpassed, +and in some cases unequalled, in the +modern world. Nor do they show any signs +of an unformed or imperfect state. Their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +seeds and spores, their fruits and spore-cases, +are as elaborately constructed, the tissues and +forms of their stems and leaves as delicate and +beautiful, as in any modern plants. So with +the compound eyes and filmy wings of insects, +the teeth, bones, and scales of batrachians and +fishes; all are as perfectly finished, and many +quite as complex and elegant, as in the animals +of the present day (Figure 4).</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 480px;"> +<img src="images/i_113.jpg" width="480" height="600" alt="Fig. 4." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 4.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Restoration (by <i>G. F. Matthew</i>) of a Trilobite (<i>Paradoxides</i>) from the +Lower Cambrian, as an evidence of the existence of crustacean animals +of high type and great complexity in this early age. If such +animals were evolved from Protozoa by slow and gradual changes, the +time required would be greater than that which intervened between +the Cambrian period and the present time.</p> + +<p>This wonderful Palĉozoic Age was, however, +but a temporary state of the earth. It passed +away, and was replaced by the Mesozoic, emphatically +the reign of reptiles, when animals +of that type attained to colossal magnitude, to +variety of function and structure, to diversity +of habitat in sea and on land, altogether unexampled +in their degraded descendants of modern +times. Sea-lizards of gigantic size swarmed +everywhere in the waters. On land, huge +quadrupeds, like Atlantosaurus and Iguanodon +and Megalosaurus, greatly exceeded the elephants +of later times; while winged reptiles—some +of them of small size, others with wings +twenty feet in expanse—flitted in the air. +Strangely enough, with these reptilian lords +appeared a few small and lowly mammals, +forerunners of the coming age. Birds also +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +make their appearance, and at the close of +the period forests of broad-leaved trees altogether +different from those of the Palĉozoic +Age, and resembling those of our modern +woods, appear for the first time over great +portions of the northern hemisphere.</p> + +<p>The Cainozoic, or Tertiary, is the age of +mammals and of man. In it the great reptilian +tyrants of the Mesozoic disappear, and +are replaced on land and sea by mammals or +beasts of the same orders with those now living, +though differing as to genera and species +(see Fig. 5). So greatly, indeed, did mammalian +life abound in this period that in the middle +part of the Tertiary most of the leading +groups were represented by more numerous +species than at present; while many groups +then existing have now no representatives. +At the close of this great and wonderful procession +of living beings comes man himself—the +last and crowning triumph of creation; the +head, thus far, of life on the earth.</p> + +<p>I have merely glanced at the leading events +of this wonderful history, because its details +may be found in so many manuals and popular +works on geology. But if we imagine this +great chain of life extending over periods of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +enormous duration in comparison with the +short span of human history, presenting to +the naturalist hosts of strange forms which he +could scarcely have imagined in his dreams, we +may understand how exciting have been these +discoveries crowded within the lives of two +generations of geologists. Further, when we +consider that the general course of this great +development of life, beginning with Protozoa +and ending with man, is from below upward—from +the more simple to the more complex—and +that there is of necessity, in this grand +growth of life through the ages, a likeness or +parallelism to the growth of the individual animal +from its more simple to its more complex +state, we can understand how naturalists should +fancy that here they have been introduced to +the workshop of Nature, and that they can +discover how one creature may have been developed +from another by spontaneous evolution.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_117.jpg" width="600" height="309" alt="Fig. 5." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 5.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Skeleton of the American Mastodon, illustrating the number and wide +distribution of elephantine animals of the three genera <i>Dinotherium</i>, +<i>Mastodon</i>, and <i>Elephas</i> in the later Tertiary Age. Gaudry, the most +eminent modern authority on these animals, remarks that the facts at +present known do not "permit us to indicate any relation of descent +between the elephantine animals and those of other orders known to us +at present."</p> + +<p>Many naturalists like Darwin and Haeckel, +as well as philosophers like Herbert Spencer, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +are quite carried away by this analogy, and appear +unable to perceive that it is merely a general +resemblance between processes altogether +different in their nature, and therefore in their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +causes. The greater part, however, of the +more experienced palĉontologists, or students +of fossils, have long ago seen that in the larger +field of the earth's history there is very much +that cannot be found in the narrower field of +the development of the individual animal; and +they have endeavored to reduce the succession +of life to such general expressions as shall render +it more comprehensible and may at length +enable us to arrive at explanations of its complex +phenomena. Of these general expressions +or conclusions I may state a few here, as apposite +to our present subject, and as showing how +little of real support the facts of the earth's +history give to the pseudo-gnosis of monistic +evolution.</p> + +<p>1. The chain of life in geological time presents +a wonderful testimony to the reality of +a beginning. Just as we know that any individual +animal must have had its birth, its +infancy, its maturity, and will reach an end +of life, so we trace species and groups of +species to their beginning, watch their culmination, +and perhaps follow them to their extinction. +It is true that there is a sense in +which geology shows "no sign of a beginning, +no prospect of an end;" but this is manifestly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +because it has reached only a little way back +toward the beginning of the earth as a whole, +and can see in its present state no indication +of the time or manner of the end. But its +revelation of the fact that nearly all the animals +and plants of the present day had a very +recent beginning in geological time, and its +disclosure of the disappearance of one form +of life after another as we go back in time, +till we reach the comparatively few forms of +life of the Lower Cambrian, and finally have +to rest over the solitary grandeur of <i>Eozoon</i>, +oblige it to say that nothing known to it is +self-existent and eternal.</p> + +<p>2. The geological record informs us that the +general laws of nature have continued unchanged +from the earliest periods to which it +relates until the present day. This is the true +"uniformitarianism" of geology which holds to +the dominion of existing causes from the first. +But it does not refuse to admit variations in the +intensity of these causes from time to time, and +cycles of activity and repose, like those that +we see on a small scale in the seasons, the +occurrence of storms, or the paroxysms of +volcanoes. When we find that the eyes of +the old trilobites have had lenses and tubes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +similar to those in the eyes of modern crustaceans, +we have evidence of the persistence of +the laws of light. When we see the structures +of Palĉozoic leaves identical with those of our +modern forests, we know that the arrangements +of the soil, the atmosphere, and the +rain were the same at that ancient time as +at present. Yet, with all this, we also find +evidence that long-continued periods of physical +quiescence were followed by great crumplings +and foldings of the earth's crust, and +we know that this also is consistent with the +operation of law; for it often happens that +causes long and quietly operating prepare +for changes which may be regarded as sudden +and cataclysmic.</p> + +<p>3. Throughout the geological history there +is progress toward greater complexity and +higher grade, along with degradation and extinction. +Though experience shows that it +may be quite possible that new discoveries +may enable us to trace some of the higher +forms of life farther back than we now find +them, yet there can be no question that in the +progress of geological time lower types have +given place to higher, less specialized to more +specialized. Curiously enough, no evidence +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +proves this more clearly than that which relates +to the degradation of old forms. When, +for example, the reptiles of the Mesozoic Age +were the lords of creation, there was apparently +no place for the larger Mammalia which +appear at the close of the reptile dynasty. So +in the Palĉozoic, when trees of the cryptogamous +type predominated, there seems to +have been no room in nature for the forests +of modern type which succeeded them. Thus +the earth at every period was fully peopled +with living beings—at first with low and generalized +structures which attained their maxima +at early stages and then declined, and afterward +with higher forms which took the places +of those that were passing away. These latter, +again, though their dominion was taken from +them, were continued in lower positions under +the new dynasties. Thus none of the lower +types of life introduced was finally abandoned, +but, after culminating in the highest forms of +which it was capable, each was still continued, +though with fewer species and a lower place. +Examples of this abound in the history of all +the leading groups of animals and plants.</p> + +<p>4. There is thus a continued plan and order +in the history of life which cannot be fortuitous. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +The chance interaction of organisms and their +environment, even if we assume the organisms +and environment as given to us, could never +produce an orderly continuous progress of the +utmost complexity in its detail, and extending +through an enormous lapse of time. It has +been well said that if a pair of dice were to +turn up aces a hundred times in succession, +any reasonable spectator would conclude that +they were loaded dice; so if countless millions +of atoms and thousands of species, each including +within itself most complex arrangement +of parts, turn up in geological time in +perfectly regular order and a continued gradation +of progress, something more than chance +must be implied. It is to be observed here +that every species of animal or plant, of however +low grade, consists of many co-ordinated +parts in a condition of the nicest equilibrium. +Any change occurring which produces unequal +or disproportionate development, as the experience +of breeders of abnormal varieties of +animals and plants abundantly proves, imperils +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +the continued existence of the species. Changes +must, therefore, in order to be profitable, affect +the parts of the organism simultaneously and +symmetrically. The chances of this may well +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +be compared to the casting of aces a hundred +times in succession, and are so infinitely small +as to be incredible under any other supposition +than that of intelligent design.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 424px;"> +<img src="images/i_123.jpg" width="424" height="600" alt="Fig. 6." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 6.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Group of Plants (restored) from the Devonian period, illustrating the +complexity and beauty of the earliest known land vegetation, though +many of the leading forms of modern plants are unknown in this very +ancient period.</p> + +<p>5. The progress of life in geological time. +Just as the growth of trees is promoted or +arrested by the vicissitudes of summer and +winter, so in the course of the geological history +there have been periods of pause and acceleration +in the work of advancement. This +is in accordance with the general analogy of +the operations of nature, and is in no way at +variance with the doctrine of uniformity already +referred to. Nor has it anything in common +with the unfounded idea, at one time entertained, +of successive periods of entire destruction +and restoration of life. Prolific periods +of this kind appear in the marine invertebrates +of the early Cambrian, the plants (Figure 6) +and fishes of the Devonian, the batrachians of +the Carboniferous, the reptiles of the Trias, the +broad-leaved trees of the Cretaceous, and the +mammals of the early Tertiary. A remarkable +contrast is afforded by the later Tertiary and +modern time, in which, with the exception of +man himself, and perhaps a very few other +species, no new forms of life have been introduced, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +while many old forms have perished. +This is somewhat unfortunate, since, in such +a period of stagnation as that in which we +live, we can scarcely hope to witness either +the creation or the evolution of a new species. +Evolutionists themselves—those, at least, who +are willing to allow their theory to be at all +modified by facts—now perceive this; and +hence we have the doctrine, advanced by +Mivart, Le Conte, and others, of "critical +periods," or periods of rapid evolution alternating +with others of greater quiescence. It +is further to be observed here that in a limited +way and with reference to certain forms of +life we can see a reason for these intermittent +creations. The greater part of the marine +fossils known to us are from rocks now raised +up in our continents, and they lived at periods +when the continents were submerged. Now, +in geological time these periods of submergence +alternated with others of elevation; and +it is manifest that each period of continental +submergence gave scope for the introduction +of numbers of new marine species, while each +continental elevation, on the other hand, gave +opportunity for the increase of land-life. Further, +periods when a warm climate prevailed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +in the arctic regions—periods when plants +such as now live in temperate regions could +enjoy six months of continuous sunshine—were +eminently favorable to the development +of such plants, and were utilized for the introduction +of new floras, which subsequently +spread to the southward. Thus we see physical +changes occurring in an orderly succession +and made subservient to the progress of +life.</p> + +<p>6. There is no direct evidence that in the +course of geological time one species has been +gradually or suddenly changed into another. +Of the latter we could scarcely expect to find +any evidence in fossils; but of the former, if it +had occurred, we might expect to find indications +in the history of some of the numerous +species which have been traced through successive +geological formations. Species which thus +continue for a great length of time usually present +numerous varietal forms which have sometimes +been described as new species; but when +carefully scrutinized they are found to be merely +local and temporary, and to pass into each +other. On the other hand, we constantly find +species replaced by others entirely new, and +this without any transition. The two classes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +of facts are essentially different; and though it +is possible to point out in the newer geological +formations some genera and species allied to +others which have preceded them, and to suppose +that the later forms proceeded from the +earlier, still, when the connecting-links cannot +be found, this is mere supposition, not scientific +certainty. Further, it proceeds on the principle +of arbitrary choice of certain forms out of many +without any evidence of genetic connection. +The worthlessness of such derivation is well +shown in a case which has often been paraded +as an illustration of evolution—the supposed +genealogy of the horse. In America a series +of horse-like animals has been selected, beginning +with the <i>Orohippus</i> of the Eocene, and +these have been marshalled as the ancestors of +the fossil horses of America; for there are no +native horses in America in the modern period. +Yet this is purely arbitrary, and dependent merely +on a succession of genera more and more +closely resembling the modern horse being procurable +from successive Tertiary deposits, often +widely separated in time and place. In Europe, +on the other hand, the ancestry of the horse +has been traced back to <i>Palĉotherium</i>—an entirely +different form—by just as likely indications. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +Both genealogies can scarcely be true, +and there is no actual proof of either. The +existing American horses, which are of European +parentage, are, according to the theory, descendants +of <i>Palĉotherium</i>, not of <i>Orohippus</i>; but +if we had not known this on historical evidence, +there would have been nothing to prevent us +from tracing them to the latter animal. This +simple consideration alone is sufficient to show +that such genealogies are not of the nature of +scientific evidence.</p> + +<p>It is further to be observed that some of the +ablest palĉontologists, and those who have enjoyed +the largest opportunities of observation +and comparison, attach no value whatever to +theories of evolution as accounting for the +origin of species. One of these is Joachim +Barrande, the palĉontologist of Bohemia, and +the first authority in Europe on the fossils of +the older formations. Barrande, like some +other eminent palĉontologists, has the misfortune +to be an unbeliever in the modern gospel +of evolution, but he has certainly labored to +overcome his doubts with greater assiduity than +even many of the apostles of the new doctrine; +and if he is not convinced, the stubbornness of +the facts he has had to deal with must bear the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +blame. In connection with his great and classical +work on the Silurian fossils of Bohemia, it +has been necessary for him to study the similar +remains of every other country; and he has +used this immense mass of material in preparing +statistics of the population of the Palĉozoic +world more perfect than any other naturalist +has been able to produce. In successive memoirs +he has applied these statistical results to +the elucidation of the history of the oldest group +of crustaceans—the trilobites—and the highest +group of the mollusks—the cephalopods. In +his latest memoir of this kind he takes up the +brachiopods, or lamp-shells, a group of bivalve +shellfishes very ancient and very abundantly +represented in all the older formations of every +part of the world, and which thus affords the +most ample material for tracing its evolution, +with the least possible difficulty in the nature +of "imperfection of the record."</p> + +<p>Barrande, in the publication before us, discusses +the brachiopods with reference, first, to +the variations observed within the limits of the +species, eliminating in this way mere synonyms +and varieties mistaken for species. He also +arrives at various important conclusions with +reference to the origin of species and varietal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +forms, which apply to the cephalopods and +trilobites as well as to the brachiopods, and +some of which, as the writer has elsewhere +shown, apply very generally to fossil animals +and plants. One of these is that different contemporaneous +species, living under the same +conditions, exhibit very different degrees of +vitality and variability. Another is the sudden +appearance at certain horizons of a great +number of species, each manifesting its complete +specific characters. With very rare exceptions, +also, varietal forms are contemporaneous +with the normal form of their specific +type, and occur in the same localities. Only +in a very few cases do they survive it. This +and the previous results, as well as the fact that +parallel changes go on in groups having no +direct reaction on each other, prove that variation +is not a progressive influence, and that +specific distinctions are not dependent on it, +but on the "sovereign action of one and the +same creative cause," as Barrande expresses +it. These conclusions, it may be observed, are +not arrived at by that "slap-dash" method of +mere assertion so often followed on the other +side of these questions, but by the most severe +and painstaking induction, and with careful +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +elaboration of a few apparent exceptions and +doubtful cases.</p> + +<p>His second heading relates to the distribution +in time of the genera and species of +brachiopods. This he illustrates with a series +of elaborate tables, accompanied by explanation. +He then proceeds to consider the animal +population of each formation, in so far as +brachiopods, cephalopods, and trilobites are +concerned, with reference to the following +questions: (1) How many species are continued +from the previous formation unchanged? +(2) How many may be regarded as modifications +of previous species? (3) How many are +migrants from other regions where they have +been known to exist previously? (4) How +many are absolutely new species? These +questions are applied to each of fourteen successive +formations included in the Silurian of +Bohemia. The total number of species of +brachiopods in these formations is six hundred +and forty, giving an average of 45.71 to each, +and the results of accurate study of each +species in its characters, its varieties, its geographical +and geological range, are expressed +in the following short statement, which should +somewhat astonish those gentlemen who are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +so fond of asserting that derivation is "demonstrated" +by geological facts:</p> + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td class="tdl">1. Species continued unchanged</td><td class="tdr">28</td><td class="tdc">per cent.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">2. Species migrated from abroad</td><td class="tdr">7</td><td class="tdc">"</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">3. Species continued with modification</td><td class="tdr">0</td><td class="tdc">"</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl">4. New species without known ancestors</td><td class="tdr tdbb">65</td><td class="tdc tdbb">"</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdl"> </td><td class="tdc">100</td><td class="tdc">per cent.</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>He shows that the same or very similar proportions +hold with respect to the cephalopods +and trilobites, and, in fact, that the proportion +of species in the successive Silurian faunĉ +which can be attributed to descent with modification +is absolutely <i>nil</i>. He may well remark +that in the face of such facts the origin of +species is not explained by what he terms <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">les +élans poétiques de l'imagination</i>.</p> + +<p>The third part of Barrande's memoir, relating +to the comparison of the Silurian brachiopods +of Bohemia with those of other countries, +though of great scientific interest, and important +in extending the conclusions of his previous +chapters, does not so nearly concern our present +subject.</p> + +<p>I have thought it well to direct attention to +these memoirs of Barrande, because they form +a specimen of conscientious work with the +view of ascertaining if there is any basis in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +nature for the doctrine of spontaneous evolution +of species, and, I am sorry to say, a +striking contrast to the mixture of fact and +fancy on this subject which too often passes +current for science in England, America, and +Germany. Barrande's studies are also well +deserving the attention of our younger men of +science, as they have before them, more especially +in the widely-spread Palĉozoic formations +of America, an admirable field for similar work. +In an appendix to his first chapter Barrande +mentions that the three men who in their +respective countries are the highest authorities +on Palĉozoic brachiopods, Hall, Davidson, and +De Koninck, agree with him in the main in his +conclusions, and he refers to an able memoir +by D'Archiac in the same sense, on the cretaceous +brachiopods.</p> + +<p>It should be especially satisfactory to those +naturalists who, like the writer, had failed to +see in the palĉontological record any good +evidence for the production of species by +those simple and ready methods in vogue +with most evolutionists, to note the extension +of actual facts with respect to the geological +dates and precise conditions of the introduction +of new forms, and to find that these are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +more and more tending to prove the existence +of highly complex creative laws in connection +with the great plan of the Creator as carried +out in geological time. These new facts should +also warn the ordinary reader of the danger +of receiving without due caution those general +and often boastful assertions respecting these +great and intricate questions made by persons +not acquainted with their actual difficulty, or by +enthusiastic speculators disposed to overlook +everything not in accordance with their preconceived +ideas.</p> + +<p>It may be asked, Is there, then, no place in +the geological record even for theistic evolution? +This it would be rash to affirm. We +can only say that up to this time there is no +proof of it. If nature has followed this method, +she seems carefully to have concealed the +process. If such changes have occurred as to +evolve from a species, say of mollusk or coral, +belonging to one geological period some form +found in another period, and recognized as a +distinct species, we have to suppose that the +capacity for such change was in some way implanted +in the species on its creation, and ready +to be developed under favorable conditions or +in the lapse of time. For example, we may +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +suppose that a plant originating in the long arctic +summers of a warm period might, on migrating +southward into the alternations of day and +night, undergo material changes. A marine +animal long confined to a limited sea-basin +might, on being permitted to expand over a +wide submerged continent, be greatly modified +in its structure and habits. Up to a certain +point we know that such changes have occurred, +and Barrande himself has largely illustrated +them. As an example which I have myself +studied, I may refer to the common shells +known on our coasts as sand-clams (<i>Mya truncata +and Mya arenaria</i>). The former species, +in the cold waters of the Glacial Age, assumed +a short form which it still retains in the arctic +regions, and occasionally in the colder waters +of the more temperate regions, though there a +more elongated form prevails. Evidently the +two forms are interchangeable according to the +temperature of the water. Still, if we could +imagine a permanent refrigeration over all the +area occupied by the animal, the short form +only might survive, and might be supposed to +be a distinct species. This did not occur, however, +even in the Glacial Age, and is not likely +to occur. Further, the allied, though quite distinct, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +species <i>Mya arenaria</i> has lived with the +other through all the long duration of the Post-Pliocene +and modern periods, and, though having +its own range of varietal forms, has preserved +its distinctness. Cases of this kind are +obviously of the nature of varietal, not specific, +change.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, the whole of the facts and laws +above detailed point to a predetermined plan +and to an intelligent Creator, of whose laws +and modes of procedure we may learn much +by patient and careful study. This surely gives +a great additional interest to that marvellous +story of the earth which in these last days has +been revealed to us by the study of the rocks. +We may also infer that not one method only +but many have been employed in replenishing +the earth at first with living beings, and in adding +to these from time to time. To what extent +we may be able to understand these, time +and future discoveries will show. In the mean +time, we can only suggest such general theories +as those referred to in the first of these lectures, +but can affirm that Agnostic Evolution is +altogether abortive in its attempts to solve the +problem of the chain of life in geological time. +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_IV" id="LECTURE_IV"></a>LECTURE IV.<br /> + +<small>THE ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF MAN.</small></h2> + + +<p>Man, when regarded merely as an organism, +is closely related to the lower animals. +His body is constructed on the same +general plan with theirs. More especially, he +is near akin to the other members of the class +Mammalia. But we must not forget that even +as an animal man is somewhat widely separated +from his humbler relations (see Fig. 7). It is +easy to say that every bone, every muscle, every +convolution of his brain, has its counterpart in +the corresponding parts of an orang or a gorilla. +But, admitting this, it is also true that +every one of these parts is different, and that +the aggregate of all the differences mounts up +to an enormous sum-total, more especially in +relation to habits and to capacities for action. +Those remarkable homologies or likenesses +of plan which obtain in the animal kingdom +are very wonderful, and the study of them +greatly enlarges our conceptions of the unity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +of nature; but we must never forget that such +general agreements in plan cover the most profound +differences in detail and in adaptation +to use, and that, while they indicate a common +type, this may rather point to a unity of design +than to a mere accidental unity of descent.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 556px;"> +<img src="images/i_141.jpg" width="556" height="600" alt="Fig. 7." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 7.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Man and his "poor relation," the gorilla. (<i>After Huxley.</i>) The +head of the gorilla, with immense jaws and small brain-case, its huge +spines on the neck, its long arms, its elongated pelvis, and its hand-like +feet, with its incapacity to assume the erect position, indicate its +ordinal difference from man, and the necessity of many intermediate +forms, still unknown, to connect the two species.</p> + +<p>There is a method, well known to natural +science, for measuring and indicating the divergence +of man from his nearest allies. This +is the application of those principles of classification +which, though of essential importance in +science, are by some modern students of nature +strangely overlooked or misunderstood. Perhaps +in nothing has the progress of ideas of +evolution made a more injurious impress on +the advance of knowledge than in the manner +in which it has caused many eminent and able +naturalists to diverge from all logical propriety +in their ideas of classification. Still, in so far +as man is concerned, there are some facts of +this kind which are indisputable. He certainly +constitutes a distinct species, including many +races, which all, however, have common specific +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +characters. On the other hand, no one pretends +that he is <i>conspecific</i> with any lower animal. +All naturalists would now deride the +stories, at one time current, that gorillas and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +chimpanzees are degraded races of men. On +the other hand, even Haeckel admits that there +is a wide gap, unfilled by any recent or any fossil +creature, between man and the highest apes. +Again, no <i>generic</i> relationship can be claimed +as between man and the lower animals. He +presents such structural differences as entitle +him to rank by himself in the genus <i>Homo</i>. +Still further, the ablest naturalists, before the +rise of Darwinism, held that man was entitled +to be placed in a separate family or order from +the apes. Modern evolutionists prefer to fall +back on the old arrangement of Linnĉus, and +to place man and apes together in the group +of Primates, which, however, Linnĉus would +not have regarded as precisely of the same +value with an order as now held. In this those +of them who have sufficient ability to comprehend +the facts of the case are undoubtedly +warped in judgment by the tendency of their +philosophy to magnify resemblances and to +minimize differences; while the herd of feebler +men have their ideas of classification thoroughly +confused by the doctrine which they have +received as a creed dictated by authority, and +to which they adhere under the influence of +fear. In point of fact, the differences between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +man and any other animal are so wide that they +warrant a distinction, not merely specific and +generic, but of a family and an ordinal character.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the best way to appreciate this will +be to suppose that man has become extinct, +and that in some future geological period his +fossil remains are studied by some new race of +intelligent beings, and compared with those of +the lower animals his contemporaries. Let us +suppose that they have disinterred a human +skull or the bones of a human foot. From the +foot they would learn that man is not an arboreal +animal, but intended to walk erect on the +ground. They could infer from this certain +structures and uses of the vertebral column +and of the anterior limbs different from those +found in apes, and which would certainly induce +them to conclude that they had obtained remains +indicating a new order of mammals. If +they had found the foot alone, they might doubt +whether the possessor of this strange and highly-specialized +organ had been carnivorous or +herbivorous, more nearly allied to the bears or +to the monkeys. Should they now find the +skull, these doubts would be solved, and they +would know that the new animal was somewhat +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +nearer to the apes than to the bears, but +still at a very remote distance from them, and +this indicated by peculiarities of brain-case, jaws, +and teeth, proving divergences in function still +wider than those apparent in the structures. +They would also plainly perceive that to link +man with his nearest mammalian allies would +require the discovery of several missing links.</p> + +<p>When we consider the psychological endowments +of man, his divergence from lower +animals becomes immensely greater. In his +external senses and in the perceptions derived +through them it is true he resembles the brutes. +There is also much in common with them in +his appetites and emotions, and in some of the +lower manifestations of intelligence. But he +adds to this a higher reason, which causes his +actions to be differently determined from theirs; +and this higher reason, or spiritual nature, leads +him to abstract ideas, to consciousness, to +notions of right and of wrong, to ideas of +higher spiritual beings and of futurity altogether +unknown to lower animals. This divine +reason, in connection with special vocal contrivances, +also bestows on him the gift of +speech. Nor can speech be reduced to a +mere imitation of natural sounds; for, granting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +that these sounds may be the raw material +of speech, yet man is enabled to apply this to +the expression of ideas in a manner altogether +peculiar to himself. Scientific precision obliges +us to recognize these differences, and to admit +that they place man on an entirely different +plane from the lower animals.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the expression "a different plane" +is scarcely correct, for man can exist on many +different planes—a fact which has produced +some confusion in the minds of naturalists +not versed in psychological questions, though, +when rightly considered, it marks very strongly +the distinction between the man and the mere +animal.</p> + +<p>The lower animals are tied up by invariable +instincts to certain lines of action which keep +all the individuals of any species on nearly the +same level, except where some little disturbance +may be caused by man in his processes +of domestication. But with man it is quite +different. He is emancipated from the bond +of instinct, and left free to follow the guidance +of his own will, determined by his own reason. +It follows that the habits and the actions of +a man depend on what he knows and believes, +and on the deductions of his reason from these +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +premises. Without knowledge, culture, and +training, man is more helpless than any brute. +With the noblest and highest capacities, he +may devise and follow habits of life more base +than those of any mere animal. Thus there +is an almost immeasurable difference between +the Godlike height to which man can attain by +the right use of his powers and the depth to +which ignorance and depravity may degrade +him. It follows that the degradation of the +lower races of men is as strong a proof of +the difference between man and the lower +animals as is the elevation of the higher races. +Both are characteristic of a being emancipated +from the control of instinct, knowing good and +evil, free to choose, and differing in these +respects from every other creature on earth. +Such is man as we find him; and we may +well ask by what process animal instinct could +ever spontaneously develop human freedom and +human reason.</p> + +<p>But we might have evidence of such a process, +however strange and improbable it might +at first sight appear. We might be able to +trace man back in history or by prehistoric +remains to greater and greater approximation +to the lower animals, and might thus bridge +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +over the great chasm now existing between +man and beast. It may be instructive, therefore, +to glance at what geology discloses as to +the origin of man and his first appearance on +the earth.</p> + +<p>In the older geological formations no remains +of man or of his works have been found. Nor +do we expect to find them, for none of the +animals more nearly related to man then existed, +and the condition of the earth was probably +not suited to them. Nor do we find human +remains even in the earlier Tertiary. Here +also we do not expect them, for the Mammalia +of those times were all specifically distinct from +those of the modern world. It is only in the +Pliocene period that we begin to find modern +species of mammals. Here, therefore, we may +look for human remains; but we do not find +them as yet, and it is only at the close of the +Pliocene, or even after the succeeding Glacial +period, that we find undoubted traces of man. +Let us glance at the significance of this.</p> + +<p>Mammalian life probably culminated or attained +to its maximum in the Miocene and the +early Pliocene periods. Then there were more +numerous, larger, and better-developed quadrupeds +on our continents than we now find. For +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +example, the elephants, the noblest of the +mammals, are at present represented by two +species confined to India and parts of +Africa.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +In the Middle Tertiary there were, in addition +to the ordinary elephants, two other genera, +Mastodon and Dinotherium, and there were +many species which were distributed over the +whole northern hemisphere. The sub-Himalayan +deposits of India alone have, I believe, +afforded seven species, some of them of +grander dimensions than either of those now +existing. We have no trustworthy evidence +as yet that man lived at this period. If he had, +he either would have required the protection +of a special Eden, or would have needed superhuman +strength and sagacity.</p> + +<p>But the grand mammalian life of the Middle +Tertiary was destined to die out. At the close +of the Pliocene came an age of refrigeration, +when arctic cold crept down over our continents +far to the south, and when most of the +animals suited to temperate climates were +either frozen out or driven southward. During, +or closing, this period was also a great submergence +of the continents, which must have +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +been equally destructive to mammalian life, +and which extended over both Eurasia and +America till the summits of some of the highest +hills were under water. Attempts have +been made to show that man existed before +or during the Glacial Age, but this is very +unlikely, and, as I have elsewhere argued, the +evidence adduced to prove so great antiquity +of man, whether in America or Europe, has +altogether broken down.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>At the close of the Glacial period the continents +re-emerged and became more extensive +than at present. Survivors of the Pliocene +species, as well as other species not previously +known, spread themselves over this new land. +It would appear that it was in this "Post-Glacial" +period that man made his appearance, +and that he was then contemporary with +many large animals now extinct, and was the +possessor of wider continental areas than his +descendants now enjoy. To this age belong +those human bones and implements found in +the older cave and gravel deposits of Europe, +and which are referred to those palĉolithic or +palĉocosmic ages which preceded the dawn of +history in Europe and the arrival therein of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +the present European races. The occupation +of Europe, and probably of Western Asia, by +these oldest tribes of men was closed by a +subsidence or submergence at the end of that +"second continental period," as it has been +called by Lyell,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +in which they lived. When +the land was restored to its present condition, +they were replaced by the ancestors of the +present European races.</p> + +<p>It may be well here to tabulate that later portion +of the earth's geological history in which +man appeared, more especially as it is sometimes +arranged in a manner not suited to convey +a correct impression of the actual succession. +It will be seen by the general table given +in the last lecture that the latest of the Tertiary +ages is that known as the Pleistocene or Post-Pliocene, +and this, with the succeeding modern +period, may be best arranged as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>I. <span class="smcap">Pleistocene</span>, including—</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>Early Pleistocene</i>, or First Continental Period. Land very +extensive, moderate climate.</p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) <i>Later Pleistocene</i>, or Glacial (including Dawkins' "Mid-Pleistocene"). +In this there was a great prevalence of cold and +glacial conditions, and a great submergence of the northern land.</p> + +<p>II. <span class="smcap">Modern</span>, or Period of Man and Modern Mammals, including—</p> + +<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>Post-Glacial</i>, or Second Continental Period, in which the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +land was again very extensive, and palĉocosmic man was contemporary +with some great mammals—as the mammoth, now +extinct—and the area of land in the northern hemisphere was +greater than at present. (This represents the Late Pleistocene of +Dawkins.) It was terminated by a great and very general subsidence, +accompanied by the disappearance of palĉocosmic man +and some large Mammalia, and which may be identical with the +historical deluge.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>(<i>b</i>) <i>Recent</i>, when the continents attained their present levels, +existing races of men colonized Europe, and living species of +mammals. This includes both the Prehistoric and the Historic +Period.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The palĉocosmic men of the above table are +the oldest certainly known to us, and it has been +truly said of them that they are so closely related +to modern races that, on any hypothesis +of gradual evolution, we must look for the +transition from apes to men not merely in the +Eocene Tertiary, but even in the Mesozoic—that +is, in formations vastly older than any containing +any remains so far as known either of man or +of apes. That these most ancient men were in +truth most truly human, and that they presented +no transition to lower animals, will appear from +the following notices, which I condense from a +work of my own in which these subjects are +more fully treated:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> +<p>The beautiful work of Lartet and Christy +has vividly portrayed to us the antiquities of +the limestone plateau of the Dordogne—the +ancient Aquitania—remains which recall to us +a population of Horites, or cave-dwellers, of a +time anterior to the dawn of history in France, +living much like the modern hunter-tribes of +America, and, as already stated, possibly contemporary—in +their early history, at least—with +the mammoth and its extinct companions +of the later Post-Pliocene forests. We have already +noticed the arts and implements of these +people, but what manner of people were they +in themselves? The answer is given to us by +the skeletons found in the cave of Cro-magnon. +This cavern is a shelter or hollow under +an overhanging ledge of limestone, and excavated +originally by the action of the weather +on a softer bed. It fronts the south-west and +the little river Vezère; and, having originally +been about eight feet high and nearly twenty +deep, must have formed a cosey shelter from +rain or cold or summer sun, and with a pleasant +outlook from its front. All rude races have +much sagacity in making selections of this sort. +Being nearly fifty feet wide, it was capacious +enough to accommodate several families, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +when in use it no doubt had trees or shrubs in +front, and may have been further completed by +stones, poles, or bark placed across the opening. +It seems, however, in the first instance to +have been used only at intervals, and to have +been left vacant for considerable portions of +time. Perhaps it was visited only by hunting- +or war-parties. But subsequently it was permanently +occupied, and this for so long a time +that in some places ashes and carbonaceous +matter a foot and a half deep, with bones, implements, +etc., were accumulated. By this time +the height of the cavern had been much diminished, +and, instead of clearing it out for future +use, it was made a place of burial, in which four +or five individuals were interred. Of these, +two were men, one of great age, the other +probably in the prime of life. A third was a +woman of about thirty or forty years of age. +The other remains were too fragmentary to +give very certain results.</p> + +<p>These bones, with others to be mentioned +in connection with them, unquestionably belong +to the oldest human inhabitants known in Western +Europe. They have been most carefully examined +by several competent anatomists and +archĉologists, and the results have been published +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +with excellent figures in the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Reliquiĉ +Aquitanicĉ</i>. They are, therefore, of the utmost +interest for our present purpose, and I +shall try so to divest the descriptions of anatomical +details as to give a clear notion of their +character. The 'Old Man of Cro-magnon' +was of great stature, being nearly six feet +high. More than this, his bones show that he +was of the strongest and most athletic muscular +development—a Samson in strength; and +the bones of the limbs have the peculiar form +which is characteristic of athletic men habituated +to rough walking, climbing, and running, +for this is, I believe, the real meaning of the +enormous strength of the thigh-bone and the +flattened condition of the leg in this and other +old skeletons. It occurs to some extent, though +much less than in this old man, in American +skeletons. His skull presents all the characters +of advanced age, though the teeth had +been worn down to the sockets without being +lost; which, again, is the character of some, +though not of all, aged Indian skulls. The +skull proper, or brain-case, is very long—more +so than in ordinary modern skulls—and this +length is accompanied with a great breadth; +so that the brain was of greater size than in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +average modern men, and the frontal region +was largely and well developed. In this respect +this most ancient skull fails utterly to vindicate +the expectations of those who would regard +prehistoric men as approaching to the apes. +It is at the opposite extreme. The face, however, +presented very peculiar characters. It +was extremely broad, with projecting cheek-bones +and heavy jaw, in this resembling the +coarse types of the American face, and the +eye-orbits were square and elongated laterally. +The nose was large and prominent, and the +jaws projected somewhat forward. This man, +therefore, had, as to his features, some resemblance +to the harsher type of American physiognomy, +with overhanging brows, small and +transverse eyes, high cheek-bones, and coarse +mouth. He had not lived to so great an age +without some rubs, for his thigh-bone showed a +depression which must have resulted from a +severe wound—perhaps from the horn of some +wild animal or the spear of an enemy.</p> + +<p>The woman presented similar characters of +stature and cranial form modified by her sex, +and must in form and visage have been a veritable +squaw, who, if her hair and complexion +were suitable, would have passed at once for an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +American Indian woman, of unusual size and +development. Her head bears sad testimony to +the violence of her age and people. She died +from the effects of a blow from a stone-headed +pogamogan or spear, which has penetrated the +right side of the forehead with so clean a fracture +as to indicate the extreme rapidity and +force of its blow. It is inferred from the condition +of the edges of this wound that she may +have survived its infliction for two weeks or +more. If, as is most likely, the wound was received +in some sudden attack by a hostile tribe, +they must have been driven off or have retired, +leaving the wounded woman in the hands of her +friends to be tended for a time, and then buried, +either with other members of her family or with +others who had perished in the same skirmish. +Unless the wound was inflicted in sleep, during +a night-attack, she must have fallen, not in +flight, but with her face to the foe, perhaps +aiding the resistance of her friends or shielding +her little ones from destruction. With the people +of Cro-magnon, as with the American Indians, +the care of the wounded was probably a +sacred duty, not to be neglected without incurring +the greatest disgrace and the vengeance +of the guardian spirits of the sufferers. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p> + +<p>The skulls of these people have been compared +to those of the modern Esthonians or +Lithuanians; but on the authority of M. Quatrefages +it is stated that, while this applies to +the probably later race of small men found in +some of the Belgian caves, it does not apply so +well to the people of Cro-magnon. Are, then, +these people the types of any ancient, or of the +most ancient, European race? One answer is +given by the remarkable skeleton of Mentone, +in the South of France, found under circumstances +equally suggestive of great antiquity +(Figure 8). Dr. Rivière, in a memoir on this +skeleton illustrated by two beautiful photographs, +shows that the characters of the skull +and of the bones of the limbs are precisely +similar to those of the Cro-magnon skeleton, +indicating a perfect identity of race, while the +objects found with the skeleton are similar in +character.</p> + +<p>The ornaments of Cro-magnon were perforated +shells from the Atlantic and pieces of +ivory. Those at Mentone were perforated Neritinĉ +from the Mediterranean and canine-teeth +of the deer. In both cases there was evidence +that these ancient people painted themselves +with red oxide of iron; and, as if to complete +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +the similarity, the Mentone man had an old +healed-up fracture of the radius of the left arm, +the effect of a violent blow or of a fall. Skulls +found at Clichy and Grenelle in 1868 and 1869 +are described by Professor Broca and Mr. Fleurens +as of the same general type, and the remains +found at Gibraltar and in the cave of +Paviland, in England, seem also to have belonged +to the same race. The celebrated Engis +skull, believed to have belonged to a contemporary +of the mammoth, is also precisely of +the same type, though less massive than that of +Cro-magnon; and, lastly, even the somewhat +degraded Neanderthal skull, found in a cave +near Dusseldorf, though, like that of Clichy, inferior +in frontal development, is referable to the +same peculiar long-headed style of man, in so +far as can be judged from the portion that remains.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 495px;"> +<img src="images/i_159.jpg" width="495" height="600" alt="Fig. 8." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 8.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Portion of the skeleton of the fossil man of Mentone. This skeleton +was discovered by Dr. Rivière under about twenty feet of accumulated +débris. It belongs to the palĉocosmic age, and illustrates the high +type, physically, of the man of that period. The skeleton, like others +of that age, indicates a man of great stature and muscular vigor, and +with brain above the average size. (<i>After Rivière.</i>)</p> + +<p>Let it be observed, then, that these skulls +are probably the oldest known in the world, +and they are all referable to one race of men; +and let us ask what they tell as to the position +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +and character of palĉolithic man. The testimony +is here fortunately wellnigh unanimous. +Huxley, who well compares some of the peculiar +features of these ancient skulls and skeletons +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +to those of Australians and other rude +tribes, and of the ancient Danes of Borroby—a +people not improbably allied to the Esthonians +and Fins—remarks that the manner in +which the individual heads of the most homogeneous +rude races differ from each other "in the +same characters, though perhaps not to the same +extent with the Engis and Neanderthal skulls, +seems to prohibit any cautious reasoner from +affirming the latter to have necessarily been of +distinct races." My own experience in American +skulls, and the still larger experience of Dr. +Wilson, fully confirm the wisdom of this caution.... +He adds: "Finally, the comparatively large +cranial capacity of the Neanderthal skull, overlaid +though it may be by pithecoid, bony walls, +and the completely human proportions of the accompanying +limb-bones, together with the very +fair development of the Engis skull, clearly indicate +that the first traces of the primordial +stock whence man has been derived need no +longer be sought by those who entertain any +form of the doctrine of progressive development +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +in the newest Tertiaries, but that they may +be looked for in an epoch more distant from +that of the <i>Elephas primigenius</i> than that is +from us." If he had possessed the Cro-magnon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +and Mentone skulls at the time when this was +written, he might well have said immeasurably +distant from the time of the <i>Elephas primigenius</i>. +Professor Broca, who seems by no means +disinclined to favor a simian origin for men, +has the following general conclusions, which +refer to the Cro-magnon skulls: "The great volume +of the brain, the development of the frontal +region, the fine elliptical profile of the anterior +portion of the skull, and the orthognathous +form of the upper facial region, are incontestably +evidence of superiority which are met +with usually only in the civilized races. On the +other hand, the great breadth of face, the alveolar +prognathism, the enormous development +of the ascending ramus of the lower jaw, the +extent and roughness of the muscular insertions, +especially of the masticatory muscles, +give rise to the idea of a violent and brutal +race."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_161.jpg" width="600" height="229" alt="Fig. 9." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 9.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Three bone harpoons. The upper is from Kent's Cavern, Torquay, and +perhaps the oldest known, being of the mammoth age. The second is from +Denmark, and is neocosmic, though prehistoric. The third is modern, +from Tierra del Fuego. They show the similarity of bone implements in +all ages of the world. The earliest had already attained as much +perfection as the material permitted with reference to the use +intended.</p> + +<p>He adds that this apparent antithesis, seen +also in the limbs as well as in the skull, accords +with the evidence furnished by the associated +weapons and implements of a rude hunter-life, +and at the same time of no mean degree +of taste and skill in carving and other arts +(see Fig. 9). He might have added that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +this is precisely the antithesis seen in the +American tribes, among whom art and taste +of various kinds, and much that is high and +spiritual even in thought, coexisted with barbarous +modes of life and intense ferocity and +cruelty. The god and the devil were combined +in these races, but there was nothing +of the mere brute.</p> + +<p>Rivière remarks, with expressions of surprise, +the same contradictory points in the +Mentone skeleton. Its grand development +of brain-case and high facial angle—even +higher, apparently, than in most of these +ancient skulls—combined with other characters +which indicate a low type and barbarous +modes of life.</p> + +<p>Another point which strikes us in reading +the descriptions, and which deserves the attention +of those who have access to the skeletons, +is the indication which they seem to present +of an extreme longevity. The massive proportions +of the body, the great development +of the muscular processes, the extreme wearing +of the teeth among a people who predominantly +lived on flesh and not on grain, +the obliteration of the sutures of the skull, +along with indications of slow ossification of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +the ends of the long bones, point in this direction, +and seem to indicate a slow maturity and +great length of life in this most primitive race.</p> + +<p>The picture would be incomplete did we +not add that in France and Belgium, in the +immediately succeeding or reindeer age, these +gigantic and magnificent men seem to have +been superseded by a feebler race of smaller +stature and with shorter heads; so that we +have, even in these oldest days, the same contrasts +so plainly perceptible in the races of the +North of Europe and the North of America in +historical times (Figure 10).</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_165.jpg" width="600" height="343" alt="Fig. 10." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 10.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Section of the cave of Frontal, in Belgium. (<i>After Dupont.</i>) <i>a</i>, +limestone; <i>b</i>, deposit of mud of the mammoth age, on which rests a +bed of gravel, <i>c</i>, and above this there was, in modern times, a mass of +fallen débris, <i>d</i>, up to the dotted line. On removing this, a hearth was +found at <i>e</i>, on which were numerous bones of modern animals, the +remains of funeral feasts. The cave was closed with a flat stone, and +within were skeletons, stone implements, ornaments, and pottery of the +"neolithic" age. Under these was undisturbed earth of the palĉolithic, +or mammoth age. The facts show the succession, in Belgium, +of palĉocosmic or antediluvian men and of neocosmic men allied to +the Basques or to the Laps, and all this previous to the advent of the +modern races.</p> + +<p>It is further significant that there are some +indications to show that the larger and nobler +race was that which inhabited Europe at the +time of its greatest elevation above the sea +and greatest horizontal extent, and when its +fauna included many large quadrupeds now +extinct. This race of giants was thus in the +possession of a greater continental area than +that now existing, and had to contend with +gigantic brute rivals for the possession of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +world. It is also not improbable that this +early race became extinct in Europe in consequence +of the physical changes which occurred +in connection with the subsidence which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +reduced the land to its present limits, and that +the dwarfish race which succeeded came in as +the appropriate accompaniment of a diminished +land-surface and a less genial climate in the +early modern period. Both of these races +are properly palĉolithic, and are supposed to +antedate the period of polished stone; but +this may, to a great extent, be a prejudice of +collectors, who have arrived at a foregone +conclusion as to the distinctness of these +periods (Figure 11). Judging from the great +cranial capacity of the older race and the small +number of their skeletons found, it would be +fair to suppose that they represent rude outlying +tribes belonging to races which elsewhere +had attained to greater culture.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_167.jpg" width="600" height="302" alt="Fig. 11." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 11.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Flint arrow-heads found together in a modern Indian deposit in +Canada, and showing the coincidence in time of rude and finished +flint weapons, or that among all savages using chipped flint, the palĉolithic +and neolithic ages are contemporaneous.</p> + +<p>Lastly, both of these old European races +were Turanian, Mongolian, or American in +their head-forms and features, as well as in +their habits, implements, and arts. To illustrate +this, in so far as the older of the two races is +concerned, I have carefully compared collections +of American Indian skulls with casts +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +and figures representing the form and dimensions +of some of the oldest European +crania above referred to. Some of the +American skulls may fairly be compared +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +in their characters with the Mentone skull, +and others with those of Cro-magnon, Engis, +and Neanderthal; and so like are some +of the Huron, Iroquois, and other northern +American skulls to these ancient European +relics and others of their type, that it would +be difficult to affirm that they might not have +belonged to near relatives. On the other +hand, the smaller and shorter heads of the +race of the reindeer age in Europe may be +compared with the Laps, and with some of the +more delicately formed Algonquin and Chippewayan +skulls in America. If, therefore, the +reader desires to realize the probable aspect +of the men of Cro-magnon, of Mentone, or +of Engis, I may refer him to modern +American heads. So permanent is this great +Turanian race, out of which all the other +races now extant seem to have been developed, +in the milder and more hospitable regions of +the Old World, while in northern Asia and in +America it has retained to this day its primitive +characters.</p> + +<p>The reader, reflecting on what he has +learned from history, may be disposed here +to ask, Must we suppose Adam to have been +one of these Turanian men, like old men of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +Cro-magnon? In answer, I would say that +there is no good reason to regard the first +man as having resembled a Greek Apollo or +an Adonis. He was probably of sterner and +more muscular mould. But the gigantic palĉolithic +men of the European caves are more +probably representatives of that fearful and +powerful race who filled the antediluvian world +with violence, and who reappear in postdiluvian +times as the Anakim and traditional giants, who +constitute a feature in the early history of so +many countries. Perhaps nothing is more +curious in the revelations as to the most +ancient cave-men than that they confirm the +old belief that there were 'giants in those +days.'</p> + +<p>And now let us pause for a moment to +picture these so-called palĉolithic men. What +could the old man of Cro-magnon have told +us had we been able to sit by his hearth and +listen understandingly to his speech?—which, +if we may judge from the form of his palate-bones, +must have resembled more that of the +Americans or Mongolians than of any modern +European people. He had, no doubt, travelled +far, for to his stalwart limbs a long journey +through forests and over plains and mountains +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +would be a mere pastime. He may have +bestridden the wild horse, which seems to +have abounded at the time in France, and +he may have launched his canoe on the waters +of the Atlantic. His experience and memory +might extend back a century or more, and his +traditional lore might go back to the times of +the first mother of our race. Did he live in +that wide Post-Pliocene continent which extended +westward through Ireland? Did he +know and had he visited the nations that lived +in the valley of the great Gihon, that ran down +the Mediterranean Valley, or on that nameless +river which flowed through the Dover Straits? +Had he visited or seen from afar the great +island Atlantis, whose inhabitants could almost +see in the sunset sky the islands of the blest? +Or did he live at a later time, after the Post-Pliocene +subsidence, and when the land had +assumed its present form? In that case he +could have told us of the great deluge, of the +huge animals of the antediluvian World—known +to him only by tradition—and of the diminished +strength and longevity of men in his comparatively +modern days. We can but conjecture +all this. But, mute though they may be as to +the details of their lives, the man of Cro-magnon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +and his contemporaries are eloquent +of one great truth, in which they coincide with +the Americans and with the primitive men of +all the early ages. They tell us that primitive +man had the same high cerebral organization +which he possesses now, and, we may infer, +the same high intellectual and moral nature, +fitting him for communion with God and headship +over the lower world. They indicate, +also, like the Mound-builders, who preceded +the North American Indian, that man's earlier +state was the best—that he had been a high +and noble creature before he became a savage. +It is not conceivable that their high development +of brain and mind could have spontaneously +engrafted itself on a mere brutal and +savage life. These gifts must be remnants +of a noble organization degraded by moral +evil. They thus justify the tradition of a +Golden and Edenic Age, and mutely protest +against the philosophy of progressive development +as applied to man, while they bear witness +to the identity in all important characters +of the oldest prehistoric men with that variety +of our species which is at the present day at +once the most widely extended and the most +primitive in its manners and usages. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus it would appear that these earliest +known men are not specifically distinct from +ourselves, but are a distinct race, most nearly +allied to that great Turanian stock which is at +the present day, and has apparently from the +earliest historic times been, the most widely +spread of all. Though rude and uncultured, +they were not either physically or mentally +inferior to the average men of to-day, and +were indeed in several respects men of high +type, whose great cranial capacity might lead +us to suppose that their ancestors had recently +been in a higher state of civilization than themselves. +It is, however, possible that this characteristic +was rather connected with great +energy and physical development than with +high mental activity.</p> + +<p>To the hypothesis of evolution, as applied +to man, these facts evidently oppose great +difficulties. They show that such modern +degraded races as the Fuegians or the Tasmanians +cannot present to us the types of our +earlier ancestors, since the latter were men +of a different and higher style. Nor do +these oldest known men present any approximation +in physical characters to the lower +animals. Further, we may infer from their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +works, and from what we know of their beliefs +and habits, that they were not creatures of +instinct, but of thought like ourselves, and +that materialistic doctrines of automatism and +brain-force without mind would be quite as +absurd in their application to them as to their +modern representatives.</p> + +<p>It is not too much to say that, in presence +of these facts, the spontaneous origin of man +from inferior animals cannot be held as a +scientific conclusion. It may be an article +of faith in authority, or a superstition or an +hypothesis, but is in no respect a result of +scientific investigation into the fossil remains +of man. But if man is not such a product +of spontaneous evolution, he must have been +created by a Being having a higher reason +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +and a greater power than his own; and the +ancestry of the agnostic, and the rational +powers which he exercises, constitute the best +refutation of his own doctrine. +</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_V" id="LECTURE_V"></a>LECTURE V.<br /> + +<small>NATURE AS A MANIFESTATION OF MIND.</small></h2> + + +<p>The subjects already discussed should +have prepared us to regard nature as +not a merely fortuitous congeries of matter +and forces, but as embodying plan, design, +and contrivance; and we may now inquire +as to the character of these, considered as +possible manifestations of mind in nature. +The idea that nature is a manifestation of mind, +is ancient, and probably universal. It proceeds +naturally from the analogy between the operations +of nature and those which originate in +our own will and contrivance. When men +begin to think more accurately, this idea acquires +a deeper foundation in the conclusion +that nature, in all its varied manifestations, is +one vast machine too great and complex for +us to comprehend, and implying a primary +energy infinitely beyond that of man; and +thus the unity of nature points to one Creative +Mind. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> + +<p>Even to savage peoples, in whose minds the +idea of unity has not germinated, or from +whose traditions it has been lost, a spiritual +essence appears to underlie all natural phenomena, +though they may regard this as consisting +of a separate spirit or manitou for +every material thing. In all the more cultivated +races the ideas of natural religion have +taken more definite forms in their theology +and philosophy. Dugald Stewart has well expressed +the more scientific form of this idea +in two short statements:</p> + +<p>"1. Every effect implies a cause.</p> + +<p>"2. Every combination of means to an end +implies intelligence."</p> + +<p>The theistic aspect of the doctrine had, as +we have seen in a previous lecture, been +already admirably expressed by Paul in his +Epistle to the Romans. Writing of what +every heathen must know of mind in nature, +he says: "The invisible things of him since +the creation of the world are clearly seen, +being perceived through the things that are +made, even his eternal power and divinity." +The two things which, according to him, every +intelligent man must perceive in nature are, +first, power above and beyond that of man, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +and, secondly, superhuman intelligence. Even +Agnostic Evolution cannot wholly divest itself +of the idea of mind in nature. Its advocates +continually use terms implying contrivance +and plan when speaking of nature; and +Spencer appears explicitly to admit that we +cannot divest ourselves of the notion of a +First Cause. Even those writers who seek +to shelter themselves under such vague and +unmeaning statements as that human intelligence +must be potentially present in atoms +or in the solar energy, are merely attributing +superhuman power and divinity to atoms and +forces.</p> + +<p>Nor can they escape by the magisterial denunciation +of such ideas as "anthropomorphic" +fancies. All science must in this sense be anthropomorphic, +for it consists of what nature +appears to us to be when viewed through the +medium of our senses, and of what we think +of nature as so presented to us. The only +difference is this—that if Agnostic Evolution +is true, Science itself only represents a certain +stage of the development, and can have no +actual or permanent truth; while, if the theistic +view is correct, then the fact that man himself +belongs to the unity of nature and is in harmony +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +with its other parts gives us some guarantee +for the absolute truth of scientific facts and +principles.</p> + +<p>We may now consider more in detail some +of the aspects under which mind presents itself +in nature.</p> + +<p>1. It may be maintained that nature is an +exhibition of regulated and determined power. +The first impression of nature presented to +a mind uninitiated in its mysteries is that it is +a mere conflict of opposing forces; but so +soon as we study any natural phenomena in +detail, we see that this is an error, and that +everything is balanced in the nicest way by +the most subtle interactions of matter and +force. We find also that, while forces are +mutually convertible and atoms susceptible +of vast varieties of arrangement, all this is +determined by fixed law and carried out with +invariable regularity and constancy.</p> + +<p>The vapor of water, for example, diffused +in the atmosphere, is condensed by extreme +cold and falls to the ground in snowflakes. In +these, particles of water previously kept asunder +by heat are united by cohesive force; and +the heat has gone on other missions. But +these particles do not merely unite: they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +geometrize. Like well-drilled soldiers arranging +themselves in ranks, they form themselves, +according to regular axes of attraction, in +lines diverging at an angle of sixty degrees; +and thus the snowflakes are hexagonal plates +and six-rayed stars, the latter often growing +into very complex shapes, but all based on the +law of attraction under angles of sixty degrees +(see Fig. 12). The frost on the window-panes +observes the same law, and so does every +crystallization of water where it has scope to +arrange itself in accordance with its own +geometry. But this law of crystallization gives +to snow and ice their mechanical properties, +and is connected with a multitude of adjustments +of water in the solid state to its place +in nature. The same law, varied in a vast +number of ways in every distinct substance, +builds up crystals of all kinds and crystalline +rocks, and is connected with countless adaptations +of different kinds of matter to mechanical +and chemical uses in the arts. It is easy to see +that all this might have been otherwise—nay, +that it must have been otherwise—but for the +institution of many and complex laws.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_183.jpg" width="600" height="397" alt="Fig. 12." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 12.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Snowflakes copied from nature under the microscope, and serving to +illustrate the geometrical arrangement of molecules of water in +crystallizing. <i>a</i>, <i>b</i>, simple stars; <i>c</i>, <i>d</i>, hexagonal plates; <i>e</i>, +<i>f</i>, rays of large and complex star-shaped flakes. The law of +arrangement of the molecules is that of attraction in the lines of +three axes at angles of sixty degrees, and the varieties are produced +by differences in temperature and rate of supply of material.</p> + +<p>A lump of coal at first suggests little to excite +interest or imagination; but the student of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +its composition and microscopic structure finds +that it is an accumulation of vegetable matter +representing the action of the solar light on the +leaves of trees of the Palĉozoic Age. It thus +calls up images of these perished forests and +of the causes concerned in their production and +growth, and in the accumulation and preservation +of their buried remains. It further suggests +the many ways in which this solar energy, +so long sealed up, can be recalled to activity in +heat, gaslight, steam, and electric light, and how +remarkably these things have been related to +the wealth and the civilization of modern nations. +An able writer of the agnostic school, +in a popular lecture on coal, has his imagination +so stimulated by these thoughts that he apostrophizes +"Nature" as the cunning contriver who +stored up this buried sunlight by her strange +and mysterious alchemy, kept it quietly to herself +through all the long geological periods +when reptiles and brute mammals were lords +of creation, and through those centuries of barbarism +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +when savage men roamed over the productive +coal-districts in ignorance of their treasures, +and then revealed her long-hidden stores +of wealth and comfort to the admiring study of +science and civilization, and for the benefit of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +the millions belonging to densely-peopled and +progressive nations; It is plain that "Nature" +in such a connection represents either a poetical +fiction, a superstitious fancy, or an intelligent +Creative Mind. It is further evident that +such Creative Mind must be in harmony with +that of man, though vastly greater in its scope +and grasp in time and space.</p> + +<p>Even the numerical relations observed in +nature teach the same lesson. The leaves of +plants are not arranged at random, but in a +series of curiously-related spirals, differing in +different plants, but always the same in the +same species and regulated by definite laws. +Similar definiteness regulates the ramification of +plants, which depends primarily on the arrangement +of the leaves. The angle of ramification +of the veins of the leaf is settled for each +species of plant; so are the numbers of parts +in the flower and the angular arrangement of +these parts. It is the same in the animal kingdom, +such numbers as 5, 6, 8, 10 being selected +to determine the parts in particular animals and +portions of animals. Once settled, these numbers +are wonderfully permanent in geological +time. The first known land reptiles appear in +the Carboniferous period, and they have normally +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +five toes; these appear in the earliest +known species in the lowest beds of the Carboniferous. +Their predecessors, the fishes, had +numerous fin-rays; but when limbs for locomotion +on land were contrived, the number five was +adopted as the typical one. It still persists in +the five toes and fingers of man himself. From +these, as is well known, our decimal notation is +derived. It did not originate in any special fitness +of the number ten, but in the fact that men +began to reckon by counting their ten fingers. +Thus the decimal system of arithmetic, with all +that follows from it, was settled millions of years +ago, in the Carboniferous period, either by certain +low-browed and unintelligent batrachians +or by their Maker.</p> + +<p>2. Nature presents to us very remarkable +revelations of dissimilar and widely-separated +matters and forces. I have referred to the numerical +arrangement of the leaves of plants; +but the leaf itself, in its structure and functions, +is one of the most remarkable things in +nature. Composed of layers of loosely-placed +living cells with air-spaces between them; enclosed +above and below with a transparent +epidermis, the spaces between the cells communicating +with the atmosphere without by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +means of microscopic pores guarded by cunningly-contrived +valves opening or closing +according to the hygrometric state of the air; +connected with the stem of the plant by a +system of tubes strengthened with spiral fibres +within,—the structure of the leaf is, mechanically +considered, of extreme beauty and complexity. +But its living functions are still more +wonderful. Receiving the water from the soil +with such materials as it brings thence in solution, +and absorbing carbonic dioxide and ammonia +from the air, the living protoplasm of +the leaf-cells has the power of chemically changing +all these substances, and of producing from +them those complicated and otherwise inimitable +organic compounds of which the tissues of +the plant are built up. The force by which +this is done is that of the solar heat and light, +both admitted freely into the interior of the +leaf through the transparent epidermis, and +therein imprisoned, so as to constitute a powerful +storehouse of evaporation and chemical +energy. In this way all the materials available +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +for the maintenance of life, whether vegetable +or animal, are produced, and no other structure +than the living vegetable cell, as it exists in +the leaf, has the power to effect these miracles +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +of transmutation. Here, let it be observed, +we have the vegetable cell placed in relation +with the system of the plant, with the soil, with +the atmosphere and its waters, with the distant +sun itself and the properties of its emitted +energies. Let it further be observed that, on +the one hand, the chemistry involved in this is +of a character altogether different from that +which applies to inorganic matter, and, on the +other, the products derived from a very few +elements embrace all that vast variety of compounds +which we observe in plants and animals, +and which constitute the material of one of the +most complex of sciences—that of organic +chemistry. Finally, these complicated structures +were produced and all their relations +set up at a very early geological period. In so +far as we can judge from their remains and the +results effected, the leaves of the Palĉozoic +period were functionally as perfect as their +modern successors (see Figs. 13, 14). Of +course, the agnostic evolutionist may, if he +pleases, attribute all this to fortuitous interactions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +of the sun, the atmosphere, and the +earth, and may provide for what these fail to +explain by the assumption of potentialities +equivalent to the things produced. But the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +probability of such an hypothesis becomes +infinitely small when we consider the variety +and the diversity of things and forces which +must have conspired to produce the results +observed, and to maintain them so constantly, +and yet with so much difference in circumstances +and details. It is a relief to turn from +such bewildering and gratuitous suppositions +to the theory which supposes a designing +Creative Mind.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_187.jpg" width="600" height="384" alt="Fig. 13." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 13.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Section of the leaf of a Cycad, being one of the most ancient styles of +leaf of which the structure is known. <i>a</i>, upper epidermis; <i>b</i>, upper +layer of cells, with grains of chlorophyll; <i>c</i>, lower layer of cells, +with chlorophyll; <i>d</i>, lower epidermis; <i>e</i>, stomata, or breathing-pores, +with contractile cells for opening and closing.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 495px;"> +<img src="images/i_189.jpg" width="495" height="600" alt="Fig. 14." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 14.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Foliage from the coal-formation, showing some of the forms of +leaves instrumental in accumulating the carbon of our coal-beds, by +their action on the atmosphere under the influence of sunlight.</p> + +<p>From the boundless variety of illustrations +which the animal kingdom presents I may +select one—the contrivances by means of +which marine animals are enabled to float or +balance themselves in the waters. The <i>Pearly +Nautilus</i> (see Fig. 15) is one of the most familiar, +and also one of the most curious. Its +coiled shell is divided by partitions into air-chambers +so proportioned that the buoyancy +of the air is sufficient to counterpoise in sea-water +the weight of the animal. There are +also contrivances by which the density of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +contained air and of the body of the animal can +be so modified as slightly to disturb this equilibrium, +and to enable the creature to rise or +sink in the waters. It would be tedious to +describe, without adequate illustrations, all the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +machinery connected with these adjustments. +It is sufficient for our purpose to know that +they are provided in such a manner that the +animal is practically exempted from the operation +of the force of gravity. In the modern +seas these provisions are enjoyed by only a +few species of the genera <i>Nautilus</i> and <i>Spirula</i>; +but in former geological ages, more numerous, +as well as larger and more complex, forms +existed. Further, this contrivance is very old. +We find in the <i>Orthoceratites</i> and their allies of +the earliest Silurian formations these arrangements +in their full perfection, and in some +forms<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +even more complex than in later types.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 499px;"> +<img src="images/i_191.jpg" width="499" height="600" alt="Fig. 15." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 15.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Section of the Pearly Nautilus and its shell, showing that the animal +occupies only the outer chamber, the others being filled with air and +acting as a float whose buoyancy can be modified by the action of the +tube, or siphuncle, passing through the chambers.</p> + +<p>The peculiar contrivances observed in the +nautilus and its allies are possessed by no other +mollusks, but there is another group of somewhat +lower grade, that of the <i>Ianthinĉ</i>, or violet +snails, in which flotation is provided for in +another way (see Fig. 16). In these animals +the shell is perfectly simple, though light, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +the floating apparatus consists in a series of +horny air-vesicles attached to what is termed +the "foot" of the animal, and which are increased +in number to suit its increasing weight +as it grows in size. There are some reasons +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +to believe that this entirely different contrivance +is as old in geological time as the chambered +shell of the nautiloid animals. It was, indeed, +in all probability, more common and adapted to +larger animals in the Silurian period than at +present.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/i_193.jpg" width="600" height="228" alt="Fig. 16." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 16.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr"><i>Ianthina</i>, or Violet Snail, attached to a float composed of horny +hollow vesicles, to the under side of which its eggs are attached. When +hatched, each young animal develops a small float similar to that of +the parent.</p> + +<p>Another curious instance—not, so far as yet +known, existing at all in the modern world—is +that of the remarkable stalked star-fish described +by Professor Hall under the name +<i>Camerocrinus</i>, and whose remains are found +in the Upper Silurian rocks. The Crinoids, +or feather-stars, are well-known inhabitants of +the seas, in both ancient and modern times; but +previous to Professor Hall's discovery they +were known only as animals attached by flexible +stems to the sea-bottom or creeping slowly +by means of their radiating arms. It was not +suspected that any of them had committed +themselves to the mercy of the currents, suspended +from floats. It appears, however, that +this was actually realized in the Upper Silurian +period, when certain animals of this group developed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +a hollow calcareous vesicle forming a +balloon-shaped float, from which they could +hang suspended in the water and float freely +(see Fig. 17). So far as known, this remarkable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +contrivance was temporary, and probably +adapted to some peculiarities of the habits and +food of these animals occurring only in the +geological period in which they existed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 239px;"> +<img src="images/i_195.jpg" width="239" height="600" alt="Fig. 17." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 17.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr"><i>Camerocrinus</i>, reduced in size (as restored by Hall). This is a +crinoid, or feather-star, of the Upper Silurian period, floating by +means of a hollow balloon-shaped structure divided into chambers +and formed of calcareous plates.</p> + +<p>Examples of this sort of adjustment are found +in other types of animal life. In the beautiful +Portuguese man-of-war (<i>Physalia</i>) and its allies +flotation is provided for by membranous or cartilaginous +sacs or vesicles filled with air, and +which are the common support of numerous +individuals which hang from them (see Fig. 18). +In some allied creatures the buoyancy required +is secured by little vesicles filled with oil secreted +by the animals themselves.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> + +<p>In each of these cases we have a skilful adaptation +of means to ends. The float is so constructed +as to avail itself of the properties of +gases and liquids, and the apparatus is framed +on the most scientific principles and in the most +artistic manner. That this apparatus grows and +is not mechanically put together, and that in +each case the instincts and the habits of the +animal have been correlated with it, can scarcely +be held by the most obtuse intellect to invalidate +the evidence of intelligent design.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 417px;"> +<img src="images/i_197.jpg" width="417" height="600" alt="Fig. 18." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 18.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">The <i>Physalia</i>, or "Portuguese man-of-war" of the Atlantic, being a +colony of animals provided with long tentacles used as fishing-lines, +and hanging from a membranous float with a crest, or "sail," on the +top, and a pointed end which, being turned from side to side, serves +as a rudder.</p> + + +<p>3. Structures apparently the most simple, and +often heedlessly spoken of as if they involved +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +no complexity, prove, on examination, to be intricate +and complex almost beyond conception. +In nothing, perhaps, is this better seen than in +that much-abused protoplasm which has been +made to do duty for God in the origination of +life, but which is itself a most laboriously manufactured +material. Albumen, or white of egg—which +is otherwise named "protoplasm"—is +a very complicated substance both chemically +and in its molecular arrangements, and when +endowed with life it presents properties altogether +inscrutable. It is easy to say that the +protoplasm of an egg or of some humble animalcule +or microscopic embryo is little more +than a mass of structureless jelly; yet, in the +case of the embryo, a microscopic dot of this +apparently structureless jelly must contain all +the parts of the future animal, however complex; +but how we may never know, and certainly +cannot yet comprehend.</p> + +<p>There are minute animalcules belonging to +the group of flagellate Infusoria, some of which, +under ordinary microscopic powers, appear +merely as moving specks, and show their actual +structures only under powers of two thousand +diameters, or more; yet these animals can +be seen to have an outer skin and an inner +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +mass, to have pulsating sacs and reproductive +organs, and threadlike flagella wherewith to +swim. Their eggs are, of course, much smaller +than themselves—so much so that some of +them are probably invisible under the highest +powers yet employed. Each of them, however, +is potentially an animal, with all its parts represented +structurally in some way. Nor need +we wonder at this. It has been calculated that +a speck scarcely visible under the most powerful +microscope may contain two million four +hundred thousand molecules of +protoplasm.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +If each of these molecules were a brick, there +would be enough of them to build a terrace of +twenty-five good dwelling-houses. But this is +supposing them to be all alike; whereas we +know that the molecules of albumen are capable +of being of very various kinds. Each of +these molecules really contains eight hundred +and eighty-two ultimate atoms—namely, four +hundred of carbon, three hundred and ten of +hydrogen, one hundred and twenty of oxygen, +fifty of nitrogen, and two of sulphur and phosphorus. +Now, we know that these atoms may +be differently arranged in different molecules, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +producing considerable difference of properties. +Let us try, then, to calculate of how +many differences of arrangement the atoms of +one molecule of protoplasm are susceptible, +and then to calculate of how many changes +these different assemblages are capable in a +microscopic dot composed of two million four +hundred thousand of them. It is scarcely necessary +to say that such a calculation, in the multitudes +of possibilities involved, transcends human +powers of imagination; yet it answers questions +of mechanical and chemical grouping merely, +without any reference to the additional mystery +of life. Let it be observed that this vastly complex +material is assumed as if there were nothing +remarkable in it, by many of those theorists +who plausibly explain to us the spontaneous +origin of living things. But nature, in arranging +all the parts of a complicated animal beforehand +in an apparently structureless microscopic +ovum, has all these vast numbers to deal with +in working out the exact result; and this not in +one case merely, but in multitudes of cases involving +the most varied combinations. We can +scarcely suppose the atoms themselves to have +the power of thus unerringly marshalling themselves +to work out the structures of organisms +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +infinitely varied, yet all alike after their kinds. +If not, then "Nature" must be a goddess gifted +with superhuman powers of calculation and marvellous +deftness in arranging invisible atoms.</p> + +<p>4. The beauty of form, proportion, and coloring +that abounds in nature affords evidence of +mind. Herculean efforts have been made by +modern evolutionists to eliminate altogether +the idea of beauty from nature, by theories of +sexual selection and the like, and to persuade +us that beauty is merely utility in disguise, and +even then only an accidental coincidence between +our perceptions and certain external +things. But in no part of their argument +have they more signally failed in accounting +for the observed facts, and in no part have they +more seriously outraged the common sense +and natural taste of men. In point of fact, +we have here one of those great correlations +belonging to the unity of nature—that indissoluble +connection which has been established +between the senses and the ĉsthetic sentiments +of man and certain things in the external +world. But there is more in beauty than +this merely anthropological relation. Certain +forms, for example, adopted in the skeletons +of the lower animals are necessarily beautiful +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +because of their geometrical proportions. Certain +styles of coloring are necessarily beautiful +because of harmonies and contrasts which +depend on the essential properties of the +waves of light. Beauty is thus in a great +measure independent of the taste of the spectator. +It is also independent of mere utility, +since, even if we admit that all these combinations +of forms, motions, and colors which we +call beautiful are also useful, it is easy to +perceive that the end could often be attained +without the beauty.</p> + +<p>It is a curious fact that some of the simplest +animals—as, for example, sponges and Foraminifera,—are +furnished with the most beautiful +skeletons. Nothing can exceed the beauty +of form and proportions in the shells of some +Foraminifera and Polycistina, or in the skeletons +of some silicious sponges (see Fig. 19), +while it is obvious that these humble creatures, +without brains and external senses, can neither +contrive nor appreciate the beauty with which +they are clothed. Further, some of these +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +structures are very old geologically. The +sponge whose skeleton his known as "Venus's +flower-basket" produces a structure of interwoven +silicious threads exquisite in its beauty +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +and perfect in its mechanical arrangements +for strength (Figure 20). Even in the old +Cambrian rocks there are remains of sponges +which seem already to have practically solved +the geometrical problems involved in the production +of these wonderful skeletons; and with +a Chinese-like persistency, having attained to +perfection, they have adhered to it throughout +geological time. Nor is there anything of +mere inorganic crystallization in this. The silica +of which the skeletons are made is colloidal, +not crystalline, and the forms themselves have +no relations to the crystalline axes of silica. +Such illustrations might be multiplied to any +extent, and apply to all the beauties of form, +structure, and coloring which abound around +us and far excel our artificial imitations of +them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 565px;"> +<img src="images/i_203.jpg" width="565" height="600" alt="Fig. 19." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 19.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr">Magnified portion of a silicious sponge, showing the principle of +construction of the hexactinellid sponges, with six-rayed spicules +joined together and strengthened with diagonal braces. (<i>After Zittel.</i>)</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 316px;"> +<img src="images/i_205.jpg" width="316" height="600" alt="Fig. 20." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Fig. 20.</span></div> + +<p class="captionr"><i>Euplectella</i>, or "Venus's flower-basket," a silicious sponge, showing +its general form. (Reduced, from <i>Am. Naturalist</i>, vol. iv.)</p> + +<p>5. The instincts of the lower animals imply +a Higher Intelligence. Instinct, in the theistic +view of nature, can be nothing less than a +divine inspiration placing the animal in relation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +with other things and processes, often of the +most complex character, and which it could +by no means have devised for itself. Further, +instinct is in its very essence a thing unimprovable. +Like the laws of nature, it operates +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +invariably; and if diminished or changed, it +would prove useless for its purpose. It is +not, like human inventions, slowly perfected +under the influence of thought and imagination, +and laboriously taught by each generation to +its successors: it is inherited by each generation +in all its perfection, and from the first +goes directly to its end as if it were a merely +physical cause.</p> + +<p>The favorite explanation of instinct from +the side of Agnostic Evolution is that it originated +in the struggle for existence of some +previous generation, and was then perpetuated +as an inheritance. But, like most of the other +explanations of this school, this quietly takes +for granted what should be proved. That +instinct is hereditary is evident; but the question +is, How did it begin? and to say simply +that it did begin at some former period is to +tell us nothing. From a scientific point of +view, the invariable operation of any natural +law affords no evidence of any gradual or +sudden origination of it at any point of past +time; and when such law is connected with a +complicated organism and various other laws +and processes of the external world, the supposition +of its slowly arising from nothing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +through many generations of animals becomes +too intricate to be credible. Instinct must have +originated in a perfect condition, and with the +organism and its environment already established. +I may borrow here an apposite illustration +from recent papers on the unity of +nature by the Duke of Argyll, which deserve +careful study by any one who values common-sense +views of this subject. The example +which I select is that of the action of a young +merganser in its effort to elude pursuit:</p> + +<p>"On a secluded lake in one of the Hebrides, +I observed a dun-diver, or female of the red-breasted +merganser (<i>Mergus serrator</i>), with +her brood of young ducklings. On giving +chase in the boat we soon found that the +young, although not above a fortnight old, +had such extraordinary powers of swimming and +diving that it was almost impossible to capture +them. The distance they went under water, +and the unexpected places in which they +emerged, baffled all our efforts for a considerable +time. At last one of the brood made +for the shore, with the object of hiding among +the grass and heather which fringed the margin +of the lake. We pursued it as closely as we +could; but when the little bird gained the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +shore, our boat was still about twenty yards +off. Long drought had left a broad margin +of small flat stones and mud between the +water and the usual bank. I saw the little +bird run up about a couple of yards from the +water, and then suddenly disappear. Knowing +what was likely to be enacted, I kept my eye +fixed on the spot; and when the boat was +run upon the beach, I proceeded to find and +pick up the chick. But, on reaching the place +of disappearance, no sign of the young merganser +was to be seen. The closest scrutiny, +with the certain knowledge that it was there, +failed to enable me to detect it. Proceeding +cautiously forward, I soon became convinced +that I had already overshot the mark; and, +on turning round, it was only to see the bird +rise like an apparition from the stones and, +dashing past the stranded boat, regain the +lake, where, having now recovered its wind, +it instantly dived and disappeared. The tactical +skill of the whole of this manœuvre, and +the success with which it was executed, were +greeted with loud cheers from the whole party; +and our admiration was not diminished when +we remembered that, some two weeks before +that time, the little performer had been coiled +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +up inside the shell of an egg, and that about +a month before it was apparently nothing but +a mass of albumen and of fatty oils."</p> + +<p>On this the duke very properly remarks that +any idea of training and experience is absolutely +excluded, because it "assumes the pre-existence +of the very powers for which it professes +to account." He then turns to the idea that +animals are merely automata or "machines." +Here it is to be observed that the essential +idea of a machine is twofold. First, it is a +merely mechanical structure put together to +do certain things; secondly, it must be related +to a contriver and constructor. If we think +proper to call the young merganser a machine, +we must admit both of these characters, more +especially as the bird is in every way a more +marvellous machine than any of human construction. +He concludes his notice of this case +with the following suggestive words:</p> + +<p>"This is a method of escape which cannot be +resorted to successfully except by birds whose +coloring is adapted to the purpose by a close +assimilation with the coloring of surrounding +objects. The old bird would not have been +concealed on the same ground, and would +never itself resort to the same method of escape. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +The young, therefore, cannot have been +instructed in it by the method of example. But +the small size of the chick, together with its obscure +and curiously-mottled coloring, are specially +adapted to this mode of concealment. +The young of all birds which breed upon the +ground are provided with a garment in such +perfect harmony with surrounding effects of +light as to render this manœuvre easy. It +depends, however, wholly for its success upon +absolute stillness. The slightest motion at once +attracts the eye of any enemy which is searching +for the young. And this absolute stillness +must be preserved amidst all the emotions of +fear and terror which the close approach of the +object of alarm must, and obviously does, inspire. +Whence comes this splendid, even if it +be unconscious, faith in the sufficiency of a +defence which it must require such nerve and +strength of will to practise? No movement, +not even the slightest, though the enemy should +seem about to trample on it,—such is the terrible +requirement of nature, and by the child +of nature implicitly obeyed. Here, again, beyond +all question, we have an instinct as much +born with the creature as the harmonious tinting +of its plumage, the external furnishing being +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +inseparably united with the internal furnishing +of mind which enables the little creature +in very truth to 'walk by faith, and not +by sight.' Is this automatism? Is this machinery? +Yes, undoubtedly, in the sense explained +before—that the instinct has been given to the +bird in precisely the same sense in which its +structure has been given to it; so that anterior +to all experience, and without the aid of instruction +or of example, it is inspired to act in +this manner on the appropriate occasion arising."</p> + +<p>Lastly, the reason of man himself is an actual +illustration of mind in nature. Here we raise a +question which should perhaps have been considered +earlier: Is man himself actually a part +of what we call nature? We are so accustomed +to the distinction between things natural and +things artificial that we are liable to overlook +this essential question. Is nature the universe +outside of us, containing the things that we +study and which constitute our environment? +Are we elevated on a pedestal, so to speak, +above nature? or, on the other hand, does nature +include man himself? In that haze or fog +of ideas which environs modern evolutionism, +it is not wonderful that this question escapes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +notice, and that the most contradictory utterances +are given forth. Tyndall—by no means +the most foggy of the agnostics—may afford +an instance. He remarks respecting the philosophers +of antiquity:<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> +"The experiences which +formed the weft and woof of their theories were +drawn, not from the study of nature, but from +that which lay much closer to them-the observation +of man.... Their theories accordingly +took an anthropomorphic form." Here +we see that in the view of the writer man is +distinct from and outside of nature, and so much +out of harmony with it that the observation of +him leads to false conclusions, stigmatized, accordingly, +as "anthropomorphic." In this case +man must be supernatural, and preternatural as +well. But it is Tyndall's precise object to show +us that there is nothing supernatural either in +man or elsewhere. The contradiction is an instructive +example of the delusions which sometimes +pass for science.</p> + +<p>If, with Tyndall, we are to place man outside +of nature, then the human mind at once becomes +to us a supernatural intelligence. But +truth forbids such a conclusion. The reason +of man, however beyond the intelligence of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +lower animals, so harmonizes with natural laws +that it is evidently a part of the great unity of +nature, and we can no more dissociate the mind +of man from nature than from his own animal +body. If we could do so, we might have ground +to distrust the validity of all our conclusions as +to nature, and thus to cut away the foundations +of science; and what remained of philosophy +and religion would be preternatural, in the bad +sense of destroying the unity of nature and imperilling +our confidence in the unity of the Creator +himself.</p> + +<p>In connection with this we have cause to consider +the true meaning and use of two terms +often hurled at theists as weapons of attack.</p> + +<p>The word "anthropomorphic" is a term of +reproach for our interpreting nature in harmony +with our own thoughts or our own constitution. +But if man is a part of nature, he +must be a competent interpreter of it. If he +is not a part of nature, then, whether we make +him godlike or a demon, we have, in him, to +deal with something supernatural. It is true +that in a certain sense he is above nature, but +not in any sense which so dissociates him from +it as to prevent him from rationally thinking of +it in his own thoughts and speaking of it in his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +own form of words. So true is this that no +writers are more anthropomorphic in their +modes of speaking of nature than those who +most strongly denounce anthropomorphism. +Even the celebrated definition of life by Herbert +Spencer cannot escape this tincture. +"Life," he says, "is the continuous adjustment +of internal to external conditions." Now, the +essence of this definition lies in the word "adjustment." +But to adjust is to arrange, adapt, +or fit—all purely human and intelligent actions. +Nothing, therefore, could be more anthropomorphic +than such a statement. As theists we +need not complain of this, but surely as agnostics +we should decidedly object to it.</p> + +<p>The other word whose meaning it is necessary +to consider is "supernatural," which it +might be well, perhaps, to follow the example +of the New Testament in avoiding altogether +as a misleading term. If by supernatural we +mean something outside of and above nature +and natural law, there is really no such thing +in the universe. There may be that which is +"spiritual," as distinguished from that which is +natural in the material sense; but the spiritual +has its own laws, which are not in conflict with +those of the natural. Even God cannot in this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +sense be said to be supernatural, since his will +is necessarily in conformity with natural law. +Yet this absurd sense of the term "supernatural" +is constantly forced upon us by so-called +advanced thinkers, and employed as an argument +against theism. The only true sense in +which any being or any thing can be said to be +supernatural is that in which we use it with reference +to the original creation of matter and +force and the institution of natural law. The +power which can do these things is above nature, +but not outside of it; for matter, energy, +and law must be included in, and in harmony +with, the Creative Will.</p> + +<p>To return from this digression. If man is a +part of nature, we can see how it is that he conforms +to natural law, not merely in his bodily +organization and capabilities, but in his mind +and habits of thought, so that he can comprehend +nature and employ it for his purposes. +Even his moral and his religious ideas must in +this case be conformed to his conditions of existence +as a part of nature. We have here +also the surest guarantee of the correctness of +our conclusions respecting the laws of nature. +In like manner, there is here a sense in which +man is above nature, because he is placed at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +head of it. In another sense he is inferior to +the aggregate of nature, because, as Agassiz +well puts it, there is in the universe a "wealth +of endowment of the most comprehensive mental +manifestations which man can never fully +comprehend."</p> + +<p>Still further, if the universe has been created, +then, just as its laws must be in harmony with +the will of the Creator, so must our mental constitution; +and man, as a reasoning and conscious +being, must be made in the image of his +Maker. If we discard the idea of an intelligent +Creator, then mind and all its powers must be +potentially in the atoms of matter or in the +forces which move them; but this is a mere +form of words signifying nothing, or, if it has +any significance, this is contrary to science, +since it bestows on matter properties which +experiment does not show it to possess. Thus +the existence of man is not only a positive +proof of the presence of mind in nature, but +affords the strongest possible proof of a higher +Creative Mind, from which that of man emanates. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +The power which originated and sustains +the universe must be at least as much +greater and more intelligent than man as the +universe is greater than man in the power and +the contrivance which it indicates. Thus we +return to the Pauline idea—that the power and +the divinity of the Creator are shown by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +things he has made. Legitimate science can +say nothing more, and can say nothing less. +</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span><br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="LECTURE_VI" id="LECTURE_VI"></a>LECTURE VI.<br /> + +<small>SCIENCE AND REVELATION.</small></h2> + + +<p>Thus far we have proceeded solely on +scientific grounds, and have seen that +Monism and Agnosticism fail to account for +nature. We may therefore feel ourselves justified +in assuming, as the only promising solution +of the enigma of existence, the being +of a Divine Creator. But this does not wholly +exhaust the relations of science to religion. +When Science has led us into the presence of +the Creator, she has brought us to the threshold +of religion, and there she suggests the +possibility that the spirit of man may have +other relations with God beyond those established +by merely physical law. Science may +venture to say: "If all nature expresses the +will of the Creator as carried out in his laws, +if the instinct of lower animals is an inspiration +of God, should we not expect that there +will be laws of a higher order regulating the +free moral nature of man, and that there will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +be possibilities of the reason of man communicating +with, or receiving aid from, the Supreme +Intelligence?" Science undoubtedly suggests +this much to our reason, and the suggestion +has commended itself to most of the greater +and clearer minds that have studied nature, +whatever their religious beliefs or their want +of them.</p> + +<p>It may thus be allowable for us, without +encroaching on the domain of theology, to +inquire to what extent scientific principles and +scientific habits of thought agree with or diverge +from the religious beliefs of men. I do +not propose to enter here into the inquiry as +to the accordance of the Bible with the earth's +geological history, or that of its representations +of nature with the facts as held by +science. These subjects I have fully discussed +in other works, which are sufficiently +accessible.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +I shall merely refer to certain general +relations of science to the probability of a +divine revelation, and to the character of such +revelation.</p> + +<p>As to what is termed natural religion, enough +has already been said. If nature testifies to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +being of God, and if the reason and the conscience +implanted in man, "accusing and excusing" +one another, constitute a law of God +within him, regulating in some degree his +relations to God and to his fellow-men, we +have a sufficient basis for the natural religion +which more or less actuates the conduct of +every human being. The case is different +with revealed religion. Here we have an apparent +interference on the part of the Creator +with his own work, an additional intervention +in one department to effect results which elsewhere +are worked out by the ordinary operation +of natural law. In revelation, therefore, +we may have something, quite out of the ordinary +course of nature. On the other hand, it is +possible that even here we may have something +more in harmony with natural laws than at first +sight appears.</p> + +<p>It cannot truly be said that a revelation from +God to man is improbable from the point of +view of science. Physical laws and brute instincts +are in their nature unvarying, and neither +require nor admit of intervention. But +the reason and the will of free agents are in +this respect different. Though necessarily under +law, they can judge and decide between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +one law and another, and can even evade or +counteract one law by employing another, or +can resolve to be disobedient. Rational free +agents may thus enter into courses not in harmony +with their own interests or their relations +to their surroundings. Hence, so soon as it +pleased God to introduce in any part of the +universe a free rational will gifted with certain +powers over lower nature, only two courses +were possible: either God must leave such free +agent wholly to his own devices, making him a +god on a small scale, and so far practically abdicating +in his favor, or he must place him under +some law, and this not of the nature of +mere physical compulsion—which, on the hypothesis, +would be inadmissible—but in the nature +of requirements addressed to his reason +and his conscience. Hence we might infer <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">a +priori</i> the probability of some sort of communication +between God and man. Further, did +we find such rational creature beginning, on his +introduction into the world, to mar the face of +nature, to inflict unnecessary suffering or injury +on lower creatures or on members of his own +species, to disregard the moral instincts implanted +in him, or to disown the God who had +created him, we should still more distinctly perceive +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +the need of revelation. This would in +such case be no more at variance with science +or with natural law than the education given by +wise parents to their children, or the laws promulgated +by a wise government for the guidance +of its subjects, both of which are, and are intended +to be, interventions affecting the ordinary +course of affairs.</p> + +<p>Of necessity, all this proceeds on the supposition +that there is a God. But in certain discussions +now prevalent as to the "origin of religion," +it is customary quietly to assume that +there is no God to be known, and consequently +that religion must be a mere gratuitous +invention of man. It is not too much to say, +however, that any scientific conception of the +unity of nature and of man's place in it must +forbid our making atheistic assumptions. If +man were a mere product of blind, unintelligent +chance, the idea of a God was not likely +ever to have occurred to him, still less to have +become the common property of all races of +men. In like manner, there is no scientific +basis for the assumption that man originated +in a low and bestial type, and that his religion +developed itself by degrees from the instincts +of lower animals, from which man is supposed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +to have originated. Such suppositions are unscientific +(1) because no ancient remains of such +low forms of man are known; (2) because the +lowest types of man now extant can be proved +to be degraded descendants of higher types; +(3) because, if man had originated in a low +condition, this would not have diminished the +probability of a divine revelation being given +to promote his elevation.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, it is a sad reality that +man tends to sink from high ideal morality and +reason into debasing vices and gross superstitions +that are not natural, but which, on the +contrary, place him at variance with natural as +well as with moral law. Thus the actual and +the possible debasement of man, instead of +proving his bestial origin, only increases the +need of a divine revelation for his improvement.</p> + +<p>But, supposing the need of a revelation to +be admitted, other questions might arise as to +its mode. Here the anticipations of science +would be guided by the analogy of nature. +We should suppose that the revelation would +be made through the medium of the beings it +was intended to affect. It would be a revelation +impressed on human minds and expressed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +in human language. It might be in the form +of laws with penalties attached, or in that of +persuasions addressed to the reason and the +sentiments. It would probably be gradual and +progressive—at first simple, and later more +complex and complete. It would thus become +historical, and would be related to the stages +of that progress which it was intended to promote. +It would necessarily be incomplete, more +especially in its earlier portions, and it would +always be under the necessity of more or less +rudely representing divine and heavenly things +by earthly figures. Being human in its medium, +it would have the characteristics and the idiosyncrasies +of man to a certain extent, except in +so far as it might please God to communicate it +directly through a perfect humanity identified +with divinity, or through higher and more perfect +intelligences than man.</p> + +<p>We should further expect that such revelation +would not conflict with what is good in +natural religion or in the natural emotions and +sentiments of man; that it would not contradict +natural facts or laws; and that it would take +advantage of the familiar knowledge of mankind +in order to illustrate such higher spiritual +truths as cannot be expressed in human language. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +Such a revelation would of necessity +require that we should receive it in faith, but +faith resting on evidence derived from things +known, and from the analogy of the revelation +itself with what God reveals in nature. It +would be no valid objection to such a revelation +to say that it is anthropomorphic, since, +in the nature of the case, it must come through +man and be suited to man; nor would it be any +valid objection that it is figurative, for truth as +to spiritual realities must always be expressed +in terms of known phenomena of the natural +world.</p> + +<p>It has been objected, though not on behalf +of science, that such a revelation, if it related +to things discoverable by man, would be useless, +while, if it related to things not discoverable, it +could not be understood. This is, however, a +mere play upon words, and reminds one of +the doctrine attributed to the Arabian caliph +with reference to the Alexandrian Library: If +its books contain what is written in the Koran, +they are useless; if anything different, they are +injurious; therefore let them be destroyed. It +would indeed be subversive of all education, +human as well as divine; for the essence of this +is to take advantage of what the pupil knows, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +and to build on it acquirements which, unaided, +he could not have attained.</p> + +<p>But, though all may agree as to the possibility, +or even the probability, of a revelation, +many may dissent from particular dogmas contained +in or implied by the particular form of +revelation in which Christians believe. It is +true that this dissent is based, not so much on +science as on alleged opposition to human sentiments; +but it is more or less supposed to be +reinforced by scientific facts and laws. Of doctrines +supposed to be objectionable from these +points of view, I may name the reality of miracles +and of prophecy; the efficacy of prayer +and of atonement or sacrifice; and the permanence +of the consequences of sin. Admitting +that these doctrines are not original discoveries +of man, but revealed to him, and that they are +not founded on science, it may nevertheless be +easily shown that they are in harmony with the +analogy of nature in a greater degree than +either their friends or their opponents usually +suppose.</p> + +<p>Miracles—or "signs," as they are more properly +called in the New Testament—are sometimes +stated to imply suspension of natural +law. If they were such, and were alleged to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +be produced by any power short of that of the +Lawmaker himself, they would be incredible; +and if asserted to be by his power, they would +be so far incredible as implying changeableness, +and therefore imperfection. It may be affirmed, +however, of the miracles recorded in Scripture, +that they do not require suspension of natural +laws, but merely modifications of the operation +and peculiar interactions of these. Many +of them, indeed, profess to be merely unusual +natural effects arranged for special purposes, +and depending for their miraculous character +on their appositeness in time to certain circumstances. +This is the case, for instance, with +the plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red +Sea, and the supply of quails to the Israelites. +Miracles, whether performed as attestations of +revelation or as works of mercy or of judgment, +belong to the domain of natural law, but +to those operations of it which are beyond human +control or foresight. Their nature in this +respect we can understand by considering the +many operations possible to civilized men which +may appear miraculous to a savage, and which, +from his point of view, may be amply sufficient +as evidence of the superior knowledge and +power of him who performs them. That one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +man should be able instantaneously to transmit +his thoughts to another situated a thousand +miles away was, until the invention of the electric +telegraph, impossible. The actual performance +of such an operation would have been as +much a miracle as the communication of thought +from one planet to another would be now. But +if man can thus work miracles, why should not +the Almighty do so, when higher moral ends +are to be served by apparent interference with +the ordinary course of matter and force? Admitting +the existence of God, physical science +can have nothing to say against miracles. On +the contrary, it can assure us of the probability +that if God reveals himself to us at all by natural +means, such revelation will probably be +miraculous.</p> + +<p>If the possibility of God communicating with +his rational creatures be conceded, then the objections +taken to prophecy lose all value. If +anything known to God and unknown to man +can be revealed, things past and future may be +revealed as well as things present. Science +abounds in prophecy. All through the geological +history there have been prophetic types, +mute witnesses to coming facts. Minute disturbances +of heavenly bodies, altogether inappreciable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +by the ordinary observer, enable the +astronomer to predict the discovery of new +planets. A line in a spectrum, without significance +to the uninitiated, foretells a new element. +The merest fragment, sufficient only for microscopic +examination, enables the palĉontologist +to describe to incredulous auditors some organism +altogether unknown in its entire structures. +What possible reason can there be for excluding +such indications of the past and the future +from a revelation made by him who knows perfectly +the end from the beginning, and to whom +the future results of human actions to the end +of time must be as evident as the simplest train +of causes and effects is to us? It is Huxley, +I think, who says that if the laws affecting human +conduct were fully known to us, it would +have been possible to calculate a thousand years +ago the exact state of affairs in Britain at this +moment. Probably such a calculation might be +too complicated for us, even if the data were +given; but it cannot be too complicated for +the Divine Mind, and possibly might even +be mastered by some intelligences in the +universe subject to God, but higher than +man.</p> + +<p>That there should be suffering at all in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +universe is, no doubt, a mysterious thing; but +the fact is evident, and certain benefits which +flow from it are also evident. Indeed, we fail +to see how a world of sentient beings could +continue to exist, unless the penalty of suffering +were attached to natural law. Further, all +such penalties are, in consequence of the permanence +of matter and the conservation of +force, necessarily permanent, unless in cases +where some reaction sets in under the influence +of some other law or force than that which +brings the penalty. Even in this case, the effect +of any violation of any natural law is eternal +and infinite. No sane man doubts this in the +case of what may be called sins against natural +laws; but many, with strange inconsistency, +doubt and disbelieve it in the higher domain of +morals. If we were for a moment to admit +the materialist's doctrine that appetites, passions, +and sentiments are merely effects of physical +changes in nerve-cells, then we should be +shut up to the conclusion that the effects of any +derangement of these must be perpetual and +coextensive with the universe. Why should it +be otherwise in things belonging to the domains +of reason and conscience? Further, if natural +laws are the expression of the will of the Creator, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +and if these unfailingly assert themselves, +and must do so, in order to the permanence of +the material universe, would not analogy teach +that, unless the Supreme Being is wholly bound +up in material processes, and is altogether indifferent +to moral considerations, the same regularity +and constancy must prevail in the spiritual +world?</p> + +<p>This question is closely connected with the +ideas of sacrifice and atonement. Nothing is +more certain in physics than that action and reaction +are equal, and that no effect can be produced +without an adequate cause. It results +from this that every action must involve a corresponding +expenditure of matter and force. +Anything else would be pure magic; which, we +know, is nonsense. Thus every intervention +on behalf of others must imply a corresponding +sacrifice. We cannot raise a fallen child +or aid the poor or the hungry without a sacrifice +of power or means proportioned to the +result. So, in the moral world, degradation +cannot be remedied nor punishment averted +without corresponding sacrifice; and this, it may +be, on the part of those who are in no degree +blameworthy. If men have fallen into moral +evil and God proposes to elevate them from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +this condition, this must be done by some corresponding +expenditure of force, else we have +one of those miracles which would imply a subversion +of law of the most portentous kind. +The moral stimulus given by the sacrifice itself +is a secondary consideration to this great law +of equivalency of cause and effect. There is, +therefore, a perfect conformity to natural analogy +in the Christian idea of the substitution of +the pure and perfect Man for the sinner, as well +as in that of the putting forth of the divine +power manifested in him to raise and restore +the fallen.</p> + +<p>The efficacy of prayer is one of the last +things that a scientific naturalist should question, +if he is at the same time a theist. Prayer +is itself one of the laws of nature, and one of +those that show in the finest way how higher +laws override and modify those that are lower. +The young ravens, we are told, cry to God; and +so they literally do; and their cry is answered, +for the parent-ravens, cruel and voracious, under +the impulse of a God-given instinct range +over land and water and exhaust every energy +that they may satisfy that cry. The bleat of +the lamb will not only meet with response from +the mother-ewe, but will even exercise a physiological +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +effect in promoting the secretion of +milk in her udder. The mother who hears the +cry of her child, crushed under some weighty +thing which has fallen on it, will never pause +to consider that it is the law of gravitation which +has caused the accident; she will defy the law +of gravitation, and if necessary will pray any +one who is near to help her. Prayer, in short, +is a natural power so important that without it +the young of most of the higher animals would +have little chance of life; and it triumphs over +almost every other natural law which may stand +in its way. If, then, irrational animals can overcome +the forces of dead nature in answer to +prayer; if man himself, in answer to the cry of +distress, can do things in ordinary circumstances +almost impossible,—how foolish is it to suppose +that this link of connection cannot subsist between +God and his rational offspring! One +wonders that any man of science should for a +moment entertain such an idea, if, indeed, he +has any belief whatever in the existence of a +God.</p> + +<p>There is another aspect of prayer insisted on +in revelation on which the observation of nature +throws some light. In the case of animals, there +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +must be a certain relation between the one that +prays and the one that answers—a filial relation, +perhaps—and in any case there must be a correspondence +between the language of prayer +and the emotions of the creature appealed to. +Except in a few cases where human training has +modified instinct, the cry of one species of animal +awakes no response in another of a different +kind. So prayer to God must be in the +Spirit of God. It must also be the cry of real +need, and with reference to needs which have +his sympathy. There is a prayer which never +reaches God, or which is even an abomination +to him; and there is prayer prompted by the +indwelling Spirit of God, which cannot be uttered +in human words, yet will surely be answered. +All this is so perfectly in accordance +with natural analogies, that it strikes one +acquainted with nature as almost a matter +of course.</p> + +<p>In tracing these analogies, I do not desire to +imply that natural science can itself teach us +religion, or that it is to afford the test of what is +true in spiritual things. I have merely wished +to direct attention to obvious analogies between +things natural and things spiritual, which show +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +that there is no such antagonism between science +and revelation as many suppose, and that, +in grand essential laws and principles, it may be +true that earth is</p> + +<div class="cpoem1"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But the shadow of heaven, and things therein<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each to the other like more than on earth is thought."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p class="center space-above">THE END.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"><p class="center">FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> +Epistle to Hebrews, xi. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> +Those who wish to understand the real bearings of +palĉontology on evolution should study Barrande's <i>Memoirs on the +Silurian Trilobites, Cephalopods, and Brachiopods</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> +Beckett, <i>Origin of the Laws of Nature</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> +<i>Refutation of Darwinism</i>, Philadelphia, 1880.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> +It was scarcely necessary to refer to this childish +objection unless the individual skeleton of Adam had been in question.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> +Rather, "vertebral arches."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Story of the Earth</i>, <i>Origin of the World</i>, <i>Chain of +Life in Geological Time</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> +The Ceylon elephant is by some believed to be distinct, +but is probably a variety of the Indian species.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> +<i>Fossil Men</i> (London, 1880), Appendix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> +The first continental period was that of the earlier +Pliocene.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> +The precise date in years assignable to this event +geology cannot determine; but I have elsewhere shown that the actual +antiquity of the palĉocosmic or antediluvian man has been greatly +exaggerated.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> +As <i>Piloceras</i>, for example.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> +I am indebted for these figures to my friend Dr. S. P. +Robins of Montreal.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> +Belfast Address.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> +More especially in <i>The Origin of the World</i> (London and +New York, 1877).</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="transnote"><p class="center">Transcriber's Notes:</p> + +<p>Obvious typographical errors were repaired. Hyphenation variants used +equally were retained (back-bone and backbone, thread-like and +threadlike).</p> + +<p>Original had chapter title pages before the start of each chapter, +resulting in duplication of chapter titles. Those duplications have +been removed.</p> + +<p>Original contents erroneously indicated Lecture VI began on page 217. +This has been corrected to page 219.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Facts and fancies in modern science, by +John William Dawson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FACTS, FANCIES IN MODERN SCIENCE *** + +***** This file should be named 42466-h.htm or 42466-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/2/4/6/42466/ + +Produced by Albert László, JoAnn Greenwood, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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