WHENCE AND WHITHER 17 



that no other hypothesis can explain and account for 

 the admitted facts. 



Haeckel, (Evolution of Man, p. 26), says the first 

 one, or the first few, animals that appeared on our 

 earth arose "by spontaneous generation rroiu inor- 

 ganic matter. ' On the same page he says : 



"Life is only a physical phenomenon. All the 

 plants and animals, with man at their head, are to be 

 explained in structure and life, by mechanical or effi- 

 cient causes, without any appeal to final causes, just 

 as in the case of minerals and other inorganic bodies. 

 This applies equally to the origin of the various 

 species. We must not assume any original creation 

 * * * * * to explain this, but a natural, continuous 

 and necessary evolution ! 



Prior to the publication of Darwin's Origin of 

 Species in 1859, belief in the theory of special creation 

 was well nigh universal among scientists as well as 

 laymen. But immediately after the publication of 

 that work the scientific world adapted Darwin's 

 theory as absolute truth, not only as to animals and 

 plants, but extended the Darwinian principle of ma- 

 terialism to all other branches of science. Materialism 

 permeated all literature and became a fad. It fostered 

 "higher criticism,' agnosticism, infidelity and athe- 

 ism. It destroyed human hope and enthroned despair. 

 It shook and rent the church from the corner stone to 

 the spire. 



According to the materialist, there is no such 

 thing as a personal God, nor a human soul. He main- 

 tains that life, intellect, memory and will-power are 



