EDITOR'S TABLE. 



841 



above extract given, of course, textu- 

 ally may reveal do not impair the lu- 

 cidity with which it sets fortli the views 

 of "the common people of Texas." 

 Whether Dr. Edwards had or had not 

 heard of " the reptile that sleeps on the 

 log with pious fathers and mothers all 

 over the State " we are not informed. 

 All we know is that, intentionally or 

 unintentionally, he roused it from its 

 slumbers, and that it was not long in 

 stinging into action the regents of the 

 university. A three-years' engagement 

 had been entered into with the professor, 

 only a short part of which had expired ; 

 but under the attacks of " the reptile " 

 the regents made short work of their 

 contract, and sent Dr. Edwards to teach 

 his evolutionary doctrines elsewhere. 

 It is rumored, indeed, that another rep- 

 tile was roused into life at the same 

 time as the orthodox one namely, the 

 reptile of local jealousy. The professor 

 was not a Texan, and this, added to the 

 fact that he was an avowed evolutionist, 

 caused him to receive a very short shrift. 

 One or two other professors, according 

 to the journal above quoted, took the 

 hint and, with a wisdom somewhat 

 resembling that of Colonel Crockett's 

 coon, " came down " that is to say, 

 resigned so that at this date the univer- 

 sity may claim to be tolerably free from 

 the leaven of evolutionary theories. 



Perhaps it is best. Texas is a re- 

 mote State, and many things there are 

 in a very primitive condition. It is a 

 land where one man's opinion is as good 

 as another's, and where any little defects 

 iu a gentleman's logic can be handily 

 repaired with a six-shooter. According 

 to the Daily Statesman, which ought to 

 know whereof it affirms, " the common 

 people " do not look upon schools and 

 universities as places where some things 

 may be taught of vfhich they are them- 

 selves ignorant, but as places the in- 

 struction in which they are entirely 

 competent and entitled, in the fullness 

 of their knowledge, to direct. Tliey 

 know how the different forms of organic 



life came into existence, and no pro- 

 fessor particularly one from another 

 State is going to steal into their insti- 

 tutions of learning (save the mark !) and 

 teach anything on this subject contrary 

 to what they hold. Well, we think 

 there is something in Mr. Spencer's 

 works which fits this case. He says, in 

 the preface to the Data of Ethics, that 

 evil results may flow if people take up 

 evolutionary views before they are re- 

 ally fitted for self-guidance. For some 

 communities and individuals of a back- 

 wai'd type the strong, not to say, coarse 

 sanctions of a primitive theology are 

 better and safer tlian the broader but 

 less potent motives which the scientific 

 view of the world and of human life 

 affords. We are therefore by no means 

 disposed to hold that the Texans do not 

 know what is good for them. With a 

 little change of dialect they might say 

 with Tennyson's Northern Farmer : 



" Doctors, they knaws nowt, for a says what's 

 naways true ; 

 Naw sort o' koind o' use to saiiy the tilings 

 that a do." 



And just as the norihern farmer had 

 had his pint of ale every night for forty 

 years, and insisted on having it still in 

 spite of doctors, so " pious fathers and 

 mothers all over the State " have been 

 accustomed to the biblical version of the 

 origin of species, and will have it in 

 spite of all new knowledge and all 

 improved theories. There is no great 

 harm in this so long as the thing is 

 thoroughly understood. We sympathize 

 with Prof. Edwards in the disappoint- 

 ment which the untimely termination of 

 his engagement doubtless caused him ; 

 but if any other trained biologist accepts 

 a situation in the University of Texas it 

 will be his own fault. The simple truth 

 is that biological science can not as yet 

 be taught in that State at least not 

 under the auspices of the State. Well, 

 biological science can wait until the 

 quarantine against it is raised, which, of 

 course, it will be some day. The suf- 



