EDITOR'S TABLE. 



in 



nlar mind into the phraseology and 

 methods of this speculation." Nor is 

 there a single article in the whole 

 volume that gives any explanation of 

 either the phraseology or the methods 

 of the doctrine of Evolution. A few 

 references to it there have been, as in 

 the addresses of Dr. Carpenter and 

 Prof. Gray, before eminent scientific 

 bodies, and as occurs in the able arti- 

 cle of Prof. Clifford in the present 

 number; but these references are in- 

 cidental and unavoidable: they result 

 from the prominence of the question 

 in the scientific world, and its conse- 

 quent recognition in current scientific 

 literature. And yet it pleases the edi- 

 tor of Scribner's to tell his readers that 

 under an uncontrolled personal bias our 

 pages are so fired with this mischievous 

 doctrine that the name of the Monthly 

 ought to be changed to prevent its evil 

 influence. 



It now remains to consider the 

 more serious imputation, that our pages 

 have been perverted to the diffusion 

 of spurious science. According to the 

 editor of Scrihier^s, the doctrine of 

 evolution is not a result of true sci- 

 ence not an induction from facts, but 

 a "high-flown," "a priori" "specula- 

 tion." And here, again, we have to 

 note that this writer is not very par- 

 ticular to make his thought harmonize 

 with the things he is talking about. 

 His statement is as wrong as he could 

 get it just 180 from the truth; and, 

 if the ignorance he evinces be any 

 measure of the general ignorance, we 

 cannot too quickly begin the neglected 

 work of " educating the popular mind " 

 into the rudiments of the subject. "We 

 purpose now to show that the Hypoth- 

 esis of Evolution is not an a priori 

 speculation, but a true scientific in- 

 duction ; and not only so, but it is the 

 antagonist and successor of a priori 

 speculations which had been in vogue 

 for many centuries before the inductive 

 method arose. 



"What is the fundamental concep- 



tion of the doctrine of Evolution ? It is 

 " that the universe and all that it con- 

 tains did not come into existence in the 

 condition that we now know it, nor in 

 any thing like that condition." It im- 

 plies that the heavens as they appear 

 above us, the earth as it exists beneath 

 us, the hosts of living creatures that oc- 

 cupy it, and humanity as we now know 

 it, " are merely the final terms in an im- 

 mense series of changes, which have 

 been brought about in the course of 

 immeasurable time." It affirms vast 

 changes in past periods ; that these 

 changes have been according to a meth- 

 od, and that this method has been of the 

 nature of an unfolding. The essential 

 changes of evolution have been compre- 

 hensively formulated as from the simple 

 to the complex, from the homogeneous 

 to the heterogeneous, from the general 

 to the special. Is this an a priori spec- 

 ulation, that is, an idea formed before 

 observation and experience of the facts 

 to which it applies; or is it a scientific 

 induction, that is, an idea formed after 

 the facts are known, and based upon 

 them ? 



As regards the stellar and planetary 

 universe, its origin from an all-diffused 

 nebulous mist was taught by Kant a 

 century ago. This view was subse- 

 quently elaborated by Laplace the 

 mathemetician, and Herschel the as- 

 tronomer, into the Nebular Hypothesis, 

 which was the outcome of the whole 

 body of known astronomical facts. This 

 hypothesis affirmed the progressive 

 condensation and differentiation of the 

 nebulous mass through successive 

 stages to more and more concrete and 

 specialized groups, systems, and orbs. 

 That the solar system was gradually 

 formed in the way the nebular hypoth- 

 esis implies, and that its facts can be 

 explained by that hypothesis and no 

 other, is now the general belief of 

 astronomers. Consisting of more than 

 one hundred and fifty bodies, revolv- 

 ing and circulating according to one 

 grand method, it has been pointed ont 



