CREATION BY EVOLUTION 



to a relatively complex form. Development is not the 

 unfolding of an infolded organism ; it is the formation of new 

 structures and functions by, combinations and transformations 

 of the relatively simple structures and functions of the germ 

 cells. If anything in the world is natural, this process of 

 development from an egg is natural ; but nothing in the world 

 is more wonderful. And yet this process of development 

 is according to nature — a natural development and not a 

 supernatural creation. Religious faith has been able to 

 survive the knowledge of the fact that every human being 

 in the world has come into existence by a process of develop- 

 ment. Why should it be supposed that the recognition of 

 an equally natural development of groups of individuals or 

 species would be destructive of religion? 



Ontogeny, or the origin of individuals, and phylogeny, or 

 the origin of races, are two aspects of one and the same thing, 

 namely, organic development. There is a remarkable 

 parallelism between the two, and in particular the factors 

 or causes of development are essentially the same in both. 

 Just as the earth rotates on its axis and revolves in its orbit 

 and the whole solar system moves through space in accord- 

 ance with the law of gravity, so organisms undergo develop- 

 ment as embryos, as species, and as larger groups according 

 to the law of organic evolution. 



Although the word evolution is now used to specify the 

 development of species and of larger groups of organisms, 

 it was once applied also to the development of individuals, 

 and it could still be so applied, for evolutiojt means only the 

 tyans\ormatton of an earlier into a later stage according to 

 natural laws. In short, evolution is trans-formation rather 

 than new-formation, natural development rather than super- 

 natural creation, whether we are considering the origin of 

 individuals or of species or larger groups. 



[64] 



