THE DOGMA OF EVOLUTION 



line unless they are constrained to do so by force. The 

 conclusion, which Fiske attributes to Galileo, was 

 really due to Newton and is an acknowledged deduc- 

 tion. Again Fiske contrasts the theory of light with 

 metaphysical disputes, "which, conducted upon the 

 subjective method, and dealing with unverifiable hy- 

 potheses, have never led, and never can lead, to any- 

 thing but an endless renewal of dispute."" The the- 

 ories of light are based on the unverifiable hypotheses 

 of the aether or of light corpuscles and their history 

 has been an endless dispute between the two ideas. 



Like Buckle, top-heavy with a vast mass of facts 

 which he could not coordinate, the Evolutionists stag- 

 gered under the same burden. In the end, they adopted 

 the method of choosing those things which agreed 

 with their preconceived ideas and of shutting their 

 eyes to those which opposed them. There is something 

 almost tragic in the vehemence with which they strug- 

 gled with their overpowering obstacles, convinced 

 that salvation dwelt with them, until the lives of 

 Darwin, Huxley, and Spencer became one long la- 

 ment over ill-health; their days troubled by nervous 

 dyspepsia and their nights tortured with insomnia. 



As they had devoted their lives to the cultivation 

 of science, it was natural that they should have felt 

 themselves able to prophesy what would be the result 

 of an age of reason. Science was to create a well-dis- 

 ciplined mind conquering one difficulty after another 



1* Cosmic Philosophy, vol. I, p. 192. 



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