348 RAYMOND J. NOGAR 



above, becomes equivocal as it is applied to the origin of life, 

 chemicals, stars, nebulae, mind, language, culture. Neither 

 " fact " nor " evolution " retain the same meaning, and the 

 evidence and inferences are of another kind, varying from disci- 

 pline to discipline. In point of fact, there is gi-eat uncertainty 

 that the concept " fact of evolution " is relevant in some areas 

 of scientific study. This element of equivocation in terminology, 

 in evidence and in inference, is often completely overlooked, 

 and the degree of conviction generated in the biological sciences 

 is by no means present to the same degree in some of the other 

 areas of science. 



This mutation in evolutionary concept as the observer goes 

 from one field to the next is of greatest importance in evalu- 

 ating the scientific dimensions of evolutionary theory. The 

 problem is treated in detail elsewhere,** and can only be touched 

 upon here by a few examples drawn from the Centennial 

 papers. Applying the hypothesis of evolution to the origin of 

 life, H. Gaffron compared the status of the " fact of evolution " 

 in biology to that of biochemical biopoesis (the natural origin 

 of life from the inorganic) . After admitting the conviction 

 generated by convergence of evidence in biology, he states: 



The situation in respect to biopoesis is exactly the reverse. There 

 is nice theory, but no shred of evidence, no single fact whatever, 

 forces us to believe in it. What exists is only the scientists' wish 

 not to admit a discontinuity in nature and not to assume a creative 

 act forever beyond comprehension.*^ 



The acceptance of the " fact of evolution " of life from non- 

 life is based upon a conviction of an entirely different kind. The 

 biologist and the biochemist look across a chasm which is filled 

 only by a combination of imagination, extrapolation, human 

 faith and a lively hope. This is not to disparage research in 

 biopoesis, for out of this combination emerge working hypo- 

 theses with which the problem of biopoesis may one day be 



** R. J. Nogar, O. P., " Evolution: Its Scientific and Philosophical Dimensions," 

 St. John's University Studies, ed. Vincent E. Smith (Jamaica, N. Y., 1961) Series 3. 

 *^EAD, I, 45. 



