98 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EVOLUTION AND THE DOCTEmE OF DESIGK^ 



By W. STANLEY JEVONS, F.E.S. 



YERY profound philosophers have lately generalized concerning 

 the production of living forms, and the mental and moral phe- 

 nomena regarded as their highest development. Mr. Herbert Spen- 

 cer's theory of Evolution purports to explain the origin of all specific 

 differences, so that not even the rise of a Homer or a Beethoven would 

 escape from his broad theories. The homogeneous is unstable and 

 must differentiate itself, says Spencer, and hence comes the variety of 

 human institutions and characters. In order that a living form shall 

 continue to exist and propagate its kind, says Mr. Darwin, it must be 

 suitable to its circumstances, and the most suitable forms will prevail 

 over and extirpate those which are less suitable. From these fruitful 

 ideas are developed theories of evolution and natural selection which 

 go far toward accounting for the existence of immense numbers of liv- 

 ing creatures — plants and animals. Apparent adaptations of organs 

 and limbs to useful purposes, which Paley and other theologians re- 

 garded as distinct products of creative intelligence, are now seen to 

 follow as natural effects of a constantly-acting tendency. Even man, 

 according to these theories, is no distinct creation, but rather an ex- 

 treme specimen of brain-development. His nearest cousins are the 

 apes, and his pedigree extends backward until it joins that of the low- 

 liest zoophytes. 



The theories of Darwin and Spencer are doubtless not demonstrated ; 

 they are, to some extent, hypothetical, just as all the theories of physi- 

 cal science are to some extent hypothetical, and open to doubt. But 

 I venture to look upon the theories of evolution and natural selection, 

 in their main features, as two of the most probable hypotheses ever 

 proposed, harmonizing and explaining, as they do, immense numbers 

 of diverse facts. I question whether any scientific works which have 

 appeared since the "Principia" of Kewton are comparable in im- 

 portance with those of Darwin and Spencer, revolutionizing, as they 

 do, all our views of the origin of bodily, mental, moral, and social 

 phenomena. 



Granting all this, I cannot for a moment admit that the theory of 

 Evolution will alter our theological views. That theory embraces sev- 

 eral laws, or uniformities, which are observed to be true in the produc- 

 tion of living forms ; but these laws do not determine the size and 

 figure of living creatures, any more than the law of gravitation deter- 

 mines the magnitudes and distances of the planets. Suppose that 

 Darwin is correct in saying that man is descended from the Ascidians ; 



^ Abstracted from the closing chapter of " The Principles of Science : A Treatise on 

 Logic and Scientific Method." 



