EDITOR'S TABLE. 



SS9 



tion to have occurred.' His successor 

 replied: 'Almost without exception, 

 the working naturalists in this country 

 believe in evolution. ... In England 

 and Germany the belief in evolution is 

 almost universal among the active 

 workers in biology. In France the be- 

 lief is less general, but is rapidly gain- 

 ing ground. ... I should regard a 

 teacher of science who denied the 

 truth of evolution as being as incom- 

 petent as one who doubted the Coper- 

 nican theory.' We challenge the ' Ob- 

 server to find three working naturalists 

 of repute in the United States — or two 

 (it can find one in Canada) — that is not 

 an evolutionist. And where a man 

 beheves in evolution, it goes without 

 saying that the law holds as to man's 

 physical structure." 



These, then, are the " sciolists," the 

 smatterers, the shallow novices, to 

 whom President Seelye leaves the sub- 

 ject ; meantime the learned professors 

 of Amherst illustrate the dignity of 

 scholarship and the ripeness of knowl- 

 edge by teaching the biology of the an- 

 cient Hebrews. The theory of evolu- 

 tion is now guiding the researches of 

 the scientific world because it is being 

 constantly and increasingly verified in 

 the new results to which it leads; but 

 President Anderson will not teach it 

 because it is " an unverified hypothesis." 

 Has he a verified hypothesis, then ? or 

 do they, at the University of Rochester, 

 dodge the foremost philosophic question 

 of the age ? 



The college presidents seem to re- 

 sent the imputation that they teach 

 the derivation of man from "irrational 

 animals " ; and the " Observer " calls 

 the doctrine " vile " and " degrading." 

 There is a current vulgar belief that 

 the idea of human derivation from in- 

 ferior animals is scandalous and revolt- 

 ing. But is not this, after all, the es- 

 tablished method of producing man ? 

 What is a new-born babe but an " ir- 

 rational animal," and does not each 

 president of a college come from such 



an "irrational animal" by a process of 

 development ? And that is not all. 

 Each human individual, beginning as a 

 protoplasmic germ, is evolved step by 

 step, passing in the gestative period 

 through type after type of " irrational 

 animals " before the developed human 

 life begins. AVill the nine doctors of 

 divinity be good enough to say who it 

 was that they think designed this ar- 

 rangement? And do tliey not, more- 

 over, teach that the Creator first tried 

 the miraculous method of bringing peo- 

 ple into existence at once and perfect, 

 and then abandoned it for the present 

 plan of developing them gradually out 

 of " irrational animals " through the 

 common processes by which inferior 

 creatures are multiplied ? 



EDUCATION- FOB GUIDANCE. 



We heard a good thing recently of 

 a distinguished Professor at a distin- 

 guished university, eminent for its high- 

 toned devotion to the interests of pure 

 scholarship. The Professor had been 

 lecturing upon a favorite subject, and 

 declared the charm of it to be that "it 

 could not possibly be prostituted to any 

 practical or useful purpose." There is 

 much to admire in this plucky spirit of 

 devotion to truth for its own sake ; but 

 it is easy to make this transcendent 

 state of mind subservient to a very bad 

 utility. And, while we value great seats 

 of learning, which provide for the 

 devotees who pursue knowledge for the 

 love of it, we have to guard against the 

 prostitution of this idea to pernicious 

 ends in current education. For, while 

 the exceptional scholar may ignore the 

 practical and the beneficial, the mass of 

 mankind can not do so. They live in a 

 world of action and struggle, and have 

 minds to guide them in their labors and 

 conflicts. These minds require culti- 

 vation, that they may do their work 

 better. Knowledge is, therefore, for 

 guidance, and education for the more in- 

 telligent direction of the activities and 



