Pace Two 



EVOLUTION 



September, 1928 



The Proofs of Evolution 



By Henshaw Ward 



(An outline uj the proofs oj evolution will be presented in 

 three articles, oj which this is the first. The second article, 

 "What the Rocks and Geography Prove," ivill appear in October; 

 the third article, "What Structures and Embryos and Blood 

 Prove," will appear in November.) 



I. The Specialists Are Unanimous 



WHEN Darwin had worked for more than twenty 

 years on his theory of evolufion, he submitted the 

 evidence to three skeptical men in whom he had the 

 most confidence: tlie keenest anatomist, the most observ- 

 ant geologist, and the most 

 liard-boiled botanist in the 

 world. They examined the 

 evidence critically; each de- 

 cided that Darwin might be 

 wrong, but might be right. 

 Even if they could have got 

 together as a committee and 

 could have devoted their 

 time for a year to threshing 

 out tlie evidence, they would 

 not have been wise enough 

 lo announce a final verdict, 

 of Proved or Not Proved. 

 Henshaw Ward ^^ "lan was ever wise 



enough to judge a theory bv 

 merely using his own mind on the evidence. The most 

 acute mind has to wait to see what flaws other men will 

 find. Since scientists are all eager for fame, it is certain 

 that some of them will detect every weakness. As the 

 years go by, the judgment of specialists will crvstallize: 

 if the great majority of them vote no, the theory will 

 probably die; if all specialists finally vote yes, the 

 theory becomes a part of our common culture and is 

 taught in the colleges. Every theory has to run the 

 same merciless gauntlet. 



A good parallel to evolution is the astounding theory 

 that the earth moves around the sun. This is the weird- 

 est and most incredible idea that ever had to endure 

 the whipping and clubbing of the learned world. For 

 we can see the sun moving around us, and no eye will 

 ever behold directly the proof that we move around the 

 sun. During twenty centuries the theory of the earth's 

 motion was considered a comical guess. But it was 

 gaining favor in 1600. and had a majority vote by 1700. 

 So much new evidence for it came through lenses that 

 the astronomers had accepted it unanimously by 1800. 

 But of course many learned men in other lines re- 

 mained doubtful for a time. So late as 1850 there were 

 college professors in the United States who would have 

 preferred that this humiliating and atheistical theory of 

 a revolving earth should not be taught to their students. 

 So late as 1880 a colored orator of Richmond, Uncle 

 Jasper, was famous for his address, which he delivered 

 hundreds of limes, "The Sun Do Move." Leading white 

 men of Richmond testified to the mental ability and 

 high character of Uncle Jasper, though they found it 



hard to forgive his speechifying in favor of an antiquated 

 bil of theology. 



In 1860 the evolution theory seemed to most scholars 

 as comical as the theory of the earth's motion had once 

 seemed. They wrote thousands of articles and books 

 against it. In 1870 the ordinary educated man could 

 not tell whether evolution was going to live or die. 

 In 1880 he had to be dubious. By 1890 most of the 

 leading biologists and geologists had accepted evolution, 

 and it was entered in encyclopedias as a well-established 

 part of science. By 1920 no reputable biologist could be 

 found who doubted evolution. People who orate against 

 it in 1928 are just like Uncle Jasper — well-meaning men 

 who think by the standards of a past generation. 



The Uncle Jaspers of 1928 do not understand what 

 "a unanimous vote of specialists" means. They suppose 

 that scientific knowledge can still be debated by hashing 

 up ancient ignorance and spouting it eloquently. They 

 are not afraid to argue against atoms or disease-germs 

 or radio — against any part of science that is unanimously 

 accepted by the only men who know. An Uncle Jasper 

 tliinks that his own powerful mind is able, by itself, to 

 judge scientific evidence and decide pro or con. 



But the wisest man in the world cannot tell, from 

 mere reading of books, whether the earth does move or 

 microbes do cause scarlet fever. The evidence is highly 

 technical and complicated; the best expert might be 

 misled in its mazes. All that you and I can do is to see 

 a simple outline of the evidence and then resolve not 

 to be Uncle Jaspers holding out against a unanimous 

 decision of the specialists who devote their lives to study 

 of the question. 



So I have put this proof — the biggest and most im- 

 portant — at the beginning. It is the one that must be 

 our guide through the other proofs. No one of the 

 proofs that follow is convincing in itself. Each is just 

 a section of the whole mass of evidence. And the whole 

 mass would not be convincing if it were not for this 

 great fact: The combined proofs have been unanimously 

 accepted by specialists. 



II. What Breedtnc Proves 

 Evolution means to some people that "man is de- 

 scended from monkeys," but in science it means that 

 all forms of life have developed from simple^ncestors. 

 Darwin's studies began with the changes in plants and 

 animals; his conclusions about man came at the end 

 cf his reasoning. These articles will follow Darwin's 

 course and will begin with an experiment in plant- 

 breeding. 



For fourteen years the Inter-Coiiliiienlal Rubber Com- 

 pany has employed specialists to domesticate a rubber- 

 bearing shrub that grows in Mexico and Texas, "guayule" 

 (gwi-u-lay).* Great issues depend upon this breeding. 



See the admirable article by D. T. McDougall in the Scientific 

 American for July, 1928. 



