March. 1928 



EVOLUTION 



Pace Nine 



What Evolution Means to You 



By Maynard Shipley 



Maynard Shipley 



'T^HE evolution concept is not merely one of the grandest gen- 



eralizations of science; it is also of real practical significance, 



not only to the fathers and mothers of the children who must 



attend mu las-suppnrted schools, but also to every citizen in his 



ow-n right. It has an import- 

 ant beaiing, on every problem 

 lliat we have to face. 



At this point I can im- 

 agine some even of the read- 

 ers of Evolution saying to 

 themselves: "Well, I know 

 that evolution is an import- 

 ant scientific concept, and I 

 believe it should be taught 

 in our schools, but what do 

 1 personally care about it? 

 Evolution doesn't butter any 

 bread for me!"' 



Some months ago, as presi- 

 dent of the Science League 

 of America, I received a let- 

 ter from a very well-known 

 medical man who practises in one of the southern states. As a 

 graduate of one of our great medical colleges, he is, of course, 

 an evolutionist. But he expressed the opinion that it was not 

 necessary that our boys and girls should be taught biology — 

 the science of living beings. He did not claim that biology 

 could be properly taught with evolution left out; he knew, as 

 all real students of science know, that it could not. But he asked 

 if the time devoted to the natural sciences in our schools could 

 not, to better advantage, be given to some useful art or trade. 



But why the antithesis? Why not give at least a small part 

 oi the time to the science of healthful and enlightened living, 

 along with the art of making that living? Why devote all of a 

 pupil's time to business methods or business ethics or to learning 

 a trade — in short, to making money? Is money-making an end 

 in itself? Or is not the making of money merely a means to a 

 higher end — namely, the rounding out of a wholesome, comfort 

 able, helpful, sane, and beautiful life? 



Why, indeed, should not all boys and girls be taught at least 

 the elementary principles of biology and geology and astronomy 

 (all of which, I repeat, are dependent on evolution for their 

 proper understanding)? We teach them the best in literature, 

 something of the world they live in and its history, the easier 

 parts of mathematics, a little of art and music, perhaps some 

 foreign language: but too many of us think a boy or girl can be 

 "educated" who knows nothing whatever of the great basic foun- 

 dation of all modern life — science. 



Perhaps few would deny that we owe the best that modern 

 culture affords to "all the children of all the people." Tomorrow 

 lliey will be voters, who may be called upon to decide whether 

 biology and geology (which necessarily involve the processes of 

 evolution) shall be taught at all in twentieth-century America. 

 Above all, our children must learn that all contemporary in- 

 vestigation is firmly based upon the evolutionary concept, and 

 that this concept touches upon every phase of modern life — even 

 including personal hygiene and public health. 



Not only is the evolution concept necessary to a real under- 

 standing of the natural sciences, but it is essential in every 

 branch of human welfare — in plant and animal industry, in 

 medicine, surgery, geology, zoology, psychology, human origins, 

 child study, criminology and penology — in short, in every depart- 

 ment of human knowledge. The great progress of. applied 

 science today in America is entirely dependent for its continued 



growth on freedom in pure science. If you destro) the root, 

 the tree will fall. 



Among the most treasured books in my library is a work by 

 Charles Darwin — a volume which was used for a period of 

 thirty-five years by that greatest of experimental horticulturists, 

 the lamented Luther Burbank. It was because of his close study 

 of the works of the immortal Darwin that he was able to give 

 to the world not only hundreds of new flowering plants of un- 

 excelled beauty, but also new fruits, vegetables, and cereals 

 which have added hundreds of millions of dollars to the value 

 of products of the soil. 



It is obviously the duty of all who appreciate the patient and 

 painstaking workers in field and laboratory, to aid in the pro- 

 tection of freedom in research and instruction. It would be 

 humiliating, indeed, to be a citizen of a state or country where 

 science was shackled and despised; but, more important still, 

 it would also be dangerous to public health and welfare. 



It has well been said that "if there is any method of insuring 

 that wnat is taught is true, better than that of giving investigat- 

 ors and teachers the utmost freedom to discover and proclaim 

 the truth as they see it, that method has never been discovered. 

 If those who know most about a subject sometimes decide 

 wrongly, matters are not likely to be mended by putting the 

 decision into the hands of those who know less." 



While it is well known that not one living biologist, geo- 

 logist, botanist, zoologist, palaeontologist, or anthropologist, of 

 recognized standing in his profession, anywhere in the civilized 

 world, doubts that things came to be what they are found to be, 

 by a process of evolution — of orderly change under immutable 

 natural laws — nevertheless, what the friends of science are really 

 supporting (or trying to protect) is not so much this unanimous 

 conclusion of the scientists, as the validity of the method on 

 which it is based, the method of science, and the moral right and 

 duty of the workers in field and laboratory to make known to the 

 students in our tax-supported educational institutions the full 

 results of their researches. Science commands our respect, not 

 on the basis that its present conclusions are absolutely and for 

 all time true, but on the ground that its method is for all time 

 true — the method, not of tradition or revelation or authority, but 

 of discovery, careful observation, research, experimentation, com- 

 parison, testing, analysis, sjTithesis. We want to know, not what 

 somebody said that someone else said, many centuries ago, per- 

 haps, but, precisely: "What are the present facts in the case?" 

 These facts, as fast as discovered, must be set in order, then 

 interpreted or accounted for; not in accordance with tradition 

 or unsupported logic, but in accordance with all the knowledge 

 at the moment available. Our boys and girls are entitled to the 

 full benefits of this method — the method of science. 



We sometimes hear it said, "But scientists change their con- 

 clusions; what the pupil learns today may be invalidated to- 

 morrow." To a certain — and a very limited — extent this may be 

 true; in other words, science is not static, but grows as more 

 and more is found out by research. But once the pupil has been 

 thoroughly grounded in the scientific method and attitude, these 

 changes will only add to his knowledge as they are revealed 

 to him. He has hold of the basic principle, and is prepared to 

 receive and understand each new discovery as it is made, and 

 each new conclusion as it is formulated. A generation educated 

 in even the most elementary principles of science would find 

 this world a far more interesting, more healthful, and more 

 reasonable place to live in, than one where the inhabitants had 

 grown up in ignorance of this foundation of all progress. 



Evolution is the one and only scientific conception which 

 "serves to give unity and direct ion to the study of human 

 culture as a whole." 



