March. 1928 



EVOLUTION 



Pack Thirteen 



A Greater Danger Than Evolution some good books 



By Cleveland Sylvester Simkins 



A FAR greater danger to the established 

 dogmas of religious intoleration than 

 evolution lies in the chemical analysis of 

 the phenomena of life. This field is new 

 and the startling discoveries already made 

 are quite unintelligible to the censoring 

 angels of American morals, education and 

 the Statue of Liberty. Just now the 

 fundamentalists are awakening to the 

 somnambulant delusion that Darwin and 

 Nietzsche are responsible for the doctrine 

 of evolution, sixty-five years after the ap- 

 pearance of the "Origin of Species", and 

 three thousand after the first hint of an 

 evolutionary process, hence it may be rea- 

 sonable to predict that a hundred years 

 more and we shall be forbidden to ex- 

 periment upon the living cell because it 

 writes the chemical formula of the soul 

 and proves that life is a physio-chemical 

 process. 



This myriad I, composed of units be- 

 low the range of naked vision, labors to 

 produce my individuality from fertilization 

 to the grave. Even Christ was wrong for 

 the lilies of the field toil and spin, though 

 rooted to the spot. We die, so does the 

 lily of the field, but the chemical sub- 

 stances and physical forces undergo their 

 transformations even after death; perhaps 

 they pause, but rather does it seem as if 

 they rise again to keep the living things 

 upon the earth potentially immortal. Each 

 living cell possesses that capacity of po- 

 tential immortality, for if isolated, fed 

 and warmed and watered it will live on 

 and on as an independent unit outside the 

 body that nourished and differentiated it. 

 The isolated cell respires, it breathes, re- 

 sponds to stimuli, conducts an electric cur- 

 rent with varying intenshy according to 

 the condition of its vitality. I may slowly 

 kill the cell and in its lingering death de- 

 termine that the amount of carbon dioxide 

 given off slowly falls as death o'er takes 

 it, but never falls to zero. The electrical 

 resistance decreases to the point of death, 

 but never does it cease completely. Hence 

 the process of death, of vitality and re- 

 activity presents mechanisms that can be 

 measured and investigated by accurate 

 means. The mechanism of life and death 

 contains no vital principle, no elan vital, 

 no spiritual power nor mystic source of 

 energy beyond the ken of man's intelli- 

 gence or the penetration of his dissecting 

 needle. 



Those pioneer investigators who have 

 progressed so far into the seemingly un- 

 knowable things of life, have passed be- 

 yond the outposts set up by evolution and 

 boldly explore a new and IVrlile field, half 

 hid from the eyes of the world. We are 

 unprovoked by the searchers for the Holy 

 Grail, because they know not what we do. 



Stop us from teaching evolution if you 

 will, that lies behind us, it cannot be 

 eradicated nor beaten from the minds of 

 scholars; naught can avail from its sup- 



pression for we shall turn to deadlier 

 weapons still, since they are already in 

 our hands. 



OTHER WORLDS, By O. J. Schuster, 

 The Christopher Publishing House, 

 Boston, $1.50. 



Good popularizations of science always 

 delight me and I have been having a par- 

 ticularly good time reading Schuster's 

 "Other Worlds", there being only one 

 little fly in the ointment. The facts of 

 general astronomy are correctly stated and 

 could hardly be more condensed, yet his 

 way of putting it all is so pleasantly lucid 

 that one gels no impression of condensa- 

 tion. One takes brief, vivid journeys to 

 strategic points on the earth, to the moon, 

 sun and planets and finally a round trip 

 of the high spots of the universe, travel- 

 ling when necessary with the speed of 

 light. Astronomy has always had a pop- 

 ular appeal, but the author has done so 

 very well that e\en the long familiar sub- 

 ject becomes freshly marvelous. 



There is just the remotest hint in the 

 foreword that the author intends to re- 

 peat his performance in other fields of 

 science. I hope so and invite him to. 

 He has the knack and sticks to the facts 

 — which ai^e wonderful enough — so he 

 qualifies fully by my standards. 



But I have a complaint when he takes 

 us aboard his "Magic Ship Mintaka". Hu- 

 man beings do not like to be patronized, 

 and this device strikes me as distinctly 

 patronizing. I dare say the trouble is 

 that he really does nothing with it when 

 he has created it. Had he romanced with 

 it like a Jules Verne, I am sure I would 

 have been satisfied. Had he introduced 

 us to its mechanism, taught us to operate 

 it, and had thrilling accidents happen to 

 it, then one could be satisfied. But to go 

 aboard a ''magic ship," which he did not 

 even picture, and then not to be permit- 

 ted to run the dam thing, is quite too 

 much. Wlien I go on his next trip, 7 

 hope the old boat sinks. But in spite of 

 it, this was a great trip. 



A. S. B. 



HONORS FOR FEBRUARY 



The honors for the best sale during Feb- 

 ruary again go to R. Walsh of the Little 

 Blue Book Shop, 3441 Woodward Avenue, 

 Detroit, with 200 copies. Who'll beat this 

 for March? 



TCpVERY reader of Evolution is of 

 course also a reader of books. We 

 recommend the following in their respec- 

 tive fields. 



We shall also be glad to supply any 

 other books at regular pulishers price. 



The commission we receive on book 

 sales will help to broadcast Evolution, 

 but we'll share it with you. 



In combination with a one year sub- 

 scription for Evolution at one dollar, you 

 may deduct $1.00 on an order of over $5.00, 



EVOLUTION BOOK SERVICE 

 96 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. 

 Send the items checked to undersigned: 



MY HERESY: Bishop William Mont- 

 gomery Brown _ $2.00 



WAR ON MODERN SCIENCE: May- 

 nard Shipley 3.00 



THE HIGHER FOOLISHNESS: 

 David Starr Jordan _ 2-50 



EVOLUTION FOR JOHN DOE: Hen- 

 shaw Ward 3.50 



CIRCUS OF THE INTELLECT: 

 Henshaw Ward -.., _ 3.50 



EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE: 



Henshaw Ward - _.._ 3.50 



DARWIN, THE MAN AND HIS 

 WARFARE: Henshaw Ward 5.00 



CONCERNING MAN'S ORIGIN: Sir 

 Arthur Keith 2.00 



ORIGIN OF BIRDS: Gerhard Heil- 

 man 7.50 



OTHER WORLDS: O. J. Schuster 1.50 



THE WAYS OF LIFE: Richard 

 Swan Lull 3.00 



IHE HUMAN BODY: Logan Glen- 

 den ing 5.00 



HISTORY or WARFARE OF 

 SCIENCE WITH THEOLOGY 

 White (2 volumes) 6.00 



OUTLINE OF MAN'S KNOWL- 

 EDGE: Clement Wood 5.00 



SCIENCE VERSUS DOGMA: 



Charles T. Sprading _ _ 1.50 



MICROBE HUNTERS: Paul de Kruif 3.50 



WHY WE BEHAVE LIKE HUMAN 

 BEINGS: George A. Dorsey- 3.50 



THE NATURE OF MAN: Dorsey „ 1.00 



MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE: 



Thnma.s Huxlev 1.10 



ORIGIN OF SPECIES: Darwin 1.25 



CREATION : NON - EVOLUTION- 

 ARY THEORIES: Edwin Tenney 

 Brewster 3.50 



CHIMPANZEE INTELLIGENCE: 

 Yerkes and Leonard _ 1.50 



MENTALITY OF APES: Koehler 3.00 



ALMOST HUMAN: Robert Yerkes..._ 3.00 



ORGANIC EVOLUTION: Lull 3.40 



RIDDLE OF THE UNIVERSE: 

 Haeckel 2.50 



EVOLUTION: Monthly, One Year, $1.00 



(Write VERY plainly) 



Amount enclosed $ 



Fuming Fundamentalist (orating) : ""Do 

 I look as though I descended from a 

 monkey? Do I?" 



Back Seat Wan: "You don't, Mister, 

 for a fact. Tell us how it happened!" 



Name 

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& No. .. 

 City & 



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