65 



SO.MK CIKSSKS l!V AX K I .\( »KA.M I S. 



RoiSKltT W. ;\I(I'.llll)K 



Tlic ;(\('r:iiic iiiiiii of science, \\lieii lie lic;ir^ I hi- |i:i|)ei- re;Hl. is lil<e!y 

 to exclaim with I'lipe.- -ImuiIs lusli in where aniiels leiir t.i I read". I 

 frankly confess myself an ij-'neramdiis as lo matters of scionco. I can claim 

 only such superficial Icnowledsjre of matters that are conunonly classed as 

 scientific, as may be ac(iuire<l by any busy professional man wiio thinks, 

 and whose tlion.uhts carry him beyond the lioundaries of liis own jtrofession. 

 We are surrounded by mattei-s clothed in myst(>i-y. To tlie man who thinks, 

 thei'e is nothing more fasciiialiiiir than ;i study of these mysteries. We 

 \\;int "to see the wheels j^o round". ;ind lo learn what makes them .no. As 

 .•I i;-eneial tliiii.i:. liowevei'. our tiiinkinj: can'l carry us very far. We lind llic 

 prcitleiiis ll(■r|lie.\in'^^ and we are cnnleiil to leave their solution to men of 

 science, and are jii-one to a((ept llieii- explanations as liie average ortliodox 

 churchman lakes his tlie)lo<iy. — on I'aiiii. ( >ccasi(iuaily. however, we find 

 heterodoxy in matters of science, as well ;!< in malters of theology. Some- 

 how some of the explanations do not seem to explain. F<u' instance. — ^tlie 

 attempts of science to explain the problems ri'lating to life and evolution 

 fail to satisfy me. This of course may lie due to my ignorance, and to my 

 inability to comprehend. Still an ignoramus may have ideas, and though 

 his ideas may he wide of the mark, may there not be times when even 

 ignorance stumbles onto a truth? 



All ;ibont us are living things, hut what is it that nuikes them liveV What 

 is life? All about us are different types of living things, Imt what is the 

 cause of the difference? Were they all different from the beginning, or did 

 they all begin alike, and have the differences resulted from causes operat- 

 ing since they began? Has man always beini man, or did he begin as 

 something else? 



I am encoura,ged to make some suggestions concerning these matters, 

 because as to life science gives no satisfactory answer, and as to evolution 

 many things are advanced that are confessedly mere guess work. When 

 men of science attempt to tell what life is. their answers remind one of 

 the Lord's answer to Job in the whirlwind. — ''Who is this tliat darkeneth 

 counsel by words without knowledge?" As a rule, they u.se a multitude of 

 words and end with a guess. Two of tb(> latest pronouncements that have 

 come to my knowledge ;ire by Sir (Miver Lodge an<l our own Edison. Sir 

 Oliver Lodge, in one of his latest published utt(U-anc(-s. says: 



"To show that the living princiide in -a seed is not one of the forms 

 of energy, it is sufficient to remember that that seed can give rise to 

 innumerable descendants throu.i,di countless .treuerations without 

 limit. It is nothing like a constant iiuanlily of something to be 

 shared, as there is in all examples of energy. 'I'here is no conserva- 

 tion about it. The end embodies a stimulating and oi-ganizing iirin- 

 ciple which appears to well from a limitless source." 



In a recent issue of the Seientilic American. I lind an interviev*- with 

 Edison, who says that — 



