8 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. ~ 
ment, by means of natural selection, was hailed with delight 
as the explanation so long. hoped for. But, in truth, the 
pantheistic argument was completely destroyed by the estab- 
lishment of the theory of evolution, which showed that the 
Universe was not eternal, and that progress, not repetition, 
was the law under which it existed. 
The change thus brought about was sudden and perplex- 
ing, and some very able men could not see their way clearly. 
So they called themselves Agnostics, thinking that no well- 
established beliefs on theological questions were possible to 
the impartial investigator. If this had been correct, it 
would have been a fatal objection to the claim, which was at 
the same time being made, that science should be included 
in general education. Fortunately, broader and more sen- 
sible views have prevailed, and it is no longer considered 
that a scientific man must necessarily be an Agnostic. 
An OUTLINE OF EVOLUTION. 
Let me now give you an outline of this theory, which 
wrought such a momentous change. 
The idea of evolution originated with the Greeks. but only 
as a speculation, which led to nothing ; and its scientific his- 
tory may be said to commence in the early part of the last 
century, when the practically new theory of the origin of 
species by gradual development was proposed By Lamarck. 
This theory was at first discredited for lack of evidence , 
but it was developed and demonstrated by C. Darwin in the 
middle of the century. About the same time, it was pointed 
out by Lord Kelvin that not only was the sun cooling, but 
that all kinds of energy, when converted into heat, lost a 
portion by radiation into space, and that ‘this process must 
go on until the whole universe was of a uniform tempera- 
ture. So that, although the amount of energy in the Uni- 
verse remains unalterable, it will, by re-distribution, be 
brought into the potential state, and thus, when every pos- 
sible action is counterbalanced by other actions, energy will 
practically disappear. 
From this theory of “dissipation of energy,” it follows 
that, as the earth is cooling, life cannot go on for ever; and 
also that at some former time the earth must have been too 
hot for the existence of protoplasm. Consequently, life can 
only have a limited existence on the earth. It must have 
had a beginning, and must come to an end. 
But the inference extended further. Not only living 
beings, but even the whole Solar System, must have had a 
beginning. not indefinitely remote; because most of its mem. 
