Man in the Light of Evolution 



argument. The facts of geographical distribu- 

 tion all point in the same direction. Mr. Dar- 

 win gave a firm scientific basis to the old meta- 

 physical theory of evolution. 



The theory has been considered by some as 

 harsh and cruel because it is based upon the 

 struggle for existence. The struggle for exist- 

 ence, the battle and carnage in nature, is a fact, 

 explain it how you will. The believer in im- 

 mediate creation of species had to face the fact 

 that hosts of carnivorous forms throughout the 

 animal kingdom preyed upon their weaker fel- 

 lows. He believed that all life on the globe, 

 good and bad alike, had been repeatedly com- 

 pletely exterminated by convulsions of nature. 

 He had seen eveiywhere proof of extinction of 

 species independent of these convulsions. The 

 evolutionist sees good coming from all these 

 processes. The believer in immediate creation 

 had no explanation to offer. 



Life always has been, and always must be, an 

 experiment. The animal had to feel its way to 

 higher structure. At every stage thousands of 

 experiments had to be tried before the next 

 higher stage was successfully attained. Most of 

 the experiments failed or were only partially 



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