CHAPTER VI 



EVOLUTION AND FAITH 



OVER the doorway of Professor Haeck- 

 el's lecture room In Jena stands the 

 motto: Impavidi progrediamiir (" Let 

 us go forward without fear"). Every upward 

 step in evolution has been, and always must be, 

 an experiment concerning whose success more 

 or less doubt is inevitable. Would muscles or 

 larger digestive organs pay better in primitive 

 worms? Was the internal skeleton of the primi- 

 tive vertebrate or the flexible mail-coat of crab 

 and insect the wiser Investment? Only time 

 could tell. The problem had to be solved by 

 experiment. But the experiment lasted through 

 ages, and the solution was long delayed. 



But long and patient waiting and delay in the 

 solution of the problem are not the only or the 

 greatest objection and difficulty which the fittest 

 have to face. It Is evident that they cannot hope 

 to reap during their lifetime any large share of 

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