74 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



constitution as living matter. Liquid as it is, it is a 

 living liquid ; organless and structureless as it is, it 

 manifests the essential phenomena of life." 



The above quotation is made from the Address of 

 the President of the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, delivered at Sheffield, August 20, 

 1879. It will be seen by the teachings of Mr. All- 

 man, the speaker, that the disciples of Darwin and 

 the champions of evolution believe in spontaneous 

 generation, and that they start life by an irritating 

 " stimulus," acting upon an albuminous slime which 

 is organizable yet not organized. 



Mr. Darwin, as previously stated, adopted the 

 leading features of Lamarck's doctrine, making of them 

 a warp into which were ingeniously woven his own 

 ideas in regard to organic succession upon earth. 

 Spontaneous generation was assumed, and lower forms 

 of organic beings were transmuted into higher grades, 

 the motive power in the elevating scheme consisting 

 of pure selfishness, though called " natural selection," 

 " struggle for existence," " survival of the fittest," etc. 

 Every individual, high or low, looks out for itself, sur- 

 rounding hostilities compelling each organization to 

 exert itself for self-preservation. Although taught 

 in childhood that greedy selfishness is a sin, in study- 

 ing Darwinism we see why the peccant humor is so 

 prevalent in the human race. If every organism, 

 from monad to man, has maintained existence and 

 vital continuance through the cultivation of selfish- 

 ness, it is no wonder self interest controls the attention 

 of mankind. 



Well, however chimerical the spontaneous gen- 

 eration theory may be, and however unreasonable 

 transmutation hypotheses may seem, Darwin, Huxley, 



