DARWIN AND DARWINISM 79 



questions so that his ignorance of such matters 

 was often nai ve, to say the least, as when he 

 asked if his own nose was designed! To which 

 Dr. Thomas Dwight replies : 



A foolish speech by the way, and quite unworthy of him. As 

 well ask whether the rings spreading over the water from 

 a falling stone are designed. They are formed in accordance 

 with certain physical laws. They vary with the size of the 

 stone, and the height from which it descends. They vary also 

 with the depth of the water, with its condition, whether it be 

 at rest or flowing, and whether it be on a calm or windy day. 

 In the same way the shape of a person s features depends first 

 on the laws of generation, modified by those of heredity and 

 probably by others of which we know next to nothing, such as 

 the influence of surroundings. Moreover, many circumstances 

 during childhood, such as healtn, climate, mode of life, must 

 be counted. Design, it seems to me, is implied by the very fact 

 of the establishment of those laws* 



Yet Darwin obviously admits, in the passage 

 quoted above, the need of what Lyell calls &quot;the 

 old Creation/ &quot; though explained in a new way, 

 and is forced also to accept, as the only alterna 

 tive to an impossible blind chance, the truth of 

 Lord Kelvin s words that: &quot;science positively af 

 firms creative and directive power,&quot; in as far as 

 the denial of this would lead to what Darwin 

 realized to be a preposterous assumption against 

 which &quot;the understanding revolts.&quot; 

 ^ We do not, of course, accept his conclusions 

 regarding the origin of man, but that is another 

 chapter. Nor is there any desire here to explain 



&quot;&quot;Thoughts of a Catholic Anatomist/ pp. 98, 99. 



