3O EVOLUTION AND SOCIAL PROGRESS 



in their brief glory only to die down again to 

 ashen gloom. 



It is true that evolutionists have at times been 

 exceedingly materialistic. Yet the facts them- 

 selves, of science, where there is a question not of 

 preconceived prejudices or idle imaginings con- 

 fused with realities, have not the slightest logical 

 relation with the conclusions of materialism. This 

 can perhaps best be made plain at the very outset 

 by a very practical illustration. 



Of all the branches of science biology can claim 

 to be most intimately connected with the evidence 

 on which materialistic evolution should be based. 

 Yet in the case of the world's greatest biologists 

 down to the twentieth century, we find that 

 science has not in the least interfered with their 

 religious convictions or impressed them with the 

 need of accepting any form of materialism, 

 whether ancient or modern. In gathering the 

 names of the world's most eminent biologists, 

 deemed worthy of mention in the eleventh edition 

 of the "Encyclopedia Britannica," Professor 

 Menge happily indicated the various beliefs of 

 these men. 8 Fifteen were Catholics, nineteen be- 

 longed to other Christian denominations, eight 

 might be classed simply as "believers," six were 

 vitalists, accepting an imminent vital principle 

 which Christians would call a soul, and twenty- 

 seven only remained out of seventy-five, whose 



Edward J. Menge, "The Beginnings of Sciences," pp. 200, ff. 



