180 Outlook to Nature 



creation. Strictly speaking, evolution does not 

 attempt to explain creation, but only the prog- 

 ress of the creation. Whatever its form, it 

 begins where Genesis begins " In the begin- 

 ning, God." 



It will afford me much satisfaction to say 

 that some of the attempts of the theological 

 apologist to find a place for God in the 

 evolution scheme are the merest quibbles, I 

 have in mind a debate in which I once engaged. 

 He turns the leaves of Darwin or Huxley and 

 as often as he finds the word " plan " postulates 

 a planner, and if he finds " design " affirms a 

 designer. Now the fact is that these words 

 are borrowed from common language to express 

 ideas for which no plain technical words exist. 

 The naturalist uses the word "plan" to desig- 

 nate a type of structure, or a marked tendency 

 in any group, and "design" to indicate the 

 idea of a proximate or immediate interference 

 of the creator. Neither word has reference to 

 purposiveness. It would be as true to say 

 that when a naturalist uses the word "type," 

 he thereby postulates a type-setter. 



