MODERN EVOLUTION. 



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vapours of seemingly simple texture, interested 

 people only in a vague and wondering fashion. 

 But when Darwin illustrated the theory of the modi- 

 fication of life-forms by familiar examples gathered 

 from his own experiments and observations, and from 

 intercourse with breeders of pigeons, horses, and 

 dogs, this went to men's " business and bosoms," 

 and if the vulgar interpreted Darwinism, as some, 

 who should know better, interpret it even now, as 

 explaining man's descent from a monkey, or how a 

 bear became a whale by taking to swimming, the 

 thoughtful accepted it as a master-key unlocking not 

 the mystery of origins or of causes of variations, 

 but the mystery of the ceaselessly-acting agent 

 which, operating on favourable variations, has 

 brought about myriads of species from simple forms. 

 As Huxley reminds us in the passage quoted 

 above, the attitude of the clergy toward the theory 

 of Evolution has undergone an astounding change. 

 Dr. Whewell remarked that every great discovery in 

 science has had to pass through three stages. First, 

 people said, " It is absurd " ; then they said, " It is 

 contrary to the Bible " ; finally, they said, " We 

 always knew that it was so." Thus it has been with 

 Evolution. It is calmly discussed; even claimed as 

 a " defender of the faith," at Church Congresses now- 

 adays. It was not so in the sixties. Here and there 

 a single voice was raised in qualified sympathy 

 Charles Kingsley showed more than this but both 

 in the Old and the New World the " drum ecclesias- 



