ORGANIC EVOLUTION 73 



The whole universe, or as much of it as can be 

 examined by terrestrial instruments, has probably 

 evolved out of the same primordial matters. The 

 organic part of the earth has evolved, therefore, 

 and is destined to continue to evolve, because it 

 is a part of a whole whose habit or ambition it is 

 to evolve. 



The evidence is overwhelming. The theory of 

 organic evolution is sustained by a mass of facts 

 not less authoritative and convincing than that 

 which supports the Copernican theory of the 

 worlds. Evolution is, in fact, a doctrine so 

 apparent that it only needs to be honestly and 

 intelligently looked into to be accepted unre- 

 servedly. It is, indeed, more than a doctrine. It 

 is a known fact. It is a necessary effect of the 

 conditions known to exist among the animals and 

 plants of the earth. If beings vary among them- 

 selves generation after generation, if only the 

 fittest of each generation survive, and if the sur- 

 vivors tend to transmit to their offspring the 

 qualities of their superiority (and the animals and 

 plants of the earth are known to do continually 

 all of these things), then it follows with mathe- 

 matical certainty that evolution is going on, and 

 that it will continue to go on as long as these 

 conditions continue. It is inevitable. It could 

 not be otherwise. We would know that evolution 

 were going on among organisms where these con- 

 ditions existed, even though we had never ob- 

 served it. 



The boldest and most enthusiastic opponents oi 



