THE CONFLICT OF SCIENCE 107 



natural law. Man is not different from the rest. 

 The story of Eden is a fabrication, bequeathed to 

 us by our well-meaning but dimly-lighted ancestors. 

 There has been no more miracle in the origin of 

 the human species than in the origin of any other 

 species. And there is no more miracle in the origin 

 of a species than there is in the birth of a molecule 

 or in the breaking of a tired wave on the beach. 

 Man was not made in the image of the hypothetical 

 creator of heaven and earth, but in the image of 

 the ape. Man is not a fallen god, but a pro- \ I I (/ 

 moted reptile. The beings around him are not | 

 conveniences, but cousins. Instead of stretching 

 away to the stars, man's pedigree slinks down into 

 the sea. Horrible revelation ! Frightful anti- 

 thesis ! Instead of celestial genesis and a ' fall ' 

 long and doleful promotion. Instead of elysian 

 gardens and romance the slime. Instead of a 

 god with royal nostrils miraculously animating an 

 immortal duplicate a little lounging cellule, too 

 small to be seen and too senseless to distinguish 

 between midnight and noon. But the situation is 

 not half so horrible as it looks to be to those who 

 see only the skin of things. Is it not better, after 

 all, to be the honourable outcome of a straight- 

 forward evolution than the offspring of flunky- 

 loving celestials ? Are the illustrious children of 

 the ape less glorious than the sycophants of 

 irrational theological systems? Darwin dealt in 

 his quiet way some malicious blows to human 

 conceit, but he also bequeathed to a misguided 

 world the elements of its ultimate redemption. 



