xxii E VOL U TION A ND D OGMA . 



science, than in his two masterly encyclicals 

 " jEterni Patris " and " Providentissimus Deus." In 

 these noble utterances both the clergy and the laity 

 are stimulated to take an active part in the contest 

 which is everywhere so furious ; " to repulse hostile 

 assaults," and that, too, by " modern methods of 

 attack," and by " turning the arms of a perverted 

 science into weapons of defense." He tells us 

 that " a knowledge of natural science will be of 

 very great assistance in detecting attacks on the 

 Sacred Books and in refuting them." For " attacks 

 of this kind," the venerable Pontiff remarks, " bear- 

 ing as they do on matters of sensible experience, 

 are peculiarly dangerous both to the masses and 

 also to the young who are beginning their literary 

 studies." 



In reading these precious documents one would 

 almost think that the Holy Father had in mind the 

 manifold materialistic hypotheses, so dangerous to 

 the faith of the uninstructed, which have grouped 

 themselves around the much-abused theory of con- 

 temporary Evolution. For, is it not a matter of 

 daily observation and experience, that there is an in- 

 creasing number of pious but timid souls who are 

 sorely distressed by doubts which have been occa- 

 sioned by the current theories of Transformism ? 

 They imagine, because it is continually dinned into 



1 "Quoniam igitur tantum ii possunt religioni importare 

 commodi, quibus cum catholicae professionis gratia felicem indol- 

 em ingenii benignum numen impertiit ; ideo in hac acerrima agi- 

 tatione studiorum, qua Scripturas quoquo modoattingunt, aptum 

 sibi quisque eligant studii genus, in quo aliquando excellentes 

 obiecta in illas improbse scientiae tela, non sine gloria, repellant." 

 From the encyclical " Providentissimus Deus." 



