CONTROVERST AND PROGRESS. 75 



dent to all those who place facts above hypotheses 

 and prejudices, that spontaneous generation, as well 

 as the transformation of species, does not exist, at 

 least if we only consider the present epoch. We 

 are leaving the domain of science if we take our 

 arms from anterior epochs. We cannot accept any- 

 thing as a fact which is not capable of proof." ' 



At the present day, among men of science, evolu- 

 tionists outnumber creationists fully as much as the 

 latter outnumbered the former a half century ago. 

 It is only rarely that we meet a scientist who does 

 not profess Evolution of some form or other, or who 

 does not at least think that the older views regard- 

 ing creation and the origin of species must be materi- 

 ally modified in order to harmonize with the latest 

 conclusions of science. 



No Via Media Possible. 



All the lines of thought which we have been 

 following converge, then, as has already been ob- 

 served, towards one point the origin, or rather the 

 genesis, of species, and their succession and distribu- 

 tion in space and time. Between the two theories, 

 that of creation and that of Evolution, the lines 

 are drawn tautly, and one or the other theory must 

 be accepted by all who make any pretensions intelli- 

 gently to discuss the subject. No compromise, no 

 via media, is possible. We must needs be either 

 creationists or evolutionists. We cannot be both. 



a la verite." " Compte Rendu," Section d' Anthropologie, p. 305. 

 Cf. also "Probleme de la Vie," pp. 175-178, by the Marquis de 

 Nadaillac. 



1 Van Beneden's "Animal Parasites and Messmates," p. 106. 



