MISCONCEPTIONS OF THEORY. 215 



These are questions which are frequently asked, 

 and that press themselves upon even the most su- 

 perficial reader. Are they insoluble? Must they 

 be relegated forever to the domain of paradox and 

 mystery, or is there even a partial explanation to be 

 offered for such clashing opinions and such glaring 

 contradictions ? With all due deference to the judg- 

 ment of those who see nothing good in Evolution, 

 nothing which must not incontinently be con- 

 demned as false and iniquitous, I think that the 

 enigma may be solved, and that it may be shown 

 that the contradictions, as is usually the case in such 

 matters, are due mostly, if not wholly, to an ignoratio 

 elenchi, a misapprehension of terms, or to a delibe- 

 rate intention of exploiting a pet theory at the ex- 

 pense of religion and Dogma, which are ostenta- 

 tiously repudiated as based on superstition and 

 falsehood. 



The two words most frequently misunderstood 

 and misemployed are " creation " and " nature." 

 They are of constant occurrence in all scientific 

 treatises, but no one who is not familiar with the 

 writings of modern evolutionists has any conception 

 of the extent to which these terms are misapplied. 

 For this reason, therefore, it is well, before proceed- 

 ing further, briefly to indicate the meaning which 

 Catholic theology attaches to these much-abused 

 words. 



Materialism and Dualism. 



From the earliest times, the dogma of creation 

 has been a stumbling-block to certain students of 



