362 E VOL U TION A ND DOGMA . 



reject, as contrary to Christian faith, or as contrary 

 to revealed truth, the hypothesis of Mivart ; the 

 hypothesis, namely, which admits the possibility 

 that the body of the first man, the organism which 

 received the rational soul created by God and in- 

 fused into Adam, was a body which received an 

 organization suitable for the reception of the human 

 soul, not directly and immediately from the hand of 

 God, but in virtue of the action of other antecedent 

 animated beings, more or less perfect and similar to 

 man in bodily structure." Elsewhere he declares : 

 " I should not permit myself to censure the opinion 

 of the English theologian so long as it is respected, 

 or at least tolerated, by the Church, the sole judge 

 competent to fix and qualify theologico-dogmatic 

 propositions, and decide regarding their compatibil- 

 ity or incompatibility with Holy Scripture." * 



1 " La Bibliay la Ciencia," torn, i, pp. 549-550. 



2 " No sere yo quien se permita calificar con nota alguna 

 desfavorable la opinion del teologo Ingles, mientras que sea respet- 

 ada, 6 tolerada al menos, por la Iglesia, unico juez competente 

 para fijar y calificar las aserciones teologico-dogmaticas, y para 

 decidir acerca de su compatibilidad e incompatibilidad con la 

 Sagrada Escritura." Op. cit., torn, i, pp. 542-543. Cf., also, the 

 interesting brochure of Fr. Dierck's, S. J., entitled " L'Homme- 

 Singe et Les Precurseurs d'Adam en face de la Science et de la 

 Theologie." The accomplished Jesuit discusses the question at 

 issue in a most temperate and scholarly manner, and does 

 ample justice to the claims of science as well as to those of 

 Dogma. 



Mgr. d'Hulst, the distinguished rector of the Catholic Uni- 

 versity of Paris, is of opinion "que 1'orthodoxie rigoureuse n'im- 

 pose d'autre limite aux hypotheses transformistes, que le dogme 

 de la creation immediate de chaque ame humaine par Dieu ; 

 hors de la, s'ily a des temerites dans ces hypotheses, c'est par 

 des arguments scientifiques qu'il faut les combattre." Compte 

 Rendu du Congres Scientifique International des Catholiques, 

 tenu a Paris, 1891, Section d'Anthropologie, p. 213. In a care- 

 fully prepared paper, read before the International Catholic 



