REFLECTIONS AND CONCLUSION. 425 



Eminent Catholics on Evolution. 



Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, Cuvier's great rival, and a 

 man of profound religious sentiments, looked upon 

 the succession of species, as disclosed by Evolution, 

 as " one of the most glorious manifestations of crea- 

 tive power, and a fresh motive for admiration and 

 love." The noted Belgian geologist, D'Omalius 

 d'Halloy, as distinguished for his loyalty to the_ 

 Church as for his eminence in science, declares : " It j 

 appears to me much more probable and more con- I 

 formable to the eminent wisdom of the Creator, to / 

 admit that, just as He has given to living beings the ( 

 faculty of reproducing themselves, so, likewise, has \ 

 He endowed them with the power of modifying j 

 themselves according to circumstances, a phenome-x 

 non of which nature affords us examples even at 

 present." ' 



1 " Sur Le Transform ism e," Bulletin de 1' Academic Royale 

 de Belgique, 1873, tire a part, p. 5. 



The illustrious paleontologist, M. Albert Gaudry, a member 

 of the French Institute and a devoted son of the Church, in 

 speaking of the plan of creation, "ou 1'fitre Infini a mis 1'em- 

 preinte de son unite," expresses himself as follows: "Les pale- 

 ontologistes ne sont pas d'accord sur la maniere dont ce plan a 

 etc realise ; plusieurs, considerant les nombreuses lacunes qui ex- 

 istent encore dans la serie des fitres, croient a 1'independance des 

 especes, et admettent que 1'Auteurdu monde a fait apparaitre 

 tour a tour les plantes et les animaux des temps geologiques de 

 maniere a simuler la filiation qui est dans sa per.see ; d'autres 

 savants, frappe"s, au contraire, de la rapidite avec laquelle les 

 lacunes diminuent, supposent que la filiation a ete realise mate- 

 riellement, et que Dieu a produit les etres des diverses e"poques 

 en les tirant de ceux qui les avaient precedes. Cette derniere 

 Jivpothese est celle que je preferc; mat's qu'on radopte, ou qifon ne 

 1'adopte pas, ce qui me parait bien certain c 1 est qu'tl y a eu un 

 plan. Un jour viendra sans doute ou les paleontologistes pour- 

 rontsaisir le plan qui a preside au deVeloppement de la vie. Ce 

 sera la un beau jour pour eux, car, s'il y a tant de magnifi- 

 cence dans les details de la nature, il ne doit pas y en avoir 



