A House of Cards. 79 



evolution consists/' he tells us, "not in an 

 experimental demonstration (for the subject is 

 hardly accessible to this mode of proof), but in 

 its general harmony with scientific thought." l 

 " Scientific thought," however, can only mean 

 "the aggregate thoughts of scientific men;" 

 and with these thoughts it is most certain that 

 this doctrine of Evolution is not in harmony. 

 Mr. Darwin, with his usual candour, writes as 

 recently as 1871, "Of the older and honoured 

 chiefs in natural science, many unfortunately 

 are still opposed to Evolution in every form." * 

 Since that date it is certain that, on the con- 

 tinent at least, the doctrine has been met by 

 many distinguished botanists and zoologists with 

 growing disfavour. To the same purpose is 

 the still more recent admission of Professor 

 Tyndall : " Our foes are to some extent they 

 of our own household, including not only the 

 ignorant and the passionate, but a minority 

 of minds of high calibre and culture, lovers of 

 freedom, moreover, who, though its objective 

 hull be riddled by logic, still find the ethic life 

 of their religion unimpaired." 3 



But even if this were not the case, it would 



1 " Belfast Address," p. 58. 



* " Descent of Man," p. 2. 



* "Materialism and its Opponents," ut sup. t p. 597. 



