WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT. 73 



protoplasm, it can not take the form of any creature we 

 know. An organism fresh from the mint of creation 

 would be too small for us to see with any microscope. 

 It would be too simple for us to trace by any instru- 

 mentality now in our possession. It could contain but 

 a few molecules, and a molecule in a drop of water is as 

 small as an orange beside the sun. Such a race of crea- 

 tures, spontaneously generated, without concessions to 

 environment, would grow hoary with the centuries be- 

 fore it came to our notice. Its descendants would have 

 belonged for ages to the unnumbered hosts of microbes 

 before we should be aware of its creation. 



Evolution is not a creed or a body of doctrine to be 

 believed on authority. There is no saving grace in 

 being an evolutionist. There are many 



t wh take this name and have n interest 

 in finding out what it means or in mak- 

 ing any application of its principles to the affairs of 

 life. For one who cares not to master its ideas there 

 is no power in the word. Evolution is not a panacea 

 or a medicine to be applied to social or personal ills. 

 It is simply an expression of the teaching of enlightened 

 common sense as to the order of changes in life. If its 

 principles are mastered a knowledge of evolution is an 

 aid in the conduct of life, as knowledge of gravitation 

 is essential in the building of machinery. 



Ther-; is nothing " occult " in the science of evolu- 

 tion. It is not the product of philosophic meditation or 

 of speculative philosophy. It is based on hard facts, 

 and with hard facts it must deal. 



It seems to me that it is not true that " Evolution is 

 a new religion, the religion of the future." There are 

 many definitions of religion, but evolution does not fit 

 any of them. It is no more a religion than gravitation 

 is. One may imagine that some enthusiastic follower of 



