8 The Evohition Hypothesis. 



evolution, if dynamical law is to be recognized as 

 ruling all processes and events, the growth of intelli- 

 gence will be distorted and the advancement of know- 

 ledge impeded. The Scholastic Philosophy, through 

 its formal completeness, became an intolerable bond- 

 age. System strangled truth. It left no room for 

 the free pursuit of inquiry, and stood a barrier in 

 the way of the forward movement of thought. A like 

 danger threatens in the present stage of progress. 

 The evolutionist is the schoolman of our day. He 

 / will have his hypothesis prevail everywhere. He 

 constitutes it the criterion of truth. Observations 

 are recorded, and experience read in the light of it. 

 Everything that will not fall into position under it, 

 he condemns. These are not conditions favourable 

 to the right exercise of intelligence. Intellectual 

 freedom is overborne ; well-springs of knowledge are 

 sealed up; a one-sided and iron system rules. It is 

 imperative, in the interests of progressive thought, 

 that this yoke be broken, that the mind may be free 

 in the pursuit of truth. 



The following discussion, directed to the disproof of 

 the Evolution Hypothesis as a system co-extensive 

 with knowledge, is not constructive, but critical. The 

 inquiry is not, What is the truth ? but, Is Evolu- 

 tionism true ? The final answer is a decided negative. 



& 



The argument is cumulative ; to find it inconclusive 

 at some points will not invalidate its effectiveness in 

 others. It deals only with questions that seem to be 



