Nov. 1, 1885.] 



KNO^A^LEDGE ♦ 



15 



hardness in the diamond ; that which our sensations re- 

 port to consciousness as colour and hardness being the 

 result of myriads of motions, some of which are repeated 

 as often every second as there are seconds in thirty 

 millions of years, motions within us and without us 

 quite unlike one another. 



Thought and emotion have their antecedents in mole- 

 cular changes in the matter of the brain, and are as 

 completely within the range of causation, and as capable 

 of mechanical explanation as material phenomena, but 

 of them no material qualities, as weight, occupancy of 

 space, ifcc, can be predicated. Heat may be expressed 

 in equivalent foot-pounds, light and sound and nervous 

 transmission in measurable velocities, but these never. 

 We cannot make the passage from chemistry to con- 

 sciousness, or transform motions of nerve tissue into love, 

 reverence, and hate. 



But, to quote the author of the Book of Maccabees : 

 "It is a foolish thing to make a long prologue, and to be 

 short in the storj' itself," wherefore it is well to pass 

 without further preface to setting forth the framework 

 of the story, that the reader may have clearer under- 

 standing of its scope and purpose. 



PLAN. 



Paet I. — Descriptive. 



I. The Universe. 



Its contents : — Matter, Force, and Energy. 

 Distribution of Matter in space. 

 The Solar System and its members. 

 The Earth as (more or less) a representative member. 

 The stuff of which it is made. 



1. Its inside. 



2. Its outside : — 



a. Liquid and gaseous envelopes. 



b . Solid crust, divided into : — 



1. Uiistratijied rocks ; features. 



2. Stratified rocks. Order and succession. 



Organic remains. 

 Changes to which these deposits and their contents 

 witness : — 



Agencies of change : — 



1. Atmospheric. 



2. Aqiieous. 



3. Volcanic. 



4. Organic. 



5. Man. 



Life-forms : stuff of which all are made. 



1. Plants : summary of existing species. 



2. Animals : „ ,, ,, 



(Intermediate forms.) 

 Sun as ultimate source of all energy received on the 



earth's surface. 

 The unbroken oneness of the^^TJniverse. 



Part II. — Explanatory. 

 II. The Universe : Mode op its Birth and Growth. 

 'Statement : — 



The Universe, with its non-living and living contents, 

 is the result of the mutual interaction, according to 

 unvarying laws, of the forces and energies possessed 

 by the atoms of which the universe at its birth was 

 composed. 

 Froof:— 



Distribution of matter never the same, it moves in 

 different directions and at different rates, involving 

 Ceaseless redistribution of matter aud energy, 



Therefore : — 



1. Certain portions of matter come together aud 

 form new masses, 



or 



2. Certain portions of matter are driven asunder, 

 the one process (1) being evolution, the other (2) 

 dissolution. The result is a change of the like 

 unto the unlike, or of the less unlike to the more 

 unlike ; of advance from simple to complex. 



The like does everything. 

 The unlike does some things. 



Application of this to 



1. Inorganic Evolution. 



Nebular theory of stellar evolution. 



Do. of solar and planetary evolution. 



Do. as explaining earth - history. 



Slow secular cooling. 

 Azoic (without-life) period. 

 Evidences of dependence of the living on the not- 

 living. Therefore life takes its place in the chemical 

 history of the earth. 



2. Organic Evolution. 



Darwin's theory of the origin of species by 



1. Natural selection. 



2 Descent with modification. 

 Abstract of his theory : — 



a. More organisms are produced than can .sur- 

 vive. 



h. The fittest survive. 



c. No two are alike ; the tendency is to variation. 



Causes of do. 



d. Variations are transmitted. 



e. Variations must be in harmony with sur- 



I'oundings. 

 /. Variations result finally in new species. 

 g. Long time postulated as necessary for changes 

 from j)rimitive organism to man. 

 Proof of his theory from — 

 a. Embrj^ology. 



6. Morphology (correspondences of type). 

 r. Geological succession (fossil organisms). 

 ,, (intermediate forms). 



d. Geographical distribution. 



e. Classification. 



/. Man'.s application of it (variation of ]ilants 

 and domestic animals). 

 Evolution of mind as special form of life. 

 Dependence of the psychical on the inorganic. 

 Mind correlated with a complex nervous system, 

 therefore with a material process. 

 3. Siiiper-Organic Evolution. 



Application of the theory of evolntinu to society, 

 morals, theology, language, art, science. 

 Throughout the foregoing explanation no unknown 

 asencies invoked. 



Force indestructible ; Energy constant. 

 Eternal changes rung on Evolution and Disso- 

 lution. 

 Ultimate destiny of the visible universe. 



Questions answered by Evolution : 



Cosmic system explained as natural product of 



matter, force, and energy. 

 Origin and development of life and mind, its 

 highest form ; therefore explains man as the 



