310 • Proofs of Evolution. 



than make a simi)le thing. A thing wears out; a principle 

 is eternal. 



It would seem that Evolution cannot fairly stop at this 

 little atom of carbon compound. Is it afraid or powerless 

 to take the mystic step between the living and the non- 

 living ? Did Evolution operate all the way from ''star- 

 dust" down to this little speck and then cease to operate ? 

 Could it make worlds, suns, and systems, and yet prove in- 

 efficient at this vital point ? Js it not grander to think we 

 were made out of something than out of nothing? If 

 creation really was the method, wh}^ give us the Garden of 

 Eden, with the Fall of ]\Ian thrown in, rather than the 

 millions of years of struggling, warring life, in order to 

 reach our manhood. If we were created then, why was it 

 necessary to start us so low ? 



But, say the critics, " If life was evolved once out of 

 inorganic conditions, wliy not again ? " Why not, indeed ? 

 Who knows what life is evolving in torrid climes under the 

 deep-sea ooze ? But it may be that the conditions of life- 

 birth have forever passed. No one has yet proved or 

 disproved beyond the shadow of a doubt the method of the 

 genesis of life on our globe. But there is no reason to 

 suppose there has been a break in Evolution, and every 

 reason for believing that it has formed one continuous line 

 of succession from Nebula to Man. There is no element 

 in plant or animal not found also outside of them. It is 

 mimicry or imitation on a grand scale from first to last. 

 The Moneron has bequeathed its albuminous carbon com- 

 pound to all subsequent life ; and we are what we eat and 

 walk on. The formation of the crystal corresponds to in- 

 heritance and adaptation in organic evolution. It is all a 

 question of degree. Professor Haeckel and many other 

 eminent scientists hold this view. Professor Tyndall says, 

 " iVIatter has in it the promise and potency of all forms of 

 life." 



In closing we will briefly present 



A SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE, 



Astronomy declares the unity and universality of the laws 

 of gravitation and evolution. The Nebular Hypothesis 

 explains how by the operation of these laws "the infinite 

 meadows of heaven" are filled with orbs "unutterably 

 bright. " 



