227 , 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Evolution 



1 1 04 . EVOLUTION NOT ATHEISTIC 



Design Not Superseded Place of Second 

 Causes. To myself the conception of a con- 

 tinuity of action which required no depar- 

 ture to meet special contingencies, because 

 the plan was all-perfect in the beginning, is 

 a far higher and nobler one than that of a 

 succession of interruptions, such as would 

 be involved in the creation de novo of the 

 vast series of new types which paleontolog- 

 ical study is daily bringing to our knowl- 

 edge. And in describing the process of evo- 

 lution in the ordinary language of science, 

 as due to " secondary causes," we no more 

 dispense with a First Cause than we do when 

 we speak of those physical forces Avhich, 

 from the theistic point of view, are so many 

 diverse modes of manifestation of one and 

 the same power. Nor do we in the least set 

 aside the idea of an original design when 

 we regard these adaptations, which are com- 

 monly attributed to special exertions of con- 

 triving power and wisdom, as the outcome 

 of an all-comprehensive intelligence which 

 foresaw that the product would be " good," 

 before calling into existence the germ from 

 which it would be evolved. We simply, to 

 use the language of Whewell, " transfer the 

 notion of design and end from the region of 

 facts to that of laws," that is, from the par- 

 ticular cases to the general plan: and find 

 ourselves aided in our conception of the in- 

 finity of creative wisdom and power, when 

 we regard it as exerted in a manner which 

 shows that not only the peopling of the 

 globe with the plants and animals suited to 

 every phase of its physical conditions, but 

 the final production of man himself the 

 heir of all preceding ages, with capacities 

 that enable him to become but " a little 

 lower than the angels " was comprehended 

 in the original scheme. CARPENTER Nature 

 and Man, lect. 14, p. 407. (A., 1889.) 



1105. EVOLUTION OF EARTH'S 



CRUST Theory of Catastrophe Abandoned- 

 Past Flows Gradually into Present. With 

 increased knowledge ... it was recog- 

 nized that no hard-and-fast line separates 

 past and present. The belief in world-wide, 

 or nearly world-wide, catastrophes disap- 



E eared. Geologists came to see that the 

 ishioning of the earth's surface had been 

 going on for a long time, and is still in 

 progress. The law of evolution, they have 

 found, holds true for the crust of the globe 

 just as it does for the myriad tribes of 

 plants and animals that clothe and people 

 it. It is no longer doubted that the exist- 

 ing configuration of the land has resulted 

 from the action of forces that are still in 

 operation, and by observation and reasoning 

 the history of the various phases in the evo- 

 lution of surface-features can be unfolded. 

 GEIKIE Earth Sculpture, ch. 1, p. 2. (G. P. 

 P., 1898.) 



1106. EVOLUTION OF EVIL The 



Law of Degeneracy Double Aspect of De- 

 velopment. It is a curious misunderstand- 



ing of what that law [of evolution] really is 

 to suppose that it leads only in one direc- 

 tion. It leads in every direction in which 

 there is at work any one of the " potential 

 energies " of Nature. Development is the 

 growth of germs, and according to the na- 

 ture of the germ so is the nature of the 

 growth. The flowers and fruits which min- 

 ister to the use of man have each their own 

 seed, and so have the briers and thorns 

 which choke them. Evil lias its germs as 

 well as good, and the evolution of them is 

 accompanied by effects to which it is impos- 

 sible to assign a limit. Movement is the 

 condition of all being, in moral as well as in 

 material things. Just as one thing leads 

 to another in knowledge and in virtue, so 

 does one thing lead to another in ignorance 

 and vice. Those gradual processes of change 

 which arise out of action and reaction be- 

 tween the external condition and the inter* 

 nal nature of man have an energy in them 

 of infinite complexity and power. We stand 

 here on the firm ground of observation and 

 experience. In the shortest space of time, 

 far within the limits even of a single life, 

 we are accustomed to see such processes 

 effectual both to elevate and degrade. The 

 weak become weaker and the bad become 

 worse. " To him that hath more is given, 

 and from him that hath not is taken even 

 that which he seemeth to have." And this 

 law, in the region of character and of mor- 

 als, is but the counterpart of the law which 

 prevails in the physical regions of Nature, 

 where also development has its double as- 

 pect. It cannot bring one organism to the 

 top without sinking another organism to the 

 bottom. That vast variety of natural causes 

 which have been grouped and almost per- 

 sonified under the phrase " natural selec- 

 tion " are causes which necessarily include 

 both favorable and unfavorable conditions. 

 Natural rejection, therefore, is the insepara- 

 ble correlative of natural selection. ARGYLL 

 Unity of Nature, ch. 10, p. 230. (Burt.) 



1 1 7 . EVOLUTION OF EVOLUTION 



By Its Very Nature a System of Progress. 

 This is the age of the evolution of evolu- 

 tion. All thoughts that the evolutionist 

 works with, all theories and generalizations, 

 have been themselves evolved and are now 

 being evolved. Even were his theory per- 

 fected, its first lesson would be that it was 

 itself but a phase of the evolution of further 

 opinion, no more fixed than a species, no 

 more final than the theory which it dis- 

 placed. Of all men the evolutionist, by the 

 very nature of his calling, the mere tools of 

 his craft, his understanding of his hourly 

 shifting-place in this always moving and 

 ever more mysterious world, must be hum- 

 ble, tolerant, and undogmatic. DRUMMOND 

 Ascent of Man, int., p. 7. ( J. P., 1900.) 



11O8. EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE 

 TAUGHT BY COMPARATIVE PHILOL- 

 OGY Renan Max Mutter Languages 

 Seen in the Making. Comparative philology 



