256 THE PROBLEM OF EVOLUTION 



indignation and somewhat more scientific truth 

 even although it may be inconvenient. If scientific 

 truth prevailed, the awkward situation would not 

 arise that, in a Protestant country, a sense of honour 

 compels a third person to come to the assistance of a 

 Jesuit.' 



Dr. Senff proceeds to refute Plate's assertion, that, 

 in assuming the work of God in the production of 

 the first living being and in the creation of the soul 

 of man, I have violated any natural law. He says : 

 ' The higher obedience to law, with its naturally 

 higher differentiation, always includes in itself the 

 laws of the lower stages, without breaking or violat- 

 ing them or even setting them aside.' 



This, then, is the view adopted by up-to-date 

 philosophers, men of eminently clear and sane 

 judgment, who are assuredly neither mystics nor 

 obscurantists. 



I limit myself to these quotations from the 

 criticism passed by a Protestant upon the evening 

 discussion. He is an impartial witness, one who is 

 not a Catholic priest and a Jesuit, and so one who 

 cannot be charged with lack of freedom of thought 

 and of ability to follow things to their logical results, 

 through having his way barred by fear of ecclesi- 

 astical censure. 







In conclusion, I may sum up shortly, under three 

 headings, the proceedings at the evening discussion 

 and their results : 



