I A CHAPTER IN DARWINISM 55 



that there has been one " miracle" once and for all 

 time. It should not be a ground of offence to any 

 school of thinkers, that Darwinism, whilst leaving 

 them free scope, cannot be made actually contributory 

 to the support of their particular tenets. 



The difficulties which the theologian has to meet 

 when he is called upon to give some account of the 

 origin and nature of the soul, certainly cannot be said 

 to have been increased by the establishment of the 

 Darwinian theory. For from the earliest days of the 

 Church, ingenious speculation has been lavished on 

 the subject. As to the origin of the individual soul, 

 Tertullian tells us as follows, De Anima, chap. xix. : 

 " Anima velut surculus quidam ex matrice Adami in 

 propaginem deducta, et genitalibus semine foveis com- 

 modata. Pullulabit tarn intellectu quam et sensu." 



Whilst St. Augustine says : " Harum autem sen- 

 tentiarum quatuor de anima, utrum de propagine 

 veniant, an in singulis quibusque nascentibus mox 

 fiant, an in corpora nascentium jam alicubi existentes 

 vel mittantur divinitus, vel sua sponte labantur, 

 nullam temere affirmari oporteret : aut enim nondum 

 ista qusestio a divinorum librorum catholicis tracta- 

 toribus, pro merito suse obscuritatis et perplexitatis, 

 evoluta atque illustrata est ; aut si jam factum est, 

 nondum in manus nostras hujuscemodi litterse pro- 

 venerunt." 



A VERY important form of degeneration, not touched 

 on in the text, is that exhibited in the Mexican axo- 



