THE NEANDERTHAL SKULL. 9 



force to the doctrine of EVOLUTION, which 

 will be the chief subject of my address to 

 night. Dr. Elam has pointed this out in 

 the form of a syllogism. Without verifi- 

 cation a theoretic conception is a mere 

 figment of the intellect. The theory 

 of Organic Evolution is an unverified 

 theoretic conception. Therefore Organic 

 Evolution is a mere figment of the Intellect.* 



This doctrine is of so powerful a na- 

 ture, that according to some of its advo- 

 cates inorganic dead matter will evolve 

 organic life the fortuitous concourse of 

 atoms has created the universe ; the pri- 

 meval fungus and the ascidian tadpole 

 have alike been credited with the power 

 of gradually developing themselves into a 

 being, which your Bible teaches was 

 originally created " after the image and 

 likeness of God." On this point, however, 

 your learned doctors greatly differ among 

 themselves. Professor OWEN, probably 

 the first authority among Naturalists of 

 the 19th century, declared that " observa- 



* Contemporary Review for 1880. 



