228 WALTER KIDD^ M.D., P.Z.S., ON 



his description of the progressive stages of the animal after 

 birth, and would, of course, be willing to apply ib equally to 

 plant life. His long and often poetic description of the 

 geological changes which have taken place, shows that he 

 recognises the slow and gradual development of the different 

 kinds of rock or strata. I have no doubt he would admit 

 that the same law of gradual development holds good in 

 astronomical phenomena. It may be traced also in the progress 

 of human inventions. What he does not seem free to admit 

 is the existence of the same manner of procedure in the intro- 

 duction of the various species of plants and animals. It v\^ould 

 almost appear as though, while he can easily conceive of the 

 environment being prepared for the organised beings that 

 were afterwards to be placed in it, he cannot admit of their 

 successive generations being modified through the environ- 

 ment. He seems even to look upon the thousand species of 

 nautilus in the Silurian basin of Bohemia as a sudden outburst of 

 independent creations. 



Many of us Christian men of science, on the other hand, 

 recognise that there is a unity of plan, as w^ell as of purpose, 

 running through the works of God. We hold that the Dar- 

 winian theory of the survival of the fittest, so far from destroying 

 the idea of a Divine purpose and plan in nature, rather confirms 

 it, and gives us a welcome insight into the way in which this 

 has been carried out throughout the ages, not as a series of 

 fortuitous events, but as the result of an orderly law. 



FURTHER REPLY BY THE AUTHOR. 



A few words may be said in reply to certain points raised by 

 the written remarks of members. 



Professor Gladstone has somewhat narrowed down, more than I 



