Apkil 13, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



677 



agree in saying that man was descended from 

 the brute. * * * This doctrine as to man is 

 the vital part of the whole theory and in this 

 all evolutionists are practically agreed." This 

 leaves no doubt as to where the shoe pinches. 



However, we are further informed (p. 60) 

 that 



The central point in the whole theory is the 

 descent of man from the brute. It is this which, 

 as stated, gives it importance to the christian. 

 But for this, the hypothesis would be but a 

 curious scientific theory. It is a matter of com- 

 parative minor interest how the universe or the 

 various species came. 



Chapter I. deals with evolution [organic] 

 as an unproven, unaccepted theory and the 

 Uncertainty of Scientific Theories in General. 



Chapter II. deals with: (1) The Origin of 

 Matter; (2) The Origin of Force; (3) The 

 Formation and Orderly Arrangement of the 

 Universe; (4) The Origin of Life. 



Both chapters I. and II. are mere skirmish 

 lines; the real attack begins in chapter III., 

 which deals with The Evolution of Species. 

 ' Not a Single Instance of Evolution is 

 Enown,' under which caption we have: 



The world has been ransacked for evidence, the 

 museums are full of specimens, the secrets of 

 nature have been explored in every land, the 

 minutest creatures discovered and analyzed. We 

 have the remains of animals and plants of many 

 kinds thousands of years old, such as the mum- 

 mied remains from Egypt, and yet not a single 

 instance of the change evolution asserts has ever 

 been known! 



Other items in this chapter are : * No Cause 

 of Evolution Known,' ' How Evolution Orig- 

 inated Species.' Under the last head are ' ab- 

 breviated, and rendered into untechnical lan- 

 guage, the thoughts of evolutionary writers ' 

 as follows : 



Eyes originated from some animal having pig- 

 ment spots or freckles on the sides of its head, 

 which, turned to the sun, agreeably affected the 

 animal So that it acquired the habit of turning 

 that side of the head to the sun, and its posterity 

 inherited the same habit and passed it on to still 

 other generations. The pigment spot acquired 

 sensitiveness by use and in time a nerve developed 

 which was the beginning of the eye. 



In a time of drought some water animals. 



stranded by the receding waters, were obliged 

 thenceforth to adopt land manners and methods of 

 living. Although, strangely, the whale by the 

 same cause was forced to the water, for it was 

 once a land animal, but in a season of drought 

 was obliged to seek the water's edge for the scant 

 remaining herbage,- and, finding the water agree- 

 able, remained there and its posterity also, and 

 finally, the teeth and legs no longer needed, be- 

 came decadent and abortive as we see them now. 

 The same drought produced another and wonder- 

 ful change, for it is to this that the giraffe owes 

 his long legs and neck. The herbage on the lower 

 branches withering up, he was obliged to stretch 

 his neck and legs to reach the higher branches. 

 This increased, as all such changes increased, in 

 his posterity, and finally after many generations 

 produced the present immense reaching powers 

 of the giraffe. So that the same drought de- 

 prived the whale of his legs and conferred them 

 upon the giraffe. 



Still other items in this chapter are the 

 Arguments from Geology, classification, dis- 

 tribution, morphology, embryology and ' Facts 

 Opposing Evolution of Species.' Again, under 

 ' The Argument from Embryology ' we have : 



Evolution derives it greatest arguments from 

 the study of the embryo. It makes three claims. 

 First, that the germ of everything, plant and ani- 

 mal, is the same, neither chemical analysis nor 

 the microscope showing any diflFerence. 



This is indignantly refuted by: 



Protoplasm, of which the germ is composed, 

 differs and is not homogeneous material. That 

 which builds the muscle is one kind and that which 

 builds brain and nerves is entirely different. * * * 

 Nor could the germs be alike, for the plant 

 breathes carbon, the animal oxygen. 



That ought to settle it. 



Chapter IV. deals more particularly with 

 the evolution of man. The argument from 

 rudimentary organs is vigorously repudiated: 



Shall we condemn the whole race to a bestial 

 origin on the same evidence? All arguments 

 founded on such facts are weak, puerile and un- 

 worthy of scientists. * * * Shall we suspend a 

 philosophy of the universe upon a few long hairs? 

 Shall we allow the guess as to the origin of the 

 tip of the outer ear to revolutionize theology? 

 Shall we risk our eternal destiny on the supposed 

 uselessness of the so-called ' gill-slits ' in prema- 

 tui-e puppies? 



