EDWIN G. CONKLIN 85 



that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou 

 visitest him? 



Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast 

 crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have 

 dominion over the work of thy hands ; thou hast put all things 

 under his feet. 



The magnitude of the universe has not dwarfed the 

 soul and mind of man. 



Evolution Not to Blame 



The teachings of biology as to the animal ancestry 

 of man, or as to his development from germ cells, 

 has not degraded man and produced this utter pes- 

 simism. Lowly origin Is not Incompatible with ulti- 

 mate greatness, as none know better than the country- 

 men of Washington, Franklin, Lincoln and Grant. All 

 the greatest leaders of men were once babies and germ 

 cells and yet this humble origin does not preclude a 

 glorious destiny. It was odd to read William Jen- 

 nings Bryan's strenuous objection to this democratic 

 doctrine. The real dignity of man consists not In his 

 origin but In what he Is and In what he may become. 

 The degradation of man consists not In evolution and 

 development but in the reversal of this process. We 

 could sympathize with Mr. Bryan's outcry: "No one 

 shall make a monkey of me !" ; and we would equally 

 sympathize with the phrase, "No one shall make a 

 baby of me!"; because this would be a reversal of 

 progress and development. Evolution and develop- 

 ment have not degraded man. Nature and human his- 

 tory proclaim the fact with delight that supreme great- 

 ness may have humble origins. 



Evolution deals only with process and does not 



