8 Darwinism Verified. [i. 



considerations taken together it follows not only that 

 such explanations as are contained in the Newtonian 

 and Darwinian theories are entirely consistent with 

 theism, but also that they are the only kind of expla- 

 nations with which science can properly concern itself 

 at all. To say that complex organisms were directly 

 created by the Deity is to make an assertion which, 

 however true in a theistic sense, is utterly barren. It 

 is of no profit to theism, which must be taken for 

 granted before the assertion can be made ; and it is 

 of no profit to science, which must still ask its 

 question, " How ? " 



Setting aside, then, the theological criticism as 

 irrelevant to the question really at stake, the Dar- 

 winian theory, like the Newtonian, remains to be 

 tested by strictly scientific considerations. In the 

 more recent instance, as in the earlier, the relevant 

 question is how far the course of events as sketched 

 by the hypothesis agrees with the observed pheno- 

 mena of nature. But in the directness with which 

 this question can be answered there is great differ- 

 ence between the two theories. The Newtonian 

 hypothesis asserted the existence of a general" 

 physical property of matter, and could therefore be 

 tested by a single crucial instance, such as was 

 afforded by the simple case of the planetary motions. 



