26 



[Proc. B.N.F.C 



and adapting the infinite wisdom of the Creator to that of our 

 finite understandings. 



He next reviewed Dr. Bastian's experiments in regard to spon- 

 taneous generation. He said the testimony was very conflicting, and 

 as yet we should consider the weight of evidence against this theory. 

 He did not believe that inanimate existence could create animate 

 life; in other words, that a thing could be before it existed — a mani- 

 fest absurdity. 



He next examined some of Dr. Darwin's hypotheses, and pointed 

 out the reasons why he considered many of them untenable, and 

 which, in his opinion, would militate against their general accept- 

 ance. He said that development must have been very slow and 

 gradual, and showed, from Sir Charles Lyell's works, that man's 

 outward form has not altered since the days of the Pharaohs. He 

 then asked — " Has his mental capacity improved since the days of 

 Socrates or Homer? I own," he said, "it is not right to compare a 

 nation or nations at large with two such bright and shining lights. 

 We may say England has produced but one Shakespeare, Rome 

 one Virgil, and Greece only one Homer. Yet had Shakespeare 

 — rollicking Will — lived in Homer's time, it is questionable if the 

 world would have been enriched with the matchless efforts of his 

 genius. But, even should England sink quietly into the lap of 

 luxury — as did Greece, Rome, and the nations of antiquity — it will 

 not long be a question whether she, too, shall not fall a prey to a 

 less intellectual, but, at the same time, a more vigorous, hardier, and 

 less sensual people than they. Of course, their works may remain, 

 but these will only be vestiges of former greatness ; not that great- 

 ness itself." 



He pointed out the causes which tended to restrict a diversifi- 

 cation of type, viz., reversion, sterility, degeneracy, &c, and said 

 that, taking into account how slow and gradual all these changes 

 must necessarily have been, he did not consider 200,000,000 years 

 (the maximum time allowed by Sir Wm. Thompson for the exist- 

 ence of the earth since its cooling), sufficient for the theory of the 

 evolutionist; and if the maximum be not sufficient, how much less 



