9 



have beeu something far higher, far nobler, than he is. We look 

 upon such countries as Spain and Turkey as degenerated, because 

 they once had grand opportunities of developing themselves. So 

 we may study forms most nearly related to any species of animals, 

 those which had the same start in life ; and see what they have 

 developed into ; and then try to discover whether this special form 

 might not have done something similar, and why it has failed. 



There are, as every one must acknowledge, animals in the world 

 occupying positions, and performing functions which we shrink 

 from, believing they were specially created to occupy and to per- 

 form — I mean such examples as Parasites, and especially those 

 known as Entozoa, which prey on the internal organs of creatures 

 infinitely higher than themselves, whose life may be a prolonged 

 agony through the necessities of their existence. As I hope to show 

 you presently, we have every possible reason for concluding that 

 they are not in their proper places in the world ; that many of them 

 started in a higher condition, came into existence with opportu- 

 nities, of which they have failed (we know not how or why), to take 

 advantage, and so they have gone wrong. There has been a 

 physical fall among these animals, just as there has been a moral 

 fall in man. 



It would be a great scientific heresy if we were to suggest spon- 

 taneous generation. I, for one, am not going to do so, as I do not 

 for one moment believe in it ; but it would do away with a few 

 serious mental difficulties. And if I am putting a few of these 

 forward tentatively, it is in the real hope of getting them discussed. 

 We are told now by very high authorities that many diseases are 

 brought about by actual living organisms — bacteria, bacilli, &c. 

 Now how and why were these organisms created ? Where did the 

 first bacillus, say of splenic fever, come from ? Was it an accidental 

 or intentional production ? Are we to regard these microbes as 

 retrogressive forms, or as potentially progressive ? Of what benefit 

 are they ? To call them specially into existence as they are — and 

 they must have had a beginning, however they may be propagated 

 now — would seem to be the creation of a positively Evil Thing. 

 One can hardly wonder that the untutored mind of earlier times, 

 looking (not upon these, it is true, but) upon similar things, 

 regarded them as proofs of the existence of two creators, one of 

 good, the other of evil things — Ormuzd and Ahriman. But if there 

 were such a process as spontaneous generation, there would be less 

 difficulty in seeing how occasionally an inconvenient thing might 

 be developed. Here is perhaps anotlier point for your discussion. 



What then are the degenerate forms ? Well, I should say that 

 if an animal started in life specially provided with suitable limbs, and 

 such useful organs as eyes and mouth ; and after a time lost them 



