APPENDIX 355 



" As a view of nature from an especial standpoint, 

 evolution takes its place as a distinct science. The 

 science of evolution is the science of creation." 



As to the "energy of evolution," he says: "If 

 the tendency of the catagenic energies is away from 

 vital phenomena, it is impossible that they, or any of 

 them, should be the cause of the origin of living 

 matter. This logical inference is confirmed by the 

 failure of all attempts to demonstrate spontaneous 

 generation of living organisms from inorganic matter. 

 Further, the principle of continuity leads us to infer 

 that the energy which produced organic matter must 

 be identical with or allied to that which is the efficient 

 agent in progressive evolution of organisms, and is, 

 therefore, anagenetic. Such a conclusion may seem 

 to lead to a dualism which is itself opposed to the 

 principle of continuity or uniformity, and which is 

 opposed to experience of the phenomena of energy in 

 general. 



"Since facts and logic do not support the derivation 

 of the anagenetic from the inorganic energies, can 

 the reverse process, the derivation of the catagenic 

 from the anagenetic be and have been the order of 

 nature? In support of this hypothesis, we have the 

 universal prevalence of the retrograde metamorpho- 

 sis of energy in both the inorganic and organic king- 

 doms. Phenomena of structural degeneracy are well 

 known in the organic world, and purely chemical 

 phenomena in both organic and inorganic processes 

 are degenerate. It appears then much more proba- 

 ble that catagenesis succeeds anagenesis as a conse- 

 quence, and does not precede it as a cause. In other 

 words, it is more probable that death is a con- 

 sequence of life, rather than that the living is a 

 product of the non-living." * 

 * Page 482. 



