WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT.. 73 
protoplasm, it can not take the form of any creature we 
know. An organism fresh from the mint of creation 
would be too small for us to see with any microscope. 
It would be too simple for us to trace by any instru- 
mentality now in our possession. It could contain but 
a few molecules, and a molecule in a drop of water is as 
small as an orange beside the sun. Such a race of crea- 
tures, spontaneously generated, without concessions to 
environment, would grow hoary with the centuries be- 
fore it came to our notice. Its descendants would have 
belonged for ages to the unnumbered hosts of microbes 
before we should be aware of its creation. 
Evolution is not a creed or a body of doctrine to be 
believed on authority. There is no saving grace in 
being an evolutionist. There are many 
who take this name and have no interest 
in finding out what it means or in mak- 
ing any application of its principles to the affairs of 
life. For one who cares not to master its ideas there 
is no power in the word. Evolution is not a panacea 
or a medicine to be applied to social or personal ills. 
It is simply an expression of the teaching of enlightened 
common sense as to the order of changes in life. If its 
principles are mastered a knowledge of evolution is an 
aid in the conduct of life, as knowledge of gravitation 
is essential in the building of machinery. 
Ther2 is nothing “occult ” in the science of evolu- 
tion. It is not the product of philosophic meditation or 
of speculative philosophy. It is based on hard facts, 
and with hard facts it must deal. 
It seems to me that it is not true that “ Evolution is 
a new religion, the religion of the future.” There are 
many definitions of religion, but evolution does not fit 
any of them, It is no more a religion than gravitation 
is. One may imagine that some enthusiastic follower of 
Evolution not a 
creed. 
