DOCTRINE OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION 431 



become definite units of classification, which although some- 

 times difficult to separate in practice are in theory none 

 the less absolute. 



Those who have studied plants and animals most closely 

 have always marveled at the ways in which each kind fits 

 its natural environment, that is to say all the conditions 

 under which it naturally lives. Thus among plants the 

 absorption of food materials and the making of food, its 

 storage for future use and its protection from harm, require 

 not only a perfect working together of parts within the 

 organism, but a nice adjustment of all to the surroundings. 

 The structural features and habits of behavior which enable 

 anjr organism to meet the usual requirements of its life are 

 spoken of as adaptations to its environment. 



Creationism views the wonderful adaptations of plants 

 and animals as manifestations of the Creator's wisdom in so 

 forming the progenitor of each species that its descendants 

 shall all fit weU into the places they are to occupy. It recog- 

 nizes kinship only among the individuals of a species. The 

 resemblance among species of the same genus, or among the 

 subdivisions of higher groups in a natural system, it regards 

 as indicating merely similarities of plan which the Creator 

 was pleased to follow, much as an architect uses similar 

 features more or less varied in different parts of a design. 



165. The doctrine of organic evolution expresses a some- 

 what different view, which, however, is not so fundamen- 

 tally opposed to creationism as might appear from the violent 

 controversies waged between creationists and evolutionists 

 during the nineteenth century. Evolutionists have repeatedly 

 confessed their faith in God as the Author of the universe. 

 Nor, as we shall see, do they deny that the descendants of a 

 given organism may continue essentiallj' unchanged for an 

 indefinite period. As to adaptations, evolutionists have re- 

 vealed a wealth of marvelously perfect examples greater 

 than the creationists ever dreamed of. 



What then was the need of a new doctrine of origins? One 

 reason for dissatisfaction with the old view was that the 

 more thoroughlj' plants and animals were studied, the less 

 did species appear to have such definite limits as the crea- 



