EVOLUTION 3 



herself has marked out, find the source of our former 

 failures, and, perhaps, even achieve some measure 

 of real success in temperance reform in the future. 



It is the fashion to speak of evolution as of 

 scientific interest, but as having no immediate bear- 

 ing on the present-day problems of humanity. 

 Indeed, some writers appear to think that the 

 evolution of man has ceased ; they tell us that, 

 judging by ancient monuments, no race appears to 

 have undergone appreciable change for thousands of 

 years. Others think the processes of evolution so 

 slow as not to come within the range of practical 

 politics. If, however, the reader will have patience, 

 I think I shall supply him with reasons for arriving 

 at a contrary conclusion. Man is changing very 

 swiftly at the present time. Owing to great and 

 rapid changes in his environment, he is evolving at 

 a rate far more speedy than at any former period of 

 his existence ; but in a direction not suspected by 

 the writers I have indicated. 



Speaking practically, the doctrine of evolution is 

 not now questioned by any one acquainted with the 

 facts on which it is founded. So vast is the evidence 

 in its favour afforded by every science which deals 

 with life — zoology, botany, comparative anatomy, 

 embryology, palaeontology, and the rest — that the 

 immense majority of scientific men are as thoroughly 

 convinced of its truth as they are of the fact that the 



