40 DARWINISM AND THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE 



few zoological and botanical works written to-day that 

 do not rest on or presuppose this theory. An immense 

 amount of proof in favour of it has been accumulated. 

 Many predictions that were made on the strength of it 

 have been realised by recent research, and prophecies 

 of this kind are, when they are fulfilled, the very best 

 proof of the correctness of the principles they are 

 grounded on. 



If, for instance, the birds were evolved from the 

 reptiles, there must have been at a certain stage, since 

 the tranformation was gradual, an animal intermediate 

 between the reptile and the bird — an animal that was 

 really a bird, but still retained unchanged many of the 



second the theory of selection; but there are a number of other 

 theories with regard to the mode and agencies of development. These 

 will be given later on. Hence those who accept the theory of evolu- 

 tion are not at all compelled to subscribe to the theory of selection ; in 

 fact, there are many evolutionists who reject it. This will be quite 

 clear if we remember that even in the Bible evolution is, in a certain 

 sense, laid down as fact. It is stated in the Mosaic books that all the 

 actual races of men, with their great differences in the colour of the 

 skin, etc., descend from one couple. Hence theologians have seen of 

 late that it is not advisable to reject evolution altogether. In par- 

 ticular, a Jesuit writer, Father Erich Wasmann, one of the first 

 authorities on ants, has accepted the general theory of evolution in his 

 work : " Modern Biology and Evolution." He holds that in the 

 beginning God created a number of species at all stages of organisation, 

 including man. But these species have not remained unchanged. 

 They were endowed by the Creator with the capacity and the means of 

 evolution. Thus we have an attempt to combine an acceptance of 

 evolution with a belief in the verbal inspiration of Scripture. It is not 

 likely to satisfy the man who seeks thoroughly to understand the world. 

 The theory of evolution was formulated before Darwin ; the theory of 

 selection was created by him. But the theory of evolution itself owed 

 its great advance to Darwin's book, chiefly because he provided the 

 explanatory hypothesis of selection. Hence it is not improper to 

 include both theories under the title " Darwinism." 



