152 



W. HOSTE, B.A., ON FETICHISM — 



Evolution J at any rate in the moral domain, like that " blessed 

 word Mesopotamia/' has lost caste since the war. It is under- 

 stood that men who made the campaign in those inter-fluvial 

 regions have little difficulty in restraining their tears when they 

 hear the locality pronounced. 



So with " that comfortable word " Evolution, which some 

 people utter with so much emotion. The experiences of the 

 war have raised serious doubts whether evolutionary progress 

 in the moral sphere has been quite so intensive since the days of 

 primitive Christianity, as was formerly supposed. 



Some have even dared to suggest that the breaking down from 

 the complex to the simple, the disintegration, which the radio- 

 active discoveries and the latest theories of the molecule, indicate 

 in the material world, have their counterpart on the moral plane. 



Men have learnt to make themselves more comfortable and to 

 kill one another more scientifically, but are they more moral, 

 religious or happy ? A reverend-scientist lately at Cardiff 

 has, as we know, gone sponsor for Evolution in all the domains. 

 His address was a mixture of doubtful science and more than 

 doubtful religion, and was based on the speculations of the 

 thread-bare hypothesis of Darwin and on the prophetic forecasts 

 of his own inner consciousness, with which he was convinced 

 all " thoughtful persons " must agree. It was the pathetic bid of 

 ecclesiastical opportunism for the suffrages of a scientific associa- 

 tion. But Mr. E. W. Maunder,* of the Greenwich Observatory, 

 a distinguished member of this Institute, has pointed out — 

 " It is upon facts that have been definitely recognized, not upon 

 unsubstantiated speculations, that the structure of science 

 has been founded." However, Brutus is content with "unsub- 

 stantiated speculations," and " Brutus is an honourable man." 



What puzzles some " thoughtful men " is that though so 

 many scientists are agreed that evolution must have taken place, 

 there should be no agreement as to what it exactly means or 

 how it works. As The Times of June 9th, 1905, said when review- 

 ing a great controversy among scientists on evolution — " The 

 plain truth is that though some agree in this or that, there is not 

 a single point on which they all agree. "f 



* Tracts for New Times. No. 3, p. 4. Published by the Victoria 

 Institute. 



f See also Evolution Criticized^ by the late T. B. Bishop, Member of 

 Couucii. 



