110 



PROF. ERNEST W. MACBRIDE, MUL, F.R.S., OX 



not. But all experimenters on the subject of pure lines have 

 been at pains to keep the environmental conditions as stable as 

 they can. If differences occur in consequence of a changed 

 environment, and if the changed environment persists long 

 enough, then we get a changed heredity. Natural selection 

 would then weed out those individuals which did not react — in a 

 word, the unadaptable. If the further question be raised as to 

 why some are more adaptable than others, we must frankly 

 confess our ignorance. Explanations of living phenomena 

 consist in comparing one living being with another, and in 

 deducing general rules and characteristics. Attempts to com- 

 pare the phenomena exhibited by living beings with those 

 exhibited by the non-living have hitherto been unsuccessful. 

 There is a superficial resemblance, of course, but when the 

 comparison is pressed into detail it breaks down. The attempt 

 to explain the activities of the simplest organisms, such as 

 Amoeba, on purely physical and chemical grounds, which at one 

 time seemed to be on the verge of succeeding, has proved 

 fruitless. Amoeba reacts to its environment in a simpler way, 

 but on the same general principles as we do ourselves. The 

 teaching of biology seems to be that the condition of progress 

 is expressed in the text " To him that hath shall be given." 



Discussion. 



The CHAIRMAN, in introducing the Lecturer, said : It is not my 

 province at the present moment to express any opinion on the sub- 

 ject of the paper, but I hope I may have an opportunity of offering 

 a few thoughts at the end of the discussion. 



I should like to remind those present that the Professor has not 

 come to argue in favour of any theory of Evolution, but to put before 

 us the opinion held by the scientific world to-day of Darwin's theory 

 of Organic Evolution. 



Some may wonder why our Institute has chosen this subject for 

 consideration and discussion, and may consider it a sign of our 

 decadence and falling away to ask for such a paper, but our object 

 is to learn all we can from every possible source, and try to 

 bring all the knowledge we acquire to bear upon Revelation. AVe 

 should lose much that is helpful if we only followed out our own 

 lines of thought upon any question. ■ As humble believers in the 

 Christ revealed in the Bible, we naturally live in a very small 

 groove compared with the world around us, and our outlook would 



