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primordial monad”? Reference has been made to sailors’ long sight. 
Now it is notorious amongst us sailors, that sight to a great extent depends 
more upon the mind than upon the eye. If a lad at sea says he cannot see 
what others see, he is told he must be made to see, and he is punished for 
not seeing ; and we find that he very soon learns to see. But can any intel- 
ligent person suppose the eye has been improved so as to produce this effect ? 
Certainly not. It is well understood that it is the mind that has been exer- 
cised, and its perceptive faculties have been developed, while the eye has 
been ’unchanged. But the Darwinian theory supposes this power is in the 
eye. Are we then to consider that there is no mind ; or that matter is all 
mind, or mind all matter ? It really involves this If there is such intelli- 
gence exercised by material tissue, then is matter all mind ! A living philo- 
sopher tells us that there is no matter, and that matter is only a condition of 
mind. This controversy ought to be settled, before we are asked to believe 
in such a theory as this. 
Rev. J. Manners.— I have not had the pleasure of reading Mr. 
Warington’s paper, but have been much interested with that we have 
heard this evening by our Hon. Sec., Mr. Reddie. This subject, I must 
say, appears to me a very curious one. I recollect reading some time 
ago some verses in Blackwood’s Magazine (for May, 1861) apropos to this; 
and though I do not quote them as an argument, they are much to the 
point. They begin 
“ Have you heard this strange theory the doctors among, 
That all living things from a monad have sprung ? 
This thing hath been said, and now shall be sung ; 
Which nobody can deny.” 
Then they go on to account for the formation of elephants, giraffes, &c. 
thus : — 
“ A very tall pig with a very long nose 
Sent down a proboscis quite down to his toes, 
And then by the name of elephant goes ; 
Which nobody can deny. 
u A deer with a neck which was longer by half 
Than most of its family (please not to laugh), 
By stretching and stretching became a giraffe ; 
Which nobody can deny. 
“ Pouters, tumblers, and fantails are from the same source ; 
The racer and hack may be traced to one horse : 
So men were developed from monkeys, of course ; 
Which nobody can deny. 
“ An ape with a pliable thumb and big brain, 
When the gift of the gab he had managed to gain, 
As a lord of creation establish’d his reign ; 
Which nobody can deny.” 
Afterwards the author goes on to show how — 
“ Fleas, flies, and lobsters in order succeed, 
And icthyosauruses follow the lead.” 
