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diff --git a/33859-0.txt b/33859-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88f5bab --- /dev/null +++ b/33859-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10012 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Old Riddle and the Newest Answer, by John Gerard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Old Riddle and the Newest Answer + +Author: John Gerard + +Release Date: October 15, 2010 [EBook #33859] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD RIDDLE *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Peter Vachuska and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +THE OLD RIDDLE AND THE NEWEST ANSWER + + The Lord St. Alban would say to some philosophers--"Gentlemen, + nature is a labyrinth, in which the very haste you move with, will + make you lose your way." + BACON, _Apophthegms_. + + + + +THE OLD RIDDLE +AND THE NEWEST +ANSWER + +BY +JOHN GERARD, S.J., F.L.S. + +_FOURTH EDITION_ + +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. +39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, +NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA + +1907 + + + + +ROEHAMPTON: + +PRINTED BY JOHN GRIFFIN. + + + + +PREFACE + + +The enemies of Science are not the philistines alone--if any still +remain--who would muzzle or stifle her. More numerous and dangerous are +those--professedly of her own household--who ascribe to her pretensions +of which she herself knows nothing, and strive to make her responsible +for a philosophy entirely beyond her scope. With this object efforts are +assiduously made to popularize the idea that nothing in heaven or earth +is beyond her ken, and that she has rendered all such beliefs impossible +as alone can satisfy the deeper cravings of humanity. At the same time +the very brilliance of her achievements is apt to dazzle our eyes, +blinding them to the extremely narrow limits of the field in which she +can operate, and making us rush to the conclusion that she has solved +the riddle which from the beginning of time Nature has offered to every +thinking mind,--or at least that what her search-light cannot illumine +must for ever remain unknowable. + +How far such assumptions are rational, it is the object of the present +enquiry to examine by means of the evidence furnished by Science herself +in her own regard. + +I have to thank Mr. W. E. Darwin for permission to use the illustration +of feathers of the Argus Pheasant from his illustrious father's _Descent +of Man_, and for the loan of blocks for the purpose. Through the +courtesy of Messrs. Macmillan I am allowed to copy a portion of the +plate in the late Professor Huxley's _Lectures on Evolution_, +illustrating his pedigree of the Horse. If I forbear to mention others +who have kindly supplied me with information, it is only lest it might +be supposed that they are anywise responsible for the use I have made of +it. The design on the cover of the present volume I owe to my friend Mr. +Paul Woodroffe. + +J. G. + +_March_ 10, 1904. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION + + +In this edition, which has been thoroughly revised throughout, a few +corrections have had to be made, especially in the Index, and in one or +two instances alterations or additions have appeared advisable for the +sake of clearness or accuracy of expression. Nothing has, however, as +yet been brought to the author's notice which affects any substantial +point in what he has written. + +_July_ 28, 1904. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION + + +This edition has again been thoroughly revised, and some new matter +appended which bears on various points raised in the original volume, +especially the establishment of the important group of the +_Cycado-filices_, as affecting the succession of plant life on the +earth, and recent evidence concerning the pedigree of the horse. + +_December_ 21, 1906. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + PAGES + +TO BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING + +Certainty that there was a Beginning of the World--What +was there before?--The Great Problem, to be +answered by Reason and Science 1-3 + +CHAPTER II + +REASON AND SCIENCE + +Principles of Reasoning--Scope and method of Science 4-7 + +CHAPTER III + +EVOLUTION + +Term variously used for a Process and a Principle. We +commence with the latter 8-9 + +CHAPTER IV + +"THE LAW OF EVOLUTION" + +Evolution as a Philosophy--Main features of the +system 10-14 + +CHAPTER V + +WHAT IS A "LAW OF NATURE"? + +Erroneous use of the term frequent: its scientific use 15-19 + +CHAPTER VI + +"THE LAW OF SUBSTANCE" + +A combination of two other "Laws," viz.--The indestructibility +of Matter, and the Conservation of +Energy--But there is also Dissipation of Energy--Consequences +inferred from this as to the Duration +of the Universe 20-28 + +CHAPTER VII + +"THE SEVEN ENIGMAS" + +The "Law of Continuity"--Alleged breaches--Seven +evolutionary stages deduced to be scientifically +unexplained, or even inexplicable 29-34 + +CHAPTER VIII + +MATTER AND MOTION + +Constitution and Properties of Matter inconsistent with +Haeckel's evolutionary system--Also the Laws of +Motion--Radium and its revelations 35-44 + +CHAPTER IX + +THE PROBLEM OF LIFE + +Evolution here considered as a process--In its larger +sense, postulates spontaneous generation--which, +however, Science disallows--Protoplasm and Crystallization 45-66 + +CHAPTER X + +ANIMAL AND MAN + +Origin of simple sensation and consciousness even less +explicable than that of life--Gulf between man +and the lower animals--Language exclusively +human--The significance of Free-will can be impugned +only by the absurdity of denying its existence 67-85 + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ORDER OF NATURE + +The order of the _Cosmos_ requires a Cause--No cause +known to us can produce such a result except Intelligence--Hence +we infer Purpose or Design and +are led to Theism--Scientific evidence as to this, +"the Grand Question" 86-109 + +CHAPTER XII + +PURPOSE AND CHANCE + +What "Chance" means--It is the sole alternative to +Purpose or Design--Arguments against Purposive +Creation--The Existence of Pain--The Mysteries +of Generation 110-125 + +CHAPTER XIII + +MONISM + +The Monistic Philosophy--Its utter lack of a scientific +basis--Contradicted by the ideas of morality and +truth--Not really adopted by Monists themselves 126-139 + +CHAPTER XIV + +ORGANIC EVOLUTION + +"Evolution" now to be considered in its most restricted +signification--Organic Evolution, or "Transformism," +not identical with Darwinism--The +nature of the questions before us 140-148 + +CHAPTER XV + +DARWINISM + +Though no essential part of our enquiry, Darwinism +must be studied on account of importance ascribed +to it--Baseless claims on its behalf--True character +of the system--Natural Selection and its mode of +action--Phenomena which seem to favour Darwinism--Difficulties +on the other side--Limits of +Variation--Specific stability--Adverse probabilities--Natural +selection can produce nothing--Transitional +developments useless or harmful--Artistic +ornaments unexplained--Flaws in argument--Organic +progress--Rudimentary Organs--Embryology--Scientific +opinion as to Darwinism 149-203 + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE FACTS OF EVOLUTION + +Palæontology furnishes the only sound basis for argument--The +nature of the evidence required--The +history of Life as known to us is inconsistent +with evolutionary theories--Haeckel's "ante-periods"--Conclusion +to which facts point 204-238 + +CHAPTER XVII + +"AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM" + +Arguments on behalf of Evolution--The genealogy of +the Horse--Haeckel's Pedigree of Man--Darwin's +plea of imperfection of the geological record--No +evolutionary process is yet demonstrated; Still less +has anything been done to establish Evolution as a +creative force 239-269 + +CHAPTER XVIII + +TO SUM UP + +Reason leads to conclusions which physical science cannot +reach--The recognition of a First Cause beyond the +Sensible Universe an intellectual necessity--Knowledge +of this cause attainable by reason--Conclusion 270-280 + +APPENDICES + +A. Recent Scientific Verdicts concerning Darwinism and +Transformism 281 + +B. Development of Plant life--the _Cycadofilices_ 284 + +C. The Course of Evolution 285 + +D. The pedigree of the Horse: further evidence 286 + +INDEX 289 + +FOOTNOTES + + + + +I + +TO BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING + + +That the world as we know it had a beginning is a truth which there is +no denying. Not only have philosophers always argued that it must be so: +the researches of physical science assure us that it has been so in +fact. Astronomy, says Professor Huxley,[1] "leads us to contemplate +phenomena the very nature of which demonstrates that they must have had +a beginning." The hypothesis that phenomena of Nature similar to those +exhibited by the present world have always existed, the same authority +assures us,[2] "is absolutely incompatible with such evidence as we +have, which is of so plain and so simple a character that it is +impossible in any way to escape from the conclusions which it forces +upon us." This conclusion, physicists tell us, is inevitable when we +study the laws by which the operations of Nature are governed, and as +Professor Balfour Stewart writes,[3] we thus become "absolutely certain" +that these operations cannot have existed for ever, and that a time +will come when they must cease. In like manner, a recent and competent +witness to the conclusions of contemporary Science, lays down,[4] as one +of the truths which her latest discoveries compel us to accept, that the +world is not eternal, that the earth is cooling from a state of heat +rendering life impossible, to one of physical exhaustion equally fatal +to it. Accordingly "Life must have had a beginning and must come to an +end,"--and our whole Solar System (he adds) must similarly have had a +commencement, at a period not infinitely remote. + +But, if the world had a beginning, what was there before it began? +Something there must have been, and something which had the power of +producing it. Had there ever been nothing, there could never have been +anything, for, _Ex nihilo nihil fit_. That nothing should turn into +something is an idea which the mind refuses to entertain. Nor is the +case any better even if we suppose that matter had no beginning, that it +has existed for ever as we know it now, and that at first there was +nothing else. For if so, whence have all these things arisen which, +according to all observation and experiment, matter cannot produce, as, +organic life, sensitive life, consciousness, reason, moral goodness? Had +matter been always what it now is, and had there been no source beyond +matter whence the power of producing all these things could be derived, +they could never have been produced at all, or else they would have +come into being without a cause. It would be like a milestone growing +into an apple-tree, or a mountain spontaneously giving birth to a mouse. + +We are therefore compelled by common-sense to ask when we consider +Nature, What is the force or power at the back of her, which first set +her going, and whence she draws the capability of performing the +operations which we find her performing every day; that force or power +which must be the ultimate origin of everything that is in the world? +This is the great fundamental problem which the student of Nature has to +face, and beside it all others fade into insignificance. It is with this +that we are now engaged. We have to ask how our reason bids us answer +it, and the first question which arises naturally is, What light is +thrown on the subject by modern Science, of whose achievements we are +all so justly proud? + + + + +II + +REASON AND SCIENCE + + +In studying a question such as this, we must commence by being +determined, on the one hand to accept nothing as true but what our +reason warrants us in believing, and on the other hand to follow the +guidance of reason as far as, rightly used, it will lead us. The +principle formulated[5] by Professor Huxley, as the foundation-stone of +what he termed "Agnosticism," is that which must needs be adopted, and +as a matter of fact has ever been adopted, by rational men. + + Positively--in matters of the intellect follow your reason as far + as it will take you, without regard to any other consideration. And + negatively--in matters of the intellect do not pretend that + conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or demonstrable. + +But to justify the confidence which we thus repose in it we must +obviously be careful to use our reason aright, and not to attribute to +it any conclusions which it does not really sanction. It is this right +use of reason that is specially claimed for modern "Science,"[6] which, +as we are again assured by Professor Huxley, is only another name for +sound reasoning--"_Science_," he declares,[7] "_is, I believe, nothing +but trained and organized common-sense_.[8] ... The man of science, in +fact, simply uses with scrupulous exactness, the methods which we all, +habitually and at every moment, use carelessly." + +There can be no sort of question that so long as men of science really +act thus, and confine themselves to the treatment of matters in regard +of which they can claim special knowledge, common sense bids us listen +to them with respect, and even with submission. But the same common +sense requires that we should satisfy ourselves that they truly deserve +the character assigned them, and pretend to no knowledge on the score of +Science but what their scientific methods are competent to acquire. When +they step beyond this their own proper domain, whatever weight may be +given to their opinions upon other grounds, they cease to speak in the +name of Science. + +What then, we must ask, is the province of Science, and what are her +methods? + +"Science," always understanding by the term physical or experimental +Science, deals with the universe so far as it is known to us through our +senses. The universe known thus we call "Nature," and the whole stock in +trade of Science is the examination and verification of natural +phenomena, with such inferences therefrom as ascertained facts +legitimately suggest. From careful and trustworthy observation she can +learn what are called the "Laws of Nature," that is to say the manner in +which the various elements and forces of the universe are found +constantly to act, in given circumstances; she can, to some extent, +discover the chain of causes and effects, or more properly of +conditions and consequences, through which natural operations are +carried on. She can even construct hypotheses as to what she cannot +directly observe, namely, the nature of substances and forces; and such +hypotheses are justified in proportion as they are found to tally with +facts. If constantly thus justified, they are styled theories, and come +to be practically assumed as established truths. But it must ever be +remembered that Science can take no step in advance which is not based +on fact, and that when facts are not forthcoming for its support an +hypothesis or a theory has no scientific value. + +Bearing this in mind, we will proceed to enquire what Science has to +tell us regarding the origin of the world, and the manner in which it +has come to be what it is. + + + + +III + +"EVOLUTION" + + +We are constantly assured that Science compels us to believe in +"Evolution," and that in this doctrine is to be found the explanation of +the universe whereof we are in quest. We must however in the first place +make sure that we understand what "Evolution" means, and if we look into +the question, it speedily appears that the term is very differently +understood by those who use it. + +Some who style themselves "Evolutionists" mean only that, as a matter of +established fact, the organic world, the world of life, whether animal +or vegetable, has been brought to its present condition by _genetic_ +development of one species from another, in the natural course of +descent and through the operation of natural laws; and that as we see +plants and animals of the same kind propagated one from another at the +present day, so in the course of long ages the lower and simpler forms +of life have given birth to the higher and more complex. + +Others again do not limit this process to organic creatures, and believe +that from first to last, the whole world, inorganic and organic alike, +has resulted from the action of forces such as those with which Science +deals; and that life has thus arisen in purely natural course out of +non-living matter, the universe in its original condition having been +constituted as a vast machine which was bound to produce all that has +since arisen. + +In either of the above senses--of which the second obviously includes +the first,--"Evolution" is understood as no more than a _process_ which +is said to have occurred. But there is a more extreme school which takes +"Evolution" for much more, namely for a power, principle, or "law," +which both governs and accounts for everything, and requires no further +cause beyond itself. + +If this paramount "Law of Evolution" can be established, there is +clearly an end of our enquiry, for here is the ultimate explanation of +everything which we are seeking. But what has Science to say concerning +it? + + + + +IV + +"THE LAW OF EVOLUTION" + + +That there is a self-existing and self-sufficing "Law of Evolution" to +which everything in the world must be ascribed, is the doctrine of those +Evolutionists who are most active in propagating their creed and who +most loudly proclaim that it alone is scientific. The great leader and +prophet of this school, Professor Ernst Haeckel, assures us[9] that he +gives expression, + + to that rational view of the world which is being forced upon us + with such logical rigour by the modern advancements in our + knowledge of nature as a unity, a view in reality held by almost + all unprejudiced and thinking men of science, although but few have + the courage (or the need) to declare it openly. + +The plain and rational conclusion thus exhibited is, he tells us,[10] +the special glory of modern research. + + It is true [he writes] that there were philosophers who spoke of + the evolution of things a thousand years ago; but the recognition + that such a law dominates the entire universe, and that the world + is nothing else than an eternal "evolution of substance," is a + fruit of the nineteenth century. + +So far as concerns the world which we actually inhabit, its first +beginning, we must, he tells us, suppose[11] to have been a vast nebula +of infinitely attenuated and light material, rotating upon its own +axis.[12] + + Given this first beginning of the cosmogonic movement, it is easy, + on mathematical principles, to deduce and mathematically establish + the further phenomena of the foundation of the cosmic bodies, the + separation of the planets, and so forth. + +Nor are we to suppose that the beginning of this particular process was +in any true sense a beginning at all. Evolutionary philosophy such as +Professor Haeckel's, necessarily teaches that beginnings and endings +succeed one another everlastingly, one world-system arising phoenix-like +from the ashes of another. + + The nebular hypothesis above described has recently [we are + told][13] been strongly confirmed and enlarged by the theory that + this cosmogonic process did not simply take place once, but is + periodically repeated. While new cosmic bodies arise and develop, + out of rotating masses of nebula in some parts of the universe, in + other parts old, extinct, frigid suns come into collision, and are + once more reduced by the heat generated to the condition of nebulæ. + +It appears, in fact, to be assumed that this cyclic process has been +actually demonstrated, for we are told[14] that astronomy reveals, in +the endless depths of space, "Millions of circling spheres, larger than +our earth, and, like it, in an eternal rhythm of life and death." + +Moreover, "life" is here to be understood literally, for it is a +cardinal article of such evolutionary belief that equally with the +foundation of cosmic bodies and the separation of planets, the +production of organic life, of plants and animals, has been wrought by +forces which the material universe contains within itself,[15] and +accordingly,[16] + + We now definitely know that the organic world on our earth has been + continuously developed "in accordance with eternal iron laws." ... + An unbroken series of natural events, following an orderly course + of evolution according to fixed laws, now leads the reflecting + human spirit through long aeons from a primeval chaos to the + present order of the cosmos. + +Finally, at the back of all these processes, we are to recognize the one +ultimate reality, the universe itself, which originates and undergoes +all these evolutions. In its regard Professor Haeckel tells us[17] that, + + The universe, or cosmos, is eternal, infinite, and illimitable. Its + substance, with its two attributes (matter and energy) fills + infinite space and is in eternal motion. This motion runs on + through infinite time as an unbroken development, with a periodic + change from life to death, from evolution to devolution.... + +And again:[18] + + The two fundamental forms of substances, ponderable matter and + ether, are not dead and moved only by extrinsic force, but they are + endowed also with sensation and will (though naturally of the + lowest grade); they experience an inclination for condensation, a + dislike of strain; they strive after the one and struggle against + the other. + +Moreover, + + Movement[19] is as innate and original a property of substances as + is sensation. + +Such is the raw material whose metamorphoses produce, or rather +constitute, all possible worlds, while paramount over every thing +dominates the "Law of Substance," under which title Professor Haeckel +unites the scientific principles of the indestructibility of matter, +and the conservation of energy. Thus is the conclusion reached,[20] + + Towering above all the achievements and discoveries of the century + we have the great comprehensive "law of substance," the fundamental + law of the constancy of matter and force. The fact that substance + is everywhere subject to eternal movement and transformation gives + it the character also of the universal law of evolution. As this + supreme law has been firmly established and all others are + subordinate to it, we arrive at a conviction of the universal unity + of nature and the eternal validity of its laws. + +Accordingly we are to conclude with Goethe that all proceeds by iron law +to the fulfilling of inevitable destiny; or as an ardent disciple +proclaims, who undertakes to expound the new creed to the people,[21] + + We rest in sure and certain hope that no force and no combination + of forces can stop the process of Evolution, which from a speck of + jelly has developed such living forms as Charles Darwin and Herbert + Spencer, and which has produced the beauty of the earth and the + heavens from formless ether. + +This outline of the Evolutionary system in its widest and fullest sense +will enable us to judge upon what grounds it can claim the sanction of +Science. Various points here present themselves for consideration, which +demand separate treatment. + + + + +V + +WHAT IS A "LAW OF NATURE"? + + +As we have seen, the doctrine of Evolution is presented by its advocates +as being based upon the existence of a "Law of Evolution," or "Law of +Substance," which both brings about evolutionary processes, and +certifies us of their occurrence, so that we may appeal to it as an +authority for our belief in the facts of evolution themselves. Thus as +Professor Milnes Marshall told the British Association,[22] + + The doctrine of descent, or of evolution, teaches us that as + individual animals arise, not spontaneously, but by direct descent + from pre-existing animals, so also is it with species, with + families, and with larger groups of animals, and so also has it + been for all time. + +It is not said, be it observed, that the establishment of such facts +teaches us the doctrine of evolution, but that the doctrine assures us +of the facts; and the utterances constantly met with, of which the above +is a fair sample, have no signification if they do not mean this. In +the same way Professor Haeckel declares[23] that his fundamental cosmic +law "establishes" the eternal persistence of matter and force, and their +unvarying constancy throughout the entire universe, becoming thus "the +pole-star that guides our Philosophy through the mighty labyrinth to a +solution of the world problem," and the key to this supreme problem, he +further tells us,[24] is found in one magic word--Evolution. + +It would certainly appear from all this, that by "Evolution" we are to +understand some sort of entity at the back of the world, with power at +its disposal capable of effecting all its operations,--something in fact +remarkably like the First Cause of which we are in search,--and that by +its "Laws" are signified some definite forces, the practical action of +which has been ascertained by us, so that we can foretell the course of +events under them, as we can that of the planets or the tides under the +influence of gravitation. + +But is it scientific, or even intelligible, to use words thus, and to +assign any such significance to such terms as "Law of Evolution," "Law +of Substance," or any other "Law of Nature"? We are repeatedly warned to +the contrary by so high an authority as Professor Huxley. Once, for +instance, he discovered in a sermon of Canon Liddon's this "fallacious +employment of the name of a scientific conception," for which it was +however added, the preacher "could find only too many scientific +precedents."[25] This fallacious use of terms, which nowise differs from +that under consideration, Professor Huxley thus denounces: + + It is the use of the word "law" as if it denoted a thing--as if a + "law of nature," as science understands it, were a being endowed + with certain powers, in virtue of which the phenomena expressed by + that law are brought about.... All I wish to remark is that such a + conception of the nature of "laws" has nothing to do with modern + science.... A law of nature, in the scientific sense, is the + product of a mental operation upon the facts of nature which come + under our observation, and has no more existence outside the mind + than colour has. The law of gravitation is a statement of the + manner in which experience shows that bodies, which are free to + move, do, in fact, move towards one another.... The tenacity of the + wonderful fallacy that the laws of nature are agents, instead of + being, as they really are, a mere record of experience, upon which + we base our interpretations of that which does happen, and our + anticipation of that which will happen, is an interesting + psychological fact: and would be unintelligible if the tendency of + the human mind towards realism were less strong. + +A law, accordingly, "is not a cause but a fact,"[26] and we must learn +laws from facts, not facts from laws. It is indeed evident on a +moment's thought, that to speak of the Law of Evolution as causing +things to be evolved, is like saying that the law of growth makes things +grow. Till we know what happens, there is nothing of which Science can +take account. + + True scientific teaching, I cannot too often repeat [says Professor + Tait][27] requires that the facts, and their _necessary_ + consequences alone, should be stated, as simply as possible. + +In like manner Professor Huxley,[28] undertaking to vindicate full +scientific value for his own favourite Biology, does so by pointing out +that biological methods are similar to those of every other branch of +Science, since they begin with the observation of facts, and from this +proceed to various applications of the knowledge so acquired. And +Professor Haeckel himself tells us regarding his own mode of +procedure:[29] + + The means and methods we have chosen for attaining the solution of + the great enigma do not differ, on the whole, from those of all + purely scientific investigation: firstly, experience; secondly, + inference. + +Therefore, although the phrases we have already heard from him, are +found when scrutinized to be only phrases, which explain nothing, it +may be supposed that he elsewhere produces such proofs of his doctrine +as will place it on a scientific basis. For these we will now seek. + + + + +VI + +"THE LAW OF SUBSTANCE" + + +We have just been told by Professor Haeckel, that the means and methods +which he has chosen for the establishment of his philosophy are, on the +whole, identical with those employed in all purely scientific +investigation, namely, first experience, and secondly inference. + +But here a grave difficulty at once presents itself. How, either by +experience or by inference, can we learn anything about the +commencements of the universe, as to which we have heard so much? How +the first bodies, whether organic or inorganic, actually arose, neither +philosophy nor science can definitely say, for the latter was not there +to see, and the former has no facts on which to argue.[30] But if +neither by observation, nor by clear inference, can the account that has +been given be substantiated, that account cannot pretend to be +scientific, for it rests not upon knowledge but upon speculation,--and +as Professor Tait warns us,[31] "That of which there is no knowledge is +not yet part of Science." + +This plain consideration seems to account for a fact which is +undoubtedly highly significant. Professor Huxley had certainly no +prejudices against evolutionary systems, could they but be +satisfactorily established. He knew all that Professor Haeckel has urged +on behalf of his own theory, and showed how much he was in sympathy with +it by naming after his friend the ill-starred _Bathybius Haeckelii_, the +deep-sea slime which was at first supposed to bridge the gulf between +the organic and the inorganic worlds, and to be living stuff in process +of spontaneous manufacture. Nothing, in fact, as he himself admitted, in +his controversy with Dr. Bastian, could have suited him better than a +demonstration that Nature possesses all the powers necessary for her own +processes, and that the explanation of all is within the scope of +Science. But, at the same time, he reverenced scientific truth beyond +anything else, and he was keenly sensible of the danger attending the +use of hypothetical explanations, leading to conclusions which cannot be +experimentally tested, which danger he carefully shunned.[32] +Accordingly, not only did he never lend his countenance to what +Professor Haeckel represents as the inevitable conclusions of Science, +but he even plainly intimated that those who advanced such views were +going much farther than Science warrants. The doctrine of Evolution, he +declared,[33] is not only attacked on false grounds by its enemies, but +is made by some of its friends to cover so much which is disputable, as +to force him in self-defence to make his own position clear in its +regard. And the first point of his explanation is to repudiate the idea +that we have any such knowledge as Professor Haeckel assumes. "I have +nothing to say," he writes, "to any 'Philosophy of Evolution.'" + +Being thus necessarily destitute of support either directly from +observation or by inference from observed facts, it would seem that only +in one way can Professor Haeckel's system of cosmogony, or +world-production, obtain any support from Science. If amongst the +operations now in progress in the universe, is to be found evidence of +an exhaustless and self-renewing energy, a mainspring capable of keeping +the machine going everlastingly, then undoubtedly there will be an +explanation forthcoming, which, whatever difficulties may still remain +on other grounds, will at least furnish a complete mechanical account of +things within the ken of Science. May we not suppose that this is what +is claimed as being supplied by the "Law of Substance," which is +represented as the cornerstone of the whole edifice, the supreme triumph +of scientific discovery, and, in fine, "the universal law of +evolution"? Let us see how far such a notion can be styled scientific. + +As has been shown, a "Law" is nothing but a statement that a certain +kind of fact is found to occur in certain circumstances. Professor +Haeckel has told us that the "Law of Substance" is a blend of two such +statements, namely, "the Law of the persistency or indestructibility of +matter," which signifies that in no instance within our knowledge is any +particle of matter destroyed, and "the Law of the persistence of force, +or conservation of energy," which signifies that the sum of force, at +work in the world, and producing all phenomena, is similarly found to be +unalterable.[34] + +It must here first be observed that the term "Conservation of Energy," +is more correct and intelligible than "Conservation of Force"; by +"Energy" being understood the power of doing "work," that is to say, of +overcoming resistance.[35] + +It is in this form alone that Force becomes subject to observation and +can be measured by Science, and the Law of Conservation which +observation reveals is thus stated: The sum of all the various energies +in the universe is a constant quantity, which can be neither increased +nor diminished, though it may be changed from one form to another;[36] +such forms being motion, heat, chemical action, electricity, magnetism. + +But another point is of far greater importance. The mode in which +Professor Haeckel states this fundamental Law is altogether deceptive. +He tells his readers only half the truth, and when the other half is +told, not only is his whole doctrine found to receive no support from +the Laws of Energy, but it is these very Laws which appear most +incompatible with it. + +For, along with the Law of the Conservation, there is another, of the +Dissipation of Energy. It is perfectly true, as Professor Haeckel often +repeats, that the sum of Energy existing in the universe remains ever +the same: but it is no less certain, as he unfortunately fails to remind +his readers, that the stock of Energy _available for the work of the +universe_ is growing less every day. Though none is ever destroyed, much +is constantly _lost_, being dissipated, or radiated into space, in the +form of heat which can never be recaptured or translated into any form +which can be of any practical avail. "It is lost for ever as far as we +are concerned."[37] + +From what we have heard concerning the Law of Substance it might +naturally be supposed that it certified us of the continued existence of +the power required to carry on the operations of Nature, and that, +accordingly, reason bids us to suppose these operations to be +everlasting. But this neglected element of the reckoning, or _Entropy_ +as it is styled, leads scientific men to an entirely different estimate. +Thus Professor Balfour Stewart writes:[38] + + Although, therefore, in a strictly mechanical sense, there is a + conservation of energy, yet, as regards usefulness or fitness for + living beings, the energy of the universe is in process of + deterioration. Universally diffused heat forms what we may call the + great waste-heap of the universe, and this is growing larger year + by year. + + We have [he continues] regarded the universe, not as a collection + of matter, but rather as an energetic agent--in fact, as a lamp. + Now it has been well pointed out by Thomson,[39] that looked at in + this light, the universe is a system that had a beginning and must + have an end; for a process of degradation cannot be eternal. If we + could view the universe as a candle not lit, then it is perhaps + conceivable to regard it as having been always in existence; but if + we regard it rather as a candle that has been lit, we become + absolutely certain that it cannot have been burning from eternity, + and that a time will come when it will cease to burn. We are led to + look to a beginning in which the particles of matter were in a + diffuse chaotic state, but endowed with the power of gravitation, + and we are led to look to an end in which the whole universe will + be one equally heated inert mass, from which everything like life + or motion or beauty will have utterly gone away. + +It is doubtless true that attempts have been made to show that this +conclusion is not final, and that there may be resources whereby Nature +is able to recoup herself, and to draw upon some bank unknown to us for +her missing store. As we have seen, Professor Haeckel simply takes for +granted that some such means of recuperation exist and operate, and he +is not wholly without countenance from others. Thus, no less an +authority than Sir William Crookes addressing the Chemical Society as +its president, thus expressed himself:[40] + + If we may hazard any conjectures ... we may I think premise that + the heat radiations propagated outwards, ... by some process of + nature unknown to us, are transformed at the confines of the + universe into the primary--the essential--motion of chemical atoms, + which the instant they are formed, gravitate inwards, and thus + restore to the universe the energy which would be lost to it + through radiant heat. Hence Sir William Thomson's startling + prediction falls to the ground. + +But it need not be pointed out that if an advocate so eminent as Sir +William Crookes is reduced to pleas like this on its behalf, the case +for Renovation of Energy must be singularly destitute of anything +resembling scientific support. Suppositions which are avowedly hazarded +as conjectures, and which must appeal to processes of Nature of which we +know nothing, whatever authorship they may boast, have nothing to do +with Science, and possess no sort of value for our purpose.[41] It must +of course be allowed that we may still be utterly in the dark as to the +whole of this question, and that further discoveries may one day +completely upset all our present notions. But we are concerned with the +evidence which Science has now before her, and with the assertion so +confidently advanced that this makes the Law of ceaseless Evolution an +indisputable truth. We find, on the contrary, that this Law runs +directly counter to the facts as they are at present known to us, and to +the conclusions drawn from them by the most authoritative +representatives of science. + +Nor is it only our own globe and solar system that appear to be thus +bound towards an inevitable doom. The eternal rhythm of life and death, +of which we have been told as pervading the endless depths of space, +has no better title to scientific sanction. Like the minor province +which we inhabit, the whole universe, we are assured,--so far as we have +means of calculating,--must ultimately arrive at a condition of eternal +stagnation,--its component parts being drawn close together by their +mutual attractions,--so that motion ceases; while the heat replacing it +being equally diffused, becomes as incapable of doing work as water +between two pools on the same level is of turning a mill. As the writer +lately quoted sums up the matter:[42] + + Slow as the process of condensation is, it is not endless. In time + all the meteoric dust will be collected into stars or planets; and + in time the law of dissipation of energy will bring all these + bodies to a uniform temperature. So at last the movements due to + the original unequal distribution of matter will cease, and the + life of the universe will come to an end. We know of no process of + rejuvenescence, by means of which dissipation of energy and the + force of gravitation might be counteracted. Several attempts have + been made to refute the theory of the dissipation of energy, but + all have failed. + +This, however, is but the first of many difficulties which must be +disposed of ere the account of the world's genesis which we are +considering can pretend to our acceptance on the ground that reason and +science proclaim its truth. + + + + +VII + +"THE SEVEN ENIGMAS" + + +The doctrine that the universe is an automatic machine,--self-originated +and self-sustained--undoubtedly rests upon a principle formally +recognized by some evolutionists, as the "Law of Continuity," and taken +for granted by many who do not put it into words. This principle +is,--that everything must always have happened according to the same +laws of Nature which operate now; that there can never have been a +"miracle," understanding by this term whatever is beyond the scope of +natural forces; and that, accordingly, the whole of the world's +history,--one stage as much as another,--falls within the province of +Science. By no one has this position been more clearly stated than by +the late Professor Romanes. + + All minds [he tells us][43] with any instincts of science in their + composition have grown to distrust, on merely antecedent grounds, + any explanation which embodies a miraculous element. Such minds + have grown to regard all these explanations as mere expressions of + our own ignorance of natural causation; or, in other words, they + have come to regard it as an _à priori_ truth that nature is always + uniform in respect of method or causation; that the reign of law is + universal; the principle of continuity ubiquitous. + +He goes on to declare that "The fact of evolution--or, which is the same +thing, the fact of continuity in natural causation--has now been +undoubtedly proved in many departments of nature," and that, in +particular, "throughout the range of inorganic nature" it is "a +demonstrated fact." + +If this be so, it must necessarily follow that the Laws of Nature, as +Science finds them operating, sufficiently explain not only all that +happens in our present world, but also all that must have happened while +this world was being produced. According to what has already been said, +by "The Law of Continuity" no more can be signified than that Continuity +is a fact, that the world has actually come to be what it is through the +continual operation of just the same natural forces as we find at work +to-day. That things _did_ so happen we have not and cannot have, direct +evidence; for no witness was there to report. We can but draw inferences +from the present to the past, and argue that what Nature does to-day, +she must have been capable of doing yesterday and the day before. Only +thus can continuity of natural laws possibly be established. It would +obviously be vain to argue that we must suppose no other forces ever to +have acted than those we can observe, because, for all we know, other +conditions may so have altered as to make their results altogether +different from any of which we have experience. + +It is likewise manifest that if we are to speak of demonstrated facts, +and of conclusions placed beyond rational possibility of doubt, proofs +must be forthcoming sufficient to compel scientific assent. + +And here lies the difficulty. Very much must unquestionably have +happened in the course of the world's making for which the Laws of +Nature as we find them now acting cannot account, and which, therefore, +Science cannot attempt to explain. So we are assured by eminent +scientific men,--men, too, who desire nothing more than to find an +explanation, but are driven, in search of one, as we have already seen +Sir W. Crookes, to plead the limitation of our knowledge, and that there +may be capabilities in Nature of which we are ignorant. But it remains +always true, that what we do not know is not yet part of Science, and +that if our scientific information, so far as it goes, is adverse to the +Law of Continuity, it is quite unscientific to bring arguments for the +law not from our knowledge, but from our lack of it. Still more +unscientific is it to proclaim that Science has pronounced judgment in a +sense contrary to that of all the evidence hitherto presented to her. + +Amongst the men of Science who testify as above, we may begin with Herr +Du Bois-Reymond, an avowed Evolutionist and Materialist, whom Professor +Haeckel styles, "the all-powerful secretary and dictator of the Berlin +Academy of Sciences."[44] He can be suspected of no prejudices which +would prevent him from accepting Professor Haeckel's cosmogony, if only +he found the evidence satisfactory. Far from this, however, he +declares,[45] that the history of the universe confronts us with no less +than seven problems, for which Science has no solution to offer, and +some of which he holds to be for ever insoluble. These he styles +"Enigmas," and they are: + +(1) The nature of Matter and of Force. + +(2) The origin of Motion. + +(3) The origin of Life. + +(4) The apparently designed order of Nature. + +(5) The origin of sensation and consciousness. + +(6) The origin of rational thought and speech. + +(7) Free-will. + +The first, second, and fifth of these are in the opinion of Du +Bois-Reymond "transcendental," or beyond possibility of solution. The +others, in his judgment, have certainly not yet been solved, but +_perhaps_ may be solved some day. As to the last, he much doubts whether +it should not also be classed as "transcendental." + + * * * * * + +It thus appears that in the judgment of a competent witness, and one +no-wise biassed by preconception or prejudice, so far from it being +true that Professor Haeckel's story of the universe is imperiously +imposed on us by the results of Science, not one but several great gulfs +in the course of that history must have been bridged over somehow, which +Science confesses she cannot bridge, so far as her present knowledge +goes, that is to say, so far as she is Science at all. + +Professor Haeckel, it is true, loudly pronounces Du Bois-Reymond's +declaration to be mere "dogmatism"[46] of a "shallow and illogical +character," and he undertakes to show that with the help of his own +philosophy the enigmas cease to be enigmatical. + + In my opinion [he writes] the three transcendental problems (1, 2 + and 5) are settled by our conception of substance; the three which + he [Du Bois-Reymond] considers difficult, though soluble[47] (3, 4 + and 6) are decisively answered by our modern theory of evolution; + the seventh and last, the freedom of the will, is not an object for + critical scientific inquiry at all, for it is a pure dogma, based + on an illusion, and has no real existence. + +How far such a mode of rebuking dogmatism appears convincing, must of +course depend on what the reader understands by an argument. Some points +already considered may help us to a right estimate of proofs which are +based upon "Our conception of substance," or "Our modern theory of +evolution," and we shall presently inspect more closely the nature of +the difficulties which we are invited so summarily to dismiss. +Meanwhile, even though not final or conclusive, the testimony of such a +man as Du Bois-Reymond serves at least to prove that it is possible to +be thoroughly familiar with Science and her teaching, and yet to believe +that as yet she knows nothing at all concerning questions which, as we +have been assured, she has conclusively answered. And, as we shall +presently see, if Professor Haeckel's account of things be the true one, +there are many more scientific men of the first rank who are equally in +the dark. + +In a word, while according to Professor Haeckel there is in the universe +but one Riddle, which he tells us he has solved,--in the opinion of +another who is certainly no less entitled to speak in the name of +Science, there yet remain seven to which no answer has yet been given, +and to three, at least, of which none will ever be found. + + + + +VIII + +MATTER AND MOTION + + +In the forefront of the problems which have been pronounced to be not +only unsolved but insoluble, are the nature and origin of the ultimate +factors arrived at by Science in her study of the constitution of the +universe,--Matter, Force, and Motion. + +With the first and last of these alone need we at present concern +ourselves, for "Force," as Science knows it, is always associated with +Matter, and signifies no more in her terminology than that which +produces, or tends to produce Motion. On the other hand, we are +told,[48] that "The contents of the material universe may be expressed +in terms of Matter and Motion." + +By "Matter" is understood "Sensible Substance," the stuff composing all +of which our senses tell us, and which forms the object of Scientific +investigation. What do we know concerning this raw material whereof +worlds are made? + +As we have seen, Professor Haeckel and his school are ready to tell us. +Matter, we are assured,[49] is self-existent and imperishable, "it has +no beginning and no end; it is eternity." Together with Ether, it +occupies infinite and boundless space. It is in ceaseless motion; and +its interminable modifications produce everything that ever was or ever +will be. Movement[50] is one of the "innate and original properties" of +Matter. So are Sensation and Will,[51] but these, we are warned,[52] are +"unconscious." + +Obviously, however, it is not enough that these things should be said, +they require likewise to be proved; and the question must immediately +suggest itself, Whence is proof to come? Not, by any possibility, from +observation and experiment. For who can speak, of his own knowledge, to +eternity or infinity? The only conceivable supposition is that Science +has so thoroughly mastered the nature and properties of Matter here and +now, as to be furnished with evidence unmistakably pointing to the above +conclusions. Thus alone can she be quoted on their behalf; and it must +always be remembered that the philosophy which we are examining is +nothing if not scientific. + +But, in the first place, is it quite clear of what our philosophers are +speaking? They use the term "Matter" as though it represented some one +definite thing: but this is very far from being the case. + + We must remember [says Lord Grimthorpe][53] that matter is not an + unit, as a creator is, and that talking of it so is merely a + rhetorical artifice when used in philosophical inquiries.... Matter + is nothing but the sum of all the ultimate particles or atoms + contained in the universe, or in any particular mass that we are + dealing with.... A very large proportion of the atoms of the + universe have never been within millions and billions of miles of + each other. + +Therefore, he goes on to urge, the doctrine of the self-existence of +Matter, must mean that each several atom is self-existent, or "every +atom its own god." How comes it then that they all obey the same "Laws"? +How have their various provinces been allotted? Above all, how are they +not all the same, but--so far as we know--divided into classes widely +different from one another? For, according to our present +knowledge,--and we cannot too frequently remind ourselves that upon this +alone can any sound conclusion be based,--there are, in round numbers, +some seventy different species of atoms, whose diverse qualities are +absolutely necessary for the production of the world. Had all atoms been +of one kind, we could have had none even of what used to be called the +Four Elements,--neither Earth, Air, Fire, nor Water. + +But,--apart from this,--What is known concerning this same "Matter"? Has +Science so thoroughly fathomed its constitution as to be able to +declare that it possesses all the properties we have heard assigned to +it,--Sensation and Will, even of the unconscious kind, whatever that may +be,--locomotive power,--eternity,--and, in its collective capacity, +immensity? + +So far from this being the case, scientific men who were most willing, +and even anxious, to assign to Matter a foremost, if not _the_ foremost, +place in Nature, have done so precisely upon the ground, not of our +knowledge, but of our ignorance. No better examples need be sought than +Professor Huxley, and Professor Tyndall, who alike agreed, in the words +of the latter,[54] "to discern in Matter the promise and potency of +every form and quality of life." But Huxley took his stand on the +declaration, that we know so little about Matter as to make it +impossible to say of what it may not be capable, for we cannot so much +as be certain of its existence, and use the term only "for the unknown +and hypothetical causes of our own states of consciousness,"[55] while +Tyndall described the process, whereby the promise and potency are +realized, as "the manifestation of a Power absolutely inscrutable to the +intellect of man." + +Speculations thus founded upon the absence of evidence, whatever else +they may be, are certainly no part of Science; and when we turn to what, +being established by scientific methods, is a possible basis of +scientific argument, we find that in every instance it contradicts +instead of supporting the assertions we have heard. + +To begin with the question of Motion, as being both of supreme +importance, and one more open than some others to observation and +experiment. According to Professor Haeckel's teaching, "movement is an +innate and original property of substance," that is to say of Matter, +and in consequence, "Substance is everywhere and always in uninterrupted +movement and transformation." It is by thus attributing to matter an +inherent determination to move that he meets Du Bois-Reymond's +difficulty as to the origin of motion. + +But this is in direct opposition to the first of Newton's Laws, which +are universally recognized as the most firmly established and +unquestionable of all scientific conclusions. This law tells us that a +body at rest will continue at rest for ever, unless compelled by some +force to move; just as a body in motion will continue to move at the +same rate and in the same direction, unless compelled by force to arrest +or alter its course. Upon the universal certainty of this law the whole +of our Natural Philosophy depends: but it absolutely blocks the way for +the idea that Matter has an innate tendency to move itself, which is +thus quite unscientific. Not self-movement but _Inertia_ is the property +which Science ascribes to Matter.[56] It may further be observed that +the idea of inherent motion is absurd and unintelligible; for movement +cannot be in more than one direction at a time: so that a mass, or an +atom, of Matter could tend to move only by having an intrinsic impulse +in a straight line towards some one particular point. If it should tend +to move indifferently, in all directions at once, it would remain +motionless, each such tendency being neutralized by its opposite. + +As to the further claim made on behalf of Matter to be endowed with +Sensation and Will, of any description, it must be enough to say that no +one has ever pretended to find any evidence whatever to this effect, or +to detect the faintest trace of such properties;--and that on the +contrary, all experience shows inorganic Matter, (that is, Matter not +incorporated in living animals or plants,) to be utterly lifeless and +inert. It is a mere abuse and perversion of terms to speak of Science as +countenancing any conclusion but that to which such experience points. +The attempt to invest Matter with these attributes Professor Tait +stigmatizes as "non-science," or "pseudo-science."[57] + + The Pygmalions of modern days [he writes] do not require to beseech + Aphrodité to animate the ivory for them. Like the savage with his + _Totem_, they have themselves already attributed life to it.... The + latest phase of this peculiar non-science tells us that all Matter + is _alive_; or at least that it contains "the promise and potency" + (whatever these may be) "of all terrestrial life." ... So much for + the attempts to introduce into Science an element altogether + incompatible with the fundamental conditions of its existence. + +In fine, to make us realize not merely how extremely narrow are the +bounds of our knowledge, but even how much narrower they may be than we +suppose, there enters upon the scene Radium, like the golden apple that +came to disturb the harmony of the celestials. What lessons this +turbulent and unconventional element will ultimately be found to teach, +and how far it will revolutionize the laws of Nature as hitherto +accepted, remains, of course, to be seen: but this at least is clear. In +presence of it, scientific men find that they are sure of nothing they +thought most certain, not of the indestructibility of matter itself, on +which is based that Law of Substance which we have seen made responsible +for so much. + +It had been thought that whatever else might change or perish the atoms +of which we have heard, as the ultimate constituents of Matter, were +beyond the reach of any vicissitude. "No man," said Dalton, their +discoverer, "can split an atom." Thus too Mr. Clodd, while acknowledging +that the constitution even of atoms may some day be found to be liable +to disorder and decay, clearly teaches that, as a practical certainty, +we have in them got to something final. Taking one particular kind, an +oxygen atom, as a text, he thus discourses:[58] + + It matters not into how many myriad substances--animal, plant, or + mineral--an atom of oxygen may have entered, nor what isolation it + has undergone: bond or free, it retains its own qualities. It + matters not how many millions of years have elapsed during these + changes, age cannot wither or weaken it; amidst all the fierce play + of the mighty agencies to which it has been subjected it remains + unbroken and unworn; to it we may apply the ancient words, "the + things which are not seen are eternal." + +But now, with the recognition of radio-activity, and the disintegration +of atoms into their constituent "electrons" which this is held to +evidence, we have changed all that. Such disintegration, it is affirmed, +must imply dissolution and death, alike of the atoms themselves and of +the universe which they compose. As Sir William Crookes told the +physicists assembled at Berlin, June, 1903: + + This fatal quality of atomic dissociation appears to be universal, + and operates whenever we brush a piece of glass with silk; it works + in the sunshine and raindrops, in lightnings and flame; it prevails + in the waterfall and the stormy sea. + +Matter he consequently regards as doomed to destruction.[59] Sooner or +later, it will have dissolved into the "formless mist" of "prothyle"[60] +and "the hour-hand of eternity will have completed one revolution." + +Consequently, we are told,[61] + + The "dissipation of energy" has found its correlative in the + "dissolution of matter." We are confronted with an appalling sense + of desolation--of quasi-annihilation. + +It is no doubt true, here again, that such judgments cannot be called +final, and that not all scientific men will accept them as they stand. +But all alike are forced to agree that our previous notions are +completely upset, and that we are compelled to recognize the fact that +of these fundamental questions we know far less than the little we +seemed to know. What, then, is to be thought of Professor Haeckel's +confident utterances, which could be justified only on the supposition +that we know everything? And what becomes of the famous Law of +Substance, if both its parts are found thus to contradict the conclusion +he would draw from it? + +The case is thus summed up by the writer of the article just cited: + + The discovery of radio-activity is one of the most momentous in the + history of science. "There has been a vivid new start" (we again + borrow Sir William Crookes' expression). "Our physicists have + remodelled their views as to the constitution of matter." The + remodelling indeed has hardly commenced.... What is undeniable is + that the Daltonian atom has, within a century of its acceptance as + a fundamental reality, suffered disruption. Its proper place in + nature is not that formerly assigned to it, ... its reputation for + inviolability and indestructibility is gone for ever. Each of these + supposed "ultimates" is now known to be the scene of indescribable + activities, a complex piece of mechanism composed of thousands of + parts, a star-cluster in miniature, subject to all kinds of + dynamical vicissitudes, to perturbation, acceleration, internal + friction, total or partial disruption. And to each is appointed a + fixed term of existence. Sooner or later, the balance of + equilibrium is tilted, disturbance eventuates in overthrow; the + tiny exquisite system finally breaks up. Of atoms, as of men, it + may be said with truth, "_Quisque suos patitur manes_." + +"Here," in fact, "we meet the impenetrable secret of creative +agency."[62] + + + + +IX + +THE PROBLEM OF LIFE + + +The question concerning the origin and nature of Life is of supreme and +vital importance not only for those who speak of Evolution as a force or +principle by which everything is guided and governed, but also for such +as understand by the term no more than a process which they say has +actually occurred. Evolutionists of this second class disclaim, with +Huxley, any "philosophy of Evolution." They are content to take the +world as a going concern, at the farthest point in the past to which, +even speculatively, Science can trace it, as that vast primordial nebula +of which we have heard.[63] Given this,--assuming the existence of such +a nebula, constituted as they suppose,--they believe that the whole +subsequent history of the world is fully explained by the uniform action +of the same laws of matter which we find in operation to-day. Not only +is the establishment of our Solar System, of sun and planets, to be +thus accounted for, but likewise the production of life, of the organic +world of plants and animals. + +Hence it necessarily follows that life must originally have been evolved +naturally from lifeless matter, for all are agreed that not only in the +nebula, but on the earth when it first started its independent career, +life did not, and could not, exist. + + There has been [says Virchow][64] a beginning of life, since + geology points to epochs in the formation of the earth when life + was impossible, and when no vestige of it is to be found. + + If the evolution hypothesis is true, [says Huxley][65] living + matter must have arisen from not-living matter; for by the + hypothesis the condition of the globe was at one time such that + living matter could not have existed in it, life being entirely + incompatible with the gaseous state. + + There was a time [says Tyndall][66] when the earth was a red-hot + molten globe, on which no life could exist. + +Accordingly, as Professor Huxley acknowledges, spontaneous generation is +an evolutionary necessity. Unless such generation can be shown to have +taken place, or at the very least unless it can be shown to be naturally +possible, the theory which requires it cannot be an established truth. +But it is precisely as a scientifically established truth that the +doctrine of Evolution is presented to us, so firmly established indeed +that we are warned "to doubt it is to doubt science."[67] It presents +itself, moreover, as the most precious result of modern research, the +appearance of which is as a sunrise illuminating the field of +knowledge.[68] + +This being so, and it being the first principle of Science that we +should take nothing on faith and accept only what can be proved, it is +our plain duty to satisfy ourselves, as scientific methods alone can +rightly satisfy us, that a doctrine of such paramount importance is +entitled to demand our acceptance. + +What methods can claim to be scientific, all are agreed. Advances in +science, Professor Tait warns us,[69] + + come or not, as we remember or forget that our Science is to be + based entirely upon experiment, or mathematical deduction from + experiment. + + Men of science [says Tyndall] prolong the method of nature from the + present into the past. The observed uniformity of nature is their + only guide.[70] + + The man of science [says Huxley] has learned to believe in + justification, not by faith, but by verification.[71] + +In this manner must we test the Evolution theory, and spontaneous +generation as an essential element thereof. We will begin with +Professor Huxley's statement of what he styles "the fundamental +proposition of Evolution."[72] + + That proposition is [he writes] that the whole world, living and + not-living, is the result of the mutual interaction, according to + definite laws, of the forces possessed by the molecules of which + the primitive nebulosity of the universe was composed. If this be + true, it is no less certain that the existing world lay, + potentially, in the cosmic vapour; and that a sufficient + intelligence could, from a knowledge of that vapour, have + predicted, say the state of the Fauna of Britain in 1869[73] with + as much certainty as one can say what will happen to the breath in + a cold winter's day. + +That is to say, the supposed nebula was a vast piece of mechanism, of +unimaginable complexity, the component parts of which under the +influence of such forces as gravitation, heat, chemical affinity, +electricity and magnetism, have produced everything that has since +appeared on earth, vegetable and animal life amongst the rest. How are +we to assure ourselves that such was really the case? + +Professor Tyndall has told us that the only scientific method is to +prolong the method of nature from the present into the past, taking her +observed uniformity for our only guide, and in like manner we have heard +it laid down by Professor Romanes, that we must assume as a first +principle that the laws of nature are always and everywhere the same, +and that by their uniform operation everything is done. It is therefore +quite clear that as no man was present when life first made its +appearance, to observe and record whence it came, the only way in which +we can possibly proceed, without violating every scientific canon, is to +argue from what happens now, to what must have happened then,--to show +that inorganic matter can in fact generate organic life, and to conclude +that the same laws must have worked the same results in the past as they +do in the present. + +But this is precisely what cannot be done, for one of the most +conclusive results of modern research has been to show that in the +present world spontaneous generation never occurs, that living things +come only from living parents, and that from organic matter alone can +the smallest particle of organic matter be derived. _Omne vivum e vivo, +omnis cellula e cellula, omnis nucleus e nucleo._ Upon this point there +is now complete agreement amongst scientific authorities, and what is +most remarkable, none are more strenuous in upholding the doctrine of +_Biogenesis_,[74] than some of those who with equal vehemence proclaim +the doctrine of Evolution for which the occurrence of spontaneous +generation is a necessity. + +Never, for example, were there Evolutionists more pronounced than +Professors Huxley and Tyndall, and they both saw clearly that without +spontaneous generation there could not have been evolution such as they +maintained. Yet when the occurrence of spontaneous generation, here and +now, was asserted by Bastian and Burdon Sanderson, they, following in +the wake of Pasteur, repudiated the notion, and Tyndall in particular +conclusively disproved the experiments by which it was supported.[75] As +Huxley wrote to Charles Kingsley:[76] + + I am glad you appreciate the rich absurdities of spontogenesis. + Against the doctrine of spontaneous generation in the abstract I + have nothing to say. Indeed it is a necessary corollary from + Darwin's views if legitimately carried out. + +A few years later, writing to Dr. Dohrn[77] upon the same subject, he +made use of a phrase--which in his mouth expressed the uttermost limit +of disbelief: "Transubstantiation will be nothing to this if it turns +out true." + +In the same year as President of the British Association he chose for +the subject of his inaugural address, "Biogenesis and Abiogenesis," and, +after a careful examination of the case for each, pronounced the former +"to be victorious all along the line." + +In spite of all this, however, he assured himself as an Evolutionist +that spontaneous generation must once have been not only a possibility +but a fact. In the same Presidential address, after piling up evidence +against it--he thus continued:[78] + + But though I cannot express this conviction of mine too strongly, I + must carefully guard myself against the supposition that I intend + to suggest that no such thing as Abiogenesis has ever taken place + in the past, or ever will take place in the future. With organic + chemistry, molecular physics and physiology yet in their infancy, + and every day making prodigious strides, I think it would be the + height of presumption for any man to say that the conditions under + which matter assumes the properties we call "vital" may not, some + day, be artificially brought together. All I feel justified in + affirming is that I see no reason for affirming that the feat has + been performed yet. + + And looking back through the prodigious vista of the past, I find + no record of the commencement of life, and therefore I am devoid of + any means of forming a definite conclusion as to the conditions of + its appearance. Belief, in the scientific sense of the word, is a + serious matter, and needs strong foundations. To say, therefore, in + the admitted absence of evidence, that I have any belief as to the + mode in which the existing forms of life have originated, would be + using words in a wrong sense. But expectation is permissible where + belief is not; and if it were given me to look beyond the abyss of + geologically recorded time to the still more remote period when the + earth was passing through physical and dynamical conditions, which + it can no more see again than a man can recall his infancy, I + should expect to be a witness of the evolution of living protoplasm + from not living matter.... That is the expectation to which + analogical reasoning leads me; but I beg you once more to recollect + that I have no right to call my opinion anything but an act of + philosophical faith. + +Here we have the whole state of the case put for us in a nutshell. On +the one hand, all known facts are against the idea of spontaneous +generation, and therefore, so far as she can at present go, the verdict +of Science must condemn that supposition. But, on the other hand, the +fundamental principle of Evolution cannot be justified unless +spontaneous generation has taken place, and accordingly, although +Evolution is the very thing which we should be engaged in establishing +by the evidence of facts, it is held to be reasonable and scientific to +infer that facts which we cannot verify must exist because they are +wanted. It is admitted that the requisite evidence is lacking, and +therefore we must not go so far as to express belief in the facts: but +we may indulge in expectations,--which seem, however, to imply belief in +the thing expected,--and meanwhile we may go on believing firmly in the +Evolution theory itself, which includes belief in the missing facts. +This, we are told, is "philosophical faith." But, to say nothing of what +we have heard from others, Professor Huxley elsewhere[79] warns us +against faith as the one unpardonable sin: and as we have heard him +declare the man of science has learned to believe in justification, not +by faith, but by verification. + +And as to the expectation which he avowed, there appears to be no slight +force in the response of his adversary Dr. Bastian:[80] + + What reason [he asks] does Professor Huxley give in explanation of + his supposition?... The only reason distinctly implied is because + the physical and chemical conditions of the earth's surface were + different in the past from what they are now. And yet, concerning + the exact nature of their differences, or the degree in which the + different sets of conditions would respectively favour the + occurrence or arrest of an evolution of living matter, Professor + Huxley cannot possess even the vaguest knowledge. He chooses to + assume that the unknown conditions existing in the past were more + favourable to _Archebiosis_ (life-evolution) than those now in + operation. This, however, is an assumption which may be entirely + opposed to the facts. + +It is thus hard to understand how Professor Huxley could profess to +justify his expectations by verification, for that the above account of +the matter is no-wise overstated we have his own acknowledgment:[81] + + Of the causes which have led to the origination of living matter, + it may be said that we know absolutely nothing.... Science has no + means to form an opinion on the commencement of life; we can only + make conjectures without any scientific value. + +Such a witness as Huxley might well suffice, but the question is so +important as to make it advisable to call some others, though only a few +amongst many who testify to the same effect. + +Like his friend and ally Huxley, Professor Tyndall believed that +spontaneous generation had once occurred, and denied that it occurs now. +As to the former article of his creed he was even more pronounced in his +materialism. We have already heard him proclaim that in matter is to be +discerned the promise and potency of all terrestrial life. He likewise +inclined to believe that not only life but consciousness is immanent +everywhere, in the vegetable and mineral no less than in the animal +world,[82] and that not merely life and consciousness, but: + + All our philosophy, all our poetry, all our science, and all our + art--Plato, Shakespeare, Newton, and Raphael--are potential in the + fires of the sun.[83] + +Beliefs such as these might be thought to imply that the genesis of life +is a simple affair, but Tyndall was no less convinced than Huxley that, +as things are, it cannot be obtained without antecedent life on which +to draw. Having described the experiments devised to test the matter, he +thus concludes:[84] + + Here, as in all other cases, the evidence in favour of spontaneous + generation crumbles in the grasp of the competent enquirer. + +At the same time, he was equally certain that life must have had an +inorganic origin and that Science bids us so to believe. His various +utterances are not, it is true, very easily reconciled. On the one hand +he lays it down that "Without verification a theoretic conception is a +mere figment of the intellect." On the other hand in his Belfast Address +he thus expressed himself: + + Believing, as I do, in the continuity of nature, I cannot stop + abruptly where our microscopes cease to be of use. Here the vision + of the mind authoritatively supplements the vision of the eye. By a + necessity engendered and justified by Science I cross the boundary + of the experimental evidence.... If you ask me whether there exists + the least evidence to prove that any form of life can be developed + out of matter, without demonstrable antecedent life.... [men of + science] will frankly admit their inability to point to any + satisfactory experimental proof that life can be developed, save + from demonstrable antecedent life. + +Far, however, from being a mere figment, his mental vision is +represented as the most unalloyed product of reason. He writes:[85] + + Were not man's origin implicated, we should accept without a murmur + the derivation of animal and vegetable life from what we call + inorganic nature. The conclusion of pure intellect points this way + and no other. + +The conclusion of pure intellect, however, having nothing to show for +itself in the way of evidence, we are again referred to a condition of +things concerning which we know, and can know, nothing. + + Supposing [writes the Professor][86] a planet carved from the sun, + set spinning round an axis, and revolving round the sun at a + distance from him equal to that of our earth, would one of the + consequences of its refrigeration be the development of organic + forms? I lean to the affirmative. + +It is no doubt interesting to know to what opinion the Professor +inclined, but is this sort of thing Science? + +In the same manner Mr. Herbert Spencer, the philosopher of evolution +_par excellence_, thus reports:[87] + + Biologists in general agree that in the present state of the world + no such thing happens as the rise of a living creature out of + non-living matter. They do not deny, however, that at a remote + period in the past, when the temperature of the surface of the + earth was much higher than at present, and other physical + conditions were _unlike those we know_,[88] inorganic matter, + through successive complications, gave origin to organic + matter.[89] + +Mr. Darwin himself, who is constantly supposed to have upheld, or even +to have demonstrated, the fact of spontaneous generation, is amongst the +strongest witnesses against it. He was indeed disposed to believe that +the living will some day be found to be producible from the lifeless, +the ground of his expectation being the "Law of Continuity,"[90] or the +assumption that from the beginning of nature to the end one only kind of +law uniformly operates, namely the same as we now experience. But this +is to assume the whole question at issue, for unless it can be shewn +that there has been spontaneous generation, we cannot be assured that +there is such a Law of Continuity. And despite his expectation Darwin +always denied that the origin of life has been--sometimes even that it +can be--explained. Thus he wrote on various occasions: + + It is mere rubbish thinking at present of the origin of life; one + might as well think of the origin of matter.[91] + + As for myself I cannot believe in spontaneous generation, and + though I expect that at some future time the principle of life will + be rendered intelligible, at present it seems to me beyond the + confines of Science.[92] + + No evidence worth anything has as yet, in my opinion, been advanced + in favour of a living being, being developed from inorganic + matter.[93] + +Here we may conveniently pause and take stock of our results. On the one +hand, we are bidden in the name of Science to learn the past from the +present, and the present from observation and experiment alone. On the +other, we are invited to believe in an occurrence which observation and +experiment negative in the present, on the ground that the circumstances +must once have been entirely different from any with which we are +acquainted. Obviously, the real motive of belief is that naïvely +expressed by Professor Haeckel, who tells us that spontaneous generation +is proved by the doctrine of Evolution;[94] which then in its turn is +proved by spontaneous generation. + +Two points must however be noticed in which it is attempted to find +present evidence in favour of spontaneous generation. + +First, there is Protoplasm--the "Physical Basis of Life," or Living +Matter, being that form of matter by which life is always accompanied. +In this no chemical element unknown elsewhere, is to be found; the cells +of which it consists are compounded of Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and +Carbon; and it has been argued, especially by Huxley, that it is +therefore not different in kind from other compounds; that as Oxygen and +Hydrogen form water, Oxygen and Carbon, Carbonic Acid, Hydrogen and +Nitrogen, Ammonia,--so the four combined, in proper circumstances and +proportions, make Living Matter, without the aid of any vital force or +principle. And Haeckel with his habitual audacity foretells the +artificial production of Protoplasm for purposes of commerce. But, as +Mr. Stirling observes,[95] man has always known that he is made of dust, +and that the only part of him perceptible to sense is substantially the +same as the earth beneath his feet. All that he now learns in addition +is that when such matter is wedded to life it undergoes marvellous +transformations which in part at least we are able to recognize, but are +wholly unable to comprehend. This Professor Huxley himself admits: + + + The properties of living matter [he writes][96] distinguish it + absolutely from all other kinds of things, and the present state of + knowledge furnishes us with no link between the living and the + not-living. + +Not only that: the subject is full of complexities of which Professor +Huxley gives no hint, and which it would even seem he did not himself +perceive. In his celebrated lecture on the Physical Basis of Life[97] he +gives his hearers to understand that all Protoplasm is the same, that +its particles are as the bricks with which any sort of edifice may be +constructed, a cathedral or a gin-shop, a palace or a hovel. The +protoplasm of a mushroom, for instance, he declares to be essentially +identical with that of him who eats it, into which it is most readily +convertible. He also speaks of the effect of eating mutton being to +"transubstantiate sheep into man." But, positive as are these +statements, they are far from representing scientific truths, and we are +told by Sir William Thiselton-Dyer that he himself would not know what +to do with a candidate who should advance such views in an +examination.[98] As to the mushroom and the mutton, Sir William adds, +that except the definition of a crab, as a red fish that runs backwards, +attributed to the French Academy, he can call to mind no statement "so +compact of error." + +In reality, instead of all Protoplasm being the same, the differences +are infinite. Particles from different sources may be indistinguishable +by the microscope or by any test that chemistry can apply, but this only +increases the mystery of their nature, for each has its own functions +and will perform no others. The Protoplasm of a plant will do what that +of an animal, seemingly identical, cannot do. That of a fish will +convert the same nutriment into quite a different formation from that of +a man. + + It is no doubt true that a particle of fungoid differs in no + appreciable physical respect from one of human protoplasm, yet the + former will never emerge from the fate of the humble mushroom, + while the other may be instinct with the thoughts of a Prime + Minister.[99] + +As Mr. Stirling sums up the matter:[100] + + There is nerve-protoplasm, brain-protoplasm, bone-protoplasm, + muscle-protoplasm, and protoplasm of all the other tissues, no one + of which but produces only its own kind, and is uninterchangeable + with the rest. Lastly, we have the overwhelming fact that there is + the infinitely different protoplasm of the various infinitely + different plants and animals, in each of which its own protoplasm, + as in the case of the various tissues, but produces its own kind, + and is uninterchangeable with that of the rest. + +It thus appears that the character of Protoplasm, far from making it +easier to conceive the mechanical production of living things, does but +immensely aggravate the difficulty. As Sir William Thiselton-Dyer avows: +"I do not see even the beginning of a materialistic theory of +protoplasm." And Haeckel's idea that we shall succeed in creating +organic life does not commend itself to such an authority as Sir Henry +Roscoe: + + It is true [he says][101] that there are those who profess to + foresee that the day will arise when the chemist, by a succession + of constructive efforts may pass beyond albumen, and gather the + elements of lifeless matter into a living structure. Whatever may + be said of this from other standpoints, the chemist can only say + that at present no such problem lies within his province. + Protoplasm, with which the simplest manifestations of life are + associated, is not a compound, but a structure built up of + compounds. The chemist may successfully synthesize any of its + component compounds, but he has no more reason to look forward to + the synthetic production of the structure than to imagine that the + synthesis of gallic acid leads to the artificial production of + gall-nuts. + +And M. de Quatrefages thus sums up the conclusions at which he arrives +from minute study of the lowest forms of life:[102] + + + I make bold to affirm that the deeper Science penetrates into the + secrets of organization and phenomena, the more does she + demonstrate how wide and how profound is the abyss which separates + brute matter from living things. + +The other point requiring notice is crystallization. Inorganic matter, +as we know, can build up crystals, the wonderful structure of which +results from the molecular properties of the substance crystallized. Why +then, some would ask, may not matter in the same manner produce +Protoplasm? + +But, in the first place, this, as we have heard, is what it is never +found to do. Crystals we can produce at pleasure, in what quantity we +will. But all efforts have not yet succeeded in obtaining the most +minute speck of living matter. Moreover, nothing can be more widely +different from organic structures than crystals. The latter are always +mathematical, the former never: the latter grow by outside accretion, of +the one kind of particles whereof they consist: the former by absorption +and assimilation of various foreign substances: the latter are wholly +independent of anything like an ancestor: for the former an ancestor is +in our experience indispensable: crystals can be dissolved and +recrystallized: living matter once destroyed can never be reconstituted. +Above all, the particles incorporated in the crystal are absolutely +quiescent, so far as any portion of matter can be said to be so, no more +able to change their position without external force than the bricks in +a wall, while those in living tissue at once become subject to "the +whirlwind of life," involving constant change the cessation of which is +death. + + It is inexplicable to me [says M. de Quatrefages][103] that some + men whose merits I otherwise acknowledge, should have compared + crystals to the simplest living forms.... These forms are the + antipodes of the crystal from every point of view. + +To the same effect speaks Mr. A. R. Wallace, Mr. Darwin's associate in +the discovery of the Darwinian theory. In a work expressly devoted to +the vindication of that theory, Mr. Wallace declares that far from the +way of evolution being made clear by Science from end to end--"there are +at least three stages in the development of the organic world where some +new cause or power must necessarily have come into action." And at the +head of them he places that which we are now considering, writing +thus:[104] + + The first stage is the change from inorganic to organic, when the + earliest vegetable cell, or the living protoplasm out of which it + arose, first appeared.... There is in this something quite beyond + and apart from chemical changes however complex; and it has been + well said that the first vegetable cell was a new thing in the + world, possessing altogether new powers....[105] + +Such testimonies are sufficient for our present purpose. In face of them +it cannot be pretended that Science _knows_ anything of spontaneous +generation or gives her verdict in its favour. On the contrary, as +Professor Tait declares:[106] + + To say that even the very lowest form of life, not to speak of its + higher forms, still less of volition and consciousness, can be + fully _explained_ on physical principles alone, ... is simply + unscientific. There is absolutely nothing known in physical science + which can lend the slightest support to such an idea.... To suppose + that life, even in its lowest form, is wholly material, involves + either a denial of the truth of Newton's laws of motion, or an + erroneous use of the term "Matter." Both are alike unscientific. + +Yet it is precisely in the name of Science that we have been told to +accept the spontaneous origin of life from inorganic matter, as a +clearly demonstrated truth, and no riddle at all. + +But as Professor Virchow, Evolutionist and Materialist as he was, well +said in regard of this very point in the Munich Congress of 1877: + + If we would speak frankly, we must admit that naturalists may well + have some little sympathy for the _generatio aequivoca_ + [spontaneous generation]. If it were capable of proof, it would + indeed be beautiful! But, we must acknowledge, it has not yet been + proved. The proofs of it are still wanting.... Whoever recalls to + mind the lamentable failure of all the attempts to discover a + decided support for the _generatio aequivoca_ in the lower forms of + transition from the inorganic to the organic world, will feel it + doubly serious to demand that this theory, so utterly discredited, + should be in any way accepted as the basis of all our views of + life. + + + + +X + +ANIMAL AND MAN + + +Leaving for later consideration the fourth of Du Bois-Reymond's Unsolved +Enigmas, namely the seemingly pre-ordained order of the universe, we may +conveniently group together the three which follow it, as much +resembling that which has just occupied our attention. These problems, +it will be remembered, are (_a_) the origin of simple sensation and +consciousness, or, in other words, of the faculties possessed by +animals; (_b_) that of rational thought and speech; (_c_) +Free-will.--Here again we are bound to ask, in the name of right reason +and common-sense, what light has really been thrown on such questions by +Science, and how far she has changed their aspect,--that so we may guard +against the delusion of imagining ourselves to be in possession of more +knowledge than we actually possess. + +(_a_) _Simple sensation and consciousness._ As regards the actual origin +of the higher form of life which distinguishes the animal from the +vegetable, we are obviously no better informed than we have found +ourselves to be concerning the first beginnings of life in any form,--no +evidence as to the actual facts being available, or even possible, for +our enlightenment. Once more we can only argue from the present to the +past, and enquire whether the progress of science has made it more +reasonable to suppose than it seemed in pre-scientific days that animal +life has been spontaneously evolved, either from inanimate matter or +from the vegetative life of plants. This enquiry so much resembles that +which we have just concluded as to make it unnecessary to pursue it at +any length. + +We find, in fact, that men of Science who have no prepossessions +whatever against Evolution, and would willingly accept the Law of +Continuity at all points, if only evidence were forthcoming, find here +not only an unsolved problem, but one even more difficult than the +Origin of Life itself. Du Bois-Reymond for example places this amongst +his "transcendental" enigmas, to which an answer will never be found, +whereas he thinks that the origin of vegetable life, although at present +a mystery, may one day be explained. The expression of his +opinion,--that by no possibility can we ever understand how +consciousness could be evolved from matter--has, he tells us[107] been +vehemently contradicted, but, he adds, nothing in the way of argument, +or beyond mere assumptions, has been brought against him. Of these +assumptions he notices only that of Professor Haeckel, "the Prophet of +Jena," who protests against such limitations of our possibilities as +treason to the sacred cause of Evolution. The progress we have made in +intellect, says Haeckel, beyond our barbarous progenitors, is sufficient +to show that we are on the high road of development towards a stage as +far in advance of the present, as this is of the past; and when that is +attained, our knowledge will be full and will embrace all this. But, +asks Du Bois-Reymond in reply, is this mighty progress of ours so very +evident within the period concerning which we have any information? Has +the mental capacity of our race notably improved since Homer?[108] or +its faculty of thinking since Plato and Aristotle? At our present rate +of progress, long before the high-water mark prophesied by Haeckel is +reached, the earth will have become uninhabitable. And, were it +otherwise, the highest point of intellect to which conceivably man could +attain, would be that of the "sufficient intelligence" whereof we have +been told, which, from an inspection of the cosmic nebula could foretell +all that was to issue from it. And, adds Du Bois-Reymond, even could we +do this, we should still be unable to understand the origin of +consciousness, which would require intelligence of another order than +ours, however magnified. + +So again Mr. Wallace tells us,[109] after speaking of the beginning of +life as we have already heard, + + The next stage is still more marvellous, still more completely + beyond all possibility of explanation by matter, its laws and + forces. It is the introduction of sensation or consciousness, + constituting the fundamental distinction between the animal and + vegetable kingdoms. Here all idea of mere complication of structure + producing the result is out of the question. We feel it to be + altogether preposterous to assume that at a certain stage of + complexity of atomic constitution, and as a necessary result of + that complexity alone, an _ego_ should start into existence, a + thing that _feels_, that is conscious of its own existence. Here we + have the certainty that something new has arisen, a being whose + nascent consciousness has gone on increasing in power and + definiteness till it has culminated in the higher animals. No + verbal explanation or attempt at explanation--such as the statement + that life is the result of the molecular forces of the protoplasm, + or that the whole existing organic universe from the amœba up to + man was latent in the fire-mist from which the solar system was + developed--can afford any mental satisfaction, or help us in any + way to a solution of the mystery. + +Unquestionably, there is no lack of speakers and writers who flatly +contradict such views, and assert that animal life, equally with +vegetable, could be, and must have been, naturally evolved from +inorganic nature. The above testimonies, however, amply suffice for our +present purpose, and with them we may be satisfied; for at least they +make it plain that Science has found no evidence as to the origin of +sensation and consciousness conclusive enough to compel belief. And +where there is no scientific evidence even alleged, such as might +require the training of a specialist for its due appreciation, one man +of ordinary intelligence is as competent a judge as another, and +scientific experts are on a level with the rest of us. + +(_b_) _Rational thought and speech._ What has just been said applies +with equal force to this matter likewise. Unless Science have some +positive evidence to bring, demonstrating how the gulf can be bridged +which separates the intelligence of the most degraded races of men from +the highest of the brutes, and how articulate language can spontaneously +have arisen, which is the necessary appanage of reason, we have all +equally the means of forming our conclusions on the subject. + +That the gulf between man and the lower animals is here immense we have +the evidence of Mr. Darwin. + + No doubt [he writes][110] the difference is in this respect + enormous, even if we compare the mind of one of the lowest savages, + who has no words to express any number higher than four, and who + uses no abstract terms for the commonest objects or affections, + with that of the most highly organized ape. The difference would, + no doubt, still remain immense, even if one of the highest apes had + been improved and civilized as much as a dog has been in comparison + with its parent form, the wolf or jackal. The Fuegians rank + amongst the lowest barbarians; but I was continually struck with + surprise how closely the three natives on board H.M.S. _Beagle_, + who had lived some years in England and could talk a little + English, resembled us in disposition and in most of our mental + faculties. + +Mr. Darwin goes on to argue, however, that the difference between man +and beast is one of degree only and not of kind; that this can be +"clearly shewn"; and that there is unquestionably + + a much wider interval in mental power between one of the lowest + fishes, as a lamprey or lancelet, and one of the higher apes, than + between an ape and a man; yet this immense interval is filled up by + numberless gradations, + +from which he concludes that by a like series of steps, of which, +however, no trace is left, our progenitors have been able to mount from +the simian to the human level. + +Clear however as Mr. Darwin pronounces the evidence to be, it is very +far from being so considered by other eminent naturalists. So convinced +an Evolutionist as Mr. Mivart, for example, declared on various +occasions that his reason abundantly sufficed to convince him that there +was a wider break in nature between man and the highest ape, than +between the highest ape and an oyster or even a mushroom. + +It is evident that the evidence which permits judgments so diverse as +these cannot be said conclusively to prove the former existence of a +bridge every vestige of which has, by the acknowledgment of all parties, +entirely disappeared. We are therefore left to determine for ourselves, +whether the powers of our own mind, as each knows them in himself, are +of a totally different nature from those of dogs and horses, and +chimpanzees such as the late lamented "Consul," or whether we are +superior only in degree, as a sheep-dog is more intelligent than a +sheep, or a fox than a goose. + +If in any respect such an enquiry can be made definite and therefore +profitable, it is clearly in regard of Language. This, as said above, is +an essential adjunct of reason such as ours, and on the other hand it +forms the plainest boundary between the domain of the human race and +that of the brutes. It is, says Professor Max Müller, our Rubicon on the +hither side of which men alone are found. Given reason such as ours, +whatever mode of communication might be open to them, we cannot suppose +its possessors failing to establish a medium of intercourse. In existing +conditions, man can make an alphabet out of the clicks of a needle or +the flashes of a mirror, and if his vocal organs were no better than +those of a baboon, we cannot imagine him content generation after +generation with inarticulate howls and yells. But this is just the case +of the animals. They are _never_ found to make the smallest progress in +the direction of a code of signals. Dogs indeed, as Mr. Darwin +says,[111] having developed in captivity the new art of barking, have +further learnt to vary this accomplishment according to the +circumstances that provoke it, and have distinct tones to express the +diversity of their feelings, as when hunting, or angry, or setting out +for a walk, or shut up in a kennel or out of a house. Some dogs, he +might have added, refine still further, and will betray by their style +of bark not only that they are hunting something, but what it is that +they have come upon, whether a rabbit, a cat, or a hedgehog. But, as the +Chevalier Bunsen observes,[112] and his observation includes such +manifestations as the above: + + Animal sounds are the echoes of blind instincts within, or of the + phenomena of the outward world, uttered by suffering or satisfied + animal nature, and in all cases resulting from mere passiveness. + +By rational language, on the other hand, is signified, to quote Mr. +Mivart:[113] + + The external manifestation, whether by sound or gesture, of general + conceptions:--not emotional expressions or the manifestations of + sensible impressions, but enunciations of distinct judgments as to + "the what," "the how," and "the why." + +Consequently, as Bunsen declares: + + The theories about the origin of language have followed those + about the origin of thought, and have shared their fate. The + materialists have never been able to show the possibility of the + first step. They attempt to veil their inability by the easy but + fruitless assumption of an infinite space of time, destined to + explain the gradual development of animals into men; as if millions + of years could supply the want of the agent necessary for the first + movement, for the first step in the line of progress! No numbers + can effect a logical impossibility. How indeed could reason spring + out of a state which is destitute of reason? How can speech, the + expression of thought, develop itself in a year or in millions of + years, out of unarticulated sounds which express feelings of + pleasure, pain, and appetite? The common-sense of mankind will + always shrink from such theories. + +Bunsen's words were echoed even more forcibly by professor Max Müller, +speaking as President of the Anthropological Section of the British +Association at Cardiff in 1889. + + What [he asked] does Bunsen consider the real barrier between man + and beast? It is language, which is unattainable, or at least + unattained, by any animal except man. + + You know [he continued] how for a time, and chiefly owing to + Darwin's predominating influence, every conceivable effort was made + to reduce the distance which language places between man and beast, + and to treat language as a vanishing line in the mental evolution + of animal and man. It required some courage at times to stand up + against the authority of Darwin, but at present all serious + thinkers agree, I believe, with Bunsen, that no animal has ever + developed what we mean by rational language, as distinct from mere + utterances of pleasure or pain, a subject lately treated with great + fulness by Professor Romanes. Still, if all true science is based + on facts, the fact remains that no animal has ever found what we + mean by a language; and we are fully justified, therefore, in + holding with Bunsen and Humboldt, as against Darwin and Romanes, + that there _is_ a specific difference between the human animal and + all other animals, and that that difference consists in language as + the outward manifestation of what the Greeks meant by _Logos_. + +It is moreover evident that, far from speech having generated reason, as +some have preposterously maintained, it is reason which generates +speech, no less inevitably than sunlight produces the spectrum when it +passes through a prism. The seeming paradox of Wilhelm von Humboldt is +in fact a sober truth: "Man is man only through speech, but in order to +invent it he must already be man." We have plain evidence that before +means for the internal expression of it are found, the mental word +(_verbum mentale_) is awaiting them, and that without this it would be +as impossible for any sort of rational speech to be produced as for an +apple to be grown without an apple-tree. + +Evidence to this effect is furnished by recorded instances of persons +who from early childhood, or even from birth, were deaf, dumb, and +blind, and appeared to be cut off from all possibility of human +converse, the "gates of Mansoul" being thus almost entirely closed. Such +are the well-known cases of Laura Bridgman, Miss Keller, and Martha +Obrecht, who had been thus afflicted since their earliest childhood, the +two first named from the age of two, and the last from that of three +years.[114] Also the more recent instance of Marie Heurtin, who was so +born, and consequently could not have even the faintest glimmer of any +knowledge these senses could convey.[115] Yet, by the exercise of +ingenious and unwearied charity, a means of communication was elaborated +through the sense of touch, and the souls which had seemingly been +buried alive, shewed themselves responsive to such advances,--often +astonishingly so,--and revealed their possession of faculties identical +with those of their rescuers. We are told, for example, of Marie Heurtin +that her intelligence proved to be quick, that she was even "unusually +clever, evidently eager for knowledge, and, as sometimes happens, her +faculties being prevented by her infirmity from wasting their powers on +external objects, were all the more fresh and vigorous." Even more +wonderful is the case of Miss Keller, who attained a degree of culture +and accomplishment far beyond the common level of those possessing the +use of all their senses. + +Somewhat akin to such instances is that of the savages from Tierra del +Fuego mentioned above by Mr. Darwin. In their case likewise, when they +were brought into communication with people possessed of higher culture +than their own degraded race, it was found that the corresponding +faculties within them were not dead, or as yet non-existent, but only +starved into lethargy; and, the opportunity being given, they speedily +caused surprise by unmistakable proofs how closely they resemble +ourselves. + +Thus we find that in this branch of our enquiry there is one broad fact, +which all must recognize and none can deny. No race of men has ever been +known which could not speak, nor any race of animals which could, or +which had made the first beginnings of intelligent language. Facts being +the only groundwork of Science here is undoubtedly something whereon she +may build an inference, and this inference will certainly not be that +the faculties of men and animals are radically identical. And if we are +told, as we constantly are, that it is more truly scientific to admit +such identity, should there not be some other facts, still more +significant and equally well established, to exhibit on the other side? + +But of what character are the arguments actually adduced? It will be +sufficient to quote a few which come with the highest authority. + +We may start with the almost classical specimen contributed by Mr. +Darwin himself. + + It does not [he says][116] appear altogether incredible that some + unusually wise ape-like animal should have thought of imitating the + growl of a beast of prey, so as to indicate to his fellow monkeys + the nature of the expected danger. And this would have been a first + step in the formation of a language. + +Similarly Professor Whitney writes of some supposed "pithecoid"[117] +men: + + There is no difficulty in supposing them to have possessed forms of + speech, more rudimentary and imperfect than ours.[118] + +And so again Professor Romanes:[119] + + Let us try to imagine a community considerably more intelligent + than the existing anthropoid apes, although still considerably + below the intellectual level of existing savages. It is certain + that in such a community natural signs of voice, gesture, and + grimace would be in vogue to a greater or less extent. As their + numbers increased ... such signs would require to become more and + more conventional, or acquire more and more the character of + sentence-words. + +Of course, as Mr. Mivart replies,[120] there is no difficulty in +supposing anything we choose, or in seeing animals in imagination +performing feats which never yet have they been known to achieve in +fact. But no amount of such suppositions or imaginations will furnish +Science with the scantiest apology for a foothold, nor can the germs of +language attributed to pithecoid communities or the sagest of their +patriarchs, be considered as of any greater value than the speeches put +into the mouths of the animals by Æsop or "Uncle Remus." + +It is also to be noticed that in these accounts of the origin of +language, the essential element of reason is always quietly smuggled in +as a matter of course. Thus Mr. Darwin's wisest of the pithecoids was +able to "think of" a device for the information of his fellows. There is +not the smallest doubt that any creature which had got so far as _that_ +would find what he wanted. It is but the old case of the man who was +sure he could have written Hamlet had he had a mind to do so. Like him, +the ape might have made the invention, if he had a mind to make +it;--only he had not got the mind. So too, Professor Romanes' missing +links use tones and signs which acquire "more and more" the character of +true speech: which could not be unless they contained some measure of +that character already. But it is just the first step thus ignored which +spans the gulf between man and brute. + +There is another factor upon which, in conjunction with these +suppositions, great stress is wont to be laid, namely that of time; it +being apparently taken for granted that if only time enough be given +anything whatever may come about. Thus Professor Romanes tells us[121] +that his imaginary _Homo alalus_, or speechless man, must probably have +lived for an "inconceivably long time," before getting far enough on the +road towards speech to give him such an advantage as enabled him to +crush out his less accomplished congeners; and that even after this +point was reached, another "inconceivable lapse of time" must have been +required to turn him into _Homo sapiens_, or man as he actually is. +Immense intervals, he further tells us, must have been consumed in the +passage through various grades of mental evolution; "The epoch during +which sentence-words prevailed was probably immense"; "It was not until +æons of ages had elapsed that any pronouns arose." + +Meanwhile, there is no scrap of evidence that as a matter of fact any +thing of all this ever happened at all, and as Bunsen has observed no +millions of years, even were millions available at discretion, could +ever supply the want of the faculty without which nothing in the way of +language could ever be accomplished. + +(_c_) _Free-will._--Here is another human faculty which Du Bois-Reymond +declares never to have been accounted for by natural causation, and he +greatly doubts whether it should not be classed among the problems that +must be for ever insoluble. + +Professor Haeckel, as we have seen, gets rid of all difficulties on this +score by laying it down that "the freedom of the will is not an object +for critical scientific inquiry at all, for it is a pure dogma, based +on an illusion, and has no real existence." + +It is plain that for his purpose this is the only course possible. If +the will be really free, there can be no question of finding a +mechanical explanation of it. There is therefore no alternative but to +cut the Gordian knot, and to declare that the liberty which the vast +majority of men believe themselves to exercise every instant, is proved +by Science to be no better than a pure dogma, that is to say, a mere +figment. + +When we seek for his indication of the line of argument whereby this +position is made good, the information supplied is less full than might +be desired. He begins[122] with a rather lengthy sketch of the history +of controversy in this regard,--which contains the remarkable statement +that "Some of the first teachers of the Christian Churches--such as St. +Augustine and Calvin--rejected the freedom of the will as decidedly as +the famous leaders of pure Materialism, Holbach in the eighteenth, and +Büchner in the nineteenth century." Then he proceeds: + + The great struggle between the determinist and the indeterminist, + between the opponent and the sustainer of the freedom of the will, + has ended to-day after more than 2,000 years, completely in favour + of the determinist. The human will has no more freedom than that of + the higher animals, from which it differs only in degree, not in + kind. In the last [i.e. the eighteenth] century the doctrine of + liberty was fought with general philosophic and cosmological + arguments. The nineteenth century has given us very different + weapons for its definitive destruction--the powerful weapons which + we find in the arsenal of comparative physiology and evolution. We + now know that each act of the will is as fatally determined by the + organization of the individual, and as dependent on the momentary + condition of his environment, as every other psychic activity. The + character of the inclination was determined long ago by _heredity_ + from parents and ancestors; the determination to each particular + act is an instance of _adaptation_ to the circumstances of the + moment wherein the strongest motive prevails, according to the laws + which govern the statics of emotion. Ontogeny teaches us to + understand the evolution of the will in the individual child. + Phylogeny reveals to us the historical development of the will + within the ranks of our vertebrate ancestors.[123] + +That is all. It is needless to observe that jargon like this proves +nothing. Of anything approaching to evidence there is here, manifestly, +no vestige, and there is consequently nothing which can avail to win our +assent as rational men. + +It is likewise obvious that we have here a question as to which every +human being has the means of judging equally with the most eminent man +of Science, and modern improvement of the methods and instruments of +research leaves us just where we always were. The final evidence on the +subject every man has within himself, in the most vital facts of his own +experience. Into the philosophy of the matter it is neither necessary +nor advisable at present to go. In dealing with profound yet elementary +questions, regarding which our means of knowledge are thus simple and +direct, men are apt to bewilder themselves when they begin to +philosophize, and to persuade themselves that they cannot be sure +precisely of those things that are most certain. George Borrow is by no +means the only one who has tormented himself with doubts as to his own +existence.[124] A still larger number have professed to believe +themselves mere machines compelled to go like clocks, and to do only +what has been predetermined for them. But such beliefs are for the +lecture-room or the study only, and in practical life every one behaves +as if both he himself and others--especially others--were responsible +for their conduct. So common-sense teaches, than which we shall not find +a safer guide. "Sir," said the eminently common-sense Dr. Johnson, "we +_know_ our will is free; and _there's_ an end on't. All theory is +against the freedom of the will; all experience for it.... But, Sir, as +to the doctrine of necessity, no man believes it. If a man should give +me arguments that I cannot answer to prove that I cannot see; because I +cannot answer his arguments, do I believe that I have no eyes?" + +Thus we find once again that the doctrines which some would force upon +us in the name of Science, on whatever they are founded, have no basis +of fact, and cannot therefore rightly call themselves scientific. + + + + +XI + +THE ORDER OF NATURE + + +That the world which we inhabit is a _Cosmos_, ruled by law and order, +no one has ever attempted to deny. Only because laws are everywhere +found awaiting discovery, is natural science a possibility. What such +laws really are, we have already considered. They are, as Mr. Lewes puts +it, the paths along which the forces of nature travel to their results; +and it is only because these forces keep invariably each to its proper +path, that we are able to follow them with our minds, either to learn +anything concerning them, or to turn our knowledge to practical account. +In something of the same manner, it is because we are assured that our +railway trains will run on their appointed lines, that we can learn from +Bradshaw how to get to Exeter or to Edinburgh;--but the forces of Nature +are never derailed. It is, in fact, as we have heard, the first +principle of Science, that "the reign of law is universal, the principle +of continuity ubiquitous,"--and upon this the validity of all her +methods and conclusions wholly depends. It is taken for granted, with +absolute confidence, that what is once found to happen will be exactly +repeated in like circumstances,--that the laws experimentally observed, +regarding motion, heat, light, sound, chemical combination, electricity, +magnetism, and the rest, will be faithfully obeyed, in every minutest +particular, as certainly as suns will rise and set, or moons wax and +wane. Were it not so, were the forces of Nature to act spasmodically and +at random, and did not their common action so result as to establish or +subserve other laws of bewildering complexity,--as in molecular +dynamics, the mechanism of the heavens, and the processes of organic +life,--we could learn no more from the study of nature than from a page +of type which had been set up by an idiot, or an anthropoid ape. + +Here is another factor in our problem, and one which has from the first +attracted the attention of thinking men. No feature of nature impressed +them more than this same reign of law and order, apparent everywhere; +and on this account they called the world _Cosmos_, instead of _Chaos_. +And, since it is self-evident that everything must have a reason for its +being, that whatever is not self-existent must have a cause other than +itself, they felt compelled to enquire what manner of cause would +account for law and order. The like enquiry we have still to pursue, and +by methods radically the same as ever; for amid all her discoveries +Science has found nothing which does anything whatever to furnish an +answer. All that has been done is enormously to multiply the aspects +under which the problem presents itself. + +It is now not merely in the larger and more obvious operations of Nature +that we can trace this marvellous ubiquity of law, but in her most +hidden processes and inmost constitution. At every point, we are forced +to ask why things should be as they actually are, and how they came to +be subject to conditions which they cannot be supposed to have created +for themselves. Why, for example, should the ultimate elements of +matter,--be they atoms, or electrons, or whatever else,--always and +everywhere observe the same rules of the great game in which they serve +as counters? Why, to take a concrete instance, should atoms of Hydrogen +in Sirius, or in a star of the Milky Way, obey just the same laws as do +those with which we make coal-gas or spirit of salt? These various +atoms, as Lord Grimthorpe reminds us, have never been within billions of +miles of one another. What is the mysterious influence which links them +together across the depths of space? That they are so linked is obvious; +for if we can ascertain the existence of such a substance in other +spheres, it is only because the light it emits, exactly agrees when +analyzed in the spectroscope with that of hydrogen flames in our own +laboratories. How comes it, again, that the seventy different kinds of +atoms, (to speak in round numbers)--are distributed--according to +Mendeléeff's periodic law,--among some seven groups or families, the +members of each group resembling one another in various particulars, +wherein they differ from the rest? Or, to pass from atoms to molecules, +(in which atoms of the same or of different kinds combine, to build up +simple or compound substances respectively,)--how is it that molecules +of the same kind are always constructed upon exactly the same model, +resembling one another far more closely than sovereigns struck from the +same die, or different copies of this morning's _Times_? It was in this +uniformity of type, character and behaviour, repeated always and +everywhere, in instances multiplied "beyond the power of imagination to +conceive," that Sir John Herschel[125] saw a feature stamping atoms and +molecules as "manufactured articles, and subordinate agents," which, no +less than a line of spinning-jennies, or a regiment of soldiers clad in +the same uniform, and going through the same evolutions, imply a +controlling force directing things according to a definite system. + +These and innumerable other particulars of detail has Science added to +the problem: but of anything which can supply an answer, she knows no +more than did the first man who ever mooted the question within his own +soul. + +And if in the inorganic world we find food for such considerations, with +immensely greater instance are they forced upon us by a study of the +organic. Here we enter a new realm of mystery, for the laws we encounter +actively energizing at every point, are altogether different from those +with which hitherto we have had to deal. The matter which enters into +the constitution of living things,--animals or plants--is precisely the +same as that of which the inorganic world is constituted. No single atom +or molecule is found in the one which has not been drawn from the +other;--nor when incorporated in a living structure do atoms or +molecules suffer any alteration, or change their nature in any respect, +for, says Clerk-Maxwell,[126] throughout all changes and catastrophes +these remain "unbroken and unworn." Nevertheless, they fall at once +under the spell of a force which introduces into their operations an +order altogether new, for it somehow strikes across all the laws of dead +matter, setting up a new code of its own, which endures just so long as +life lasts, and is never met with apart from life. And these organic +laws issue in marvellous results. Professor Haeckel himself, after +endeavouring to show that from the inorganic world no arguments can be +drawn to favour the supposition of design in Nature, thus +continues:[127] + + But the idea of design has a very great significance and + application in the _organic_ world. We do undeniably perceive a + purpose in the structure and in the life of an organism. The plant + and animal seem to be controlled by a definite design in the + combination of their several parts, just as clearly as we see in + the machines which man invents and constructs; as long as life + continues, the functions of the several organs are directed to + definite ends, just as is the operation of the various parts of a + machine. + +How Haeckel proceeds to argue that such appearance of purposive design +is merely fallacious, we need not here stay to enquire; our present +concern is to attempt to realize the evidence of law and order which the +world everywhere exhibits. As we have just heard, the parts of an +organism, like those of a motor-car, or a chronometer, combine their +operations for the production of definite ends; the attainment of which +depends in all instances upon the nicest correspondence of various +details of their work. Thus, that there should be eyes capable of +seeing, the laws of optics must be satisfied, reflection, refraction and +the rest, just as exactly in the making of an eye as in that of a +telescope. _De facto_ they _are_ satisfied. The eye, Mr. Darwin +styles[128] "a living optical instrument as superior to one of glass as +the works of the Creator[129] are to those of man." He speaks, moreover, +of "all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different +distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the +correction of spherical and chromatic aberration."[130] Therefore, +however we are to account for them, the laws which govern the +production of eyes successfully solve a practical problem and satisfy +laws which were in force before an animal with eyes appeared on earth. + +In just the same way, the requirements of sound are met by the +structure of the ear, which Sir Henry Holland, for example,[131] judged +more wonderful than that of the eye itself. + +So again as to wings. They are in the first place such marvellous pieces +of workmanship that as Mr. Pettigrew writes concerning one of their +forms.[132] "There are few things in nature more admirably constructed +than the wing of a bird, and perhaps none where design can be more +readily traced." But, moreover, wings entirely different in plan, as of +birds, bats, and all the varieties of insects, alike satisfy the laws of +aerostatics, and successfully solve in practice the problem of flight, a +problem which we are unable to solve even theoretically. "It is +evident," writes Lord Grimthorpe,[133] "that nobody yet thoroughly +understands the whole theory of flying, though we are seeing it +continually, and have unlimited opportunities of examining all sorts of +wings. The explanation that appears plausible for one kind, not only +will not do for another but seems refuted by it." Yet in a multitude of +different ways, the forces of Nature succeed in effecting what with all +our Science we cannot shew to be possible. + +And concerning not merely one portion of a creature's structure, but the +whole, Professor Huxley declares:[134] + + The horse is in many ways a remarkable animal; not least so in the + fact that it presents us with an example of one of the most perfect + pieces of machinery in the living world. In truth, among the works + of human ingenuity it cannot be said that there is any locomotive + so perfectly adapted to its purposes, doing so much work with so + small a quantity of fuel, as this machine of Nature's + manufacture--the horse. + +These are but a few out of countless similar examples. "We are +constantly discovering," says Lord Grimthorpe, "new complications and +processes, and what to all common sense appear contrivances, in the +organs of all living things, and indeed we can find no limit to them." +In all these cases an instrument is fashioned precisely adapted to the +performance of a certain function, and it is therefore obvious on first +principles that there must exist _some_ power capable of producing such +instruments. + +It will probably be answered that there are forces enough in Nature to +account for everything, and that these furnish the needful explanation. +But, as Mr. Croll rightly insists,[135] Force by itself explains +nothing. Its mere exercise has no tendency whatever to produce such +effects. There must likewise be Determination of Force in the one +definite direction required, and it is in the source of this +Determination that the true cause must be sought to which the result is +due. It is not simply because iron is hammered and filed that a +railway-engine is produced; nor is it sufficient that a block of marble +be chipped with mallet and chisel in order to obtain a statue of Apollo. +Unless some influence comes in to direct the forces in such cases to +their respective results, the results will never by any possibility be +secured. And in the processes of Nature such direction or determination +must be exercised in particulars inconceivably intricate, to which the +works of man furnish no parallel. As Mr. Croll writes: + + If a tree is to be formed, the lines of least resistance must all + be determined and adjusted in relation to the objective idea of the + tree; of the root; of the branches; of the leaves; of the bud; of + the fruit; and of every part of the tree. But this is not all: the + tree is built up molecule by molecule, each of which requires a + special determination, and, beyond all this, we have the + structureless protoplasm, which must be differentiated according to + the objective idea of the whole. What produces this marvellous + adjustment of means to ends? + +And as he insists in another passage: + + The determinations which take place in nature occur not at random, + but according to a plan--an objective idea. Thus the question is + not simply what causes a body to take some direction, but what + causes it to take, among the infinite number of possible + directions, the proper direction in relation to the idea. In the + formation of, say, the leaf of a tree, no two molecules move in + identically the same direction or take identically the same path. + But each molecule must move in relation to the objective idea of + the leaf, or no leaf would be formed. The grand question, + therefore, is, What is it that selects from among the infinite + number of possible directions the proper one in relation to this + idea? + +And this sort of thing is going on in every blossom and leaf and blade +of grass, in every hair and every feather over the surface of the earth. + +Truly does our author find here "The Grand Question," for in it we touch +the very heart of our whole problem, and are forced to consider more +closely than we have hitherto done of what character must be the +ultimate Cause which alone can explain the world. + +It is, as we have seen, a first principle of Science, that in enquiries +such as this, we must proceed from experience to inference, from the +known to the unknown. Arguing thus, we may legitimately gather from +observed phenomena, that something exists, which even though it be not +directly within the range of our senses, must certainly be capable of +producing such phenomena: just as the perturbations of one planet have +revealed the existence of another; and the lines in their spectra have +taught us the chemical constitution of the sun and stars. + +This principle being borrowed by Science from common-sense, has +instinctively been ever adopted by those who set themselves to enquire +of what kind must be that unseen Power at the back of Nature to which +the fact of law and order may be ascribed. And as there is but one +force or power within the range of our experience capable of producing +such an effect, it is but natural that this should have been constantly +assumed to represent, at least by analogy, the nature of the power +required. That there is but one cause known to us experimentally, which +can determine the operation of force towards the attainment of a +preconditioned result, none will deny--namely the purposive action of an +intelligent will, as known to us in ourselves and in our +fellow-men;--and to Will accordingly, immensely more intelligent than +ours, has been ascribed the establishment of those laws which the +highest intellects of our race are able partially and dimly to +apprehend. + +It is thus that we are led to the fundamental doctrine of Theism, to +belief in an intelligent First Cause, according to whose design the +universe has been fashioned; a cause which must have all that is found +in the universe or any part of it, including man, and more--for it has +of itself what all else derives from it--whose purposes necessarily +transcend our mental grasp--but whose modes of thought are reflected in +our own, by which they can in some measure be followed through a study +of their results. + +If such a belief, so grounded, be unscientific, as is constantly +assumed, there must be good arguments to the contrary. It should be +demonstrable, either that Science has shown such a line of reasoning to +be unsound, or that she has discovered within her own domain something +which, at least conceivably, can do the work thus attributed to +Intelligence--in which case the much-quoted dictum of Lord Kelvin will +be in point,--that if a probable solution of any problem can be found +which is consistent with the ordinary course of Nature, we must not go +beyond Nature in search of one. + +If, on the other hand, the above line of reasoning cannot be +invalidated, and if scientific methods can discover nothing competent to +effect what has undoubtedly been effected, it is not easy to see how it +can be unscientific to proceed by inference to what is confessedly +beyond the scope of observation and experiment. + +That "Teleology," or the doctrine of Final Causality,[136] is unworthy +of serious consideration, is without doubt a common assumption, and some +writers seem to think that an argument is sufficiently discredited if it +be styled "teleological." Yet this rather formidable term represents no +more than the belief that the infinite adaptations of means to results +observed in Nature are the effect of purpose, not of chance. And if we +eliminate purpose, what is there left to furnish an explanation, beyond +the indubitable fact that such adaptations have always been found in +organic nature, and that we have learnt confidently to anticipate that +they will appear generation after generation according to the "law of +heredity"? But this obviously only tells us that they have been produced +and are likewise transmitted, and throws no light whatever on the cause +of the marvellous processes to which their production and their +transmission are due. If we have any rational grounds for expecting that +such processes will continue to occur, it cannot be merely that they +have occurred before, but we instinctively infer that the cause to which +they are ultimately due continues to operate. We are thus as far as ever +from an answer to the question, What is that cause? + + It may be urged [says Newman][137] if a thing happens once it must + happen always; for what is to hinder it? Nay, on the contrary, why, + because one particle of matter has a certain property, should all + particles have the same? Why, because particles have instanced the + property a thousand times, should the thousand and first instance + it also? It is _prima facie_ unaccountable that an accident should + happen twice, not to speak of it happening always. If we expect a + thing to happen twice, it is because we think it is not an + accident, but has a cause. What has brought about a thing once, may + bring it about twice. _What_ is to hinder its happening? rather + what is to make it happen? Here we are thrown back from the + question of Order to that of Causation. A law is not a cause, but a + fact; but when we come to the question of cause, then we have no + experience of any cause but Will. + +Here is the crucial point: "We have no experience of any cause but +Will;" and it follows that if, as Science bids us, we base inference on +experience alone, there can be no doubt about the conclusion to which we +shall be led. + + * * * * * + +No different is the verdict of Sir John Herschel: + + The presence of _Mind_ [he writes][138] is what solves the whole + difficulty: so far, at least, as it brings it within the sphere of + our consciousness, and into conformity with our own experience of + what action is. + +That the introduction of intelligent purpose, as a factor, sufficiently +meets the requirements of our reason cannot be denied. As Bishop Butler +insists, it is even impossible for any man in his senses to say that the +problem can be more easily solved without it. And witnesses not merely +unfriendly, but positively and even bitterly hostile, are compelled to +admit that on whatever other grounds they may reject Theism, it is not +because this doctrine is inadequate as an explanation of the world we +know. + + It seems to me [says Professor Huxley][139] that "creation," in the + ordinary sense of the word, is perfectly conceivable. I find no + difficulty in imagining that, at some former period, this universe + was not in existence; and that it made its appearance ... in + consequence of the volition of some pre-existent Being. The + so-called _à priori_ arguments against Theism, and given a Deity, + against the possibility of creative acts, appear to me to be devoid + of reasonable foundation. + +Similarly, that uncompromising foe of religious belief in any shape, +Professor W. K. Clifford, replying to Dr. Martineau who based his +argument on the existence of the moral law, as well as the evidence of +design in Nature, wrote thus:[140] + + I fully admit that the theistic hypothesis, so grounded, and + considered apart from objections elsewhere arising, is a reasonable + hypothesis and an explanation of the facts. The idea of an external + conscious being is unavoidably suggested, as it seems to me, by the + categorical imperative of the moral sense; and moreover in a way + quite independent, by the aspect of nature, which seems to answer + to our questionings with an intelligence akin to our own. + +On the other hand, where is an alternative hypothesis to be found of +which as much can be said,--which will justify itself to reason, by +accounting for the facts? That no purely materialistic or mechanical +theory will suffice is not only obvious to common-sense, but is +acknowledged by those who would gladly find such a theory sufficient. + + It would be a great delusion [writes Weismann][141] if any one + were to believe that he had arrived at a comprehension of the + universe by tracing the phenomena of Nature to mechanical + principles. He would thereby forget that the assumption of eternal + matter with its eternal laws by no means satisfies our intellectual + need for causality. + +Similarly, Professor Huxley admits that even his primeval cosmic nebula +with the world potential in its womb, leaves something to desire. + + The more purely a mechanist the speculator is [he writes][142] the + more firmly does he assume a primordial molecular arrangement of + which all the phenomena of the universe are the consequences, and + the more completely is he thereby at the mercy of the teleologist, + who can always defy him to disprove that this primordial molecular + arrangement was not[143] intended to evolve the phenomena of the + universe. + +Accordingly, although he was clearly persuaded that Theism is a doctrine +which we can never have sufficient grounds for accepting, Professor +Huxley repudiated the notion that scientific discovery has done anything +to disprove it. Thus he tells us,[144] that, in order to be a +teleologist, and yet accept Evolution, it is only necessary + + to suppose that the original plan was sketched out ... that the + purpose was foreshadowed in the molecular arrangements out of which + the animals have come. + +And again,[145] he thus expressed himself regarding two objections +commonly brought against Darwinism, namely that it introduces "chance" +as a factor in nature, and that it is atheistic: + + Both assertions are utter bosh. None but parsons believe in + "chance"; and the philosophical difficulties of Theism now are + neither greater nor less than they have been ever since Theism was + invented. + +Accordingly, as has already been urged, in regard of this question we +are precisely where men have always been,--dependent upon arguments such +as satisfied philosophers like Cicero, who declared that when we regard +the starry heavens the existence of a Deity of surpassing intelligence +must appear no less obvious than that of the sun in the sky.[146] + +That scientific enlightenment is not incompatible with such reasoning, +we have sufficient evidence in the fact that amongst those whose +conclusions are wholly in accord with Cicero's, men are to be found +standing in the very front rank of Science. + +Like the Roman orator, Sir Isaac Newton declared that the existence of a +Being endowed with intelligence and wisdom is a necessary inference from +a study of celestial mechanics, and that to treat of God is therefore a +part of Natural Philosophy.[147] + + We assume, as absolutely self-evident [say Professors Stewart and + Tait][148] the existence of a Deity, who is the Creator and + Upholder of all things. + + When we contemplate the phenomena of vision, [says Sir G. G. + Stokes,][149] it seems difficult to understand how we can fail to + be impressed with the evidence of design thus imparted to us. But + design is altogether unmeaning without a designing mind. The study + then of the phenomena of nature leads us to the contemplation of a + Being from whom proceeded the orderly arrangement of natural things + that we behold. + +Lord Kelvin's recent declaration is even more vigorous.[150] + + I cannot say that with regard to the origin of life Science neither + affirms nor denies creative power. Science positively affirms + creating and directive power, which she compels us to accept as an + article of belief. + +Thirty years earlier Clerk-Maxwell in concluding his famous lecture +before the British Association[151] thus spoke concerning Molecules: + + They continue this day as they were created, perfect in number and + measure and weight, and from the ineffaceable characters impressed + on them we may learn that those aspirations after accuracy in + measurement, truth in statement, and justice in action, which we + reckon among our noblest attributes as men, are ours because they + are essential constituents of the image of Him who in the beginning + created, not only the heaven and the earth, but the materials of + which heaven and earth consist. + +It is of course not to be denied that there are eminent men of science +who altogether dissent from such opinions, and reject Theism as false, +or at least as lacking any rational claim on our acceptance. That, +however, is not the point. The above testimonies have not been adduced +as if their authority could settle the question, which is one to be +determined not by authority, but by argument. At the same time, it is +abundantly evident that it is not argument but supposed authority which +influences the great majority of those who style themselves +rationalists. By what modes of reasoning their creed is supposed to be +established they have usually little idea: but they firmly believe, as +they are constantly assured, that no one who knows what Science is can +pretend to credit an antiquated doctrine which she has entirely +exploded. It is to show what degree of truth attaches to such +statements, that our witnesses have been called--and for this purpose +their testimony is undoubtedly sufficient. As Lord Rayleigh in his +Presidential address told the British Association:[152] + + It is true that among scientific men, as in other classes, crude + views are to be met with as to the deeper things of Nature; but + that the life-long beliefs of Newton, of Faraday, and of Maxwell, + are inconsistent with the scientific habit of mind, is surely a + proposition which I need not pause to refute. + +And when from authority we turn to the line of argument adopted by those +who would impugn that upon which Theists rely, and who reject the idea +of an intelligent First Cause either as superfluous, or as incapable of +verification, we find but two courses one or other of which they feel +themselves compelled to adopt, although it is not very easy to +understand the state of mind which can rest satisfied with either. + +Some, on the one hand, frankly admit that Science has not by her own +proper methods discovered any ultimate principle of things, and never +will. But on that very account, they maintain, this ultimate principle, +whatever it may be, must remain utterly unknown to us--for we can never +_know_ anything except by the methods of Science. Accordingly, although +the theistic hypothesis would confessedly furnish such an explanation as +is lacking, we must not adopt it because we cannot test it +experimentally. + +And yet in ordinary life we have no difficulty in arguing from effect to +cause in just the same manner, and satisfying ourselves of the existence +of what we can as little touch or see as the First Cause itself. Thus we +are convinced of the genius of Shakespeare and Napoleon, and that there +was a difference between the character of Robespierre and that of Howard +the Philanthropist. But no man ever saw or touched either genius or +character, which can be known only by their results. It is by inference +far less legitimate that those proceed who, like Haeckel, seek in the +forces of Nature themselves an explanation of phenomena which, as we +know them, they are wholly incapable of producing. Instead of arguing +that a cause must therefore exist which is beyond Nature, but whose +character our own experience enables us in some measure, and +analogically, to learn, these philosophers start with the assumption +that no such cause is possible, and then proceed to draw the consequence +that the condition of Nature must once have been totally different from +what it actually is, enabling her forces to produce results which no +experience of any sort indicates as possible. + +Those who adopt such an attitude of nescience, and in the proper sense +of the word are termed Agnostics, find themselves compelled accordingly +to leave their system in the air, with no basis more solid than the +elephant and tortoise on which Hindoo astronomers rested the world. They +must ignore the fundamental principle of Causation, from which we +started our present enquiry, and in consequence it is impossible that +their systems should, as Professor Weismann says, satisfy our +intellectual needs. + +Others, on the other hand, declare that the Theistic hypothesis must be +dismissed, because a better has been found, Science having discovered +within her own sphere an effectual substitute for the supposed First +Cause. When we enquire what this may be, we are told that it is the "Law +of Substance," or "Evolution," or "Nature" herself, or an "Infinite +Eternal Energy unknown and unknowable," but devoid of intellect and +will--or "Monism," or some other similar abstraction which can represent +no idea at all, unless--as often happens--it be clad in the robes of its +rival, and credited with the very powers and attributes denied to the +First Cause, so as to become practically the same thing under another +and misleading name. Regarding this point there will be more to be said +presently. Here, it will be sufficient to note that this is in truth the +only meaning which can be attached to much of the language of so-called +scientific writers. + + Who [asks Mr. Wollaston][153] is this Nature ... who has such + tremendous power, and to whose efficiency such marvellous + performances are ascribed? What are her image and attributes when + dragged from her wordy lurking-place? Is she aught but a pestilent + abstraction, like dust cast in our eyes to obscure the workings of + an intelligent First Cause? + +So at the end of his life Clerk-Maxwell characteristically observed, +that he had studied many queer religions and philosophies, but had +found none of them that would work without God concealed somewhere. + +Finally, a warning uttered by Lord Rayleigh in the address quoted above +must not be forgotten. After acknowledging that "unfortunately" there +are writers speaking in her name who have set themselves to foster the +prevailing belief that Science necessarily tends towards materialism, he +thus continued: + + It would be easy, however, to lay too much stress upon the opinions + of even such distinguished workers as these. Men who devote their + lives to investigation cultivate a love of truth for its own sake, + and endeavour instinctively to clear up, and not, as is too often + the object in business and politics, to obscure, a difficult + question. So far the opinion of a scientific worker may have a + special value; but I do not think that he has a claim superior to + that of other educated men, to assume the attitude of a prophet. In + his heart he knows that underneath the theories that he constructs + there lie contradictions which he cannot reconcile. The higher + mysteries of being, if penetrable at all by the human intellect, + require other weapons than those of calculation and experiment. + + + + +XII + +PURPOSE AND CHANCE + + +An objection is no doubt awaiting us which many consider absolutely +fatal to the argument for purpose or design in nature, as above +presented. That argument, it will be said, rests entirely upon the +assumption that the sole alternative to Purpose is _Chance_, an +assumption which, if not dishonest, betrays ignorance scarcely less +discreditable: for men of science constantly warn us that there is no +such thing as Chance,--that every occurrence in nature, one as much as +another, testifies to the uniformity and regularity of natural +causation,--and that if we speak of any phenomenon being due to Chance, +this term is but a conventional symbol signifying that we do not know +what caused it. + +Amongst those who take up this position, which is well-nigh universal, +no better representative need be sought than Professor Huxley, who +treated the point formally, and was manifestly well satisfied with his +performance. We have already heard him declare belief in Chance to be an +absurdity of which none but parsons could be guilty, a class in which he +clearly conceived the low-water-mark of intelligence to be reached. On +another occasion,[154] he set himself expressly to the exposure of what +he described as, "The most singular of the, perhaps immortal, fallacies, +which live on, Tithonus-like, when sense and force have long deserted +them." + + Probably the best answer [he writes] to those who talk of Darwinism + meaning the reign of "Chance," is to ask them what they themselves + understand by "Chance." Do they believe that anything in this + universe happens without reason or without a cause? Do they really + conceive that any event has no cause, and could not have been + predicted by any one who had a sufficient insight into the order of + Nature? If they do, it is they who are the inheritors of antique + superstition and ignorance, and whose minds have never been + illumined by a ray of scientific thought. + +As an object lesson for his enlightenment, the Professor bids one of +these benighted folk betake himself to the sea-shore on which a heavy +storm is breaking; and having painted a rather elaborate word-picture of +the scene, he thus continues: + + Surely here, if anywhere, he [the unenlightened one] will say that + chance is supreme, and bend the knee as one who has entered the + very penetralia of his divinity. But the man of science knows that + here as everywhere, perfect order is manifested; that there is not + a curve of the waves, not a note in the howling chorus, not a + rainbow-glint on a bubble, which is other than a necessary + consequence of the ascertained laws of nature; and that with a + sufficient knowledge of the conditions, competent + physico-mathematical skill could account for, and indeed predict, + every one of these "chance" events. + +This, however, is mere beating of the air, having no bearing whatever +upon the question at issue; and we can only wonder that so able a man as +Huxley could thus absolutely miss the whole point, while remaining +serenely unconscious that he did so. No sane man ever entertained the +foolish notion with which he credits his man of straw. On the contrary, +it is precisely those whom he so heartily despises, that _dis_believe in +Chance, and deny it any share in the making of the world. They neither +regard Chance as a possible cause of phenomena, nor make of it a kind of +deity or fetish, as some appear inclined to do with Science. Their +contention is that according to those who, with Huxley, reject the idea +of intelligent purpose, Chance would needs be introduced as a ruling +element in nature, which would be absurd. Nor in thus arguing do they +introduce any notion so irrational as that of "absolute" Chance, of +events happening without causes. But unquestionably there can be +"relative" Chance. A cause fully sufficient for the production of a +result, may have no tendency whatever to determine or direct this result +to a particular end; and if in such circumstances this end be attained +it is by Chance. In particular, should many independent results of +purely mechanical forces combine to produce a result, as intelligence +would combine them, its production can only be ascribed to Chance. +"Chance" has therefore a very real meaning. It is not a Cause, but the +absence of Cause: not of Cause altogether, but of the _determining_ +Cause requisite for the production of certain results. The argument +based upon the impotence of Chance to obtain such results, is precisely +that which the most exact of all the Sciences, Mathematics, accepts and +applies in the Theory of Chances. + +The answer to the question which Professor Huxley evidently deems +unanswerable is plain enough. By "Chance" is meant the concurrence, +unguided by Purpose, of independent forces to produce a definite effect. +"Chance" denotes the absence of Purpose, as "Vacuum" denotes the absence +of air; and when it is denied that certain results can come about by +chance, or fortuitously, it is as when we deny that life can be +sustained _in vacuo_. It is no positive feature or action of the vacuum +that we have in mind, for its essence is negative; but just because of +that negative character, experience has taught us, that it cannot fulfil +certain functions. In the same manner the potency of "Chance" is denied, +simply because it is not Purpose. + +That there are phenomena for which "Chance" thus defined cannot account +is, surely, obvious. If a man sits down at a piano and plays "God Save +the King," no evidence in the world would persuade Professor Huxley or +any one else, that the performer had never before seen a musical +instrument, nor knew of the existence of such an air or any other, but +just put his fingers on the keys as the spirit moved him. Such a story +would be rightly felt to be absolutely incredible: and yet the notes he +produced--equally with those of the howling chorus of winds and +waves--were the necessary effects of physical causes; given that +particular strings were struck, they could not but follow. The whole +point is, however, that in this case the result is _not_ a howling +chorus, but a melody; not mere formless noise, but an orderly +composition, constructed on definite principles which our mind can +recognize. It is in regard of this particular feature of the result that +Force of itself, as we have seen, explains nothing, and that, if there +is to be any explanation at all, we must know something as to how Force +received the needful Direction or Determination. + +It is only in regard of human action that we can, as in the above +instance, find an example of what may be called pure fortuity, for such +action alone can be traced up to an initial cause, namely the exercise +of Will. No one can have a right to call the action of natural forces +fortuitous; on the contrary, we have seen arguments that in the +inorganic world itself purpose must be recognized. But an action +directed by purpose to one result may be quite fortuitous in regard of +another. A man who digging a foundation for a house finds a buried +treasure, discovers this by chance. Although his action was ruled by a +most definite purpose, that purpose was not this. So again when, +according to the old story, certain Phœnician mariners finding no +stones on the sea-shore suitable for the purpose, used blocks of natron +to support their cooking-pots, and so produced glass, they were led to +the discovery by mere chance. And in like manner, however definitely the +forces of matter may be determined each to its own proper end, there are +results which if produced by them must be as purely fortuitous as such +an invention made by men who thought only of preparing their dinner. The +cable which was being laid to America having, in 1865, snapped and sunk +in mid-Atlantic, it was determined in the following year to attempt its +recovery. Meanwhile the shore-end at Valencia was still connected with +the dial-plate, on which messages had been scored between ship and shore +while the cable was intact. A telegraphist was constantly on duty, +watching the needle which was never still, being deflected hither and +thither by the earth-currents, working through the wires. On a sudden, +however, the needle spelled out the letters "Got it," and it was known +with absolute certainty that there was a man at the other end. It is no +doubt perfectly true that each previous movement had been the necessary +consequence of the force applied, just as truly as those which coincided +with the conventions of the telegraphist's alphabet; but win any one say +that such coincidence could conceivably be attributable to the forces of +magnetism alone, however exact to the laws according to which they +operate? + +It must always be remembered that the question we have to discuss is, +how far Science casts any light upon such questions as the one before +us. And since "Science" is taken to mean knowledge acquired through the +observation of phenomena alone, we have at present to enquire whether +material forces, the only ones of which observation directly tells us +anything, could have produced such effects as we have considered, +otherwise than by mere "Chance"? If they could not, is it imaginable +that they produced these effects at all? And it appears obvious that +unless there be Purpose at the back of Nature, Chance must be +acknowledged as the architect of the universe. + +Professor Huxley tells us, it is true, that such an idea could be +entertained by no one whose mind had ever been illumined by a ray of +scientific thought. In face of this it is rather remarkable to find that +the idea was undoubtedly entertained by Mr. Darwin, who took for granted +that to deny Purpose is to affirm Chance. + + I am conscious [he wrote to Asa Gray][155] that I am in an utterly + hopeless muddle. I cannot think that the world, as we see it, is + the result of chance; and yet I cannot look at each separate thing + as the result of Design. + +And again:[156] + + I cannot any how be contented to view this wonderful universe, and + especially the nature of man, and to conclude that everything is + the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as + resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or + bad, left to the working out of what we call chance. Not that this + notion _at all_ satisfies me. + +Professor Haeckel too is by no means in accord on this point with his +friend Professor Huxley. He writes:[157] + + One group of philosophers affirms, in accordance with the + teleological conception, that the whole cosmos is an orderly + system, in which every phenomenon has its aim and purpose; there is + no such thing as chance. The other group, holding a mechanical + theory, expresses itself thus: The development of the universe is a + monistic mechanical process, in which we discover no aim or purpose + whatever; what we call design in the organic world is a special + result of biological agencies; neither in the evolution of the + heavenly bodies nor in that of the crust of our earth do we find + any trace of a controlling purpose--all is the result of chance. + Each party is right--according to its definition of chance. The + general law of causality, taken in conjunction with the law of + substance, teaches us that every phenomenon has a mechanical cause; + in this sense there is no such thing as chance. Yet it is not only + lawful, but necessary to retain the term for the purpose of + expressing the simultaneous occurrence of two phenomena, which are + not causally related to each other, but of which each has its own + mechanical cause independent of the other. Everybody knows that + chance, in this monistic sense, plays an important part in the life + of man and in the universe at large. That, however, does not + prevent us from recognizing in each "chance" event, as we do in the + evolution of the entire cosmos, the universal sovereignty of + nature's supreme law, _the law of substance_. + +There is a good deal here which is less clear in the way of argument +than could be wished. The famous _Law of Substance_, as we have seen, +has two articles: The indestructibility of matter, and the conservation +of energy. What light either of these principles may be supposed to shed +on such questions as the adaptation of organs to their functions is by +no means obvious. To say that there is no design in the organic world, +because it is a special result of biological agencies,--is quite of a +piece with the contention which has actually been made, that we can no +longer argue to Design, with Paley, from the analogy of a watch, since +"nearly every part of a watch is now made by inanimate machinery."[158] +Thus much, however, is perfectly clear: the competence of Chance is +recognized to originate a world like ours, and to enable Nature, as +Professor Clifford says, seemingly to answer our questionings with an +intelligence akin to our own. + +It would thus appear that when Newton asks,--Was the eye fashioned +without knowledge of the laws of light, or the ear, without knowledge of +those of sound?--we are to answer in the affirmative, and to say that +such organs are but special results of biological agencies, under the +general management of the Law of Substance. + +That such a reply cannot with any truth be termed scientific is +plain--for it touches matters which by her own acknowledgment Science +cannot reach;--nor does it seem probable that this kind of talk would +convince anybody, were there nothing more. Undoubtedly those who +persuade themselves that the Order of the Universe can be sufficiently +explained without introducing the idea of purpose or design, are +influenced by other considerations than these. + +(1) With some it is the argument, which appears chiefly to have weighed +with Mr. Darwin, who constantly speaks of it as the great obstacle to +that belief in Design which the marvels of the universe would otherwise +necessitate. This he based on certain features in Nature which appeared +to him incompatible with the work of a beneficent Author, mainly the +existence of suffering amongst animals in whose case it cannot be +supposed to subserve any purpose of moral benefit. As he wrote to Asa +Gray:[159] + + I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should + wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. + There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade + myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly + created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their + feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars, or that a cat + should play with mice. Not believing this, I see no necessity in + the belief that the eye was expressly designed. + +Such a mode of meeting the arguments for Design, though only indirect, +undoubtedly deserves serious consideration, touching as it does the +darkest of all mysteries--the Origin of Evil. It is clear, however, that +in Mr. Darwin's case, and probably in that of many others, its effect +was due in no slight degree to imagination rather than to reason. He +picks out one or two instances of seeming cruelty in Nature, as though +they were something exceptional, and appears to imply that they create +an obstacle to a belief which Nature as a whole almost forces upon him. +In reality, the same sort of thing goes on everywhere. Animal life from +beginning to end is a record of rapine and slaughter, as Tennyson +declared in a verse too trite to bear quotation. The most petted of pet +dogs has no more compunction than a tiger in worrying creatures weaker +than itself, and a robin-redbreast takes far more lives daily than does +a sparrow-hawk. But to draw from these facts such large conclusions--is +quite another matter. Can we imagine that we are qualified by the +fulness of our knowledge to pronounce judgment and declare that there +can be no good end where we fail to perceive one? As Mr. Darwin admits +in the very same passage: "I feel most deeply that the whole subject is +too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on +the mind of Newton." + +How much is there in the actions of persons much lowlier than Newton +which to the most intelligent of animals, dogs, elephants, or monkeys, +could they speculate at all, must seem wholly devoid of sense;--as for +instance that men should spend such continual labour in digging and +ploughing. So again, in his famous lecture on Coal, Professor Huxley +depicts what might have been the reflections of a giant reptile of the +Carboniferous Epoch, suggested by the seemingly senseless waste of +nature's powers in the production of the primeval forests, that have +furnished the coal measures, to which so much of our progress and +civilization is directly due. + +And, after all, given the universal law of death for all living things, +it would hardly appear that we can assure ourselves that any attendant +circumstance constitutes a greater evil--as Mr. Darwin's argument seems +to assume; and yet, it does not appear ever to have been argued that +there can be no purpose in Nature since no organic life endures for +ever. Most probably, if we knew enough, we should plainly see that +nothing could be more cruel than to have omitted the carnivora from +creation, leaving herbivorous animals to multiply till they starved one +another to death, or at least to perish of senile decay far more +painfully than under the fangs of tigers and wolves. Instances might +moreover be quoted which serve to remind us how impossible it is rightly +to estimate the true character of suffering amongst creatures altogether +different from ourselves. Thus when, as eye-witnesses report, young +scorpions clinging to their mother devour her alive, scientifically +avoiding as long as possible all vital parts and mortal wounds--we are +inclined to consider them monsters of wickedness, and their parent as a +model of motherly devotion, whose sufferings cannot be less horrible +than those of a caterpillar similarly eaten by the ichneumon grub. But +we cannot with any reason impute more moral blame to the young +scorpions, than to the lambkins which draw sustenance from their dams in +another fashion which we find touching and poetical; while as for the +mother--who doubtless treated her own parent in just the same +fashion--she exhibits no symptom to show that she resents her +offsprings' advances, any more than does the ewe, but on the contrary +has her sting ever ready for any one who would interfere with them. + +(2) It is a still more common objection to the doctrine of purpose +everywhere in Nature, that such an idea is negatived by the continuity +and uniformity of natural laws, precluding the notion of constant +interference by another, supernatural, Agent. But this objection is +based upon an entire misconception. No one imagines such intervention, +or that purpose guides nature as a pilot guides a ship by repeated +orders to the man at the wheel. Undoubtedly the reign of law in nature +is uninterrupted, but in that law purpose is interwoven as the +controlling element; just as the mind of Homer governs the hand of every +printer who sets up type for a new edition of the _Iliad_. + +(3) Finally, there is the argument, already alluded to, that inasmuch as +the most complex structures are daily transmitted under our eyes by +generation, we have evidence that nature can produce them from her own +resources, and by the operation of a merely natural law, such as no one +doubts generation to be. + +Such an argument, it is evident, merely begs the question at issue, +offering as it does no explanation, or suggestion, as to how a power so +marvellous was acquired. It would be equally philosophical to argue that +there is nothing wonderful about the genius of a great poet because we +confidently anticipate that it will be exhibited in the next piece he +produces. + +It is likewise clear that, here again, imagination rather than reason +furnishes the argument. In the first place, were there nothing else, no +explanation whatever would thus be afforded as to how the structures in +question were first produced, before they could be transmitted. And, +secondly, which is still more important, generation--far from furnishing +an explanation of anything--introduces us to mysteries yet more +inscrutable than any we have yet encountered, and to problems which +seem to admit of no possible solution apart from, not only Purpose, but +transcendent Power. + +Doubtless the propagation of life is ruled by natural law, but how such +law effects its object we understand immeasurably less than we +understand the flight of birds or butterflies. As a recent writer +reminds us,[160] what is transmitted from parents to offspring "is not a +new form or structure, but only the _potentiality_ of such a new form: +which, in suitable circumstances, builds _itself_ up out of surrounding +inorganic and organic material." As Lord Grimthorpe expresses the same +truth:[161] + + If we suppose an apple-tree to have once grown somehow, and to have + somehow got power to produce seeds, that would not produce any more + apple-trees, unless the seeds, and all the adjacent atoms that are + wanted, had the power and the will to combine and grow into another + apple-tree. The first hen that laid an egg performed a wonderful + feat enough, but it would have done no good unless the atoms of the + egg also knew and resolved what to do to turn themselves into a + chicken. Yet spontaneous evolutionists are in the habit of slurring + over generation as a thing too "natural," and therefore too easy + and simple to require explanation. + +The continual operation of a law such as this, certainly does not remove +mysteries, nor make it more easy to understand how the order and the +marvels of the universe can rationally be attributed to Chance rather +than to Design, according to "this new philosophy of effects without +causes and laws without a lawgiver."[162] For "fortuitous" means, as +Professor Case has well observed,[163] not the accidental, as opposed to +the regular laws of nature, but the spontaneous necessity of nature, as +opposed to the voluntary designs of intelligence. Nor is it only in the +organic world that we find the need of such a factor to explain +phenomena; for it is throughout more essential than any other force to +account for Nature as we find her--in such a manner as to satisfy the +logical demands of our mind. We learn as little from observation and +experiment as to the fundamental laws of matter,--gravitation, for +instance, which Faraday and Herschel termed "the mystery of mysteries," +or chemical affinities, or the nature of Ether--as concerning anything +in organic nature; though in the latter we undoubtedly mount to a higher +plane of mysteriousness. And in either case we could learn nothing +whatever,--that is to say, Science would be wholly impossible,--did we +not find natural phenomena respond to our enquiries with what seems an +intelligence akin to our own. And accordingly it appears but +reasonable,--that is to say, truly scientific,--to exclaim as did even +Diderot--"Quoi! le monde formé prouverait moins une intelligence que le +monde expliqué!" + + + + +XIII + +MONISM + + +All systems of philosophy that reject the idea of an intelligent First +Cause, which alone is self-existent, and whose being is of a higher +order than that of aught else,--base their denial on the assumption that +no such distinction of nature either exists or is possible,--that there +is but one reality, namely the substance whereof the sensible world +consists,--that this has always existed with the same forces it has now, +and that it is the source of all phenomena. This assumption of the +unreality of whatever is beyond the scope of sense, which has ever been +at the bottom of materialistic systems, is now elaborately formulated as +a creed, declared by Professor Haeckel and his following to be the only +creed which science can tolerate. This is termed _Monism_,--from the +Greek Μὁνος, "single," and is opposed to _Dualism_, or the +doctrine that there are two orders of being, or two distinct substances, +material and spiritual.[164] + +According to monistic teaching, therefore, there exists but one _Thing_, +that which we usually call Matter, but might equally well call +Mind,--for all phenomena whatever, whether mental or material, are but +various shapes which it assumes, exhibiting diverse aspects of itself. +Thus all the objects which appear to have a being of their own,--as the +globe we inhabit, the furniture of earth and heaven, we ourselves,--are +but the forms momentarily assumed by this protean entity in its +ceaseless transfigurations, and have no more existence of their own than +the ripples on a pool of water or the faces we see in the fire. It +follows that when the particular phase of this basic substance is ended +which brings us into being, (or rather which we _are_,) we like +everything else, sink into blank nothing,--so that the mighty dead whom +nations honour, or the loved ones whose memory we cherish, are blotted +out of existence as utterly as the days and nights which made up the +span of their lives. But amongst its permutations and combinations this +solitary reality can produce the phenomena which we call thought, just +as much as those which we call motion, and accordingly the _Aeneid_ or +_Hamlet_ is its work, a mechanical product of evolution, no less than a +seam of coal, or an eclipse of the moon. + +Such, in outline, is the philosophical system which commends itself, as +Professor Haeckel assures us,[165] to all men of science, who combine +the necessary conditions, of scientific knowledge, mental acumen, moral +courage, and intellectual independence. It may be rightly described as +materialistic pantheism; for while, according to it, everything is +equally divine, in the only sense in which anything can be so, +everything is likewise equally material, as falling under the category +of what we know as matter, and within the direct cognizance of physical +science. + +Accurately to sketch a doctrine such as this is a task of no slight +difficulty. It undoubtedly contradicts the instinctive teaching of our +consciousness, so that, as Professor Haeckel admits[166] in the +primitive stages of both religion and philosophy Monism is unknown. +Moreover, even those who most loudly profess it, have by no means as yet +succeeded in realizing their own system, and after having from time to +time formally enunciated its articles, proceed forthwith to ignore them, +and in the staple of their discourse speak like other men in terms which +have no meaning if the tenets of their creed have any. As a natural +result their exposition of monistic doctrine is not very easy of +apprehension, but it seems to be not unfairly reflected in the above +summary. + +Professor Haeckel himself thus expounds "that unifying conception of +nature as a whole which we designate in a single word as Monism."[167] + + By this we unambiguously express our conviction that there lives + "one spirit in all things," and that the whole cognizable world is + constituted, and has been developed, in accordance with one common + fundamental law. We emphasize by it, in particular, the essential + unity of inorganic and organic nature, the latter having been + evolved from the former only at a comparatively late period. We + cannot draw a sharp line of distinction between these two great + divisions of nature, any more than we can recognize an absolute + distinction between the animal and the vegetable kingdom, or + between the lower animals and man. Similarly, we regard the whole + of human knowledge as a structural unity; in this sphere we refuse + to accept the distinction usually drawn between the natural and the + spiritual. The latter is only a part of the former (or _vice + versâ_); both are one. Our monistic view of the world belongs, + therefore, to that group of philosophical systems which from other + points of view have been designated also as mechanical or as + pantheistic. + +More concisely and clearly, Professor Romanes tells us:[168] + + Mental phenomena and physical phenomena, although apparently + diverse, are really identical. + +And in a work recently issued for the express purpose of expounding and +diffusing the new gospel, we read:[169] + + Just as the same particles of matter may at one time form parts of + a rose, and at another time parts of a mushroom, so the same force + may at one time strike a church as lightning, and at another time + may be the mother-love that rocks the cradle. + +If such conceptions are not easy to grasp, there can be no doubt as to +the practical conclusions to which they lead. We have already heard from +Professor Haeckel that human freedom is an utter delusion. We have +likewise seen that the only term in prospect is utter annihilation, +which Professor Haeckel endeavours to persuade us is the consummation we +ought to wish. + +"The best we can desire," he says,[170] "after a courageous life, spent +in doing good according to our light, is the eternal peace of the grave. +'Lord give them an eternal rest.'" + +It is evident however that in order to secure such a reward it is not +necessary to show any courage, or attempt any sort of good-work, for +according to him it equally awaits the most selfish and abandoned +voluptuary. + +Finally,[171] + + At our death there disappears only the individual form in which the + nerve-substance was fashioned, and the personal "soul" which + represented the work performed by this. The complicated chemical + combinations of that nervous mass pass over into other + combinations--by decomposition, and the kinetic energy produced by + them is transformed into other forms of nature. + + Imperial Cæsar, dead and turned to clay, + Might stop a hole to keep the wind away, etc.-- + + + + * * * * * + +which lines others besides Haeckel are fond of quoting on this subject +as if they had any possible connexion with it. It would be more to the +point, and far more interesting, were some indication afforded of the +chemical equivalent of the qualities which made Cæsar imperial, or those +which distinguished the author of the above lines from the bards of our +Music Halls. That, when a man is no more, his material part may serve +various material purposes, is no more than was known to the first savage +who made a drum with his enemy's skin, or used his skull for a +drinking-cup. + +As has been said, the Monistic philosophy claims to be above all things +scientific, and upon this ground are we bidden to accept it. But what is +the meaning of this claim? The one argument, apart from mere assertion, +brought to show that spirit is not distinct from matter, is drawn from +the part undoubtedly played by the brain in the process of thought, +though we see far less in this, as in other connexions, than the +assertions made by unscientific writers might lead us to imagine. But +when all this is most fully acknowledged can it be said that the state +of the question is changed from what it was? To listen to Monists, it +might be supposed that the intimate connexion between soul and body is +a new discovery, undreamt of in former ages,--and that we have now +arrived at a demonstration that it is our material part that actually +does our thinking. But, as a matter of fact, like other fundamental +questions, this is exactly as it has ever been, and so far as Science is +concerned, we are just as much in the dark respecting it as men ever +were. Though the philosophers of former days were unaware of all the +departmental details of brain activity, they understood as well as we do +the essential point, that in our composite nature soul and body form +_one_ being, whose every operation is of mixed character like itself. +The soul alone is the intelligent principle, yet all objects of +knowledge must come to it through sense, and in the senses it can be +reached only by the mechanical media of light, or sound, or touch. So +firm was their grip of this principle that the Schoolmen styled the soul +the "substantial form" of the body, and in their mouth this term +expressed a union more essential and intimate than modern philosophers +can perhaps imagine. + +And, on the other hand, have all the results of modern research brought +anything to light which tends to show that matter can by any possibility +_think_? We are assured on the contrary, upon unimpeachable authority, +that however we may succeed in tracing the mechanical processes of +sensation to their furthest limit, it remains absolutely inconceivable +to us how the gulf is crossed that lies between this and rational +perception. So Professor Tyndall tells us:[172] + + The passage from the physics of the brain to the corresponding + facts of consciousness is unthinkable. Granted that a definite + thought and a definite molecular action in the brain occur + simultaneously, we do not possess the intellectual organ, nor + apparently any rudiments of an organ, which would enable us to pass + by a process of reasoning from one to the other. They appear + together, but we do not know why. Were our minds and senses so + expanded as to enable us to see and feel the very molecules of the + brain, were we capable of following all their motions, all their + groupings and electrical discharges, if such there be, and were we + intimately acquainted with the corresponding states of thought and + feeling, we should be as far as ever from the solution of the + problem--"How are these physical processes connected with the facts + of consciousness?" The chasm between the two classes remains still + intellectually impassable. + +With these views Professor Huxley[173] expresses his agreement, and +although he contrives to confuse the issue very considerably, as is not +unusual when he undertakes to philosophize, he lays down in the clearest +possible terms that nothing whatever is _known_ as to the connexion of +mechanical processes with thought, whence it follows that on this point +Science has nothing to tell us. + +"I really know nothing whatever [he writes] and never hope to know +anything, of the steps by which the passage from molecular movement to +states of consciousness is effected." + +It should be needless to repeat that if nothing is known regarding all +this, it is mere charlatanism to pretend that Science tells us anything +about it, and those who make such assertions use words to which no +meaning can attach. Unfortunately such a practice is far from uncommon +in connexion with these questions. What sense can there be conceivable +in the well-known materialistic doctrine that the brain secretes +thought, just as the proper organs secrete bile or saliva? Bile and +saliva are material substances, with a definite chemical constitution, +each adapted to one definite function. But, Thought! It would be as +intelligible to talk of secreting the British Constitution, the Steam +Engine, and the Differential Calculus. + +So much for the sole basis of Monistic argument. When we turn to some +other considerations it certainly becomes no easier to understand the +claim of Monism to be scientific. In the first place, as we have seen, +in order to furnish the system with any semblance of truth, it has been +found necessary to attribute to the ultimate elements of matter +qualities which all our experience denies them; for Professor Haeckel +has told us that "the two fundamental forms of substance, ponderable +matter and ether, are not dead, and only moved by extrinsic force, but +they are endowed with sensation and will." Of such attributes, and that +of self-mobility, it is unnecessary to add anything to what has been +said already. Assuredly nothing can look less like the great ultimate +reality, of whose ceaseless metamorphoses, we are but a flitting phase, +than the material substances with which we can do what we like, +investigating their laws, exploring their constitution, and setting them +tasks which we know exactly how they will accomplish. + +Another point in the same connexion is no less important. What is this +one _Thing_, this Ultimate and Solitary Self-existent Reality, from +which Monism takes its title? Professor Haeckel has told us of two +fundamental forms of substance,--ponderable matter and ether. These he +evidently supposes, as his creed requires, to be radically the same: but +what right has he to take such a supposition for a fact? and unless this +unity be a fact, what becomes of Monism? What has Science ever +discovered that can justify any one in speaking of Ether and Matter as +one and the same? How, then, can a theory that assumes their identity be +termed "scientific?" + +Or, leaving Ether alone, "that half-discovered entity," as Lord +Salisbury styled it on a famous occasion, and restricting our attention +to ponderable matter, concerning which we know a little more,--how can +even this be spoken of as "One"? As we have seen already it is only by a +figure of speech that the term "Matter" can be used at all. It stands +not for a single thing, but for countless millions and billions of +atoms, dispersed through space, some of one kind some of another, no one +of which can be imagined to owe its existence or its properties to any +other. To say that matter is self-existent is to say that every several +atom is self-existent. If this be so, and if this be the ultimate +Reality,--then there are as many first principles, or first causes, as +there are atoms. Yet none of these could do anything to the purpose +towards the evolution of anything, without the concurrence of a +multitude of others, nor would such concurrence be possible but for the +reign of law, which none of them can have instituted, but to which all +alike are subject. Were matter the great reality, even matter composed +of "animated atoms," the term _Monism_ would be sadly out of keeping, +and should yield its place to _Myriadism_. If, on the other hand, there +_is_ a unifying principle amid such diversity, this it must be which can +control and direct all to one end. + +It is undoubtedly hard to understand how the First Principle of all +things can be supposed to consist of Atoms, but this is one of the +perplexities in which monistic doctrines abound. That atoms _are_, so +far as we know, the ultimate constituents of the Fundamental Reality, +Professor Haeckel admits. It is true, he adds, that our knowledge of +these ultimate elements is still far from satisfying, and he likewise +anticipates that atoms will someday be discovered not really to be +ultimate, but forms of something, more primal still. + + Although [he says][174] Monism is on the one hand for us an + indispensable and fundamental conception in science, and although, + on the other hand, it strives to carry back all phenomena, without + exception, to the mechanism of the atom, we must nevertheless still + admit that as yet we are by no means in a position to form any + satisfactory conception of the exact nature of these atoms, and + their relation to the general space-filling, universal ether. + Chemistry long ago succeeded in reducing all the various natural + substances to combinations of a relatively small number of + elements; and the most recent advances of that science have made it + in the highest degree probable that these elements ... are + themselves in turn only different combinations of a varying number + of atoms of one single original element. But in all this we have + not as yet obtained any further light as to the real nature of + these original atoms or their primal energies. + +From which it is clear, that, while the considerations above presented +lose none of their force, the Monistic system, by the avowal of its +chief apostle, is based on complete ignorance concerning all which could +furnish it with a foundation. + +But by far the most serious consideration yet remains. If, according to +Monistic teaching men are but bubbles on the surface of reality, and are +inevitably carried as it wills,--there is an end of all distinction +between good and evil, right and wrong, merit and guilt. One man, or one +line of conduct, is as good, or as bad, as another, being all equally +the products of Evolution, and aspects of the great Monistic +principle;--"Jack the Ripper," and Socrates, Messalina and Queen +Victoria, Chief Justice Scroggs and Sir Thomas More, are none of them in +any possible sense one whit better or worse than the others,--inasmuch +as they all did but act as puppets actuated by one and the same +original, playing its own part in them all. + +And in like manner as regards Truth. It must follow that a man's +beliefs, like his actions, are as much beyond his own control as his +stature or the colour of his hair. If Professor Haeckel calls Monism +supreme wisdom, and I call it nonsense, we are equally right, for each +is the mouthpiece of the same one all-embracing first-principle. What +each believes is the only thing possible for him to believe, and, so far +as he is concerned, is the only truth. + +But here comes in a perplexity. If such be the case, if there be no +Free-will, and no possibility whatever of doing or believing anything +but what is predetermined for us as a necessary part of our +being,--where is the sense of all the strenuous efforts that are being +made to convert the people to a belief which, according to its own +principles, nothing in the world can make them accept, unless nothing in +the world can prevent them from accepting it? What again is the meaning +of organizations, such as we hear of, for giving ethical instruction to +the young on a Monistic and determinist basis? What can be the possible +sense of giving ethical lectures to young people, if it is really +believed that the course of each is marked out for him more rigorously +than the path of a city omnibus? "If" said Professor Paul Darnley in Mr. +Mallock's clever satire,--"If we would be solemn, and high, and happy, +and heroic, and saintly, we have but to strive and struggle to do what +we cannot for an instant avoid doing,"--namely, conform to the laws of +matter. If Monists were to limit their aspirations to this, their +teaching would at least be intelligible. It ceases to be so, when they +feel compelled to graft on their Monistic stock the Dualistic notions of +Right and Wrong, Truth and Error. But, as Dr. Johnson said respecting +Free-will, no one ever believes the arguments on the other side, however +loudly he may profess to do so. And in the same way it is quite clear +that no Monist can get himself really to accept Monism.[175] + + + + +XIV + +ORGANIC EVOLUTION + + +We have now considered the question of Evolution in the larger and more +fundamental signification of the term to which, as we noted at starting, +very different meanings are attached; and at this stage of our +discussion it will be convenient to sum up the main conclusions at which +we have arrived. + +It is, in the first place, unwarrantable to pretend that the discoveries +of modern Science, brilliant and marvellous as they undoubtedly are, +have thrown any light upon the origin of the Material Universe, or of +its forces, or of the laws according to which its operations proceed. +Nor has Science anything to tell as to the origin of life, of sensation, +or of reason. Nothing as yet discovered by her, or which she can discern +any prospect of discovering, adds aught to our knowledge regarding such +points as these. + +Therefore, to say that the doctrine of Evolution as affirmed by Science, +explains the existence of the world we know, is untrue and unscientific. + +Moreover, we have seen that, as a factor without which the Order of +Nature is unintelligible, the First Cause to which her existence is +owing must be possessed of Intelligence, determining her processes +according to its purposes. Hence it follows that no system of philosophy +satisfies our reason which would find the ultimate explanation of all +things in the forces of matter themselves which it is the province of +Science to investigate. + +On the other hand, in maintaining that Purpose must needs have acted, we +do not assume to pronounce as to the manner of its action. To say that +Purpose rules every detail in the making or development of the universe, +does not by any means signify that it interferes at every step with the +laws of Nature. Rather, these laws are the expression of Purpose,--its +machinery to secure its designed result. Assuming, for instance, the +primeval existence of Professor Huxley's cosmic nebula, so constituted +that the actual world was bound naturally to issue from it, as does a +chicken from an egg, or an oak from an acorn,--while we find it +inconceivable that such a piece of mechanism should originate without an +intelligence to design it,--we have no difficulty in supposing that +intelligence to have exhibited itself once for all at the first +beginning, and to have fashioned the actual world by shaping the causes +or conditions by which it was to be produced, thus making everything, +not directly and immediately but as St. Augustine held "_causaliter et +seminaliter_." + + * * * * * + +There remains for consideration Evolution in its narrower sense, in +which its operations are restricted to organic nature, such Evolution +being commonly, but incorrectly, identified with "Darwinism." Understood +thus, "Evolution" signifies no more than that the various species of +animals and plants have descended _genetically_ one from another, +through a graduated series of intermediate forms which link them +together. _Darwinism_ is one particular mode of explaining how such +transformations may be accounted for,--namely, by what is known as +"Natural Selection." The theory of Evolution, as thus concerned with +Organic life in particular, is compendiously described as +"Transformism," under which head Darwinism is evidently included. + +Transformism makes no pretence to account for the origin of life, +whether animal or vegetable. Living things must exist before any +question arises as to their transmutation. But, given the existence of +life, Transformists undertake in the first place to show that Organic +Evolution has, as a matter of fact, occurred, and is still in process of +occurrence; and secondly, to exhibit the manner in which this process is +actually worked out. As to the first point, all Transformists, whether +Darwinians or others, are necessarily at one, for the fact of Evolution +is equally essential for every explanation of its method. It is when +they come to explain in what manner evolutionary transformations have +been wrought that Transformists divide themselves into various schools, +each of which relies upon some particular factor to furnish the required +explanation. Thus besides Darwinians pure and simple, there are +neo-Darwinians, Lamarckians, neo-Lamarckians, Weismannists, and others, +ascribing the results to physiological selection, sexual-selection, or +other forces, rather than natural selection. Of such systems, however, +excepting only Darwinism, it will be unnecessary to speak in particular. +The great fundamental question is whether genetic Evolution be really +established as a fact,--which, as has been said, equally affects them +all--and if it be advisable to treat more in detail of Darwinism, it is +not because this does not hold good of it as of the rest--but because +this particular system has obtained such a position, is so much in the +mouths of men, and has been made the basis of so many and such +far-reaching consequences, that it is impossible to pass it by. + +Much the same may indeed be said even of the assumed fact of Organic +Evolution underlying all Transformist theories. This does not affect the +fundamental problems with which we are concerned, and leaving untouched, +as it does, the question of the origin of Life it makes even less +pretence than the cosmic-nebular hypothesis just spoken of to trace the +operations of Nature to their ultimate source. It might therefore appear +superfluous to devote to it so much attention as, if treated at all, it +must needs demand. + +But, whatever may thus appear from the point of view of strict logic, it +is abundantly evident that in common estimation the assumed fact of +Organic transformation is the foundation-stone of Evolutionary systems +of every kind. And not unnaturally; for here at last we have something +with which Science can deal, strictly according to her own methods. If +she knows, and can know, nothing from actual observation concerning the +first beginnings of matter, of the cosmic nebula, or of life, it is +quite otherwise with the history of living things since they first +appeared, and with the phenomena of life as it exists and is propagated. +Here are questions which are strictly scientific, forming the +subject-matter of Palæontology and Biology, and these Sciences +supplemented by others, such as Geology, Physical Geography, and +Astronomy, furnish a mass of evidence bearing upon the subject of +Organic Evolution. When therefore the great majority of men of Science, +declare that the fact of genetic Transformism is established beyond the +possibility of doubt, Evolutionists find themselves supplied with a +plausible foothold on which to stand and rest their fulcrum, while, like +Archimedes, they proceed to move the world. + +That men of Science generally thus agree, cannot be questioned, and +although this agreement is by no means so universal as is popularly +supposed, there is no doubt that were the question to be settled by +enumeration of the authorities on either side, Transformism would win +easily. It may also be freely acknowledged, that Transformism in general +and Darwinism in particular are theories to which on _à priori_ grounds +no exception need be taken, and that, so far at least as concerns their +general scope, apart from the origin of Man, no one can reasonably +start with a prepossession against them. Nay, we will go farther, and +say that to our way of thinking it appears immensely more probable, that +things should always have gone on as they go on now, by the operation of +the same natural laws, and that specific forms should have been +naturally produced, as individuals of a species are produced now, by +generation,--rather than that not only repeated acts of specific +creation, but any operations totally different from those we witness, +should have occurred to interrupt, and as we should judge, to mar, the +Law of Continuity. + +All this is true. But we are engaged on a scientific enquiry,--and if +there be one principle more than another upon which Science insists, it +is that we should prove all things, not by authority, but by +evidence,--and that we should seek evidence, not in pre-conceived ideas +as to what should be, but in observation of what is. Accordingly, while +we are most ready to accept Transformism or Darwinism should we find +solid reasons for doing so, we are bound, for the sake of Science, to +demand unimpeachable proofs before subscribing to doctrines which are +made responsible for so much. + + * * * * * + +Before proceeding farther it will be necessary to exhibit more in detail +the exact character of the question we have to discuss. + +According to the celebrated "Formula" of Mr. Herbert Spencer--"Evolution +is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion; +during which the matter passes from a relatively indefinite, incoherent +homogeneity, to a relatively definite, coherent heterogeneity; and +during which the contained motion undergoes a parallel transformation." +It would be interesting to know what idea this definition conveys to +many of those who are in the habit of quoting it, but, so far as organic +Evolution is concerned, it must mean that whereas in the earlier and +lower forms of life one organ performed many different functions in an +imperfect manner, evolutionary development has gradually produced higher +forms, in which each function has its special organ, by which it is more +perfectly discharged. As an extreme instance of the former condition, +the Hydra has but two organs, an outside which respires, and an inside +which digests. If it be turned inside out these functions are reversed; +the skin becoming the stomach, and the stomach the skin. Thus Evolution +has been an ascending process from the lower to the higher, from the +less to the more organized. + +Such, it must be added, has undoubtedly been the course of life. Amongst +plants and animals alike, it began with lower and simpler forms, after +which succeeded in due order others more developed and elaborately +organized, the order in which they came upon the scene being much the +same as that in which we should naturally arrange their specimens in a +museum. Thus in the vegetable kingdom, first came such growths as +sea-weeds and fungi, followed by ferns and club-mosses,--yews and +pines,--and so through grasses, canes, and palms, to the highest group +in which are included our forest trees and the bulk of our garden +flowers. In like manner, the animal series,--to mention only leading +groups of which evidence is found,--starting with almost structureless +_Protozoa_, followed by such forms as starfish and sponges, worms, +molluscs and crustaceans, has advanced to vertebrate creatures--fishes, +amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals,--and finally to man. + +Thus, in a quite intelligible sense, there has certainly been Evolution, +or development,--that is to say, an orderly progression from lower types +to higher, throughout the history of life on earth, from its +commencement to the present time. But, this is not the point. Was such +Evolution or development _genetic_? Was it wrought by descent with +modification of form from form? _That_ is what we have to enquire. If +this has not been so, there has been no Evolution in the sense intended +by Evolutionists. + +According to their highest authority, Mr. Herbert Spencer, Evolution +means "the production of all organic forms by the accumulation of +modifications and of divergences by the addition of differences to +differences." + + Beyond all question [he adds] unlikenesses of structure gradually + arise among the members of successive generations. We find that + there is going on a modifying process of the kind alleged as the + source of specific differences, a process which, though slow, does, + in time, produce changes--a process which to all appearance would + produce in millions of years any amount of changes.[176] + +The Transformist doctrine is, therefore, that one species of plants or +animals, has in natural course grown out of another, through the +aggregation of changes each exceedingly minute. Darwinism adds that the +ruling principle of this process is Natural Selection. These are the +points on which our enquiry turns, and we may conveniently commence with +the second. + + + + +XV + +DARWINISM + + +It must first be observed that special consideration of Mr. Darwin's +theory is rendered necessary even more imperatively on account of the +claims advanced on his behalf by others, than of those to which he +himself made any pretence. Without question the idea prevails almost +universally, that he has furnished a scientific explanation of all +organic phenomena through the operation of purely natural laws, and has +thus rendered obsolete the idea that any power beyond Nature is required +in order to account for the totality of things, or that there are any +features of the world which indicate the operation of intelligent +purpose. + +That such ideas should be widely prevalent amongst those who, having no +special acquaintance with the subject, must depend for their knowledge +on the popularizers of Science, is scarcely wonderful, for such +teachers, with scarcely an exception, so declare, and occasionally real +men of Science lend the weight of their authority to similar +statements. + +It will be sufficient to cite Professor Haeckel, who writes thus:[177] + + It seemed to Kant so impossible to explain the orderly processes in + the living organism without postulating super-natural final causes + (that is, a purposive creative force) that he said, "It is quite + certain that we cannot even satisfactorily understand, much less + elucidate, the nature of an organism and its internal faculty on + purely mechanical natural principles--it is so certain, indeed, + that we may confidently say: It is absurd for a man even to + conceive the idea that some day a Newton will arise who can explain + the origin of a single blade of grass by natural laws uncontrolled + by design. Such a hope is entirely forbidden us." Seventy years + afterwards this impossible Newton of the organic world appeared in + the person of Charles Darwin, and achieved the great task that Kant + had deemed impracticable. + +It is quite impossible to understand how such an assertion can be made +by any one who knows the facts. Not only did Mr. Darwin never profess to +have achieved any thing of the kind,--he repeatedly and distinctly +disclaimed and repudiated any such supposition. Thus at the very end of +his life (August 28, 1881) he wrote concerning one who had spoken of him +like Professor Haeckel: + + He implies that my views explain the universe; but it is a most + monstrous exaggeration. The more one thinks, the more one feels + the hopeless immensity of man's ignorance. If we consider the whole + universe, the mind refuses to look at it as the outcome of + chance.[178] The whole question seems to me insoluble. + +But it should not be necessary to appeal to such disclaimers in order to +show how absolutely unwarrantable are the pretensions made on Mr. +Darwin's behalf to have solved, or to have attempted to solve, the +fundamental problems which scientific research unceasingly suggests but +has never been able to elucidate. It should be quite sufficient to +examine his theory as it actually is, and although its scope is +immensely less ambitious than has been represented, it still occupies, +even in its genuine form, a position of sufficient importance to +challenge investigation. + +Mr. Darwin's famous and epoch-making book, published in November, 1859, +was entitled _On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, +or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life_. In it +he undertook to show how from one species[179] of animals or plants, +another, quite distinct from it, may be derived by means of processes +which go on in Nature every day, through the accumulation of minute +differences occurring in successive generations, and guided to their +collective result by the force of "Natural Selection." As man, he +argues, has by means of selection been able to produce in a brief space +such astonishing varieties among his domestic animals and plants--as +dogs, pigeons, roses or apples,--Nature, with the practically unlimited +ages of geological time at her disposal, must be able to produce far +greater and more enduring transformations, through the accumulation of +minute differences, such as those upon which man has worked,--if only a +factor can be found which amid the infinity of diverse and discordant +variations spontaneously occurring, could, like the breeder or the +gardener, pick out those leading to one particular result, and thus +secure its accomplishment. Such a force Mr. Darwin conceives is found in +"Natural Selection," which he thus explains. + +The tendency of organic life, whether vegetable or animal, being to +propagate itself enormously,--and the life-sustaining capacity of the +earth being limited,--it necessarily follows that only a fraction of the +creatures which are born can survive to maturity, and that while those +best fitted to live will live, those less well fitted will die. Thus, +there is set up a constant struggle for existence, in which every +advantage, however slight, must tell, so that those possessing such +advantages in one generation will be the parents of the next. But in the +course of propagation, the offspring never exactly reproduce the parent +form, from which they vary, some in one way some in another, and as some +of these variations cannot help being advantageous to their possessors +in the struggle, we have here the required factor for the production of +new forms. Any thus beneficially equipped, (although the variation, and +consequently the advantage, must in each instance be exceedingly +slight,) will have the chances on their side against their less favoured +fellows, whom in the long run they will supplant. And as their +offspring, or some of them, will carry the profitable variation somewhat +further, the stream of life will thus be set in such a direction as will +ultimately bring about what might at first appear impossible +metamorphoses. + +Thus, to take a simple and favourite illustration,[180] winged insects +inhabiting an island far from other land, are liable to be blown out to +sea and drowned. It is in consequence, an advantage to them to have +their power of flight curtailed, or taken away, and consequently in such +situations their wings are generally found to be so reduced as to permit +little or even nothing in the way of flying. Or to take an example of +another kind,[181] the extraordinary length of neck which characterizes +the giraffe enables it to browse on the higher branches of trees +inaccessible to other vegetable feeders, and thus gives it an advantage +over them in times of drought and scarcity of fodder. It can accordingly +be easily understood, how its present structure has resulted from +gradual elongations of the neck, each conferring on its possessor a +slight advantage. + +The work attributed to Natural Selection in such instances, though no +doubt highly important, is comparatively facile, and it would be +difficult to say that it could not be accomplished. But Mr. Darwin +ascribes to the same factor, not merely such modification of existing +structures, but the creation of entirely new mechanisms for specific +purposes. We have, for instance, heard his description of the eye and +its manifold "inimitable contrivances:" yet all these, he persuaded +himself, might be thus accounted for. The idea, he confessed,[182] seems +at first sight preposterous; yet, though not without much +difficulty,[183] he succeeded in convincing himself, that given the +rudest and most rudimentary form of eye to start with--no more than a +nerve sensitive to light but incapable of forming an image--Natural +Selection might develop therefrom, through an infinite series of +gradations the inconceivably complex machine that is now found in the +higher vertebrates,[184] and the totally different but equally +marvellous organs of sight possessed by insects, crustaceans, and other +creatures. + +In like manner, Mr. Darwin contended, might the most complex and +wonderful instincts be generated. As an example may be cited that by +which the hive-bee constructs its combs--of which he thus speaks:[185] + + He must be a dull man who can examine the exquisite structure of a + comb, so beautifully adapted to its end, without enthusiastic + admiration. We hear from mathematicians that bees have practically + solved a recondite problem, and have made their cells of the proper + shape to hold the greatest possible amount of honey, with the least + possible consumption of precious wax in their construction. It has + been remarked that a skilful workman with fitting tools and + measures, would find it very difficult to make cells of wax of the + true form, though this is perfectly effected by a crowd of bees + working in a dark hive.[186] Granting whatever instincts you + please, it seems at first sight quite inconceivable how they can + make all the necessary angles and planes, or even perceive when + they are correctly made. But the difficulty is not nearly so great + as it at first appears: all this beautiful work can be shown, I + think, to follow from a few simple instincts. + +He accordingly proceeds to argue, that beginning with circular cells, +like those of Humble Bees, and progressing through an intermediate form, +circular where free, but with flat partition walls where two or more +cells touch one another, it is quite possible to suppose that Natural +Selection has effected the whole improvement, those insects which +accomplished any advance towards more scientific workmanship, and thus +made materials go further, having been able to secure a livelihood +better than their competitors. + +Such in brief outline is the Darwinian system, which undertakes to +account for all the alleged facts of Organic Evolution by means of the +above factor, variously described as "Natural Selection," or the +"Survival of the fittest in the Struggle for Existence." It should be +remembered, though it is constantly forgotten, that it is this +particular theory as to the working-cause of evolutionary +transformations which is the essence of Darwinism. Mr. Darwin did not +originate the idea of genetic transformism, which is almost necessarily +suggested by the systematic development of life-forms to which Geology +bears witness. Consequently, long before he came on the scene, the +doctrine of transformation had been propounded, especially by Lamarck, +and if it had met with no general acceptance, this was chiefly because +no force was indicated which seemed to offer a satisfactory account of +the mode in which the required changes could have been wrought. Such a +force Mr. Darwin's "Natural Selection" was widely taken to furnish, and +his theory was eagerly welcomed and adopted by those who only required +such a basis on which to ground beliefs to which they were already +predisposed, and Darwinism thus obtained that pre-eminent position +which it still retains, at least in popular estimation. + +Two special arguments may here be mentioned, which, although they really +apply to all systems of Organic Evolution, have obtained a prescriptive +right to be quoted particularly in favour of Darwinism, their bearing on +which is easily seen. + +The first is based on the frequent occurrence of "rudimentary," +"fragmentary," or "vestigial" structures in animals and plants, which, +although now seemingly useless, or even harmful, to their possessors, +may be assumed to have been of service to their ancestors, but under +changed conditions to have been thrown out of work by Natural Selection, +and atrophied by disuse. Such are--the splint-bones of the horse, +representing lost digits,--the rudimentary legs of some whales and +serpents,--the _mammae_ and mammary glands of male mammals; and in the +vegetable kingdom,--the aborted pistil in male florets of some +_compositae_,--the useless corolla of certain wind-fertilized flowers, +as _plantago_, and indeed the whole floral apparatus of plants which, +like Wordsworth's pet the Lesser Celandine,[187] seldom ripen their +seeds, but depend on other methods of propagation. The other fact cited +on behalf of Darwinism is unquestionably very striking. In the course of +their embryonic development, and even in the initial stages of their +life after birth, higher animals pass through various phases in which +they exhibit the characteristics of lower forms. Thus all life starts +from a cell, in which there is nothing to shew whether it is ever to be +anything more than a cell, or is to evolve a plant or animal,--nor, in +this latter case, what sort of animal it is to be--a mollusc, for +instance, a frog, or a mammal. At a later stage[188] it is impossible to +distinguish the embryos of lizards, birds, and mammals except by size. +Even the human fetus at an early period bears vestiges of gill-clefts or +arches, pointing to an aquatic existence. When the extremities come to +be developed,[189] "The feet of lizards and mammals, the wings and feet +of birds, no less than the hands and feet of man, all arise from the +same fundamental form." The young of flat-fish such as soles and +turbots, when they leave the egg are not flat, but shaped like ordinary +fish, and they wear their eyes in the normal fashion, one on each side +of their head, not both on the same side like their parents--whose form +however they presently by degrees assume. Young lions and black birds +are spotted, showing their affinity respectively to panthers and +thrushes--and so on in numberless instances. All such features, it is +assumed, indicate the _phylogeny_ of each animal, or the history of the +race to which it belongs. As Professor Milnes Marshall succinctly put +the matter:[190] + + The phases through which an animal passes in its progress from the + egg to the adult are no accidental freaks, no mere matters of + developmental convenience, but represent more or less closely ... + the successive ancestral stages through which the present condition + has been acquired. Evolution tells us that each animal has had a + pedigree in the past. Embryology reveals to us this ancestry, + because every animal in its own development repeats this history, + climbs up its own genealogical tree. + +Such are not by any means the only instances in which the Darwinist can +appeal to Nature for facts with which his theory well agrees, and which +therefore so far furnish a persuasive argument in its favour; but these +are perhaps the chief ones, and the best known, and may serve as +representative of their class which it is impossible for us to examine +in detail. + +It now remains to enquire how far, from the point of view of Science, +with which alone we are concerned, the Darwinian hypothesis can make +good its claim to our acceptance. When we proceed accordingly to examine +the grounds upon which it rests, it must be confessed that as we do so +it becomes increasingly difficult to understand how such a theory has +been able to obtain such wide acceptance, especially on the ground that +scientific evidence is in its favour. + +On the very threshold of any such enquiry lies a difficulty the gravity +of which seems to be strangely overlooked. Darwinism by its own +confession knows nothing of Origins, not even of the Origin of Species +itself. There must be life already existing before Natural Selection has +anything to select; there must be eyes and honey-cells of some kind, +before they can be improved; there must be Species, before one can be +transformed into another. Is it not evident, however, that the cause--of +whatever kind it may be--which brought any of these into being, must +have _something_,--not to say everything,--to do with the capacities and +potentialities by which its future history is conditioned? But this +supreme and vital factor Mr. Darwin entirely eliminates from his +calculation. In his system, the initiating force has no more to do with +the subsequent career of its productions, than has the gas which lifts a +balloon with the direction in which it travels. It is not, on his +theory, as the impulse which, besides raising from earth an arrow or +rifle bullet, directs it to a goal, but, on the contrary, an organism +once launched on its course is left to be driven hither and thither and +twisted into this form and that, as clouds are by the wind. For the +variations through which transformations are wrought, Darwin could find +no better epithet than "fortuitous," and it is laid down by his +staunchest disciples that if such variations be predetermined towards +certain results, there is an end of Darwinism. + +It is not easy to understand how any theory can be deemed satisfactory +which thus ignores the initial force, of whose existence and potency we +have far clearer evidence than of any other. + +When we turn from its omissions to study Darwinism as it is, obviously, +in the first place, still, more than forty years since it was given to +the world, it remains only an hypothesis, based not upon observation or +experiment but speculation. In no single instance, past or contemporary, +is one species known to have originated from another. The fact upon +which Mr. Darwin primarily relies is that of variation. Undoubtedly +amongst both plants and animals the offspring are not mere slavish +reproductions of their parents, as if cast in the same mould, but +exhibit individual differences, working upon which in domesticated +instances, man can by selection produce wonderful varieties, as has +already been admitted. But, as M. de Quatrefages says,[191] this tells +us no more than that species admit of variation; it does not prove that +they are capable of transformation, which is the whole point. Certainly, +such transformation has never within our knowledge been effected. No +breeder or fancier has succeeded, or can hope to succeed, in producing a +new species. Moreover, as was pointed out by a critic whose ability Mr. +Darwin himself candidly acknowledged,[192] the range of variability as +we find it in any species is strictly limited, and although at first it +is easy,--in the case of some few animals or plants,--to make great +changes in particular directions, by selective breeding, it becomes more +and more difficult as we proceed to continue in the same line. If, for +instance, in the case of pigeons, a bird can be produced in six years +with head and beak only one-half the size of those whence the process +started, are we to say that in twelve years their bulk will be reduced +to a quarter, and in twenty-four to an eighth? No one could suppose +anything so absurd. Mr. Darwin would answer, that he relies upon the +vast periods of geologic time to produce alterations such as we cannot +possibly attempt within the few years at our disposal. But, it is +replied, no length of time will avail anything for such a purpose, +unless there be some force to produce variations in the required +direction, to the required extent. Such a force is not proved to +exist--all the evidence is against it. Where art is most practised in +improvement of breeds, or the obtaining of any peculiarities--as with +the speed of racehorses, the size of toy-terriers, or the "points" of +prize cattle, it becomes most strikingly apparent that we have reached a +limit beyond which species will not vary. And until such a cause as we +require is fully proved to exist, its supposed effects cannot be made +the basis of scientific argument. + + A given animal or plant, [says the Reviewer] appears to be + contained, as it were, within a sphere of variation; one individual + lies near one portion of the surface, another individual near + another part of the surface; the average animal at the centre. Any + individual may produce descendants varying in any direction, but is + more likely to produce descendants varying towards the centre of + the sphere, and the variations in that direction will be greater in + amount than the variations towards the surface. Thus a set of + racers of equal merit indiscriminately breeding will produce more + colts and foals of inferior than of superior breed, and the falling + off of the degenerate will be greater than the improvement of the + select (p. 282). + +Similarly M. Blanchard declares:[193] + + All investigation and observation make it clear that, while the + variability of creatures in a state of nature displays itself in + very different degrees, yet in its most astonishing manifestations + it remains confined within a circle beyond which it cannot pass. + +And the facts of nature, as we know them, far from favouring the +instability of species, exhibit a tenacity of form compelling us to +treat them as practically immutable. Thus, as Mr. Carruthers points +out,[194] in the notoriously variable genus _Salix_, or willow-tribe, +which seems to be actively advancing towards a multiplication of its +subdivisions, sub-genera, species, varieties, and hybrid forms,--one +species is found, _S. polaris_, dating from before the Glacial Epoch, +which has been driven from England and other lands, by climatic changes, +to within the Arctic circle of both Hemispheres,--yet amid this stress +of circumstances has preserved its specific identity, down even to the +casual variations, which might be supposed to furnish the +starting-points for new developments. Yet in this tribe, if anywhere, +evidence of specific evolution might be looked for.[195] + +Other instances seem to show that even under new and trying conditions +those creatures survive best which keep closest to the central family +type, not those which diverge in any direction. Thus, of European +sparrows introduced in America, Mr. Bumpus writes:[196] + + Natural Selection is most destructive of those birds which have + departed most from the ideal type, and its activity raises the + general standard by favouring those birds which approach the + structural ideal. + +Variation supplies the raw material upon which Natural Selection is +supposed to work. When we turn to examine the process by which its +results should be produced, we find, quite apart from the above +difficulties, a crop of others still more formidable. + +It must be remembered, that the variations on which Natural Selection +must work are in each instance extremely minute, well-nigh +infinitesimal. Mr. Darwin was as strongly opposed to the idea of Nature +making sudden bounds, as to that of a predetermined course of +development. But, he argued, an extra chance of living, however slight, +must necessarily tell in the long run, the theory of probabilities +giving results as certain as any others in mathematics, and, according +to these, we may confidently say that, given sufficient time, the +favoured individuals would infallibly distance their competitors. + +The impressiveness of such an argument depends upon its seemingly +mathematical character, which is however wholly fallacious, for the +probabilities are all the other way. It is perfectly true that a +beneficial variation however slight will confer on its happy possessor a +corresponding advantage in the struggle for life, as compared with each +_individual_ of the non-favoured herd, but, as to that herd +collectively, the chances would, on the contrary, ensure that _some_ of +its members should outlive the favoured one. Let us even imagine the +advantage of the latter to be very great, great enough to double his +chances, so that the odds on his surviving each of his fellows will be +two to one. Yet if there be a dozen of them to contend with, the odds +will be six to one _against_ his surviving the lot. And what of the +actual case of minutest benefits conferred by variation? In order to +give them even an equal chance of survival, the numbers of those +possessing such advantages must be large in proportion as the advantages +themselves are small. Thus, if a variation increases the chance of life +by one-thousandth part, so that the odds on its possessor are 1001, +against 1000 on each non-possessor, yet unless the number of possessors +be to that of non-possessors as 1,000 to 1,001, their collective chances +will not even be equal. As it is quite absurd to suppose that casual +variations could ever occur in such wholesale fashion, how can it be +supposed that, were Natural Selection the only factor operating, minute +advantages could be accumulated by variation even in the simplest cases? + +But it is also hard to suppose that in any actual case is the matter so +simple as it appears to our limited comprehension. To take for instance +the above example of the giraffe. It is very well to have a neck that +will reach high-branches of a tree,--but this is not everything. For the +mere prolongation of life, much else is required, fleet limbs to +distance lions, and keen senses, sight, hearing, and smell, to give +warning of the approach of human or other hunters, to say nothing of the +extra strengthening of muscles and bones which increased size and weight +demands. Unless, however, improvements in all these respects happened +casually to concur in the same individual, which could scarcely happen, +it is clear that each would militate against the others, for the +survival of an individual beneficially developed in one respect, would +tend to the extinction of other beneficial developments, possessed by +individuals whom he overcame in the struggle for life. + +Even the case of the insular insects is by no means so plain as might at +first sight appear. There can be no doubt that wings are of _some_ +advantage, or on no system could they be supposed to exist. Nor do their +advantages cease because disadvantages outweigh them. If some insects +are blown out to sea when flying, others will doubtless perish in one +way or another because they cannot fly. It may even be that those which +can fly _best_ will survive, as being able to make head against a breeze +which overpowers others. Natural Selection will thus have many arrows in +its quiver, some of which must reach the wrong objects. + +Still more clearly does this appear in the case of complex structures in +which, if they were produced as Mr. Darwin supposes, variation must have +hit simultaneously upon independent contrivances, without each of which +all the others would be useless and confer no benefit at all. In the +eye, for example, to mention but one or two of innumerable similar +points, it would be of no avail to have a retina, even such as has been +described, without a lens to throw an image upon it, set just at the +proper distance, and provided with muscles to alter its shape according +to the distance of the object. How can Natural Selection be even +conceived to have set to work on such a task as this? + +It is still more fundamental to observe that, according to Mr. Darwin's +own showing, Natural Selection is purely negative in its action. "If it +does select, it selects for death and not for life."[197] It can +originate nothing, but only destroy. All that it does for favoured races +is to spare them while it sweeps away others, and the sole benefit they +derive from it is to have more ample resources upon which to draw. But +as for anything they possess in the way of structure or character, they +must derive it entirely from themselves--Natural Selection can no more +confer it, than the labourer who weeds a garden bed makes the flowers +that grow there. Let it be imagined that the first human beings on +earth, any number of thousand years ago, planted a garden, and +determined to produce a rose, by eliminating every plant that did not +show some promise of progress rose-wards. Let the gardeners have been +endowed with acumen sufficient to detect every symptom of such a +tendency, and let their operations have been carried on without +interruption to this day,--it is obvious that if roses had resulted, it +could only be because among the plants they allowed to remain there +existed a rose-making quality of some kind, to which, and not to +anything done by human art or skill, the result was due. It would +likewise have to be supposed that there were infinite other +potentialities latent in the original plants, as of evolving thistles, +shamrocks, or leeks--all equally awaiting their opportunity. Selective +action could effectually put such competitors out of the way; but in the +way of developing a race it could but leave it entirely to itself. +Precisely similar is the part played by Natural Selection, except that +it must needs play it immensely more slowly,--and if no one can fancy +that human agency could by any possibility grow roses unless from some +stock predetermined to grow into a rose and nothing else, what grounds +have we that can be called scientific for attributing to a blind +struggle for life an incomparably greater potency? Nor does it avail to +quote the immense extent of time which may be supposed to have been +available. No more than Natural Selection has time by itself any +creative power. We know on the contrary by experience, that when things +are not controlled by some principle of order, the lapse of time serves +only to make confusion worse confounded. + +Another consideration of prime importance is too frequently ignored. On +Darwinian principles, each step in any development can be made, not +because it leads to an advantageous result in the future, but only +because it is itself advantageous. At each stage favoured individuals +survive others because they are favoured here and now, not because, when +the development they promote shall be completed, their remote +descendants will be favoured. Hence it must, for instance, be possible +to suppose, that all the intermediate forms between two extremes, +whereof one is supposed to have originated the other, were, each in its +day, so beneficial as to preserve their possessors at the expense of +non-possessors. But can this possibly be even imagined? + +To take one example. We have heard, speaking of embryology, that the +feet of lizards and the wings and feet of birds arise from the same +fundamental form of limb, whence it is argued that birds and lizards are +alike descended from a common sauroid, or lizard-like, ancestor, whose +limbs in the case of the former class have developed into wings and into +feet of a totally new type,--while scales were developing into feathers, +and innumerable alterations of internal structure were simultaneously in +progress. But if so, to confine our attention to one particular, it +must be true that each of the innumerable minute gradations between the +fore-limb of a lizard and the wing of a bird, was in its turn the best +kind of member for a creature to possess, giving him a distinct +advantage in the struggle for existence. Nothing, however, appears +plainer than that this could not possibly have been the case. The limb +shaping towards a wing would be a very clumsy and inefficient leg long +before it got to the point at which it became of the slightest use for +purposes of flight, that is to say before its alteration was accompanied +by any utility whatever. We can neither imagine that creatures furnished +with limbs of such intermediate forms could have been otherwise than +hopelessly handicapped by them, nor do we find anywhere in the rocks any +trace whatever of the innumerable series of modifications which would be +needed to link by imperceptible gradations legs and wings together. + +It only serves to make the matter less intelligible, that there _are_ +found in Secondary strata some few relics of birds with decidedly +saurian characteristics,[198] as the _Hesperornis_ and _Ichthyornis_ in +the Chalk, and the _Archæopteryx_, most ancient of fowls, lower still, +in the Oolite. All these creatures have lizard-like heads and teeth; the +_Archæopteryx_ in addition has decidedly reptilian characters connected +with its wings and tail. But none of them throw the slightest light upon +the point we are now considering. In the case of all, the problem of +flight has been completely solved. Their wings are no rudimentary +structures half way between legs and wings, but as finished productions +as those of to-day. As Professor Huxley acknowledges, if the skeletons +of _Hesperornis_ and _Icthyornis_ had been found without their skulls, +they would probably have been classed without more ado amongst existing +birds. The latter "has, [he tells us,] strong wings, and no doubt +possessed corresponding powers of flight." The wings of _Hesperornis_, +he says, resemble those of our divers and grebes, and were probably +used, like theirs, chiefly for swimming.[199] As for the _Archæopteryx_, +its reptilian features notwithstanding, it is a perfectly-appointed +bird. As Sir Richard Owen testifies,[200] its wing, despite the +peculiarities mentioned, is completely developed as to all essentials. +Nor does even this member furnish the creature with its most bird-like +characteristics,--but the keeled breast-bone, so intimately connected +with the requirements of flight,--and, still more markedly, the feet. +Professor Huxley writes: "The feet are not only altogether bird-like, +but have the special character of the feet of perching birds; while the +body had a clothing of true feathers." + +Thus, to whatever these Saurian birds may testify,--and the extreme +importance of their evidence none will question--they no more serve to +bridge the gulf between reptiles and birds, than a group of volcanic +islets like the Azores bridges the Atlantic, for they supply no vestige +of a continuous way from one term to the other. Rather, they do but +enhance the mystery of the transformation, to the manner of which, +despite their composite features, they furnish no clue. + +All such difficulties are enormously aggravated by a consideration +which, obvious as it is, seems seldom to be considered. The arguments we +commonly hear appear to imply that _one_ parent is sufficient to secure +the transmission of a beneficial variation to the next generation. But, +of course, the parent requires a mate, and unless this mate has chanced +to hit on the same line of variation, it cannot be supposed that it will +be transmitted. Seeing, however, the exceeding minuteness of these +variations in each instance, they can avail nothing to bring together +the right mates to perpetuate them. Two reptiles, for instance, are not +the more likely to pair because their fore limbs have taken the first +faint and distant step towards becoming wings, while in the vegetable +kingdom, notwithstanding Erasmus Darwin's _Loves of the Plants_, the +idea of any choice of partners is still more grotesque. The allotment of +mates must therefore be left to Chance; and the results will follow the +ordinary laws of probability. Accordingly, if we suppose so large a +proportion as five per cent., or one in twenty, of any species to +possess an advantageous variation,--only one in twenty of the +individuals thus favoured will secure a similarly favoured mate,--for +each will have nineteen wrong selections offered to him or her, for one +right one. Only one pair in four hundred will therefore transmit the +variation to five per cent. of _their_ offspring, or one in eight +thousand of the species, and of these only one pair in +a-hundred-and-sixty-thousand will make an advantageous match. Such is +the inevitable consequence of leaving any definite result to Chance: and +here it is that Natural Selection is found to betray the most fatal of +all its deficiencies; for, whatever its advocates may say, it is Chance +and Chance alone upon which it relies. Just because man can and does +select the proper mates, is he able to produce by breeding the results +to which Mr. Darwin appeals as evidence, that Nature having no such +power of selection, must be able to produce results of which man cannot +even dream.[201] + +Natural Selection is in truth no selection at all, that is just its weak +point, which the title conferred upon it serves to hide. What are called +its products owe no more to it than Wellington owed his generalship to +the bullets which did not hit him at Seringapatam. If they are not +determined to a particular development they can attain it only by +Chance. + +Of Chance, enough has already been said. It is, however, worth our +while to observe how constantly to the last Mr. Darwin was haunted by +the consciousness that this was in reality the factor upon which his +system must depend, and that it could not possibly account for much that +he came across in nature. If, as he confessed, the sight of a peacock's +tail-feather made him sick, it was just because its elaborate beauty, to +which no commensurate advantage can be supposed to attach, forbade the +notion that his theory could account for it. So, of another still more +marvellous instance in which Nature exhibits artistic power, namely the +ball-and-socket ornament on the wings of the Argus pheasant, he +writes:[202] + + No one, I presume, will attribute this shading, which has excited + the admiration of many experienced artists, to chance--to the + fortuitous concourse of atoms of colouring matter. That these + ornaments should have been formed through the selection of many + successive variations, not one of which was originally intended to + produce the ball-and-socket effect, seems as incredible as that one + of Raphael's Madonnas should have been formed by the selection of + chance daubs of paints made by a long succession of young artists, + not one of whom intended at first to draw the human figure. + +[Illustration: + +1. Basal portion of secondary wing-feather; nearest body, shewing first +rudiment of "ocelli." + +2. Portion of secondary wing-feather near body, shewing "elliptic" +ornaments. + +3. Part of secondary wing-feather, shewing developed "ocelli." + +Feathers from wing of Argus Pheasant, from Darwin's _Descent of Man_.] + +Nevertheless, Mr. Darwin proceeds to argue at considerable length that +an explanation consistent with his theory is favoured by the occurrence +on the same wings of designs exhibiting every stage of gradation from a +mere spot to the finished ball-and-socket _ocellus_; in the same way as +the tail feathers of a peacock advance from a mere sketch to the +completed design. It is not easy, however, to understand in what way +this is supposed to solve the difficulty and not vastly to increase it. +That a finished artistic effect should be fortuitously produced at all +would be incredible enough. That it should be worked up by Chance +through a series of processes, each doing something towards its +completion, is surely not less, but far more inconceivable. + +In such a mode of explanation, however, is exemplified a feature which +must not be forgotten in discussing Darwinism,--namely the fatal +facility with which seeming arguments can be procured on its behalf. As +Mr. Mivart well remarks:[203] "The Darwinian theory has the great +advantage of only needing for its support the suggestion of some +possible utility, actual or ancestral, in each case--no difficult task +for an ingenious, patient, and accomplished thinker." And our _North +British_ Reviewer makes a similar comment: "The believer who is at +liberty to invent any imaginary circumstances, will very generally be +able to conceive some series of transmutations answering his wants." + +Or if, as in the above instance of the Argus' eyes, a series is actually +found, it is even less difficult to take for granted that it can have +but one significance; while such assumptions are too frequently +accepted without hesitation or demur, although it would be no easy task +to show that they rest upon any solid grounds. When, in addition, either +Mr. Darwin himself or some of his leading partisans has declared that +some unverified process has undoubtedly occurred, or that they see no +reason to doubt its occurrence, or that nothing which we know precludes +its possibility,--it appears to be widely supposed that something +substantial is thereby added to the scientific evidence, and that the +suppositions thus sanctioned may even rank as facts. But however such a +method may avail to secure acceptance for a doctrine, it does nothing +for its scientific value. Such a style, as Mr. Mivart says,[204] is +calculated to impress only minds too easily dominated, and not prepared +by special studies accurately to weigh the evidence put before them. + +Illustrations of this strange method of procedure are furnished in +connexion with various points already mentioned. Thus, as we have seen, +Mr. Darwin attempts to explain the origin of rational speech, by the +conscious utterance of a significant sound by an unusually wise ape-like +creature. In favour of this very large suggestion, Mr. Darwin has +nothing more substantial to say[205] than that "it does not appear +altogether incredible," which does not appear to take us very far.[206] +Yet I have seen this described as an "idyllic scene" shedding an +entirely new light on the subject. So again in regard of the evolution +of the eye.[207] Having summarily enumerated the various stages of +development exhibited by this organ as actually existing in various +animals, Mr. Darwin goes on to say that when we remember how small the +number of living forms must be in comparison with extinct, and the other +gradations that may consequently have existed, "the difficulty ceases to +be very great" in believing that Natural Selection has connected the +most rudimentary with the perfect structure. Similarly, as to the +cell-making instinct of the bee,[208] having postulated four several +suppositions for which evidence is not forthcoming, he concludes: "By +such modification of instincts ... I believe that the hive bee has +acquired, through natural selection, her inimitable architectural +powers."[209] Similar examples might be multiplied indefinitely. + +Not unfrequently the tone of such utterances is more imperious. Thus, of +the descent of Man from some animal ancestor Mr. Darwin pronounces[210] +"The grounds upon which this conclusion rests will never be shaken," and +again[211] "the possession of exalted mental powers is no insuperable +objection to this conclusion" ... "It is only [p. 32] our natural +prejudice which leads us to demur to this conclusion." He even goes so +far as to declare that his view is forced upon every man who is not +content to assume the mental attitude of a savage.[212] + +Argumentation of this character, which he finds common with Darwin to +other Evolutionists, is judged by de Quatrefages to be one of the +weakest and most misleading features of their systems. + + Personal conviction [he writes],[213] mere possibility, are offered + as proofs, or at least as arguments in favour of the theory. Can we + admit their validity? Obviously not. The human mind can conceive + many things: is that a reason for accepting them all?... Obviously + more serious proofs are needed. After all, save where a + contradiction is involved, everything is _possible_.... If + adopting, under the shadow of Oken's great name, his principle of + the repetition of phenomena, a naturalist should maintain that each + of the planets has its own Europe, its England, and its Darwin + expounding to the Jovians and Saturnians the origin of species, I + do not quite see how one would set about showing him that he was + wrong. Unquestionably the thing is _possible_. Are we to draw the + conclusion that it is a fact? + +Again,[214] the same distinguished naturalist, having quoted Darwin's +very elaborate explanation of a difficulty, remarks: + We see how with Darwin, as with his precursors, one hypothesis + necessitates another. But can he, at least, by means of these + subsidiary theories, these comparisons, these metaphors, account + for all the facts? No, he himself honestly confesses more than once + that he cannot. It is true that he adds "I am convinced that the + objections have little weight, and the difficulties are not + insoluble." But is this conviction of his a proof, or even an + argument? + +M. Blanchard likewise comments vigorously on this mode of argumentation. +Speaking of the Mole and Darwin's explanation of its blindness, namely +that having taken to living under-ground it lost its eyes through +disuse--which he considers a most preposterous supposition,--M Blanchard +continues:[215] + + The realms of fancy are boundless; but the observer who is + concerned with realities can only have recourse to the facts of + science. Fossil remains discovered in very ancient strata show that + the underground animal of present times does not differ from his + geological counterpart. The Mole belongs to a very peculiar type, + and has no nearer European relatives than the Hedgehog and the + Shrew. Can we imagine a common ancestor of Shrews, Hedgehogs, and + Moles? On this point Mr. Darwin expresses no opinion,--which should + not be, for when confronted by forms clearly differentiated, he is + wont to extricate himself from difficulties with matchless + facility. The intermediate links, he will say, were doubtless less + fitted to live than were the others, and so have disappeared. After + _that_ the Evolutionists consider any one quite out of date who + does not consider himself entirely satisfied with so felicitous an + explanation. + +M. de Quatrefages denounces another fatal defect often observable in the +method of proof. + + Mr. Darwin frequently complains that our actual knowledge is + incomplete. But instead of discovering in our lack of precise and + extensive information a motive for caution, he appears to derive + from it only greater daring. Doctrines based on the instability of + species have often been combated by geologists and palæontologists. + In reply to their objections Darwin devotes a whole chapter to + shewing the imperfection of the geological record. "For my part," + he concludes, "I look at the geological record as a history of the + world imperfectly kept and written in a changing dialect; of this + history we possess the last volume alone, relating only to two or + three countries. Of this volume, only here and there a short + chapter has been preserved; and of each page, only here and there a + few lines. Each word of the slowly-changing language, more or less + different in the successive chapters, may represent the forms of + life, which are entombed in our consecutive formations, and which + falsely appear to have been abruptly introduced. On this view, the + difficulties above discussed are greatly diminished, or even + disappear." + + On my part [continues M. de Quatrefages] I will ask whether such a + conclusion is the correct one. No doubt, Darwin is right in + refusing to certain naturalists the right to dogmatize on the + strength of uncompleted studies, or scanty and isolated + observations. Is he therefore entitled to allege as proofs on his + own behalf the very gaps of science, appealing to the lost volumes + and leaves of Nature's chronicle? Clearly not. But the slightest + reflection suffices to recognize that this appeal to the unknown, + so frankly evidenced in the above passage, lies at the root of all + argumentation analogous to that which I have tried to + describe--that of Maillet, Lamarck, and Geoffroy,[216] as well as + Darwin. Only the unknown, in sooth, can open the boundless region + of speculation, where the possible replaces the actual, and where, + despite the widest knowledge and the soundest intelligence, one + comes as by a fatality to find a conclusive proof on one's own + side, precisely in that of which we profess to know nothing. + +So again, speaking of a certain conclusion of Professor Haeckel's +concerning the embryology of lemurs, which MM. Grandidier and Alphonse +Edwards afterwards proved experimentally to be altogether erroneous, de +Quatrefages writes:[217] + + Haeckel will perhaps answer that the publication of his book + preceded the observation of the French savants. But such a plea + itself discloses a method of procedure which is common to the + majority of evolutionists, and of which, it must be added, Darwin + set the example. When confronted by a question about which nobody + knows anything, they appeal precisely to this want of knowledge, + and draw arguments from their very ignorance. + +In like manner speaks the Reviewer already cited more than once. +Thus:[218] + + The peculiarities of geographical distribution seem very difficult + of explanation on any theory. Darwin calls in alternately winds, + tides, birds, beasts, all animated nature, as the diffusers of + species, and then a good many of the same agencies as impenetrable + barriers.... With these facilities of hypothesis there seems to be + no particular reason why many theories should not be true. However + an animal may have been produced, it must have been produced + somewhere, and it must either have spread very widely or not have + spread, and Darwin can give good reasons for both results. + +And again:[219] + + We are asked to believe all these maybes happening on an enormous + scale, in order that we may believe the final Darwinian "maybe" as + to the origin of species. The general form of his argument is as + follows:--"All these things may have been, therefore my theory is + possible, and since my theory is a possible one, all those + hypotheses which it requires are rendered probable." There is + little direct evidence that any of these maybes actually _have + been_. + +In no respect, moreover, have Darwin's followers more closely imitated +their master than in the construction of such hypotheses, which would +appear to constitute in the eyes of many the most important work of +Science. Attention has very largely been diverted from Nature as +actually existing, which seems to be studied more for the light it can +be supposed to throw upon evolutionary history, than simply for itself, +and it seems to be thought that to imagine the mode of an evolutionary +process is equivalent to establishing the facts which that process +supposes. By this method lengthy and learned papers are written +concerning the transformation of one species into another, which in +reality do no more than describe in minute detail all the changes which +must have taken place, _if_ the said transformation really occurred. +That Science is thus benefited, is not the opinion of some at least who +are well entitled to speak on her behalf, for as the President of the +Linnean Society recently observed,[220] as one grows older, it becomes +more and more apparent that facts alone are of any serious interest, and +that speculations however ingenious and attractive are best left to the +constructive and destructive energies of the young. So too, a few years +ago, the President of the Microscopical Society complained that interest +in living creatures is largely supplanted by dead ones.[221] + + We read much [he said] of the animal's organs: we see plates + showing that its bristles have been counted, and its muscular + fibres traced to the last thread; we have the structure of its + tissues analyzed to their very elements; we have long discussions + on its title to rank with this group or that; and sometimes even + disquisitions on the probable form and habits of some extremely + remote, but quite hypothetical, ancestor, who is made to degrade in + this way, or to advance in that, or who is credited with one organ + or deprived of another, just as the ever-varying necessities of a + desperate hypothesis require.... + +There is another aspect of the question which must by no means be +overlooked. It has to be assumed that Natural Selection, or the survival +of the fittest in the struggle for existence, necessarily tends to the +benefit of the _race_ and moreover to its farther development on the +upward grade, towards a more perfect and more specialized +organization;--in Mr. Herbert Spencer's words, to progression from a +relatively indefinite incoherent homogeneity, to a relatively definite, +coherent heterogeneity. But here many questions occur. + +In the first place, a consideration presents itself, which appears to +furnish the most formidable of all difficulties in the way of Mr. +Darwin's hypothesis. How can this struggle for existence be supposed to +have any tendency to promote organic development to ever higher and more +perfect types, in the orderly sequence which has in fact occurred? The +"Survival of the fittest" means only the survival _of the fittest to +survive_,--of such as can find means of living where others cannot. +Unless it can be shown that increased complexity of organization +necessarily brings with it such increased vitality, Natural Selection +can do nothing for organic development. If the mere power of living be +the only factor in the process, as on Mr. Darwin's showing it is, a man +is only a more complicated and delicate machine for securing the same +object which can equally well, or better, be attained by a mole, a +cockroach, or a microbe. And who will say that, so far as this +particular end is concerned, he is better equipped than creatures which +all the resources of civilization are powerless to exterminate? + +That practical advantage in the struggle for existence must necessarily +accompany increased specialization of organs, and thus produce a +"higher" organization, was a prime point of Mr. Darwin's argument, +though at the same time he found himself compelled to encumber it with +qualifications which go very far to neutralize its force; for he had to +explain the obvious fact that so many creatures which represent the +lowest and least specialized forms of life, have survived down to our +own time. Thus he writes:[222] + + The degree of differentiation and specialization of the parts in + organic beings, when arrived at maturity, is the best standard, as + yet suggested, of their degree of perfection or highness. As the + specialization of parts is an advantage to each being, so natural + selection will tend to render the organization of each being more + specialized and perfect, and in this sense higher; not but that it + may leave many creatures with simple and unimproved structures + fitted for simple conditions of life, and in some cases will even + degrade or simplify the organization, yet leaving such degraded + beings better fitted for their new walks of life. + + By this fundamental test of victory in the battle of life, as well + as by the standard of the specialization of organs, modern forms + ought, on the theory of Natural Selection, to stand higher than + ancient forms. Is this the case? A large number of palæontologists + would answer in the affirmative; and it seems that this answer must + be admitted as true, though difficult of proof. + +That is to say, Natural Selection is just as ready to degrade as to +elevate a creature, according to the actual requirements of the +circumstances in which it is placed, and how far progress has been the +rule, rather than stability or retrogression, is a question for +geological history to determine. This we shall have to consider in our +next chapter. + +It is likewise obvious that so far as the mere struggle for existence is +concerned, a species each of whose individual members is but poorly +furnished, may nevertheless flourish unimpaired on the mere strength of +its fecundity. It is thus, says M. Blanchard,[223] that the lower forms +of life continue to hold their own despite the enormous ravages to which +they are subject. The herring, for example, affords food to all the +fowls of the air and fish of the sea, over and above the myriads +annually requisitioned by man. Yet its hosts show no sign of being +exterminated or even reduced. Much the same is the case of the cod; but +a tribe one individual of which has been known to produce nine million +eggs does not require much in the way of coherent heterogeneity to +ensure its survival. + +Thus it appears that of itself Darwinism affords no explanation whatever +of the regular progression of life forms from lower to higher, to which +the records of Nature bear witness, and which is the one solid fact +suggesting the idea of Evolution. + +Such are some of the reasons which, on purely rational grounds, appear +amply to justify those who decline to pledge their faith to Darwinism, +in spite of the popularity it enjoys. But what is to be said of the +phenomena cited as furnishing positive and unimpeachable evidence in its +favour, which were mentioned above in our sketch of its main features? + +First as to the rudimentary, fragmentary, or vestigial organs so common +in Nature. These, it is said, being of no possible advantage to their +possessors, and often a serious disadvantage, can be explained only by +supposing that they were serviceable in the past to the ancestral race +whence these possessors are derived, and have since been superseded by +other modifications of structure, so as to dwindle away by disuse. This, +no doubt, seems a very plausible explanation, but it does not follow +that we ought immediately to adopt it as a certainty, instead of +setting ourselves to examine how it accords with all the facts. Nothing +is more dangerous and less scientific than to be in a hurry to conclude +that everything is certain which seems to ourselves probable, especially +if it suits a theory of our own. Unfortunately, this law is too +frequently more honoured in the breach than the observance. In the +present instance, Professor Haeckel himself furnishes an example. He is +quite sure that the rudimentary structures can have but one +significance, and that they are fatal to the idea of purpose in Nature, +the object of his special aversion, and so he has proposed a new term, +"Dysteleology," to embody this idea, of which he says,[224] + + _Dysteleology, or the theory of purposelessness_ [is] the name I + have given to the science of rudimentary organs, of suppressed and + degenerated, aimless and inactive, parts of the body; one of the + most important and most interesting branches of comparative + anatomy, which, when rightly estimated, is alone sufficient to + refute the fundamental error of the teleological and dualistic + conception of Nature, and to serve as the foundation of the + mechanical and monistic conception of the universe. + +It will be sufficient to quote Professor Huxley's remarks upon this +passage, taken from the very laudatory review he wrote of the work in +which it occurs.[225] + + + Professor Haeckel has invented a new and convenient name, + "Dysteleology," for the study of the "purposelessnesses" which are + observable in living organisms--such as the multitudinous cases of + rudimentary and apparently useless structures. I confess, however, + that it has often appeared to me that the facts of Dysteleology cut + two ways. If we are to assume, as evolutionists in general do, that + useless organs atrophy, such cases as the existence of lateral + rudiments of toes in the foot of a horse place us in a dilemma. + For, either these rudiments are of no use to the animal, in which + case, considering that the horse has existed in its present form + since the Pliocene epoch, they surely ought to have disappeared; or + they are of some use to the animal, in which case they are of no + use as arguments against Teleology. A similar, but stronger + argument may be based upon the existence of teats, and even + functional mammary glands in male mammals.... There can be little + doubt that the mammary gland was as apparently useless in the + remotest male mammalian ancestor of man as in living men, and yet + it has not disappeared. Is it then still profitable to the male + organism to retain it? Possibly; but in that case its + dysteleological value is gone. + +In later editions Professor Huxley further observed: "The recent +discovery of the important part played by the Thyroid gland should be a +warning to all speculators about useless organs."[226] + +It seems, therefore, the wiser part to refrain from basing any vital +conclusions upon these organs until we can assure ourselves that our +knowledge warrants our so doing. As the same Professor Huxley intimated, +it might be well for palæontologists, and doubtless for biologists +likewise,[227] "To learn a little more carefully that scientific '_ars +artium_,' the art of saying 'I don't know.'" + +So again as to the phenomena of embryology. No doubt they are very +striking and impressive. That the most highly developed creatures, and +man himself, should in the first stages of existence exhibit the +characteristics of lower forms, is an exemplification of development no +less signal than the succession of ascending types witnessed to by the +rocks. It is not easy to see, however, why it should be taken for +granted that this can only signify genetic descent from all such forms, +and that these embryo animals are engaged in climbing up their +genealogical trees. Yet this is usually assumed as a matter of course, +and any one who ventures to question the validity of such an inference, +must be prepared to find himself accused of dogmatizing. + +And yet, after all, upon what grounds does the assumption rest? That +such a recapitulation of racial experiences forms no essential feature +of Evolution is sufficiently evident from the case of the vegetable +world,--for plants do not climb _their_ genealogical trees, or pass in +the seed through a series of botanical phases. And as to animals, since +through all varieties of form, each always arrives at the required term, +it is obvious that, apart from any archaic associations, and on +Darwinian principles themselves, these forms must be the best for the +purpose at each respective stage,--perhaps the only ones by which the +term could be reached. It is therefore, to say the least, quite +conceivable, that we have here the whole explanation and need go no +further. + +In certain instances this obvious consideration is strikingly +illustrated. Thus the salamander, an Amphibian of the newt family, +brings forth its young in adult condition without gills.[228] But +previously to birth they have gills relatively large. The experiment +having been tried of bringing some of them forth by artificial means +before their time, and placing them in water, the first thing they did +was to cast off these big gills, which were speedily replaced by new +ones of much smaller size, and evidently better suited for the work +required, as they lasted as long as a fortnight. + +Here, in the first place, it is quite impossible to suppose that the +large gills would continue to appear unless they were of advantage +during the period of gestation. It is equally evident that it is not +from a previous aquatic condition that they are inherited, for in such a +condition they are useless. Finally, as Mr. Mivart observes, the new +gills, suitable for unwonted conditions, were developed "not in a +struggle for existence against rivals, but directly and spontaneously +from the innate nature of the animal." + +This view of the matter commended itself on mature consideration to so +ardent an evolutionist as Carl Vogt, with whom we may couple M. de +Quatrefages, who cites his words with approval as follows:[229] + + It has been laid down as a fundamental law of biogenesis that + ontogeny (the development of the individual) and phylogeny (that of + the race) must exactly correspond.... This law which I long held as + well founded is absolutely and radically false. Attentive study of + embryology shows us, in fact, that embryos have their own + conditions suitable to themselves, very different from those of + adults. + +"In a word," M. de Quatrefages continues, "the learned Genevan professor +rightly considers that, 'The ontogenesis of all organic beings without +exception, is the normal result of all the various influences which +operate upon such beings.'" + +But it must, moreover, be noted that the story which embryology can be +made to tell is by no means so plain as we might easily be led to +suppose. + +Thus, although snakes are held to be descended from lizards, and some of +them have rudimentary legs even in the adult stage, others have no trace +of limbs even in the egg, while they _have_ vestiges of gills, and thus +would seem to be visibly linked to ancient water-dwelling ancestors, and +not to far more recent land-dwellers. Again;[230] Amphibians (frogs, +newts and the like) agree in some respects, as to the development of the +germ, with mammals, differing in the same respects from reptiles and +birds. But reptiles and birds are supposed to be a more recent +development than Amphibia, and therefore should intervene between them +and mammals on the genealogical tree. Moreover the eggs of one group of +Amphibians are found to exhibit some remarkable resemblances to those of +reptiles and birds, from which it would thus appear to have derived +them, although on other grounds it is declared to be of an older stock +than theirs. Most frogs, toads, and newts come out of the egg as +tadpoles, furnished with gills and so breathing in water. This should +signify that these creatures are descended from fish or fishlike +ancestors. But one frog (_Rana opisthodon_) is never a tadpole even in +the egg, from which he gets out by means of a special opener on his +snout which he has somehow acquired. On the other hand certain +newts[231] breed as tadpoles instead of in their mature form, which +looks like an attempt to climb down the tree instead of up. + +It will be remembered that the latter phrase was that used by Professor +Milnes Marshall. Yet even he expressed himself strongly concerning the +exaggerations of Professor Haeckel on this subject. In his review of +Haeckel's _Anthropogenie_,[232] after observing that many descriptions +of human embryology have been based on observations of dogs, pigs, +rabbits, or even chickens and dogfish, he thus continued regarding the +book before him: + + A student who relied on Professor Haeckel's description, would + obtain an entirely erroneous idea of the development of the human + embryo.... It is a matter for great regret that a book of 900 + pages, bearing such a title, should be allowed to appear, in which + the account of the actual development of the human embryo is so + inadequate or even erroneous. + +Far more fundamental, however, is a remark of Mr. Mivart's, that if, as +Darwinians say, the development of the individual is an epitome of that +of the species, the latter must like the former be due to the action of +definite innate laws unconsciously carrying out definite preordained +ends and purposes. For although cells or embryos may be +indistinguishable from one another, and may appear to us identical in +constitution, their differences are absolute. Each is determined to be +one sort of animal and no other, and can live at all only on condition +of developing towards the prescribed form.--Therefore, whatever evidence +the embryonic forms may be supposed to afford in support of Evolution, +they have nothing in common with the haphazard process of Natural +Selection. + +And here again Professor Huxley found himself obliged to enter his +_caveat_, and to intimate his opinion that some of his friends were +inclined to build too confidently upon this foundation. As his +biographer Professor Weldon writes in the _Dictionary of National +Biography_: + + Darwin had suggested an interpretation of the facts of embryology + which led to the hope that a fuller knowledge of development might + reveal the history of all the great groups of animals at least in + its main outlines. This hope was of service as a stimulus to + research, but the attempt to interpret the phenomena observed led + to speculations which were often fanciful and always incapable of + verification. Huxley was keenly sensible of the danger attending + the use of a hypothetical explanation, leading to conclusions which + cannot be experimentally tested, and he carefully avoided it.... In + the preface to the _Manual of the Comparative Anatomy of + Invertebrated Animals_, he says: "I have abstained from discussing + questions of ætiology,[233] not because I underestimate their + importance, or am insensible to the interest of the great problem + of Evolution, but because, to my mind, the growing tendency to mix + up ætiological speculations with morphological generalizations + will, if unchecked, throw Biology into confusion." + +Accordingly, Huxley himself based his faith in Evolution on +palæontological evidence, and attempted to decide the precise course it +had followed only "in the few cases where the evidence seemed to him +sufficiently complete." This line of enquiry we have still to pursue, +but meanwhile, it is evident that the phenomena we have been +considering, failing to meet the approval of so thorough-going an +Evolutionist as he undoubtedly was, cannot be said to furnish convincing +scientific evidence in favour of Darwinism. + +It will be asked how it comes to pass, if the Darwinian system really +lies open to so many objections, that it occupies so large a place in +scientific estimation. To this we must reply that, in spite of its great +name, its success has throughout been popular rather than truly +scientific, and that as time went on it has lost ground among the class +of men best qualified to judge. Evolutionists there are in plenty,--but +very few genuine Darwinists, and amongst these can by no means be +reckoned all who adopt the title, for not a few of them--as Romanes and +Weismann--profess doctrines which cannot be reconciled with those of +Darwin himself. Meanwhile, an increasing volume of scientific opinion +sets definitely against Darwinism as an adequate explanation of the +philosophy of life, and falls into the view expressed long ago by +Charles Robin[234] who, as a freethinker, had no antecedent objections +against it, "Darwinism is a fiction, a poetical accumulation of +probabilities without proof, and of attractive explanations without +demonstration." + +It would be tedious to cite testimonies at length, but, in addition to +M. de Quatrefages who has made a full and careful study of the whole +question, [_Charles Darwin et ses précurseurs Français_, and _Les Emules +de Darwin_] may be mentioned such continental scholars as Blanchard [_La +vie des êtres animés_], Wigand [_Der Darwinismus und die +Naturforschung_, etc.], Wolff [_Beiträge zur Kritik der darwinschen +Lehre_], Hamann [_Entwicklungslehre und Darwinismus_], Pauly [_Wahres +und Falsches an Darwins Lehre_], Driesch [_Biologisches Zentralblatt_, +1896 and 1902], Plate [_Bedeutung und Tragweite des Darwinschen +Selektionsprincip_], Hertwig [_Address to Naturalist Congress_, +_Aachen_, 1900], Heer [_Urwelt der Schweiz_], Kölliker [_Ueber die +darwin'sche Schöpfungstheorie_], Eimer [_Entstehung der Arten_], Von +Hartmann [_Wahrheit und Irrthum im Darwinismus_], Schilde +[_Antidarwinistisches im Ausland_], Du Bois-Reymond [_Conference_, +August 2, 1881, etc.], Virchow [_Freiheit der Wissenschaft_, etc.], +Nägeli [_Mechanisch-physiologische Theorie der Abstammungslehre_], +Schaafhausen [_Ueber die anthropologischen Fragen_], Fechner [_Ideen zur +Schöpfungs-und Entwicklungsgeschichte der Organismen_], Jakob [_Der +Mensch_, etc.], Diebolder [_Darwins Grundprinzip_, etc.], Huber [_Die +Lehre Darwins kritisch betrachtet_], Joseph Ranke, and Von Bauer,--all +of whom either reject Darwinism altogether, or admit it only with fatal +reservations. + +Special weight must attach to the adverse verdict of M. Fabre, styled by +Darwin himself "that inimitable observer," who declares that he cannot +reconcile the theory with the facts he encounters.[235] + +It must be sufficient to quote one or two of our own countrymen, whose +utterances will enable us to form an opinion as to the true scientific +status of the doctrine. + +We may begin with Huxley, the great popular champion of Darwinism, who +did more than any other man to spread the new doctrine. Yet, strange to +say, he seems never to have really accepted its fundamental tenet +himself, always appearing very shy of Natural Selection, and carefully +abstaining from committing himself to any responsibility for it. Thus in +his treatise on _Man's Place in Nature_, he thus explains his position +in its regard: + + Mr. Darwin's hypothesis is not, so far as I am aware, inconsistent + with any biological fact; on the contrary, if admitted, the facts + of Development, of Comparative Anatomy, of Geographical + Distribution, and of Palæontology, become connected together, and + exhibit a meaning such as they never possessed before; and I, for + one, am firmly convinced, that if not precisely true, that + hypothesis is as near an approximation to the truth as, for + example, the Copernican hypothesis was to the true theory of the + planetary motions. But for all this, our acceptance of the + Darwinian hypothesis must be provisional so long as one link in the + chain of evidence is wanting; and so long as all the animals and + plants certainly produced by selective breeding from a common stock + are fertile with one another, the link will be wanting. For, so + long, selective breeding will not be proved to be competent to do + all that is required of it to produce natural species. + +This missing link, like various others, has never been supplied, and in +consequence Professor Huxley never abandoned his attitude of reserve. On +the contrary, when, in 1880, he delivered an address to celebrate "the +Coming of Age of the _Origin of Species_" he discharged the task without +once mentioning Natural Selection, which is to that work as the Prince +of Denmark is to _Hamlet_. + +But there is one passage in the said address, which deserves to be +specially remembered: + + History warns us that it is the customary fate of new truths to + begin as heresies and to end as superstitions; and, as matters now + stand, it is hardly rash to anticipate that, in another twenty + years, the new generation, educated under the influences of the + present day, will be in danger of accepting the main doctrines of + the _Origin of Species_, with as little reflection, and it may be + with as little justification, as so many of our contemporaries, + twenty years ago, rejected them. + +In 1886, Professor Romanes pronounced as follows:[236] + +"At present it would be impossible to find any working naturalist who +supposes that survival of the fittest is competent to explain all the +phenomena of species-formation." + +As to the actual position now occupied in Scientific opinion by Mr. +Darwin's hypotheses, we may content ourselves with the declaration of +Professor S. H. Vines in his Presidential address to the Linnean +Society, May 24, 1902. + + 1. It is established that Natural Selection, though it may have + perpetuated species, cannot have originated any. + + 2. It is still a mystery why Evolution should tend from the lower + to the higher, from simple to complex organisms. + + 3. The facts seem to admit of no other interpretation than that + variation is not [as Darwin supposed] indeterminate, but that there + is in living matter an inherent determination in favour of + variation in the higher direction. + +That is to say, Darwin's _Origin of Species_ does not explain the Origin +of Species; and as to the laws which govern Evolution we can be sure +only that they are not those which he assigned. + +In like manner, Sir Oliver Lodge pronounces:[237] + + Take the origin of species by the persistence of favourable + variations; how is the appearance of these same favourable + variations accounted for? Except by artificial selection not at + all. Given their appearance, their development by struggle and + inheritance and survival can be explained; but that they arose + spontaneously, by random changes without purpose, is an assertion + which cannot be made. + +We are thus in a position to form our own judgment as to the claim made +on behalf of Mr. Darwin, with which we started this chapter--namely, +that he has eliminated all mystery from the organic world by the +discovery of natural mechanical laws by which all its operations are +governed. It is, indeed, difficult to understand how Darwinists +themselves can suppose their system to make any such claim, for, as M. +Paul Vignon truly observes,[238] "La science darwinnienne s'imaginait +avoir triomphé du Sphinx, alors qu'elle avait simplement décomposé le +problème dans une monnaie d'énigmes moins rébarbatives en apparence." As +has been said, it is far more on account of the vast consequences +professedly based upon it, as a sure foundation stone, than for its own +sake, that it has seemed advisable to devote so much attention to the +study of Darwinism, quite apart from which the whole question of organic +Evolution still demands consideration. + +It seems far more just to conclude with M. Fabre:[239] + + Let us acknowledge that in truth we know nothing about anything, so + far as ultimate truths are concerned. Scientifically considered + nature is a riddle to which human curiosity can find no answer. + Hypothesis follows hypothesis, the ruins of theories are piled one + on another, but truth ever escapes us. To learn how to remain in + ignorance may well be the final lesson of wisdom.[240] + + + + +XVI + +THE FACTS OF EVOLUTION + + +Leaving the field of speculation and "ætiology," we have now to enquire, +not to what causes organic Evolution may be attributable, but how far it +can be shewn to have actually occurred. This can be learnt only from the +history of life upon earth as disclosed by the evidence of palæontology, +or the geological record, and we are thus brought to the investigation +of that evidence, by which alone, as Professor Huxley agrees, can the +truth about Evolution be scientifically or satisfactorily established. +In his address recently mentioned on occasion of the twenty-first +birthday of the _Origin of Species_, having spoken of various advances +of our knowledge, as in comparative anatomy and embryology, which had +helped to win acceptance for transformist doctrines, he thus continued: + + But all this remains mere secondary evidence. It may remove + dissent, but it does not compel assent. Primary and direct evidence + in favour of evolution can be furnished only by palæontology. The + geological record, so soon as it approaches completeness, must, + when properly questioned, yield either an affirmative or a + negative answer; if evolution has taken place, there will its mark + be left; if it has not taken place, there will be its refutation. + +This is common sense. Evolution can claim to be a scientific truth, only +so far as clear evidence is forthcoming that Evolution there has been. +If the geological record be sufficiently complete to prove or disprove +its claims, the question is settled for ever. If, on the other hand, the +record be not complete enough for a conclusive verdict, it is, at least, +hard to understand the grounds of such a statement as that the doctrine +of Evolution has long since passed beyond the stage of discussion among +scientific thinkers;[241] or that of Professor Marsh, that to doubt +Evolution is to doubt Science; or of Professor Huxley himself[242]--"So +far as the animal world is concerned, Evolution is no longer a +speculation, but a matter of historical fact." + +This historical enquiry is accordingly all-important, and it is one +which should be easy to undertake without any prepossessions, for it is +hard to see upon what _à priori_ grounds these could rest. That there +has been Evolution in one sense of the term is obvious,--that is to say, +development of organic types from lower to higher forms, from the +sea-weed or fungus to the oak or the rose, from the star-fish or the +coral-insect, to the eagle or to man. The question is, not whether there +has been such a progressive succession of forms, but whether one form +has proceeded from another _genetically_, being produced in the same +manner as individuals of a species now are. That this has been the case, +as Professor Huxley tells us in the same address, is the cornerstone of +evolutionary teaching. He appears indeed to restrict Evolution within +the limits of classes and groups, but such restriction is so contrary to +all his principles that the words which seem to imply it can scarcely be +taken as having any definite significance. Should the appearance of +different classes and groups require to be severally accounted for, we +should be landed back in the system of separate creations against which +he is never tired of inveighing. + + The fundamental doctrine of all forms of the theory of evolution + applied to biology [he says] is that the innumerable species, + genera, and families of organic beings with which the world is + peopled have all descended, each within its own class or group, + from common parents, and have all been modified in the course of + descent. + +And, holding as he does that palæontology furnishes the necessary +evidence, he thus continues: + + And, in the view of the facts of geology, it follows that all + living animals and plants are the lineal descendants of those which + lived long before the Silurian epoch. + +Here is a plain issue, and one, as has been said, to be discussed +without prejudice. That the innumerable forms of organic life should +thus have been genetically derived one from another, is no more +difficult to conceive than that they should have come into existence at +all. Moreover, it appears to our minds almost a first principle that +natural law must suffice to account for the phenomena of nature from +beginning to end, and that any system is self-condemned which finds +anywhere in these phenomena evidence of a non-natural, or supernatural, +interposition. Has not such a theologian as Suarez, following St. +Augustine, laid it down as an axiom[243] that God does not directly +interfere with the operations of Nature, when He can effect His purposes +through natural causes? Undoubtedly, too, it is difficult for our minds +to imagine in what way, except through genetic evolution, the successive +production of more and more developed types could be effected. + +But, as has before been observed, what seems to us probable is not +therefore proved to be true. What we want are facts, and by facts we +must be ready to abide. At the same time, it is not very easy to +understand the supreme importance which evolutionists generally appear +to attach to the descent of all living creatures from some _one_ +original, and their abhorrence of the idea that the power, whatever it +was, which first produced life, may have operated repeatedly, at +different epochs, to repeat the production. It seems to be assumed that +this must imply "miracle" and interruption of the continuity of Nature, +to admit which is irrational and unscientific. But since life did +unquestionably once originate somehow, which Science makes no attempt to +deny, why should it be so improper to suppose that it originated more +than once, at various times and in various forms, and that, +consequently, genetic descent with modification, or "Evolution," is not +the explanation of typic development? As Sir J. W. Dawson writes[244] +concerning the oyster tribe, whereof two species are found in the Coal +Measures (one European and the other American), and a continuous +succession of species ever since: + + All these species may have proceeded from one origin, by descent + with modification, or, on the other hand, the same causes which led + to their origination in the Carboniferous may have operated again + and again. + +It must, however, be remembered that, if the theory of genetic descent +with accumulation of minute modifications be the true explanation of the +production of new forms, it necessarily follows, that could a complete +record be forthcoming of the ancestry of any actual species, there would +be found in that pedigree no distinction of species or genera, for no +sharply marked lines of limitation would be discoverable. It would be +like the case of a man who had been photographed every hour of his life +from birth to old age;--immense though the difference might be between +the two extremes, the gradations of change would at all points pass as +imperceptibly into one another as do the phases of the moon. This +consideration is both fundamental and obvious, yet it would seem to be +almost universally ignored. It appears to be thought that, in order to +demonstrate the fact of evolution, all that is needed is to find a form +here and there, in some sense intermediate between others,--like the +reptilian birds already mentioned. This would imply that the course of +Evolution must be like that of an army, making long marches from point +to point, and traceable only by the remains of its camp-fires: whereas +it should be as that of a glacier continuously creeping on, and leaving +its tracks at one point as much as another. What are wanted, therefore, +as evidence for Evolution, are not isolated specific forms uniting some +characteristics of those which they are supposed to connect,--as +Nelson's men-of-war form a stepping-stone between the vessels of the +Norsemen and the ironclads of the present day,--but a series sufficient +to show, or at least to indicate, that all changes have been gradual and +insensible, without the introduction at any point of a new element. To +pursue the illustration, such a new element would be gunpowder or steam +in the evolution of the battle-ship, for by no mere development could +bows or javelins produce a cannon, or sailing ships a steamboat. + +Therefore, in proportion as the geological record approaches +completeness, its testimony,--if it is to be in favour of +Evolution--must tend more and more in this direction, and unless, in +some instance at least, clear evidence be discoverable of the melting of +one form into another, it cannot possibly be said that we have +sufficient proof that such a process ever occurred. Mere graduated +resemblance of isolated forms does not necessarily imply such +transmutation, as we see for example in the methodical progression of +shape, exhibited by various crystals, and even more remarkably in the +affinities which we can recognize among what we know as elementary +substances. + +There is another important point to be borne in mind. According to the +teaching of Evolutionists such as Darwin or Haeckel,[245] every Species +has originated from a single ancestor,--or, as they should rather say, +from a single pair. + +If this were so, it would necessarily follow that every new form, +originating in some particular spot of earth, would very gradually +spread thence to other regions, fighting its way along. As Mr. Darwin +acknowledges,[246] "The development by this means (i.e. Natural +Selection) of a group of forms, all of which are descended from some one +progenitor, must have been an extremely slow process; and the +progenitors must have lived long before their modified descendants." + +Of this gradual spread of new types there should, at least in some +cases, be some palæontological evidence. + +It is likewise by no means easy to understand how species thus generated +could stand solitary and isolated from kindred forms in the records of +the earth. The pair of individuals which started a new persistent +group,--its members all stamped with the same specific characters, while +all around were in a state of flux and divergence,--differed from their +immediate ancestors, as we have seen, only infinitesimally. They can +have differed no more from many of their contemporaries, for all the +lines of descent must ramify afresh in each generation, and so form a +web rather than anything like a line. It is not very easy to understand +how a pair here and there struck root and founded a species, while the +thousands which jostled them round about failed to do so, for the others +which survived longest must be supposed to have resembled them most +nearly, and therefore to have participated in their advantages. At +least, we should expect to find around them the débris of the multitude +they vanquished in the struggle for existence. + +We are told, moreover, that, with hardly an exception, the organic forms +found in a fossil state must be supposed to be the last of their +special line of development, which terminated in them; so that neither +can they be claimed as the direct ancestors of any other forms, fossil +or living, nor can any others which are actually known be claimed as +their progenitors. The genealogies supplied for almost all known +species, extinct or existing, are admittedly conjectural, and as in the +most famous instance of all, namely the supposed common ancestor of +simians and men, the links are persistently "missing." Thus M. de +Quatrefages, speaking of the human pedigree as set forth by Professor +Haeckel, writes thus:[247] + + All species, existing or extinct, are said to have been preceded by + _ancestral forms_ which have disappeared without leaving the + slightest vestige behind them. The _amphioxus_ itself, which more + than any other realizes the type of the group it represents, was + preceded, according to Haeckel, by the _provertebrate_, which no + man has ever seen, but of which, nevertheless, the Jena professor + gives us a figure, and describes the anatomy. + +Thus the number of forms postulated by the theory of genetic Evolution, +must have been enormous beyond conception, in comparison with those +belonging to the numerically insignificant groups which formed the mere +extremities of branches on the genealogical tree. + +This being premised, we must ask what Geology has to tell us on the +subject, and it will be well to begin by briefly recalling the main +features of the geological record. + + * * * * * + +The stratified rocks comprising the crust of the earth, in which fossil +plants and animals are found embedded, have evidently been formed at +successive periods, chiefly by the agency of water, each formation +having begun as a sediment like the mud or ooze at the bottom of our +oceans and seas. Geological investigation has proved that the +chronological order of the strata thus deposited can be satisfactorily +determined, and they are found to divide themselves, in respect of the +organisms they contain, into three great series, lying above the _Azoic_ +(or lifeless) rocks, older than them all. + +These series, beginning from the bottom, in which order we shall have to +trace their history, are most conveniently named _Primary_, _Secondary_, +and _Tertiary_, otherwise termed respectively, _Palœozoic_ ("ancient +life"), _Mesozoic_ ("middle life"), and _Kainozoic_ ("recent life"). +Each of these again, contains various formations, or as we may call them +volumes of its chronicle, each of which has its fixed place in order of +sequence. + +Thus, always proceeding from below upwards, in the _Primary_ series, +commencing with the _Laurentian_, we find successively the _Huronian_, +_Cambrian_, _Silurian_, _Devonian_ or _Old Red Sandstone_, +_Carboniferous_, and _Permian_. + +In the _Secondary_, the lowest formation is the _Triassic_ or _New Red +Sandstone_, followed by the _Jurassic_ or _Oolite_, and the _Cretaceous_ +or _Chalk_. + +Finally the _Tertiary_ has three main divisions; the _Eocene_, or "dawn +of the recent," _Miocene_, or "less recent," and _Pliocene_, or "more +recent." + +Above these comes the series now in progress, variously called, +_Quaternary_, _Post-Tertiary_, and _Pleistocene_, or "most recent." + + * * * * * + +It seems advisable to begin our investigation with the vegetable +kingdom, as its classification being comparatively simple, the essential +points of its development are easily followed. We cannot do better than +start with the summary of its main divisions furnished by Mr. +Carruthers.[248] + + The vegetable kingdom is divided into sections, according to the + simplicity or complexity of structure. Associated with plants of + simple structure we find, as a rule, more elementary organs of + reproduction. Linnaeus made two great divisions, of flowering + (_Phanerogams_) and flowerless plants (_Cryptogams_).... The higher + group have flowers, with their stamens and pistils, which produce + seeds, while the lower group are without flowers and bear spores, + which are much simpler bodies than seeds. There are seven main + groups of spore-bearers--the _algæ_ or water-weeds; the _fungi_ or + mushroom family; the _lichens_, which cover old walls and rocks + with patches of coloured vegetation; the _mosses_ with their green + leaves and urn-shaped fruit; the _ferns_ with their large and + usually much-divided leaves, on the back or edges of which the + spores are borne; the _horsetails_, found in wet places, having + jointed hollow stems and spores produced in little cones; and the + _club-mosses_, upright or creeping leafy plants found on our + mountains. These seven groups may be arranged in two divisions, + according to the tissues of which they are formed. In the first + four the whole plant is composed of _cells_, while in the last + three a firm _vascular skeleton_ is present. These characters are + of great importance to the student of fossil plants.... The + flowering plants are more complex in their structure, and in their + organs of reproduction. The lowest group of these plants is the + _Gymnosperms_, or naked-seeded plants, like our yews and pines. The + other flowering plants (_Angiosperms_) have their seeds in a closed + fruit. These are divided into two sections from characters derived + from the embryo plant in the seed, depending on whether this minute + plant has one seed-leaf (_cotyledon_) or two, and so we have + _Monocotyledons_ and _Dicotyledons_. The higher group, or + dicotyledons, have been arranged into three divisions, according to + the complexity of the flower. In one large group (_Apetalae_) the + pistil and stamens are not surrounded by petals, e.g. in the oak + and the stinging nettle: superior to them are the plants + (_Monopetalae_) in which the petals form a cup, as the + blue-bell[249] and the gentian, while the highest group + (_Polypetalae_) have all the petals separate, as the buttercups and + roses.[250] + +It is most important to recollect that on evolutionary principles the +first representatives of any such classes--and the same holds of animals +as well--must have been generalized forms, representing the type in the +rough, or, in Mr. Herbert Spencer's phrase, exhibiting by comparison +with their successors indefinite incoherent homogeneity, as contrasted +with definite coherent heterogeneity. They should bear the same sort of +relation to the finished articles worked up by Evolution as did the +first bone-shaker bicycle to our latest patterns, or the news-sheets of +Cromwell's time to the _Times_ or _Graphic_ of to-day. On this, as we +saw in the last chapter, Mr. Darwin strongly insists, confessing at the +same time that the Geological record alone can establish such progress +as a fact. + +How these various classes of plants appear actually to have come upon +the scene, Mr. Carruthers relates both in the paper from which we have +just quoted, and at greater length in the address which he delivered as +President of the Geologists' Association,[251] to the following effect. + +In the first place, he declares that although the geological record, at +least as known to us, is very imperfect, and represents only an +insignificant fragment of plant-history, + + There is a large series of plant-remains completely and accurately + known which supply a fair representation of the great events of + plant-life that have taken place on the earth since Palæozoic + times. And these are more than sufficient to establish or destroy + this hypothesis [of genetic evolution] by their testimony. + +There is--he goes on to say--indirect evidence of the existence of +vegetable life, long before we find any actual remains. Such indirect +evidence is afforded in the first place by the abundance during this +period of animal life, needing plants for its sustenance, and secondly +by the enormous quantity of carbon in the rocks, which must have been +secreted from the atmosphere by vegetable tissues. There are also +certain surface marks or impressions occasionally to be found, which are +probably due to plants of a soft and perishable character like the +cellular cryptogams, and which although extremely vague and undefined, +at least do not contradict the evolutionist, who regards them as +evidence that the _Algæ_ were, as according to him they ought to have +been, the primeval plants. Mr. Carruthers adds a caution however, which +can find its application in other instances as well: + + While making this admission in relation to the vegetation of these + older rocks, I must protest against the practice of completing the + record of life forms, by filling in particular groups without any + authority except the writer's impression of an adopted hypothesis, + and then basing arguments on these assumptions in support of the + hypothesis which created them. So completely has + +VEGETABLE DEVELOPMENT. + + +----------------------------------------------------+ + | Post Tertiary.| | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + Tertiary. {| Pliocene. | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + {| Miocene. | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + {| Eocene. | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + Secondary. {| Chalk. | Dicotyledons (Apetalæ, Polypetalæ, | + {| | Sympetalæ). | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + {| Oolite. | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + {| Trias. | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + | | | + {| Permian. | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + {| Carboniferous.| Monocotyledons. | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + {| | | + {| Devonian, or | Clubmosses, Horsetails, Ferns, | + {| Old Red | Gymnosperms. | + {| Sandstone. | | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + Primary. {| Silurian. | } Cellular Cryptogams. | + {| Cambrian. | } | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + {| Huronian. | } Indications of Plants, | + {| Laurentian. | } not determinable. | + +===================+================================+ + | AZOIC. | | + + phylogenetic [or racial] evolution become the creed of some leading + naturalists that they unwittingly proceed in this manifestly + unphilosophical method. But it is a first axiom, though one often + forgotten, in this as in every scientific enquiry, that no step can + be made in advance which is not based on fact. + +After this initial stage, the story becomes much clearer, and at the +same time less easy to reconcile with evolutionary requirements. + +Instead of making their appearance singly and successively, and passing +imperceptibly one into another, all three groups of Vascular Cryptogams, +and the Gymnosperms into the bargain, come on the stage together, in the +Devonian strata; and Monocotyledons in the lower Carboniferous +immediately following. There is no trace whatever of the development of +any of these forms from the earlier cellular cryptogams: + + But [says Mr. Carruthers] the evolution of the Vascular Cryptogams, + and the Phanerogams, from the green seaweeds, through the + liverworts and mosses, if it took place, must have been carried on + through a long succession of ages, and by an innumerable series of + advancing steps; and yet we find not a single trace either of the + early water forms or of the later and still more numerous dry-land + forms. The conditions that permitted the preservation of the + fucoids in the Llandovery rocks at Malvern, and of similar cellular + organisms elsewhere, were, at least, fitted to preserve _some_ + record of the necessarily rich floras, if they existed, which + through immense ages, led by minute steps to the Conifer + [_Gymnosperm_] and Monocotyledon of these Palæozoic Rocks. + + Further, these earliest plants are not generalized forms of the + various tribes to which they belong, but they are as highly + specialized as any subsequent representatives of the particular + group to which they belong, and wherever they differ from later + plants, it is in the possession of a more perfect organization. + + * * * * * + +From all which facts Mr. Carruthers thus argues: + + The complete absence of intermediate forms, and the sudden and + contemporaneous appearance of highly organized and widely separated + groups, deprive the hypothesis of genetic evolution of any + countenance from the plant-record of these ancient rocks. The whole + evidence is against evolution, and there is none for it.[252] + +Dicotyledons furnish evidence of especial value. On account of their +higher organization, they are easily distinguished from both +Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms; and they present features which clearly +differentiate them amongst themselves. They did not make their entry +till after a long interval--and their remains are therefore to be found +in strata comparatively recent and better known to us than those of the +older rocks. It is in the Chalk, the newest of the Secondary or Mesozoic +formations, that they first exhibit themselves, and they do it in the +same fashion as their predecessors. + +When the Dicotyledons appear in the upper cretaceous beds, +representatives of the three great groups [_Apetalæ_, _Monopetalæ_, +_Polypetalæ_] appear together in the same deposit. Moreover, these +divisions are represented, not by generalized types, but by +differentiated forms, which, during the intervening epochs, have not +developed even into higher generic groups. + + * * * * * + +And, here again, there is no vestige of intermediate species, linking +dicotyledonous plants with other types. + + No trace of a plant belonging to this great division has yet been + detected in any earlier stratum [than the upper chalk]. There is no + evidence whatever for Haeckel's statement that the _Apetalæ_ + probably existed in the Triassic and Jurassic periods.... It cannot + be doubted that the conditions favourable to the preservation of + Monocotyledons and Equisetums would have secured the preservation + of some of the _Apetalæ_, had they existed. This absence can be + accounted for only on the supposition that they formed no part of + the then existing vegetation. And in the deposits older than the + Trias, or in any subsequent deposits, no intermediate form has been + detected,--no Gymnosperm or Monocotyledon which exhibits in any + point of its structure a modification towards the more highly + organized Dicotyledon. + + * * * * * + +Nor, on the same authority, is this all. + + It is equally important in its bearing on the hypothesis of genetic + evolution that the generic groups above named have persisted from + the first known appearance of Dicotyledons, throughout the whole of + the intervening ages, and still hold their places unchanged among + the existing forms of vegetation. The persistence of generic and + specific types, and the certain knowledge we possess of the life of + many existing species of Phanerogams and Cryptogams which have come + down through the Glacial Epoch, have not been sufficiently + considered in their bearing on the hypothesis. + +We have already seen something of an example which illustrates this +point in a remarkable manner,--that of _Salix polaris_, the willow which +has so obstinately preserved its specific identity amid great stress of +circumstances. It belongs to a very variable genus--one in which if +anywhere evidence of genetic development might be looked for. Yet it is +found that since a period prior to the great Ice Age, or Glacial epoch, +it has remained absolutely unchanged. At such a rate, we cannot but ask, +how long would Evolution take to get back to the generalized type-form, +or common ancestor, of the genus _Salix_, and then to that of the Order +_Salicineae_, which includes poplars as well as willows. "The Ordinal +form, if it ever existed, must necessarily be much older than the period +of the upper Cretaceous rocks, that is than the period to which the +earliest known Dicotyledons belong." + +And it is obvious that when we had got back to the parental stock of the +willow tribe, we should still, as evolutionists, be separated by a gulf +still vastly greater from the common ancestor of all Dicotyledons, of +oaks, apple-trees, primroses, and daisies no less than of willows and +poplars. + +The significance of all these various facts is thus summed up: + + The whole evidence supplied by fossil plants is, then, opposed to + the hypothesis of genetic evolution, and especially the sudden and + simultaneous appearance of the most highly organized plants at + particular stages in the past history of the globe, and the entire + absence amongst fossil plants of any forms intermediate between + existing classes or families. The facts of palæontological botany + are opposed to Evolution, but they testify to Development, to + progression from lower to higher types. The cellular Algæ preceded + the Vascular Cryptogams and the Gymnosperms of the Newer Palæozoic + rocks, and these were speedily followed by Monocotyledons, and, at + a much later period, by Dicotyledons. But the earliest + representatives of these various sections of the vegetable kingdom + were not generalized forms, but as highly organized as recent + forms, and in many cases more highly organized: and the divisions + were as clearly bounded in their essential characters, and as + decidedly separated from each other as they are at the present day. + +So much for the vegetable world. As for the animal, although the number +and complexity of its divisions makes it less easy to present so +complete a sketch in these moderate limits, the features of its history +are very similar. As Sir J. W. Dawson recounts it:[253] + +ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT. + + +----------------------------------------------------+ + | Post Tertiary. | Man and Modern Mammals. | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + { | Pliocene. | | + { +----------------------------------------------------+ + Tertiary. { | Miocene. | | + { +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + { | Eocene. | Placental Mammals (Ungulates, | + { | | Unguiculates, Rodents, | + { | | Whales, Bats). | + +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + { | Chalk. | | + { +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + Secondary.{ | Oolite. | Birds. | + { +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + { | Trias. | Marsupial Mammals. | + +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + { | Permian. | Reptiles (various orders). | + { +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + { | Carboniferous. | | + { +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + { | Devonian, or | Millipeds, Insects, Spiders, | + { | Old Red Sandstone.| Scorpions, Fish, Batrachians, | + { | | etc. | + { +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + Primary. { | Silurian. | | + { +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + { | Cambrian. | Shell Fish, Sponges, Molluscs, | + { | | Crustaceans, Worms, etc. | + { +-------------------+--------------------------------+ + { | Huronian. | } | + { +-------------------+--}-----------------------------| + { | Laurentian. | } Protozoa. | + +===================+================================+ + | AZOIC. | | + +In the Cambrian age, we obtain a vast and varied accession of living +things, which appear at once, as if by a sudden and simultaneous +production of many kinds of animals. Here we find evidence that the sea +swarmed with creatures near akin to those which still inhabit it, and +nearly as varied.... Had we been able to drop our dredge into the +Cambrian or Silurian ocean, we should have brought up representatives of +all the leading types of invertebrate life that exist in the modern +seas--different, it is true, in details of structure from those now +existing, but constructed on the same principles, and filling the same +places in nature. + +In the latter half of the Palæozoic we find a number of higher forms +breaking upon us with the same apparent suddenness as in the case of the +early Cambrian animals. Fishes appear, and soon abound in a great +variety of species, representing types of no mean rank, but, singularly +enough, belonging in many cases to groups now very rare; while the +commoner tribes of modern fish do not appear. On the land, Batrachian +Reptiles now abound, some of them very high in the sub-class to which +they belong. Scorpions, spiders, insects, and millipedes appear as well +as land-snails: and this not in one locality only, but over the whole +northern hemisphere.... Nor do they show any signs of an unformed or +imperfect state.... The compound eyes and filmy wings of insects, the +teeth, bones, and scales of batrachians and fishes; all are as perfectly +finished, and many quite as complex and elegant, as the animals of the +present day. + +This wonderful Palæozoic age was, however, but a temporary state of the +earth. It passed away, and was replaced by the Mesozoic, emphatically +the age of Reptiles, when animals of that type attained to colossal +magnitude, to variety of function and structure, to diversity of habitat +in sea and on land, altogether unexampled in their degraded descendants +of modern times.... Strangely enough, with these reptilian lords +appeared a few small and lowly mammals, forerunners of the coming +age.[254] Birds also made their appearance. + +The Kainozoic, or Tertiary, is the age of Mammals and of Man. In it the +great reptilian tyrants of the Mesozoic disappear, and are replaced on +land and sea by mammals or beasts of the same orders with those now +living, though differing as to genera and species. So greatly indeed did +mammalian life abound in this period that in the middle part of the +Tertiary most of the leading groups were represented by more numerous +species than at present, while many types then existing + + have now no representatives. At the close of this great and + wonderful procession of living beings comes Man himself--the last + and crowning triumph of creation the head, thus far, of life on the + earth. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE PROGRESS OF ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT. + +In the above Diagram the progress of Organic Development, as manifested +in higher and higher types, is indicated by the increasing divergence of +new forms from primitive simplicity of structure, represented by the +medium line separating the vegetable and animal kingdoms. + +The _Supposed line of continuous Evolution,_ indicates the gradual +course which should be taken by Development, on Darwinian or Spencerian +principles, by accumulation of minute differences in successive +generations, as contrasted with the abrupt and simultaneous appearance +of highly differentiated types, as spoken of by palæontologists. + +[_To face page 227._]] + +It must be sufficient to quote one other remark:[255] + + There is no direct evidence that in the course of geological time + one species has been gradually or suddenly changed into another.... + On the other hand, we constantly find species replaced by others + entirely new, and this without any transition. The two classes of + facts are essentially different, though often confounded by + evolutionists; and though it is possible to point out in the newer + geological formations some genera and species allied to others + which have preceded them, and to suppose that the later forms + proceeded from the earlier, still, as the connecting links cannot + be found, this is mere supposition, not scientific certainty. + Further, it proceeds on the principle of arbitrary choice of + certain forms out of many, without any evidence of genetic + connexion. + +Having given a tabular view of Geological periods and Life-epochs, +similar to those presented above, our author remarks:[256] + + If in the table above we were to represent diagrammatically the + development of animals and plants, this would appear not as a + smooth and continuous stream, but as a series of great waves, each + rising abruptly, and then descending and flowing on at a lower + level along with the remains of those preceding it. + +And here may be noticed an observation made amongst others by the Comte +de Saporta[257] on the remarkable parallelism of Animal and Vegetable +development. After a period in which these kingdoms were respectively +represented by aquatic _Algæ_ and _Protozoa_, land animals and land +plants appear to have come in much at the same epoch; and afterwards +dicotyledonous plants immediately preceded the advent of mammals. + +Mr. Mivart is of like mind with the others we have heard. "The mass of +palæontological evidence," he writes,[258] "is indeed overwhelmingly +against minute and gradual modification." He points out, with the _North +British_ Reviewer so frequently quoted, that had the later forms of life +descended from the earlier, through such a series of imperceptible +gradations as is imagined, the probability would be that no two fossil +specimens would be exactly alike, whereas in fact numbers are found of +certain particular patterns, and none whatever between them, fossil +animals and plants falling naturally into species, genera, families, and +other categories just like those of the present day. + +It is this total absence of graduated series, linking different forms +together, that is the great and fundamental difficulty in the way of +genetic evolution. Yet this seems very seldom to be realized, and it +seems constantly to be assumed that in order to establish the genetic +continuity of two creatures no more is required than to discover +another standing more or less between them. Thus in the most famous of +all instances, how often do we hear of "the missing link" between man +and ape,--as though should a generalized form be disclosed, which might +be considered a common ancestor, the question of man's simian origin +would be finally settled. In the same way, as we have seen, the +existence of birds with reptilian features, is taken by some as +conclusive proof that birds and reptiles have descended from one stock. +But what is most imperatively wanted, is persistently wanting,--namely +some evidence of a series in which one form passes to another, as in a +dissolving view. And yet, genetic evolutionists must suppose such series +to have been the universal rule throughout the whole course of life on +earth. + + Assuredly [writes M. de Quatrefages][259] is it not singularly + unfortunate for the evolutionary theory that so many facts which + tell against it should have been preserved in the scraps of + Nature's great book which remain to us, and that invariably those + which would have told in its favour were recorded in lost volumes + and missing leaves? + +In some particular instances the absence of any trace of intermediate +forms is especially significant. The tribe of Bats, for instance, is a +very singular one. The wings, in which form the fore-limbs are +specialized, represent the same elements as our own hands; and other +modifications of the same members have produced the paws of cats and +dogs, the hoofs of horses and cattle, and the flippers of whales and +porpoises,--to mention no others. What countless hosts of the Bat's +ancestors must have lived and died while by accumulation of minute +differences the primitive generalized limb whence all these diverse +forms originated, was being turned into a wing capable of flight. Yet of +all these no vestige is to be discovered. "Whenever the remains of bats +have been found," says Mr. Mivart,[260] "they have presented the exact +type of existing forms." The same, he tells us, holds good of other +flying creatures--birds and pterodactyles--(or flying lizards--now +wholly extinct). No trace of any of these is forthcoming while their +wings were in the making. "Yet had such a slow mode of origin as +Darwinians [and genetic evolutionists generally] contend for, operated +exclusively in all cases, it is absolutely incredible that bats, birds, +and pterodactyles should have left the remains they have, and yet not a +single relic be preserved in any one instance of any of these different +forms of wing in their incipient and relatively imperfect functional +condition!" + +There are other creatures which stand in solitary isolation, with no +fragments of a bridge to connect them with the general body. Such is the +rattlesnake's family, whose pedigree, Mr. Mivart declares,[261] we +cannot even imagine--"The ancestors of the rattlesnake are beyond our +mental vision." + + But the number of forms [says the same author][262] represented by + many individuals, yet by _no transitional ones_, is so great that + only two or three can be selected as examples. Thus those + remarkable fossil reptiles, the Icthyosauria and Plesiosauria, + extended, through the secondary period, probably over the greater + part of the globe. Yet no single transitional form has yet been met + with in spite of the multitudinous individuals preserved. Again, + with their modern representatives the Cetacea, one or two aberrant + forms alone have been found, but no series of transitional ones + indicating minutely the line of descent. This group, the whales, is + a very marked one, and it is curious, on Darwinian principles, that + so few instances tending to indicate its mode of origin should have + presented themselves. Here, as in the bats, we might surely expect + that some relics of unquestionably incipient stages of its + development would have been left. + +Professor W. C. Williamson likewise remarks[263] on these _lacunæ_ which +persistently occur at crucial points: + + If [he writes] these generic types [of plants] first came before us + in such clearly defined forms, when and where did the transitional + states make their appearance? The extreme evolutionists constantly + affirm of those who believe in special creation that they + "habitually suppose the origination to occur in some region remote + from human observation," and that "the conception survives only in + connexion with imagined places where the order of organic phenomena + is unknown." It is legitimate to retort upon them that they as + habitually resort to "strata now covered by the sea"--to rocks + "from which all traces of such fossils as they probably included + have been obliterated by igneous action," and to mysterious + "migrations from pre-existing continents to continents that were + step by step emerging from the ocean." Unfortunately, so far as the + vegetable kingdom is concerned, we have as yet failed to discover + any traces of these mysterious strata or hypothetical continents in + which the transitions from one plant-type to another were being + brought about. The believers in special creations are not the only + reasoners who have made free use of hypothetical possibilities. + +He presently adds: + + We have no evidence that unaided Nature has produced a single new + type during the historic period. We can only conclude that the + wonderful outburst of genetic activity which characterized the + Tertiary age was due to some unknown factor, which then operated + with an energy to which the earth was a stranger, both previously + and subsequently. The knowledge of this factor is what we need in + order to perfect our philosophy; and until we obtain that + knowledge, many things must remain unaccounted for, so far as + primeval vegetation is concerned. + +And elsewhere Professor Williamson reiterates the same idea:[264] + + I contend stoutly [he says] that, however numerous may be the facts + that sustain the doctrine of evolution (and I am prepared to admit + that there are many that do so in a remarkable manner), this + unexplained outburst of new life demands the recognition of some + factor not hitherto admitted into the calculations of the + evolutionist school. + +In the record of fossil fishes he finds some features which are +particularly hard to harmonize with any theory of genetic +evolution.[265] Amongst the very earliest representatives of this class, +even in the upper Silurian, are found remains of sharks, in his opinion +the highest order of fish, and in the Devonian and Carboniferous above, +of _Ganoids_ armour clad, like the sturgeon. But nowhere below the Chalk +do we find a single scale of _Cycloids_ or _Ctenoids_, which in regard +alike of the scales themselves, of the nervous system and of the +reproductive organs, are much below the sharks, and not above the +_Ganoids_. To complicate matters still more, however, the skeleton of +_Cycloids_ and _Ctenoids_ is more highly organized than that of the +others, and it is thus equally impossible to describe them as +progressive or as retrogressive types.[266] + +Over and above this absence of intermediate or link forms, the witnesses +who have been cited insist on the fact that those earliest found are +not simple or generalized representatives of their respective types, as +the theory of genetic evolution requires them to be, but are as +perfectly finished and specialized as those appearing in later ages. To +their testimony on this point may be added that of Professor Huxley, who +while frankly confessing that he would be glad enough to find evidence +in favour of such progressive modification, was constrained by his love +of scientific truth to bear witness as follows:[267] + + The only safe and unquestionable testimony we can procure--positive + evidence--fails to demonstrate any sort of progressive modification + towards a less embryonic, or less generalized type, in a great many + groups of animals of long-continued geological existence. In these + groups there is abundant evidence of variation--none of what is + generally understood as progression; and if the known geological + record is to be regarded as even any considerable fragment of the + whole, it is inconceivable that any theory of a necessarily + progressive development can stand, for the numerous orders and + families cited afford no trace of such a process. + +So again he declared at a later period[268] summarizing what he had said +previously: + + In answer to the question, What does an impartial survey of the + positively ascertained truths of palæontology testify in relation + to the common doctrines of progressive modification?... I reply: It + negatives these doctrines; for it either shows us no evidence of + such modification, or demonstrates such modification as has + occurred to have been very slight; and as to the nature of that + modification, it yields no evidence whatsoever that the earliest + members of a long-existing group were more generalized in structure + than the later ones. + +He went on, however, to say, on this latter occasion, that discoveries +made in the interval afforded much ground for softening "the Brutus-like +severity" which eight years before he had exhibited in this regard, by +disclosing such evidence as he had declared to be lacking. From the +samples, however, which he produced, it does not appear that this fresh +testimony comes to very much; and in view of the observations with which +he accompanied the exposition, it would seem that in only one instance +did it appear to himself thoroughly satisfactory. + + Every fossil [he said][269] which takes an intermediate place + between forms of life already known, may be said, so far as it is + intermediate, to be evidence in favour of Evolution, inasmuch as it + shows a possible road by which Evolution may have taken place. But + the mere discovery of such a form does not, in itself, prove that + Evolution took place by and through it, nor does it constitute + more than presumptive evidence in favour of Evolution in general. + + It is easy[270] to accumulate probabilities--hard to make out some + particular case in such a way that it will stand rigorous + criticism. After much search, however, I think that such a case is + to be made out in favour of the pedigree of the Horse. + +Of this famous instance we have already heard, and since it will be +examined at length in the following chapter, we will not dwell further +upon it here. + +So obvious indeed is this deficiency for evolutionary requirements of +the Geological record, that Professor Haeckel attempts to supply the +want by boldly interpolating a number of periods during which the +metamorphoses occurred, but of which no record was left. He assumes that +between the epochs of depression, when fossils were deposited beneath +the water, there were other epochs of elevation when the land was dry +and no deposits could occur, and he supposes that the abrupt changes of +flora and fauna exhibited by successive formations, are due to the lapse +of time of which we have no organic record in what he styles these +"Ante-periods." + +As to this summary mode of loosing the Gordian knot, it will be +sufficient to quote Professor Huxley's verdict: "I confess this is +wholly incredible to me."[271] And although in his favourable review of +Haeckel's book[272] he showed himself far more tolerant of gratuitous +speculations, than his utterances on other occasions might have led us +to expect, upon this point he declared: "I fundamentally and entirely +disagree with Professor Haeckel." + +We may sum up the testimonies of which the above are representative in +the words of two authorities by no means hostile to Evolution. M. Edmond +Perrier,[273] having shewn how this theory is suggested by the +successive developments of type, and how the phenomena of organic life +seem to harmonize with it, thus continues: + + Unfortunately, when we descend to details, such palæontological + gaps present themselves that every sort of objection is possible. + The chain which morphology has allowed us to piece together is + continually snapped when we essay to travel back into the past.... + The art of distinguishing realities from phantoms of the + imagination is what has made modern science so great and so mighty. + She is strong enough to win honour by avowing ignorance, and + because men see her always determined to speak the truth, they + gradually realize that she is not dangerous. + +And in his Presidential address to the Linnean Society, May 24, 1902, +Professor S. H. Vines thus expressed himself as to the genealogical +table of organic life, which ever since the doctrine of Evolution was +accepted, it has been sought to construct: + + Though here and there fragments of the mosaic seem to have been + successfully pieced together, the main outlines, even, of the great + picture are as yet but dimly discernible. + + The fact that organic Evolution should have proceeded so far as it + has within such limits of time as may reasonably be allowed, + admits, to my mind, of no other interpretation than that variation + is not indeterminate, but, as Lamarck and Nägeli have urged, there + must exist in living matter a certain inherent tendency or bias in + favour of variation in the higher direction. It is this tendency or + bias that I venture to regard as the primordial factor. + +But it is precisely such an inherent tendency of organic life to develop +on predetermined lines, which Darwinians and other advocates of +Evolution by the agency of physical forces alone, vehemently repudiate +as fatal to their whole system. + + [Since Professor Williamson wrote, the opinion has been adopted + that for the very reason which induced him to place the Sharks + above the _Cycloids_ and _Ctenoids_, their relative positions + should be reversed. The Sharks being a more "generalized" type, + with features more akin to those of land-dwelling reptiles, and the + others more "specialized" for purely aquatic conditions, the + latter, it is argued, are a higher evolutionary product. As a + necessary corollary it is assumed that vertebrate life originated, + not, as had been supposed, in the sea, but in swamps or lagoons on + the shore-line. It must, however, remain a question how far the + facility with which theories can thus be modified according to + requirements, is calculated to inspire confidence in them.] + + + + +XVII + +"AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM" + + +We have heard Mr. Carruthers' declaration, based upon his survey of +palæontological botany, "The whole evidence is against Evolution, and +there is none in favour of it." + +Remarkably enough, at almost the same period[274] Professor Huxley +concluded a discussion of palæontological evidence with a precisely +contrary pronouncement--"The whole evidence is in favour of Evolution, +and there is none against it." On other occasions, also, he distinctly +maintained that it is just this line of enquiry which conclusively +establishes Evolution as no longer a theory, but an historical fact. To +such a conclusion, he tells us,[275] "an acute and critical-minded +investigator is led by the facts of palæontology;"--and, again, "If the +doctrine of Evolution had not existed, palæontologists must have +invented it, so irresistibly is it forced upon the mind by the study of +the remains of the Tertiary mammalia." + +Such declarations clearly challenge consideration, especially when it +is remembered how strict were the views which Professor Huxley professed +as to the necessity of proofs for our beliefs,--"that it is wrong for a +man to say he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition +unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that +certainty."[276] + +We therefore turn naturally to his lectures on Evolution, wherein he +treats the palæontological argument _ex professo_, and we find that his +verdict is based upon a few selected instances, such as that of the +reptilian birds already mentioned, which he considers favourable to +Evolution, and one which he terms _demonstrative_,--namely that of the +Horse. This he treats in some detail; in regard of it he delivers the +positive judgment which we have just heard, and it therefore in a +special manner demands our attention. + +As furnishing evidence for the history of the horse, two features are of +special importance, his limbs, and his teeth. Of these we may confine +our attention to the former, as being, at once, sufficient for our +purpose, and within the scope of ordinary observation. + +The horse family, or _Equidae_, belong to the tribe of Ungulates, or +hoofed animals, some points of whose anatomy require to be considered in +relation to our own. + +Taking first the fore-limbs. What we call the "knee" of a horse is in +reality the wrist,--the true knee, or rather elbow, being what we call +the "shoulder." Below the knee comes the "cannon bone," corresponding to +the middle bone of the hand, and below it the "pastern," "coronary," and +"coffin" bones, representing the joints of the solitary middle-finger, +while the hoof is its greatly enlarged and thickened nail. Similarly, in +the hind-limbs; the "hock" is veritably the ankle, and again the lateral +digits are suppressed, the middle toe alone remaining. + +It thus appears that an Ungulate such as the horse, is an extreme +modification of the general Mammalian plan, his members being highly +specialized for a certain kind of work. His leg and hoof, as the theory +of genetic Evolution declares, have been gradually fashioned to their +present shape from an original limb in the common Mammalian ancestor, +which by other modifications has equally produced the totally different +members possessed by other mammals. + +That the horse is descended from a race bearing more than one digit on +each extremity, seems to be indicated by the splint-bones which are +found on the cannon-bone of both fore and hind legs, and which represent +the second and fourth finger and toe, and also by recorded occurrences +of polydactyle horses, one of which has a distinguished place in history +as Julius Cæsar's charger.[277] + +That the animal as we now know him is the lineal descendant of various +other ungulates, in whom the digits were gradually reduced from the +normal number of five, to their present solitary representative, +Professor Huxley and other Evolutionists hold to be demonstrated by the +discovery in due succession of various equine specimens, in which this +diminution is gradually exhibited. + +The remains of these animals are all found in _Tertiary_ strata, of +which, it will be remembered, there are three great divisions, the +_Eocene_, _Miocene_, and _Pliocene_, the first named being the most +ancient, and the last the most recent. + +The genus _Equus_, or at least our modern horse, _Equus caballus_, can +be traced no further back than the _Post-tertiary_ period. The +succession of forms leading up thither commences at the bottom of the +_Eocene_, and extends to the upper _Pliocene_. + +Following Professor Huxley's guidance, we trace the pedigree downwards, +thus: + + Firstly, there is the true horse. Next we have the American + Pliocene form, _Pliohippus_. In the conformation of its limbs it + presents some very slight deviations from the ordinary horse. Then + comes _Protohippus_, which represents the European _Hipparion_, + having one large digit and two small ones on each foot.... But it + is more valuable than _Hipparion_, for certain peculiarities tend + to show that the latter is rather a member of a collateral branch, + than a form in the direct line of succession. Next, in the backward + order in time, is the _Miohippus_, [_Miocene_], which corresponds + pretty nearly with the _Anchitherium_ of Europe. It presents three + complete toes--one large median and two smaller lateral ones; and + there is a rudiment of that digit which answers to the little + finger of the human hand. The European record stops here: in the + American Tertiaries, the series of ancestral equine forms is + continued into the Eocene. An older Miocene form, _Mesohippus_, has + three toes in front, with a large splint-like rudiment representing + the little finger, and three toes behind. The _radius_ and _ulna_, + _tibia_ and _fibula_,[278] are distinct. Most important of all is + the _Orohippus_, from the Eocene. Here we find four complete toes + on the front limb, three toes on the hind-limb, a well developed + _ulna_, a well developed _fibula_. + +Here, when the lecture which we are considering was delivered, the +series terminated:--and upon the facts as above given Professor Huxley +thus commented: + + Thus, it has become evident that, so far as our present knowledge + extends, the history of the horse-type is exactly and precisely + that which could have been predicted from a knowledge of the + principles of Evolution. And the knowledge we now possess justifies + us completely in the anticipation, that when the still lower Eocene + deposits, and those which belong to the Cretaceous Epoch have + yielded up their remains, we shall find, first, a form with four + complete toes and a rudiment of the innermost or first digit in + front, with probably a rudiment of the fifth digit in the hind + foot; while, in still older forms, the series of the digits will be + more and more complete, until we come to the five-toed animals, in + which, if the doctrine of Evolution is well founded, the whole + series must have taken its origin. + +Finally he was able to add in a note that since the delivery of the +lecture, Professor Marsh had discovered a new genus of Equine Mammals, +_Eohippus_, corresponding very nearly to his description of what might +first be looked for. "This," adds Professor Huxley, "is what I mean by +demonstrative evidence of Evolution.... In fact, the whole evidence is +in favour of Evolution, and there is none against it." + + * * * * * + +That these facts are indeed most remarkable and deserving of all +attention, cannot be questioned. But before we can agree that they are +conclusive and demonstrative in Professor Huxley's sense a good many +considerations require to be carefully weighed. + +(i.) It is obvious, in the first place, that here as in all other +instances which we have seen, the one thing is lacking which is really +wanted in order to prove Evolution, namely evidence of one species +gradually shading off into another. The creatures of which we have +heard, are each isolated from the rest, and indeed very much isolated, +for each belongs to a different _genus_,[279] which shows that the +differences between them are substantial. They are, in fact, farther +apart from one another, than the zebra or the donkey from the horse, for +both of these are classed in the genus _equus_,--or than the Bengal +tiger is from the domestic pussy-cat, both belonging to the genus +_felis_. + +These various ungulate forms thus stand a long way from one another, and +if they were once connected together by a bridge, or rather a causeway, +we ought certainly to find some traces of it, and not always of those +particular types which require to be united. If we suppose the very +distinct species actually known to have been the piers of such a bridge, +yet what has become of the arches? Till some vestiges of these be found, +or, at least, some positive evidence that arches there actually were, +can it be said that the story of the fossil _equidae_ furnishes +convincing testimony on behalf of the supposed evolution? Affinities +these various forms undoubtedly exhibit: it has yet to be shown that +affinities necessarily imply descent. + +There is, however, something even more remarkable. We have seen that +Professor Huxley prognosticated beforehand the discovery of _Eohippus_, +and specified pretty nearly the features it would be found to present. +In the same way, Professor Marsh[280] anticipates and describes a still +more remote ancestral form, for which, though it has not yet been +found, he has provided an appellation, _Hippops_. But if either +Professor really believes in Evolution, why does he take for granted +that we shall chance upon one particular form, standing like a solitary +outpost by itself, and not upon any other trace of the stream of life +whereof it was but one transient phase? Such predictions may be evidence +that the occurrence of these progressive forms is regulated by something +analogous to Bode's Law of interplanetary distances, and that their +discovery may be looked for at certain intervals. But the very fact that +their actual position can be so accurately specified serves to show that +it is very definitely fixed. + +(ii.) Moreover, a very grave difficulty at once suggests itself, of +which Professor Huxley makes no mention. The horse as we now have him, +_Equus caballus_, is a native of the Old World, and has been introduced +to America only since the time of Columbus. There had, it is true, been +horses in America previously,--belonging to the genus _Equus_, perhaps +even to the species _caballus_,--they had, however, been long extinct, +and no memory of them remained. But, as will be noticed, the pedigree +given by Professor Huxley consists almost entirely of American animals, +to which category belong all whose names terminate in _-hippus_, and +these cannot with any reason be assigned as progenitors to the European +horse. As Sir J. W. Dawson observes:[281] + + In America a series of horse-like animals has been selected, + beginning with the _Eohippus_ of the Eocene--an animal the size of + a fox, and with four toes in front and three behind--and these have + been marshalled as the ancestors of the fossil horses of + America.... Yet all this is purely arbitrary, and dependent merely + on a succession of genera more and more closely resembling the + modern horse being procurable from successive Tertiary deposits + often widely separated in time and place. In Europe, on the other + hand, the ancestry of the horse has been traced back to + _Palæotherium_--an entirely different form--by just as likely + indications, the truth being that as the group to which the horse + belongs culminated in the early Tertiary times, the animal has too + many imaginary ancestors. Both genealogies can scarcely be true, + and there is no actual proof of either. The existing American + horses, which are of European origin, are, according to the theory, + descendants of _Palæotherium_, not of _Eohippus_; but if we had not + known this on historical evidence, there would have been nothing to + prevent us from tracing them to the latter animal. This simple + consideration alone is sufficient to show that such genealogies are + not of the nature of scientific evidence. + +(iii.) Even apart from this fundamental difficulty, there is much +diversity as to the precise genealogy. We may compare together the lines +of ancestry favoured--(1) by Professor Huxley, (2) In a case exhibited +in our Museum of Natural History to illustrate the subject, (3) By Mr. +Mivart,[282] (4) By Mr. Lydekker,[283] (5) In The _Evolution of the +Horse_, a pamphlet issued, January, 1903, by the American Museum. This +last gives the very latest version of the pedigree, but, naturally, of +the American Horse alone. + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + _Huxley._ |_British_ | _Mivart._ |_Lydekker._ |_American + |_Museum Case._ | | | Museum._ + ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + Equus |Equus |Equus |Equus |Equus + Pliohippus | | | | + Protohippus |Hipparion |Hipparion |Hipparion |Hipparion + | |Protohippus |Protohippus |Hypohippus + Miohippus | |Anchitherium |Anchitherium |Merychippus + Anchitherium|Anchitherium | |{Anchilophus |{Mesohippus + Mesohippus |Protohippus |Pachynolophus|{(_form allied to_)|{ (_2 species_) + |{Mesohippus | | |Epihippus + Orohippus |{ (_2 species_)| |{Hyracotherium |Protorohippus + Eohippus |Hyracotherium |Phenacodus |{Systemodon |Eohippus + | | | |_An undiscovered + | | | | ancestor_ + | | | | (Hippops) + ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +It will be observed, that whereas _Hipparion_ is disallowed by Professor +Huxley as not being in the direct line of descent, in all the other +genealogies he appears as the immediate ancestor of _Equus_. Also that +in all these tables, Old World and New World forms are used +indifferently to supply progenitors for the same successor. Also that +there is no agreement at all as to the earlier ancestry. It would +likewise appear that even the existence of _Eohippus_ himself is not +beyond question, for in our Museum galleries and guide-book his name +always has a note of interrogation appended. The American authorities +give an anticipatory sketch of the limbs of the ancestor which still +remains to be discovered. + +There is something even more remarkable. + + +DEVELOPMENT OF EQUIDÆ. + + / +---------------------------------------------------+ + Recent. { | Equus Caballus.{*} | + \ +---------------------------------------------------+ + / | | + { | Equus Stenonis.{*}{**} E. Sivalensis.{*}{**} &c. | + Quaternary. { | Hippidium.{**} E. Americanus.{**} &c. | + { | | + \ +---------------------------------------------------+ + / | | + { | | + { | Pliohippus. | + / { | | + { Pliocene. { | Hipparion.{*}{**} Protohippus. | + { { | | + { { | | + { \ | | + { +---------------------------------------------------+ + { / | | +TERTIARY. { { | | + { Miocene. { | Hypohippus. Parahippus. | + { { | Miohippus. Anchitherium.{*} | + { { | Merychippus. | + { { | Mesohippus. | + { \ | | + { +---------------------------------------------------+ + { / | Epihippus. | + { { | Orohippus. Hyracotherium.{*} | + { Eocene. { | Protorohippus. Pachynolophus.{*} | + { { | Eohippus. | + \ { | Phenacodus. | + \ | | + +---------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | Hippops (undiscovered). | + SECONDARY. | | + | No trace of Mammals except small | + | Marsupials and Insectivora. | + | | + +{* Indicates an inhabitant of the Old World. All others are American.} + +{** "Not in direct line of ancestry."} + +Huxley's lecture exhibiting the pedigree we have been considering was +delivered in 1876. We have already seen that six years earlier he had +declared himself satisfied, after much search, that though other +genealogies might be doubtful, we had in the case of the Horse something +really satisfactory. But the pedigree of 1870--which he thus indicated +as scientifically established--was totally different from that of 1876, +and was acknowledged as erroneous by the very acceptance of the latter. +In 1870 the ancestry presented for _Equus_ consisted of _Hipparion_, +_Anchitherium_, and _Plagiolophus_. Of these, _Hipparion_ was in 1876 +specifically disallowed as a direct ancestor: _Anchitherium_ was +displaced by _Miohippus_, and although we are told that these creatures +"correspond pretty nearly," the Horse cannot be descended from _both_, +especially as they dwelt in different hemispheres. Finally +_Plagiolophus_ disappears from the amended pedigree altogether. Nothing +could more vividly illustrate the danger of such speculations than that +an authority so clear-headed and conscientious as Professor Huxley +should thus proclaim his acceptance of a genealogy which he had on after +information to renounce. Nor to him alone have such misadventures +happened. Mr. Darwin too thought the claim of _Hipparion_ to ancestral +equine rank to be beyond dispute. "No one will deny," he wrote,[284] +"that the _Hipparion_ is intermediate between the existing horse and +certain older ungulate forms." Yet, as we see, this has been denied by +his champion Huxley himself. + +(iv.) The materials available for the reconstruction of these various +equine forms, are far less satisfactory than might easily be supposed. +As a rule, each is known to us only by small fragments of its skeleton, +so that we can have no assurance as to what the whole animal was really +like, or even that all parts assigned to one creature really belonged to +him. We can accordingly feel no certainty that if we could see any of +these as a whole we should find it possible to suppose that the horse +descended from it. Thus in _Hippidium_, an American genus closely allied +to _Equus_, it is at least doubtful whether the digits did not terminate +in claws.[285] One species of _Hippidium_ is known only by a solitary +tooth. Of _Hyracotherium_ only the skull has been found: of _Orohippus_ +only parts of jaws and teeth and a forefoot: of _Epihippus_, "only +incomplete specimens."[286] Accordingly, Professor Williamson, speaking +of the discoveries of Professor Marsh and others, thus expresses +himself:[287] + + Beyond all question, some of the gaps that have hitherto separated + the three animals [_Anchitherium_, _Hipparion_, and _Equus_] are + filled up by these discoveries; but I want yet more evidence before + I can arrive at the conclusion that the doctrine of Evolution is + proved by these facts beyond the possibility of question. It + appears to me that before I can unhesitatingly give to the + testimony of these fossil horses the full value I am asked to do, I + must know more about them than is at present possible. It will not + be enough that the limbs and teeth of these creatures indicate + transmutation, but such transmutation must be evidenced by every + part of the animal. This demand is especially applicable to the + stages which intervene between the Hipparion and the horse.... + Myriads of individuals must have existed to effect the gradual + shading of the one into the other in every part of its body. + +(v.) It should likewise be remarked that in one not unimportant +particular, the plates so commonly given to illustrate the horse's +ancestry do not fairly represent the facts. It would appear from them +that all the animals were much of a size, which doubtless greatly +assists the imagination in picturing them as all in one line of descent. +But as a matter of fact they differed in stature extremely, and the +remoter supposed progenitors were comparative pigmies. _Hyracotherium_, +for instance, was "about the size of a hare,"[288] and according to +Professor Cope, _Orohippus_ was the exact counterpart of this diminutive +steed. The hypothetical _Hippops_, which Professor Marsh locates in the +lower Tertiary or upper Secondary rocks, can, he thinks,[289] now "be +predicated with certainty;" and amongst other things it "probably was +not larger than a rabbit, perhaps much smaller." Sometimes, so far as +evidence goes, it even seems that in respect of size there was +deterioration instead of advance as the lineage progressed. Thus +_Epihippus_, found in the Upper Eocene, is considerably smaller than +_Protorohippus_, found in the Middle Eocene; "but," says the American +pamphlet,[290] "no doubt there were others of larger size living at the +same time," which will scarcely be called convincing. + +[Illustration: "THE PEDIGREE OF THE HORSE," FROM THE AMERICAN MUSEUM. + +"THE PEDIGREE OF THE HORSE," FROM HUXLEY'S _LECTURES ON EVOLUTION_.] + +(vi.) Worthy of notice also is "the remarkable circumstance that in the +line of evolution culminating in the modern Horse, a parallel series of +generically identical or closely allied forms occurs in the Tertiaries +of both Europe and North America, from which it has been suggested that +on both continents a parallel development of the same genera has +simultaneously taken place."[291] And, as we have seen, while the +American pedigree must have been entirely different from the European, +it terminates equally in both continents with the genus _Equus_, if not +actually with _Equus caballus_.[292] But, on any mechanical system of +evolution, it is impossible to suppose that developments conducted along +separate roads could thus be brought to meet in one terminus.[293] Mr. +Darwin did not conceive it possible that the same species should be +produced twice over, "if even the very same conditions of life, organic +and inorganic should recur,"[294] and the production of genuine horses, +not only in widely diverse circumstances, but through totally different +ancestors, must appear still less conceivable. Consequently, says Mr. +Mivart,[295] "it follows from this generic identity, that classification +will be no longer Darwinian, but one more Aristotelian, and will regard, +not the origin but the _outcome_ of development, whether of the +individual or the species." + +(vii.) There is, however, another consideration more serious than any of +the above. In order to set the theory of genetic Evolution upon a sound +and substantial basis, it is not sufficient to show that the last +ungulate is lineally descended from the first,--_Equus_ from _Eohippus_, +_Hyracotherium_, _Phenacodus_, or _Hippops_,--but that this first +ungulate himself--whichever it was--has been, or at least may have been, +similarly developed from a non-ungulate Mammalian ancestor, the common +parent of all the protean forms assumed by his progeny. To develop all +these from one original, through a graduated series in each case, by the +infinitesimal process of descent with modification, would require a +period of time inconceivably long--immensely longer than that required +to change one ungulate into another. Ungulates, as has been said, are a +highly specialized type of Mammals, and although they walked on the +nails of five digits instead of only one, a vast amount of Evolution +would be required to bring them even to this point, from that whence all +Mammals are said to have started. There must also have existed, while +this development was in progress, a teeming and multitudinous mammalian +life, as raw material for its operations--and of this at least _some_ +trace should remain. + +But, so far as we know, the first Ungulates made their appearance upon +earth quite as soon as did any other mammals from which they could +possibly have sprung. _Phenacodus_, is in fact described as,[296] "The +most primitive Eocene mammal yet discovered." He appears in the Lower +Tertiary; while the Secondary and Mesozoic rocks beneath,--the whole +period covered by which would be none too long for the evolution of +Tertiary mammals generally,--are practically devoid of mammalian remains +altogether, exhibiting only a few small marsupials, from which we can no +more suppose _Phenacodus_ and the huge and various beasts who were his +Eocene contemporaries to have developed, than from opossums the size of +shrew-mice. + +It also complicates matters not a little to find that when placental +mammals first show themselves all over the world at the beginning of +the Eocene,--while this highly specialized order of the Ungulates seems +to have been much the most numerous, it had a host of contemporaries, of +extreme diversities of structure:--as for instance Unguiculates (or +clawed animals) allied to the Hyena and the Fox, Rodents (gnawing +animals) akin to the Squirrel, as well as Whales and Bats. Of the +Cetaceans, Sir J. W. Dawson tells us:[297] + + The oldest of the whales are in their dentition more perfect than + any of their successors, since their teeth are each implanted by + two roots, and have serrated crowns, like those of the seals. The + great Eocene whales of the South Atlantic (_Zeuglodon_) which have + these characters, attained the length of seventy feet, and are + undoubtedly the first of the whales in rank as well as in time. + This is perhaps one of the most difficult facts to explain on the + theory of Evolution.... "We may question," says Gaudry,[298] "these + strange and gigantic sovereigns of the Tertiary oceans as to their + progenitors--they leave us without reply." ... Their silence is the + more significant as one can scarcely suppose these animals to have + been nurtured in any limited or secluded space in the early stages + of their development. + +The Bats, as is obvious, would require quite as much transformation from +the generalized mammalian type as the Whales themselves, though in +quite another direction. But they appear with their wings fully +developed, in the Eocene, in both Hemispheres. + + Gaudry thinks [writes Sir J. W. Dawson][299] that it is "natural to + suppose" that there must have been species existing previously with + shorter fingers[300] and rudimentary wings; but there are no facts + to support this supposition, which is the more questionable since + the supposed rudimentary wings would be useless, and perhaps + harmful to their possessors. Besides, if from the Eocene to the + present, the Bats have remained the same, how long would it take to + develop an animal with ordinary feet, like those of a shrew, into a + bat? + +Such instances are by no means singular, nor are like difficulties +confined to the Eocene. In the Miocene above, about the time when +Anchitherium flourished, there appeared a family with whom he might +claim relationship, for they were not only akin to the Ungulates but +Perissodactyles, or "odd-toed," like himself. These were the +"Proboscideae"--"the beasts that bear between their eyes a serpent for a +hand," in other words the Elephants and their allies. These, like other +families, amongst their earliest representatives included the giants of +their race, for some of their Miocene specimens[301] are about half as +large again as the largest of our modern elephants. Professor Ray +Lankester has recently declared[302] that we now understand the genetic +affinities of these creatures, whose faces have been pulled out into +trunks with the nose at the extremity, and in support of his statement +he adduces the features of the cranium as exhibited in certain +recently-discovered specimens. But how far can conclusions be called +final which are based upon such partial evidence?[303] As M. Gaudry, +convinced Evolutionist as he is, acknowledges, in regard of this very +matter:[304] + + Like the Mastodons, the Dinotheria appeared suddenly. Whence did + they come? from what quadrupeds did they spring? At present we do + not know.... The points of difference [from other mammals] taken as + a whole, and compared with the points of resemblance, are too great + to enable us to point to any relationship between the Proboscideans + and animals of other orders as yet known to us. + +Such then are some of the still unanswered questions connected with the +genesis of the Horse, "the most famous instance of geological +evidence"[305] which Professor Huxley selects as proving Evolution to +demonstration. It is by no means easy to understand how it could ever be +supposed to merit any such description. In view of the various +difficulties recited above it can hardly be thought that there is +satisfactory evidence even of the modicum of Evolution for which alone +are such arguments brought, namely within the limits of the _Equidæ_. +Even were the reality of this established to the full, how would such +evidence compare with that we have heard, drawn not from one corner of +Organic Nature, but from a review of the great lines of its +history?[306] + +We find indeed that while Professor Huxley declares palæontology to be +the main support of Evolution, other authorities tell us the exact +contrary. + + The doctrine of organic evolution [says Sir J. W. Dawson][307] is + essentially biological rather than geological, and has been much + more favoured by biologists than by those whose studies lead them + more specially to consider the succession of animals and plants + revealed by the rocks of the earth. + +Similarly Professor Williamson,[308] speaking of the efforts made to +obtain evidence on behalf of Evolution, says: "Not only living, but +extinct animals have been appealed to; Professor Huxley especially has, +with his wonted skilfulness, made use of the latter to buttress the +geological side of the structure, which is confessedly its weakest one." + +More important than all,--Mr. Darwin himself fully acknowledged that the +palæontological evidence is far short of what it should be:--and +attempted to meet the difficulty by pleading the imperfection of the +geological record:--a plea to be more fully considered presently. + +We must not leave unnoticed the method of dealing with the geological +record adopted by Professor Haeckel. Of this we have already seen a +slight specimen,--- in the gratuitous and baseless assertion that the +apetalous Dicotyledons date as far back as the Trias, at the very bottom +of the Secondary period, by which, were it a fact, a serious +Evolutionary void would be filled. In the same manner he draws a +perfectly imaginary picture of the submarine forests of primeval days, +in which "we may suppose" all the forms of after vegetation to have +begun their career as seaweeds.[309] + +But in regard of his favourite doctrine of the bestial origin of man, he +goes much further, and prints[310] an elaborate genealogy upon which +Professor Huxley in reviewing him makes no adverse remark. In this he +exhibits, as a simple matter of scientific fact, an "Ancestral Series of +the human pedigree," which ninety-nine per cent, of his readers will +naturally suppose to be based upon palæontological evidence. This +wonderful genealogy stands thus: + +1. _Monera._ 2. Single-celled Primeval animals. 3. Many-celled Primeval +animals. 4. Ciliated planulæ (_Planæada_). 5. Primeval Intestinal +animals (_Gastræada_). 6. Gliding Worms (_Turbellaria_). 7. Soft-worms +(_Scolecida_). 8. Sack worms (_Himatega_). 9. _Acrania._ 10. +_Monorrhina._ 11. Primeval fish (_Selachii_). 12. Salamander fish +(_Dipneusta_). 13. Gilled Amphibia (_Sozobranchia_). 14. Tailed Amphibia +(_Sozura_). 15. Primeval Amniota (_Protamnia_). 16. Primary Mammals +(_Promammalia_). 17. _Marsupialia._ 18. Semi-apes (_Prosimiæ_). 19. +Tailed narrow-nosed Apes. 20. Tail-less narrow-nosed Apes (Men-like +Apes). 21. _Pithecanthropus_ (Speechless or Ape-like Man). 22. Talking +Man. + + The first thing to remark [says M. de Quatrefages][311] is that not + one of the creatures exhibited in this pedigree has ever been seen, + either living or fossil. Their existence is based entirely upon + theory.[312] All species, existing or extinct, are said to have + been preceded by ancestral forms, which have disappeared leaving + no vestige behind.... All the ancestral groups more or less ill + represented in the actual organic world, do not suffice to fill up + the gaps in his pedigree; from one stage to another there is + sometimes too broad a gulf. Then Haeckel invents the types + themselves, as well as the line of descent to which he assigns them + [for example No. 7, The _Scolecida_, and No. 21, + _Pithecanthropus_]. + +This kind of "Science" does not deserve to be treated seriously. It will +be sufficient to cite another observation of M. de Quatrefages:[313] + + If Darwin erred in regarding our very ignorance as to some degree + telling in favour of his notions, he never tried to re-write the + missing volumes of the earth's history, to restore the chapters + which have been torn out, or to fill the blanks upon pages that + have come down to us. But this is just what Haeckel does + continually. Whenever a branch or a twig is lacking on his + genealogical trees, whenever the transit from one type to another + would appear too abrupt, were we to restrict ourselves to creatures + actually known, he invents species and groups bodily, to which he + unhesitatingly assigns a place in phylogeny, often a part in + phylogenesis. Sometimes he calls in ontogeny to countenance the + discovery of supposed ancestors: but frequently he does no more + than affirm their existence. He thus creates a fauna, entirely + hypothetical, of which Vogt rightly said that no man ever saw a + trace of it, or ever will. + +It is in this fashion that Professor Haeckel habitually solves the +Riddles of the Universe. + +As Vogt himself wrote,[314] "We shall be compelled to patch and alter +these genealogical trees of species, which up to this time have been set +forth as the last word of Science, and especially of Darwinism." + +And Du Bois-Reymond,[315] "Man's pedigree, as drawn up by Haeckel, is +worth about as much as is that of Homer's heroes for critical +historians." + +There remains to be considered Darwin's own explanation of the admitted +deficiency of palæontological evidence. + + The main cause [he writes][316] of innumerable intermediate links + [between different forms] not now occurring everywhere throughout + nature, depends on the very process of natural selection, through + which new varieties continually take the places of and supplant + their parent-forms. But just in proportion as this process of + extermination has acted on an enormous scale, so must the number of + intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed, be truly + enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every + stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not + reveal any such finely-graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, + is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged + against the theory. The explanation lies, as I believe, in the + extreme imperfection of the geological record. + +How imperfect this record is he proceeds to argue at length, and he has +no difficulty in showing how much of it has at one time or other been +defaced by natural causes, and how small a portion has been laid open to +our inspection. But although his demonstration on this point is +continually quoted, as though it solved the difficulty, it does not +appear that it need detain us long. + +It is, in the first place, obvious that the absence of evidence cannot +prove the truth of the theory of Evolution or any other, and it is proof +of that theory which is required. Apart from palæontological facts, as +Professor Huxley has told us, there can be no conclusive evidence one +way or the other; and if the geological record be not sufficiently +complete to supply such evidence, the theory cannot possibly claim to be +scientifically established. + +Is it not also, as M. de Quatrefages has remarked, very singular that +precisely that evidence must be supposed always to have perished which +the Evolution theory imperatively requires, while so much remains which +appears to contradict it? + +But, moreover, as Mr. Carruthers says, incomplete though the record +undoubtedly is, and limited as is our knowledge even of what +exists,--there still remains a vast mass of information which it has +actually supplied, and there seems to be no reason for denying that, as +to the particular point under consideration, its testimony is ample. If, +as on the principles of genetic Evolution must be the case, there were +in each line of descent no successive species or genera, made up of +forms clustered round one point in the course of development more than +another, how comes it that we find always and everywhere just such +isolated clusters, naturally forming genera and species; and that in no +single instance do we find any trace of the graduated series linking +them together? Is it not quite impossible to suppose, that at all points +in Nature we stumble upon exactly those instances which disguise, and +apparently contradict, the method upon which she invariably works? + +It is likewise obvious that the practice of Evolutionists is quite +inconsistent with their own plea, for their arguments are constantly +unmeaning except on the assumption that the geological record is +sufficiently complete for practical purposes. In the example of the +Horse, for instance, which we have been considering, the whole case for +his Evolution is based upon the supposition that the completed _Equus_ +did not exist during the earlier periods when _Eohippus_, +_Anchitherium_, _Hipparion_ and the rest of them were preparing the way +for his appearance, and that none of these lived simultaneously with +others more ancient still which are set down as _their_ ancestors. But +on what does such a supposition rest? Simply on the absence of remains +of the more developed, in the strata containing those of the less +developed. If such a reason be sufficient--which we will not +question--it is likewise sufficient to establish the non-existence of +intermediate forms to bridge the wide breaches in the supposed +pedigree, and we must accordingly conclude that such intermediate forms +there never were. + +It is no less evident that whatever further evidence is found, may tell +the wrong way, from the evolutionary point of view, no less than the +right one; either by discrediting supposed link-forms, or by introducing +us to new and strange types which increase our difficulties by requiring +lines of communication to be established with them. Thus, as Mr. Mivart +tells us,[317] "It is undeniable that there are instances which appeared +at first to indicate a _gradual transition_, which instances have been +shown by further investigation and discovery not to indicate truly +anything of the kind." Another example of the same sort is furnished by +the recent discovery of _Arsinoetherium_, a genus of very large and +heavy hoofed beasts, the relics of which have been recently discovered +in the upper Eocene of Egypt. This creature was something like a large +rhinoceros, but had no connexion whatever with that family. In fact, we +are told, its horns, of which it has four, two on top of its head, and +two smaller above the eyes, and also its teeth, make it stand quite +apart _from all other mammals_. + +It thus appears that when the theory of genetic Evolution comes to the +bar of Palæontology, the most favourable verdict to which it can pretend +is, Not proven. + +One thing is certain. All the evidence we possess in regard of Organic +Evolution, leaves the question of the origin, the propagation, and the +development of life exactly where it has always been. No force has been +found by Science to which we may ascribe the origin of the world we +know. + +As the Count de Saporta writes:[318] + + Although the problem of "creation,"--formerly thought so simple, + and dated almost within human ken and the period of human + history--has now been relegated to a period too distant to be + imagined, it would be childish to say that on that account the + problem has ceased to exist. Its limits have, it is true, been + shifted; but we are bound to acknowledge that they have nowise been + altered. The horizon may have broadened and receded before us more + and more, but the relative position of the objects we have to + investigate remains precisely the same. + +So too M. Blanchard:[319] + + There has never been witnessed, and it is impossible to imagine the + apparition of a creature not derived from another creature: it + would therefore be folly to pretend to an explanation of creation. + If, as the advocates of transformism suppose, all species sprang + from some primitive types, or even from a single primordial cell, + the appearance, whether of those types or of that parent cell of + the living world, would be neither more explicable nor less + marvellous than the appearance of a host of creatures. + +And, in like manner, Darwin's great ally and admirer, Sir Charles Lyell, +when he had time to realize all the bearings of his friend's theory, +wrote to him,[320]--"I think the old 'creation' is almost as much +required as ever." + + + + +XVIII + +TO SUM UP + + +It is time to return to the point from which we started our whole +enquiry, and to ask what has been gathered in the course of it towards a +solution of the question with which we began. That the Cosmos in which +we dwell, the world of law, order, and life, has not existed for ever, +we saw to be a truth enforced by the researches of physical Science, no +less than by the clear teaching of reason. It certainly had a beginning, +and there must be a cause to which that beginning was due,--a cause +capable of producing all which we find to have been actually produced. +The material Universe and the mechanism of the heavens,--organic life +with all its infinite marvels and varieties--animal sensation--human +intelligence--canons of beauty, the law of good and evil--all these must +have existed potentially in the First Cause, as in the Source whence +alone they could be derived. + +The Nature of this Cause was the object of our quest. In particular we +set ourselves to examine the assertion now so loudly made that Science +has found a full explanation in the forces of the Universe itself as +they come within her cognizance, that is to say, the material forces +which she can directly observe, and upon which she can experiment. In +particular we have studied the Law of Evolution, in its various +significations, and other laws subsidiary to it, in order to determine, +from the point of view of reason and Science alone, whether it can be +said that the prime factor of which we are in search is thus supplied. + +The result has been to make it evident that while modern discovery has +immensely multiplied and magnified the marvels which have to be +accounted for, it has disclosed nothing which can be supposed to account +for them in a manner to satisfy our reason. So far as the forces of +Nature are concerned, the mysteries that lie beyond are even darker than +they were. The origin and nature of matter and force, the source of +motion, of life, of sensation and consciousness, of rational +intelligence and language, of Free-will, of the reign of law and order +to which all Nature testifies,--all these are for Science utterly +unsolved problems, which, as some amongst her teachers tell us, must +remain for ever insoluble. Even less prospect, if possible, can there be +that any mechanical forces will ever account for perception of the +sublime and beautiful,--and above all--of the distinction between right +and wrong. + +Here, then, Science stops,--confessing that she can be our guide no +farther, and lending no colour whatever to the unscientific pretensions +which are so noisily advanced by some persons in her name. Her domain +is the world of sense, and it is evident that nothing existing within +that realm can possibly furnish an explanation which will satisfy our +intellectual need for causality. + +Are we therefore to say that we can know nothing concerning the First +Cause to which the phenomena of the Universe are due? Such is the +Agnostic's position. What we have no means of knowing, he says, we must +not pretend to know. It were irrational and dishonest to do so. When +Science fails us, the true wisdom is to profess ignorance,--thus only +can our position still be scientific. + +But is such a principle itself scientific? Is it not a gratuitous and +monstrous assumption that we can know nothing but that of which our +senses directly tell us? That the Universe has a cause is no less +certain than that the Universe exists, for of that cause it is the +monument. And, as of the whole, so of every part or element which it +contains, it is absolutely certain that there must be a cause, and one +adequate to the production of what has actually been produced; for as +the proverb says, "Nothing is to be got out of a sack but what is in +it." From such conclusions there is no escape;--and since it is +impossible to find the cause required within the world of material +forces and sensible phenomena, it becomes no less obvious that it must +lie beyond, across the frontier which nothing material can pass. + + * * * * * + +Therefore, also, we know something concerning that Cause,--very little, +perhaps, in comparison with what we cannot know,--but still something +very substantial. We know that such a Cause exists. We know that it must +possess every excellence which we discover in Nature,--all that she has, +and more; since what she derives from it, the Cause of Nature has of +itself. In it must be all power, for except as flowing from it there is +no power possible. Finally, as a capable Cause of law and order in +Nature, and of Intellect and Will in man, the First Cause must be +supereminently endowed with Understanding, and Freedom in the exercise +of its might,--or it would be inferior to its own works. + + Since there must have been something from eternity, [says + Bolingbroke][321] because there is something now, the eternal Being + must be an intelligent Being, because there is intelligence now; + for no man will venture to assert that non-entity can produce + entity, or non-intelligence, intelligence. And such a Being must + exist necessarily, whether things have been always as they are, or + whether they have been made in time: because it is no more easy to + conceive an infinite than a finite progression of effects without a + cause. + +It is therefore not easy to understand how we can avoid the conclusion +of the distinguished men of Science whom we have heard declare that they +assume "as absolutely self-evident" the existence of a Deity who is the +Creator and Upholder of all things. + +It will probably be answered that this is mere Anthropomorphism; which +formidable term appears by many to be considered sufficient to close the +whole question, and to rule the idea of a personal God out of court. Did +not Voltaire remark that if in the beginning God made man to His own +image and likeness, man has well repaid Him ever since? And what can be +more conclusive than that? + +But what--after all--does "Anthropomorphism" mean in this connexion? +Simply, that being men we have to speak in human terms, even of what is +superhuman. By no possibility can we do anything else. Limited as we are +by the conditions of our nature, we can find no mode of expression +except such as is based upon sensible experience; and although we can +convince ourselves by rational inference of the existence, and to some +extent of the character, of what is beyond sense, we can frame no +description of it, nor even a phantasm or image by means of imagination, +except so far as we are able to draw upon the phenomena of the external +world. Thus it is that artists who endeavour to represent an immaterial +being, as an angel, a djinn or a sprite, though the essence of the +object they would depict is that it has no body, have perforce to give +it one, though they make it as little gross as possible, for otherwise +they could not portray it at all. But however such images may be +refined and etherealized they are intended to be understood only as +conventional figures to suggest to the mind its own concept, which is as +different from them as the notes produced by a singer are from those on +the score from which he sings. No one imagines that the genius of Music +is a young woman holding a shell to her ear, or that the Cherubim are +heads and wings and nothing more. So it is with statements of the +Theistic belief concerning the First Cause, or God. To put this into +words we are compelled to use the only materials within our reach, and +to borrow our phraseology from that which, within our experience is the +highest and noblest element found in the Universe,--namely our own +intelligence and will. These beyond question must be transcendentally +possessed by the Cause on which they depend. So far Anthropomorphism is +sound sense; that is to say, so long as it attributes all possible +excellence to the source of all. It is foolish and unscientific only +when it attributes to the Absolute and Unconditioned the limitations of +an inferior order of being. We may truly say that a penny is contained +in a pound,--but it does not follow that a sovereign must be of copper. +According to the scientific doctrine that all our familiar forms of +energy are ultimately derived from the Sun, it might well be argued from +observation of a farthing rushlight that Solar Energy includes heat and +light; but not that it is fed on tallow. This appears to be plain and +obvious enough, often as it is forgotten or ignored. As Sir Oliver +Lodge has lately put the matter:[322] + + Shall we possess these things and God not possess them? Let no + worthy human attribute be denied to the Deity. There are many + errors, but there is one truth in Anthropomorphism. Whatever worthy + attribute belongs to man, be it personality or any other, its + existence in the universe is thereby admitted; we can deny it no + more. + +Or as Professor Baden Powell expresses the same argument:[323] + + That which requires thought and reason to understand must be itself + thought and reason. That which mind alone can investigate or + express must be itself mind. And if the highest conception attained + be but partial, then the mind and reason studied is greater than + the mind and reason of the student. If the more it be studied the + more vast and complex is the necessary connexion in reason + disclosed, then the more evident is the vast extent and compass of + the intelligence thus partially manifested, and its reality, as + existing in the immutably connected order of objects examined, + independently of the mind of the investigator. + +The reluctance frequently manifested by scientific men to admit the +force of so plain an argument, appears to be generally due to a +fundamental misconception. It is constantly assumed that to introduce +the element of purpose in Nature is to deny the continuity of Natural +law, and that to speak of design in regard of a process or a structure, +is equivalent to saying that a non-natural agent intervenes at that +particular point and takes the work out of Nature's hands. This, it may +be supposed, was Professor Huxley's idea when he spoke of "the commoner +and coarser forms of teleology," giving as an instance the supposition +that eyes were constructed for the purpose of enabling their possessors +to see. It might indeed be replied that, at any rate, it is less +difficult to suppose this, than that eyes were constructed without any +purpose of seeing, or knowledge of the laws of optics;--but evidently it +is taken for granted that Theists imagine every purposive item in nature +to be violently introduced from without, like the forms of lions or +peacocks into which topiarian gardeners clip their shrubs. But, as has +been said, the laws of Nature are the expression of the mind of God: it +is through them that He accomplishes His design. As Professor Romanes +came to see at the close of his life, it is strange what jealousy there +is of admitting the Creator into Creation. "It is still assumed on both +sides," he wrote,[324] "that there must be something inexplicable or +miraculous about a phenomenon in order to its being divine,"--and +although we must utterly demur to such a description of the position of +Theists, it undoubtedly is true of their adversaries. Their objections +on this head can only signify that it is with the laws of Nature as +with a railway locomotive from which the driver, having got up steam and +set it going, jumps off, leaving it entirely to its own devices. But, as +a legislator, if rightly interpreted, speaks by the mouth of every judge +who administers the law in practice, and applies it to concrete +cases,--so the Author of Nature, whose laws cannot be perverted, +provides through them for all that is to be operated by the forces He +has instituted. + +So it is that, as Professors Stewart and Tait have told us, we must +conceive of Him as not the Creator only, but likewise the Upholder of +all things, while Lord Kelvin declares[325] we are unmistakably shown +through Nature that she depends upon one "ever-acting Creator and +Ruler." It is in this omnipresence of Divine influence that Monism finds +the modicum of plausibility which serves it for a foundation. It runs, +indeed, into the absurdity of endeavouring to explain such Omnipresence +by identifying the finite with the Infinite, and attributing to matter +qualities which all experience, and very specially all scientific +experience, contradicts; but, for all that, it scores a distinct point +as against mere materialism, which Comte declares to be "the most +illogical form of metaphysics," and the late Sir Leslie Stephen, "not so +much error as sheer nonsense." Theism avoids the error of either +extreme. While it teaches the essential and fundamental distinction +between the Absolute and the contingent, between the Creator and His +creatures, it teaches likewise that He is ever present in His works, and +that in their every operation He is manifested. + +And so, in the words of Rivarol, God is the explanation of the world, +and the world is the demonstration of God. The acceptance of a +Self-existent, All-powerful, and intelligent Being can alone serve as a +basis for any system of Cosmogony which satisfies our intellectual need +of causation; while, on the other hand, the nature of this Being, as +necessarily beyond the scope of our senses, can be known to us only +indirectly through the effects of which He is the cause. + +By no one has this conclusion been more clearly stated than by Lamarck, +the real father of Organic Evolutionism, whom many would therefore +represent as an atheist. His words are so much to the point that with +them we may conclude.[326] + + Of the Supreme Being, in a word of God, to whom all infinitude is + seen to belong, man has thus conceived an idea, which, though + indirect, is sound, and which necessarily follows from what he + observes. In the same manner, he has formed another idea, equally + solid, namely of the boundless power of this Being, suggested by + the consideration of His works.... + + Nature not being intelligent, nor even a being, but an order of + things constituting a power subject to law, cannot therefore be + God. She is the wondrous product of His Almighty will: and for us, + of all created things she is the grandest and most admirable. Thus + the will of God is everywhere expressed by the laws of Nature, + since these laws originate from Him. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +_A._ _Evolution and the lower forms of life_ (_p. 165_). + +A singularly instructive field for the study of the mutability or +stability of species should be afforded by the lower forms of life, in +which organization is reduced to a minimum, they being mere masses of +protoplasm without even a containing envelope, while their nourishment +is of the simplest. It would therefore appear that environment should be +all-potent to modify them and produce specific modifications, while the +extreme rapidity with which they propagate their kind, and that +unisexually, ought to require no vast extent of time to make such +transmutations apparent. + +It is found, however, on the contrary, that nowhere in organic nature +does the type remain more rigidly persistent. Professor Macbride, for +example, tells us,[327] + +"The Myxomycetæ may be regarded as the organic group in which the forces +of heredity,--whatever these forces may be--are at their maximum: they +have responded as little as possible to the influence of their +environment." + +To the same effect speaks Professor Paulesco of Bucharest, of other +elementary organisms.[328] + +What is still more remarkable, these same organisms are extremely +sensitive to altered conditions of environment, which have a direct and +immediate influence, gravely modifying their morphological and +physiological characters, changes in respect of light, minute +alterations of temperature, or the introduction of a new chemical +substance, even in infinitesimal quantity, frequently causing them to +assume forms very different from the specific type, and profoundly +modifying their nutritive processes. + +Here, it was at first thought, when Pasteur revealed their history, is +clear evidence of specific transformation. But he presently convinced +himself and others that it is not so, for although liable to assume such +polymorphic forms according to the conditions in which they find +themselves, there is no alteration of specific nature, and if the +original circumstances be restored, the original forms reappear--"une +élasticité functionelle de la cellule lui permettant de se plier à des +conditions variées d'existence sans changer d'être." (Pasteur.) + +As M. Duclaux adds:[329] + +"La notion d'espèce ne disparait pas pour cela. La variabilité est un +caractère comme un autre, bien que plus difficile à inscrire dans la +classification, et une espèce est aussi bien définie par les +sensibilités diverses qu'elle manifeste que par la petite liste des mots +et de propriétés dans laquelle on croyait pouvoir autrefois enfermer +toute son histoire.... La lien de l'espèce c'est la loi qui préside à +ces changements, et la variété des formes et des fonctions n'est pas du +tout en contradiction avec l'unité de l'espèce." + + +_B._ _Note on Chap. XV. p. 203._ + +Since the foregoing pages have been in type there has come to hand the +New York _Literary Digest_ of January 23, 1904, containing the following +article (p. 119). + +"ARE THE DAYS OF DARWINISM NUMBERED?" + +The recent death of Herbert Spencer lends special timeliness to the +above topic, which is being actively debated just now in German +theological circles. The immediate cause of the revival of interest in +the present status of the Darwinian theory is found in a lengthy article +by the veteran philosopher, Edward von Hartmann, which appears in +Oswald's _Annalen der Naturphilosophie_ (vol. ii. 1903), under the title +'Der Niedergang der Darwinismus' ('The Passing of Darwinism'). That the +famous 'philosopher of the unconscious' is not prejudiced in favour of +biblical views has been more than clear since the publication of his +_Selbstzersetzung der Christentums_ ('Disintegration of Christianity') +in 1874. Hartmann in his new article has this to say-- + +'In the sixties of the past century the opposition of the older group of +savants to the Darwinian hypothesis was still supreme. In the seventies, +the new idea began to gain ground rapidly in all cultured countries. In +the eighties, Darwin's influence was at its height, and exercised an +almost absolute control over technical research. In the nineties, for +the first time, a few timid expressions of doubt and opposition were +heard, and these gradually swelled into a great chorus of voices, aiming +at the overthrow of the Darwinian theory. In the first decade of the +twentieth century it has become apparent that the days of Darwinism are +numbered. Among its latest opponents are such savants as Eimer, Gustav +Wolf, De Vries, Hoocke, von Wellstein, Fleischmann, Reinke, and many +others.' + +These facts, according to Hartmann's view, while they do not indicate +that the Darwinian theory is doomed, undermine its most radical +features: + +'The theory of descent is safe, but Darwinism has been weighed and found +wanting. Selection can in general not achieve any positive results, but +only negative effects; the origin of species by minimal changes is +possible, but has not been demonstrated. The pretensions of Darwinism as +a pure mechanical explanation of results that show purpose are totally +groundless.' + +Other scholars think that Hartmann does not do full justice to the +reaction that has set in, particularly in Germany, against Darwinism. +This sentiment is voiced by Professor Zoeckler, of the University of +Greifswald, in the _Beweis des Glaubens_ (No. xi.), a journal which +recently published a collection of anti-Darwinian views from German +naturalists. He calls the article of Hartmann 'the tombstone-inscription +[_Grabschrift_] for Darwinism,' and goes on to say: + + 'The claim that the hypothesis of descent is secured scientifically + must most decidedly be denied. Neither Hartmann's exposition nor + the authorities he cites have the force of moral conviction for the + claim for purely mechanical descent. The descent of organisms is + not a scientifically demonstrated proposition, although descent in + an ideal sense can be made to harmonize with the biblical account + of creation.' + +Views of a similar kind are voiced in many quarters. The Hamburg savant, +Edward Hoppe, has written a brochure, _Ist mit der Descendenz-Theorie +eine religiöse Vorstellung vereinbar?_ [Is the Theory of Evolution +reconcilable with the Religious Idea?] in which he takes issue, in the +name of religion, with the purely naturalistic type of Darwinian +thought. The most pronounced convert to anti-Darwinian views is +Professor Fleischmann, of Erlangen, who has not only discarded the +mechanical conception of the origin of being, but the whole Darwinian +theory. He recently delivered a course of lectures, entitled 'Die +Darwin'sche Theorie,' which have appeared in book form in Leipsic. He +comes to this conclusion: 'The Darwinian theory of descent has not a +single fact to confirm it in the realm of nature. It is not the result +of scientific research, but purely the product of the imagination.' + + * * * * * + +From another article in the same journal (p. 116), entitled 'A Study of +Creation,' the following paragraphs may be cited: + + "The French have never been enthusiastic Darwinians. It is, + perhaps, not surprising, therefore, to find a French geologist, M. + Stanislas Meunier, arguing in the _Revue Scientifique_ (December + 19) against all schools of transformism and stoutly maintaining + what is practically a doctrine of special creation. He admits that + living beings form a connected series; but the connexion, he + believes, is not one of physical descent, but inheres in something + outside of and pre-existent to the earth. He does not name it, but + he would probably not object to the inference that it is the mind + of a creator. + + "M. Meunier gives at some length his reasons for rejecting + Darwin's, Lamarck's, and all other theories of transformism. All we + can be sure of, he thinks, is that, as in the case of the various + kinds of pottery, we have to do with an orderly development, + although he thinks it is not a development by descent. He closes, + thus: + + "'Doubtless we cannot usefully risk any hypothesis on the mechanism + of the production of living things; but it is, perhaps, a step in + advance only to come to the conclusion that the cause of life and + its manifestations on the earth is exterior to the earth; that it + is anterior to our world, just as are doubtless the laws of physics + and chemistry, which govern the relations of matter and force + throughout space. + + "'The philosophy of science can lose nothing by the admission of + points of view that, far from narrowing our subjects of study, + enlarge them beyond all limits; and this is, perhaps, the occasion + to show once more to persons who are turning toward metaphysics in + their thirst for mystery, that they will find in pure science that + wherewith they may satisfy their legitimate aspirations.'" + + +_C._ _Succession of Plant forms p. 220._ + +Recent investigations have led to the remarkable discovery that many +fern-like plants of the Carboniferous rocks, hitherto classed as +Cryptogams, were in reality seed-bearers, and thus intermediate between +Cryptogams and Cycads, the most primitive of existing seed-plants. They +have accordingly been placed in a special group "Cycadofilices," or +"Fern-Cycads," and regarded as transitional types, the view that they +are the remains of a natural bridge connecting the Ferns with the +Gymnosperms having received wide support,[330] and at first sight this +conclusion would appear natural and obvious. But here, as in other +cases, the difficulty is that the seeds which have been found are all +fully developed; there are none in the intermediate stages between true +spores and true seeds; we have the finished article, but no trace of +seeds in the making; which upon any theory of evolution must have been +exceedingly numerous. Hence Dr. Scott tells us:[331] + +"The important discoveries of the seeds of the Pteridosperms scarcely +touch the question of descent, for these organs are of too advanced a +type to throw light on the probable derivation of the group." + +In this instance, therefore, as in others, it remains true that in no +case is any trace found of rudimentary character in the earliest fossil +specimens of any class. + +It is undoubtedly a further puzzle that some of the Carboniferous +cryptogams which did not bear real seeds, yet simulated them, a habit +not easily explained on evolutionary principles. + + +_D._ _The Course of Evolution._ + +The evidence of Professor Vines quoted in the text (pp. 202, 237) +receives a remarkable confirmation from that of Dr. Smith Woodward, +Keeper of Geology in the National Museum of Natural History. Speaking +before the International Congress of Arts and Science, St. Louis, +U.S.A., September 22nd, 1904, he thus touched upon the same question, +which he illustrated especially from the history of fossil fishes, which +he has made his special study.[332] + + "It must be confessed that repeated discoveries have now left faint + hope that exact and gradual links will ever be forthcoming between + most of the families and genera. The 'imperfection of the record,' + of course, may still render some of the negative evidence + untrustworthy; but even approximate links would be much commoner in + collections than they actually are if the doctrine of gradual + evolution were correct. Palæontology, indeed, is clearly in favour + of the theory of discontinuous mutation, or advance by sudden + changes, which has lately received so much support from the + botanical experiments of H. de Vries. + + "Further results obtained from the study of fossils have a bearing + even on the deepest problems of Biology, namely, those connected + with the nature of life itself. For instance, it is allowable to + infer, from the statements already made, that the main factor in + the evolution of organisms is some inherent impulse--the 'bathmic + force' of Cope--which acts with unerring certainty whatever be the + conditions of the moment." + + +_E._ _Pedigree of the Horse._ + +Some recent evidence on this subject certainly does not clear away the +difficulties set forth in the text. + +From _Nature_, Sept. 8, 1904, p. 474. + + "Professor Osborn (in a lecture before the British Association) + mentioned that more than a hundred more or less complete skeletons + of horses and horse-like animals had been found in North America. + He thought he had established the fact that horses were + polyphyletic, there being four or five contemporary series in the + Miocene, but that the direct origin of the genus _Equus_ in North + America was not established with certainty." + +Professor Sedgwick, _Student's Text Book of Zoology_, p. 599. + + "Much has been written on the ancestry of the horse. It has been + maintained by many authors that a continuous series of forms + connecting it with the four-toed, brachyodont Hyracothoridæ of the + Eocene has been discovered, and that here if anywhere a + demonstrative historical proof has been obtained of the doctrine of + organic evolution. Without desiring in the smallest degree to + impugn that doctrine, it may be permitted us here to examine rather + closely the view that the series of forms which recent + palæontological research has undoubtedly brought to light + constitute that historical proof which has been claimed for them." + +[After an examination of the structural characters of these intermediate +forms, viz., _Pliohippus_, _Protohippus_, _Desmathippus_, _Miohippus_, +_Mesohippus_, _Orohippus_, and _Hyracotherium_, the author proceeds]: + + "So far as the characters mentioned are concerned, we have here a + very remarkable series of forms which at first sight seem to + constitute a linear series with no cross-connections. Whether, + however, they really do this is a difficult point to decide. There + are flaws in the chain of evidence, which require careful and + detailed consideration. For instance, the genus _Equus_ appears in + the Upper Siwalik beds, which have been ascribed to the Miocene + age. It has, however, been maintained that these beds are in + reality Lower Pliocene, or even Upper Pliocene. It is clear that + the decision of this question is of the utmost importance. If + _Equus_ really existed in the Upper Miocene, it was antecedent to + some of its supposed ancestors. Again in the series of equine + forms, _Mesohippus_, _Miohippus_, _Desmathippus_, _Protohippus_, + which are generally regarded as coming into the direct line of + equine descent, Scott[333] points out that each genus is, in some + respect or other, less modified than its predecessor. In other + words, it would appear that in this succession of North American + forms the earlier genera show, in some points, closer resemblance + to the modern _Equus_ than to their immediate successors. It is + possible that these difficulties and others of the same kind will + be overcome with the growth of knowledge, but it is necessary to + take note of them, for in the search after truth nothing is gained + by ignoring such apparent discrepancies between theory and fact." + +Besides the structure of limbs and teeth, another argument for the +descent of the horse has been drawn from certain phenomena of +colouration. Stripings are found not unfrequently to occur in the legs +and withers, which Darwin took for a reversion to the character of a +very remote ancestor, the common parent, in fact, of horses and asses, +which he supposed to have been striped all over like a zebra. Like other +such common ancestors, this hypothetical animal had never been seen, but +was thought to be most nearly represented by the Kathiwar horse, with +stripes on a dun ground, a specimen of which is exhibited as +illustrating the hypothesis in the National Museum of Zoology. + +Recently, however, Professor Ridgeway, who has devoted special attention +to the problem, has satisfied himself that there is no sufficient +foundation for these suppositions. He thus sums up the evidence which he +has been able to collect:[334] + + "Darwin's view that the original ancestor of the Equidæ was a + dun-coloured animal, striped all over, was based, not merely on the + occurrence of stripes in horses, but on his belief that such + stripes were common in dun horses, and that there was a tendency in + horses to revert to dun colour. But it must be confessed that the + facts do not warrant his conclusion.... It is clear that stripes + are at least as often a concomitant of dark as of dun colour. + Moreover, if Darwin's hypothesis of a dun-coloured ancestor with + stripes is sound, dark colours such as bay and brown must be of + more recent origin, and accordingly there ought to be a great + readiness on the part of a progeny of a light-coloured animal when + mated with a dark to revert to the light. But Professor Ewart's + zebra stallion has never been able to stamp his own peculiar + pattern or his own colours on his hybrid offspring. The ground + colour has been determined by the dams of the hybrids." + + + + +INDEX + + +_Abiogenesis_, 49-51 + +_Ætiology_, 197 + +Agnosticism, Huxley's first principle of, 4 + Its fundamental principle unreasonable, 272 + +American Museum and the pedigree of the Horse, 248 + +Amphibians, embryology, 195 + +"Anthropomorphism," 274, 275 + +_Archæopteryx_, 171 + +_Archebiosis_, 53 + +Argus pheasant, ornamentation, 175 + +_Arsinoetherium_, 267 + +Atlantic cable, an illustration from, of chance and purpose, 115 + +Atoms, 37, 41, 88, 89, 90, 136 + +Augustine, St.--on creation _causaliter et seminaliter_, 141, 207 + +_Axolotl_, 195 + + +Baden-Powell, Prof.--on the nature of the First Cause, 276 + +Bastian, Dr. H. C.--on spontaneous generation, 21, 50, 53 + +_Bathybius Haeckelii_, 21 + +Batrachians, appearance of, 225 + +Bats, an evolutionary puzzle, 229, 257 + +Bee, cell-making instinct, 156, 179 + +Bickerton, Prof.,--on dissipation of energy, 27 n. + +_Biogenesis_, 49, 50 + +Blanchard, M.--on variation, 164; + on Darwinian argumentation, 181; + on fecundity as a factor in survival, 188; + on the problem of creation, 268 + +Bolingbroke, Viscount,--on the nature of the first cause, 273 + +Bridgman, Laura, 77 + +Bunsen, Chevalier,--on animal sounds and language, 74 + +Butler, Bishop,--on intelligence as a factor in cosmogony, 100 + + +Carruthers, Mr. W.--on specific stability of _Salix polaris_, 164; + on classification of plants, 214; + on the geological record, 216, 265; + on past history of plant-life, 216 _seq._; on + an assertion of Haeckel's, 221; + on the evidence supplied by fossil plants, 223 + +Case, Prof.--on the meaning of "fortuitous," 125 + +Causation, principle of, 2, 87, 94, 107 + +Cause, the First. See _First Cause_ + +Chance, 110 _seq._, 151, 174 + +Cicero--on the evidence for a Deity, 103 + +Clerk-Maxwell, Prof.--on force and energy, 23n; + on Molecules, 90, 104; + on evidence of design, _ibid._ + +Clifford, Prof. W. K.--on design in Nature, 101 + +Clodd, Mr. E.--on atoms, 41 + +Comte, Auguste--on materialism, 278 + +Consciousness, origin of, 67 + +_Cosmos_ and its Cause, 86 _seq._ + +Croll, Mr.--on force and its determination, 94-96 + +Crookes, Sir W.--on renovation of energy, 26; + on radium and radio-activity, 42, 43 + +Cryptogamous plants, fossil history, 219 + +Crystallization, 63, 64 + + +Darwin, Mr.--on the "law of continuity," 57; + on spontaneous generation, 58; + on the mental gulf between man and brute, 71; + on the origin of language, 79, 178; + on "creation," 91; + on the structure of the eye, 91; + on chance as a factor of the world, 116; + on pain and suffering as an objection to design, 119; + disclaims achievements attributed to him, 150; + his system, 153 _seq._ (see _Darwinism_); + his mode of arguing, 178; + dogmatism, 179; + pleads lack of knowledge as an argument, 182; + on single origin of every species, 210, 254; + on genealogy of the Horse, 259; + on the imperfection of the geological record, 264 + +Darwinism, 149 _seq._; + false representations of, 149-151; + sketch of system, 151-157; + facts favouring, 158-160; + difficulties of, 160 _seq._; + explains no origins, 161; + ignores the prime factor, _ibid._; + improbabilities, 166, 173; + does not explain initial developments, 170 _seq._; + nor artistic ornamentation, 175; + specious arguments too easily forthcoming, 177; + does not account for organic progression, 187; + scientific opinions concerning, 198 _seq._, 281 + +Dawson, Sir J. W.--on the first origin of life, 208; + on the history of animal life, 223; on genealogy of the _Equidæ_, 247; + of the _Cetacea_, 257; + of bats, + 258; + on lack of palæontological evidence for evolution, 260 + +Design, evidence of, in Nature, 90, 97 _seq._; + Kant on the necessity of, 150 + +Determination of force, its necessity, 94-96, 114 + +Determinism of the will, 81 _seq._ + +Development of organic types, 146 + +Dicotyledons, appearance of, 220 + +Diderot--on evidence of intelligence in Nature, 125 + +_Dinotherium_, classification of, 259 n + +Dogs, their vocal expression of emotions, 73 + +Du Bois-Reymond, Herr,--on the "Seven Enigmas," 31-33; + on the progress of human development, 68, 69; + on Haeckel's genealogies, 264 + +_Dysteleology_, 190 + + +Ear, structure of, 93 + +_Electrons_, 42 + +Elephant and Tortoise of Hindu astronomy, 107 + +Embryology and Evolution, 158-160, 192 _seq._ + +"Energy," 23; conservation of, _ibid._; + dissipation of, 24 _seq._; + renovation of, 26-28 + +"Enigmas, the Seven," 32 + +_Entropy_, 25 + +_Equidæ_. See _Horse_ + +Ether, a constituent of the universe, 36 + +Evil, Origin of, the darkest of mysteries, 120 + +"Evolution," different meanings of term, 8; + as an operative law, 10-14; + eternal, 11; + as a philosophy, 22 _seq._; + formula of, 145 + As a process, 45 _seq._ + Organic, 142 _seq._; + essential characters of theory, 147, 206; + nature of evidence required, 208 _seq._; + history of in vegetable and animal kingdoms, 216 _seq._ + +Eye, origin of, 91, 154 + Helmholtz, on defects of, 91 n.; + structure of, 155 n.; + evolution of, 168 + + +Fabre, M.--on Darwin's facts, 200 n.; + on our ignorance of Nature, 203 + +Faraday, Prof.--on gravitation, 125 + +Final causality (Teleology), 98 _seq._ + +First Cause, the object of inference, 96, 97; + nature of as shown by reason, 270 _seq._ + +Fish, appearance of, 225; + problems presented by, 233 + +Flight, problem of, 93 + +Flower, Sir W.--on the extinct American horse, 254 + +Force, nature of, 23 + +Free-will, Prof. Haeckel on, 33, 81; + Dr. Johnson on, 84 + +Fuegians, mental likeness to ourselves, 72 + + +Garnett, Prof.--on force, 23 + +Gaudry, M.--on ancestry of whales, 257; + of bats, 258; + of proboscidians, 259 + +Genera and species, 244 n. + +_Generatio aequivoca_, 65 + +Generation, mysteries of, 123 _seq._ + +Geological formations, succession of, 213 + +Geological record, 216, 264, _seq._ + +Giraffe, evolution of, 154 + +Glass, fortuitously discovered, 115 + +Goethe--on "iron law," 14 + +Gore, Dr. G.--on machinery as excluding idea of design, 118 + +"Grand Question," the, 96 + +Grimthorpe, Lord (Sir E. Beckett)--on matter, 37; on the problem of flight, 93; + on evidences of purpose, 94; + on generation, 124; + on the structure of the eye, 155 n. + +Gymnosperms, appearance of, 219 + + +Haeckel, Prof. E.--on "rational view of the world," 10-14; + on the "magic word evolution," 16; + on scientific method, 18, 20; + on the law of substance, 13, 23; + on the conservation of energy, 23, 24, 26; + on the "Seven Enigmas," 33; + on the nature and properties of matter, 35, 39; + on the artificial manufacture of protoplasm, 59; + on free-will and determinism, 81; + on design in Nature, 90, 150; + on chance, 117; + on Monism, 128; + on annihilation as a desirable end, 130; + on the ultimate reality, 135; + unfounded claims on behalf of Darwin, 150; + bases arguments on lack of knowledge, 183; + on rudimentary organs and "Dysteleology," 190; + on single origin of every species, 210; + on the appearance of the _Apetalæ_, 221; + invents geological "ante-periods," 236; + and intermediate forms, 261; + his pedigree of man, 261; + his method of solving the riddles of Nature, 264 + +Heredity, 83, 99 + +Herschel, Sir J.--on molecules as manufactured articles, 89; + on evidence of mind in Nature, 100; + on gravitation, 125 + +_Hesperornis_, 171 + +Heurtin, Marie, 77 + +_Hippops_, 246, 252 + +Hird, Mr. D.--on the omnipotence of Evolution, 14; + on transformations of force, 129 + +Holland, Sir H.--on structure of ear, 93 + +Homer, a "half-savage Greek," 69 n. + +_Homo alalus_, and _sapiens_, 81 + +Horse, structure of, 94, 240 + Genealogy of, 236, 241 _seq._ + +Hudson, Dr.--on neglect of + study of present life in favour of evolutionary speculations, 185 + +Humboldt, W. von--on human speech, 76 + +Hutton, F. W.--on finite duration of the world, 2; + and of the universe, 28; + on dissipation of energy, 27 n. + +Huxley, Prof.--on finite duration of the world, 1; + on the nature of science, 5; + on "Laws of Nature," 16-18; + on Evolution as a philosophy, 21, 22; + on matter, 38; + on the beginning of life, 46; + on faith and verification, 47; + on the fundamental principle of Evolution, 48; + on spontaneous generation, 50-54; + on protoplasm, 59, 60; + on structure of the Horse, 93; + on theism and creation, 100; + on teleology, 102; + on theism and chance, 103; + on the non-existence of chance, 111; + on seeming waste in nature, 121; + on mind and matter, 133; + on Saurian birds, 172; + on _Dysteleology_, 191; + on embryology and ætiology, 197; + on the Darwinian theory, 200, 201; + on facts as the only sound basis of theory, 204; + on the fundamental doctrine of organic evolution, 206; + on evolutionary evidence, 235; + on Haeckel's "Ante-periods," 236; + claims palæontological evidence as demonstrative of Evolution, 239, 261; + his pedigree of the Horse, 236, 242 _seq._; + discussed, 244 _seq._ + +_Hydra_, structure of, 146 + + +_Icthyornis_, 171 + +_Inertia_, a property of matter, 39 + +Inference, 5 n.; 96, 272 + +Insects, insular, as an argument for Natural Selection, 154, 167 + +Invertebrate life, history of, 225 + + +Johnson, Dr.--on free-will, 84 + +Julius Cæsar, his polydactyle charger, 241 + + +Kant--on necessity of design, 150 + +Keller, Miss 77 + +Kelvin, Lord (Sir W. Thomson),--on the dissipation of energy, 25, 26; + his Law of Parsimony, 98; + on science and theism, 104, 278 + + +Laing, Mr. S.--on matter and motion, 35 + +Lamarck--on Nature's witness to God, 279 + +Language, our "Rubicon," 73; + distinctively human, 73-78; + essential character, 74; + theories as to origin, 79 + +Lankester, Prof. Ray--on evolution of _Proboscideae_, 259 + +Laws of Nature--what? 16, + 17, 86; + expressions of creative intelligence, 123, 277 + +Lewes, Mr.--on Laws of Nature, 86 + +Liddon, Canon--on Laws of Nature, 16 + +Life had a beginning, 46; + origin of, 46-66; + laws of, 90 + +Link forms wanting in Nature, 208 _seq._, 228 _seq._ + +Lodge, Sir O.--on non-purposive Evolution, 202; + on anthropomorphism and the First Cause, 276 + +Lydekker, Mr. R.--on pedigree of the Horse, 248 + +Lyell, Sir C.--on the need of creation, 269 + + +Mallock, Mr. W.--on human conduct, 139 + +Mammals, appearance of, 226; + problems suggested by, 255 + +Man, faculties, 71 _seq._; + appearance of, 227 + +Marsh, Prof.--on Evolution, 47; + on _Hippops_, 252 + +Marshall, Prof. Milnes--on the teachings of Evolution, 15; + on embryology, 159; + on Haeckel's treatment of the same, 195 + +Marsupials, first appearance, 226 + +_Materia Prima_, 42 n + +Matter, 35; + indestructibility, 13, 23; + properties, 36 _seq._; + constitution, 37, 41 _seq._, 135; + and motion, 39; + dissolution of, 43; + and mind, 131 _seq._ + +Max Müller, Prof.--on language, 73, 75 + +Mendeléeff's Periodic Law, 88 + +Mind and matter, connexion of, 131 _seq._ + +Mivart, Mr. St. G.--on the gulf between man and brute, 72; + on the essence of language, 74; + on theories as to its origin, 79; + on the ease with which Darwinian arguments can be found, 177; + on embryology of Salamander, 193; + on incompatibility of geological evidence with theory of Evolution by minute and gradual modification, 228, 230; + on evolution of the Horse, 255; + on the failure of apparent links, 267 + +Mole, evolution of, 181 + +Molecules, 88; + "manufactured articles," 89; + Clerk-Maxwell on, 90, 104 + +Monism, 126 _seq._, 278; + and morality, 137; + and Truth, 138 + +Monocotyledons, appearance of, 219 + +Motion, as a property of matter, 39 + +_Myriadism_, a better term for _Monism_, 136 + + +"Natural Selection," what it is, 152 _seq._; + its powers discussed, 165 _seq._; + can produce nothing, 168; + a misnomer, 174. See _Darwinism_. + +"Nature," 6 + +Nebular hypothesis, 11, 45, 48 + +Newman, Cardinal--on the nature of laws, 17; + on law and causality, 99 + +Newton, Sir I., his laws of motion, 39; + on evidence for theism, 103 + +_North British_ Reviewer--on the limits of variation, 162; + on the facility with which Darwinian arguments can be found, 177; + on Darwinism and geographical distribution, 184; + on the "maybe's" of Darwinism, _ibid._; + on incompatibility of geological evidence with evolutionary theory, 228 + + +Obrecht, Martha, 77 + +_Ontogeny,_ 83 n. + +Organic progression--and Darwinism, 186; + not evidenced by palæontology, 234 + +Organs, vestigial or rudimentary as an argument for evolution, 158, 189 + +_Origin of Species_, appearance of, 151 + +Owen, Sir R.--on the _Archæopteryx_, 172 + + +Pain and suffering, as an objection to Design, 119, 121 + +Palæontology--the only sound basis for evolutionary theory, 204; + its evidence adverse to progressive developments, 234 + +Paley--his "watch argument" disproved by machine-made watches, 118 + +Pasteur, M.--on spontaneous generation, 50; + on initial temperature of life, 57 n. + +Peacock's feathers and Natural Selection, 155 n., 175 + +Perrier, M. E.--on the evidence for Evolution, 237 + +Pettigrew, Mr.--on wings of birds, 93 + +_Phylogeny_, 83 n. + +_Prothyle_, 42 + +Protoplasm, 59-63 + +Purpose and natural laws, 122 + + +Quatrefages, M. de--on life and non-life, 63; + on crystallization, 64; + on variation in Nature, 162; + on Darwinian argumentation, 180, 182, 183; + on embryology, 194; + on absence of intermediate forms in Nature, 212, 229 + +Quinton, M.--new doctrine of life development, 57 n. + + +_Rana opisthodon_--embryology, 195 + +Rayleigh, Lord--on atheistic science, 105; + on scientific authority, 109 + +Reason generates speech, not _vice versa_, 76 + +Reptiles, age of, 226 + +Reptilian birds, 171 + +Rivarol--on God and the world, 279 + +Robin, M. Ch.--on Darwinism, 198 + +Romanes, Prof.--on continuity and universality of natural causation, 29, 30; + on origin of language, 79; + on Monism, 129; + on the inadequacy of Natural Selection, 201; + on jealousy of admitting the Creator into creation, 277 + +Roscoe, Sir H.--on artificial production of protoplasm, 62 + + +Salamander, embryological features, 193 + +_Salix polaris_, its specific stability, 164, 222 + +Saporta, Comte de--on parallel development of animal and vegetable life, 228; + on the problem of Creation, 268 + +Schoolmen, the--on relation of soul and body, 132 + +Scorpion, maternal and unfilial instincts, 122 + +Selous, Mr. E.--exemplifies Monistic doctrines, 139 n. + +Sensation and consciousness,--origin of, 67 + +Snakes, embryological features, 194 + +Species, on evolutionary principles must each derive from a single origin, 210; + isolation of, 211; + and genera, 244 n. + +Specific stability in Nature, 164 + +Spencer, Mr. Herbert--on the beginning of life, 56; + his "Formula of Evolution," 145; + on the process of organic evolution, 147 + +Spontaneous Generation. See _Life, origin of_ + +Stephen, Sir L.--on materialism, 78 + +Stewart, Prof. Balfour--on finite duration of the world, 1; + on dissipation of energy, 25. + See also _Stewart and Tait_ + +Stewart and Tait--on self-evidence of theism, 104, 273 + +Stirling, Mr.--on protoplasm, 59, 61 + +Stokes, Sir G. G.--on evidence for design, 104 + +Suarez--on creative power and natural law, 207 + +Substance, law of, 13, 14, 22, 23, 33, 41, 118 + +Survival of the fittest, and organic progression, 186 + + +Tait, Prof. P.--On the scope of science, 18, 20; + on force and energy, 23 n.; + on the properties of matter, 39; + on "pseudoscience," 40; + on scientific methods, 47; + on mechanical theories of life, 65. + See also _Stewart and Tait_. + +Teleology--98 _seq._ + +Theism, 97 _seq._, 277 + +Thiselton-Dyer, Sir W.--on protoplasm, 60-62 + +_Thyroid_ gland--its lesson, 191 n. + +Time, as a factor in Evolution, 80, 169 + +Transformism, 142, etc. + See _Evolution, organic_ + +_Triton alpestris_, 195 + +Tyndall, Prof.--on the material origin of life, 38; + on the beginning of life, 46; + on scientific method, 47; + on spontaneous generation, 54-56; + on the potentialities of matter, 54; + on mind and matter, 133 + + +Ungulates, structure of limbs, 241 + + +Variation, the basis of Darwin's calculations, 162; + its limitations, _ibid._; + minute at each stage, 165 + +_Verbum mentale_, 76 + +Vines, Prof. S. H.--on speculations and facts, 185; + on the present status of the Darwinian theory, 202; + on our present knowledge, 237 + +Virchow, Prof.--on the beginning of life, 46; + on spontaneous generation, 65 + +Vogt, Carl--on embryology, 194; + on Haeckel's genealogies, 264 + + +Wallace, Mr. A. R.--on breaches of natural causation, 64; + on the origin of life, _ibid._; + on the origin of animal life, 69, 70 + +Weismann, Prof.--on our intellectual need for causality, 101 + +Weldon, Prof.--on Huxley's scientific method, 21, 197 + +Whales, appearance of, 257 + +Whitney, Prof.--on origin of language, 79 + +Will, the only cause known to us, 99, 100. + See also _Free-will_ + +Williamson, Prof. W. C.--on missing links, 231; + on an unrecognized factor in life-developments, 232; + on the geological history of fishes, 233; + on genealogy of the _equidæ_, 251; + on lack of palæontological support for the Evolution theory, 260 + +Wings, as machines, 93 + +Wollaston, Mr.--on "Nature" as an agent, 108 + +World, beginning of, 1 + + +_Zeuglodon_, 257 + + + + +A LIST OF WORKS + +MAINLY BY + +ROMAN CATHOLIC + +WRITERS + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + PAGE + +THE WESTMINSTER LIBRARY 2 + +THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 3 + +FOR THE CLERGY AND STUDENTS 4 + +BIOGRAPHY 6 + +HISTORY 8 + +THE BEGINNINGS OF THE CHURCH 8 + +EDUCATIONAL 9 + +STONYHURST PHILOSOPHICAL SERIES 10 + +POETRY, FICTION, ETC. 10 + +NOVELS BY M. E. FRANCIS (MRS. FRANCIS BLUNDELL) 11 + +WORKS BY THE VERY REV. 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II.--The Church of the Fathers--St. Chrysostom--Theodoret--Mission +of St. Benedict--Benedictine Schools. + +VOL. III.--Rise and Progress of Universities (originally published as +"Office and Work of Universities")--Northmen and Normans in England and +Ireland--Mediæval Oxford--Convocation of Canterbury. + +THE CHURCH OF THE FATHERS. Reprinted from "Historical Sketches". Vol. +II. With a Preface by the Rev. JOHN NORRIS. Fcp. 8vo. Gilt Top. 2s. +_net._ Leather, 3s. _net._ + +4. ESSAYS. + +TWO ESSAYS ON MIRACLES. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + +DISCUSSIONS AND ARGUMENTS. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. + +1. How to accomplish it. 2. The Antichrist of the Fathers. 3. Scripture +and the Creed. 4. Tamworth Reading-room. 5. Who's to Blame? 6. An +Argument for Christianity. + +ESSAYS, CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL. Two vols., with notes. Crown 8vo. 7s. + +1. Poetry. 2. Rationalism. 3. Apostolic Tradition. 4. De la Mennais. 5. +Palmer on Faith and Unity. 6. St. Ignatius. 7. Prospects of the Anglican +Church. 8. The Anglo-American Church. 9. Countess of Huntingdon. 10. +Catholicity of the Anglican Church. 11. The Antichrist of Protestants. +12. Milman's View of Christianity. 13. Reformation of the XI. Century. +14. Private Judgment. 15. Davison. 16. Keble. + +5. THEOLOGICAL. + +THE ARIANS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + +SELECT TREATISES OF ATHANASIUS. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 7s. + +TRACTS: THEOLOGICAL and ECCLESIASTICAL. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + +1. Dissertatiunculæ. 2. On the Text of the Seven Epistles of St. +Ignatius. 3. Doctrinal Causes of Arianism. 4. Apollinarianism. 5. St. +Cyril's Formula. 6. Ordo de Tempore. 7. Douay Version of Scripture. + +6. POLEMICAL. + +THE VIA MEDIA OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. each. +Vol. I. Prophetical Office of the Church. Vol. II. Occasional Letters +and Tracts. + +DIFFICULTIES OF ANGLICANS. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. each. Vol. I. +Twelve Lectures. Vol. II. 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Crown +8vo. 1s. 6d. + +Presentation Edition, with an Introduction specially written for this +Edition by E. B(L). With Photogravure Portrait of Cardinal Newman, and 5 +other Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo, bound in cream cloth, with gilt +top. 3s. _net._ + +With Fac-similes of the original Fair Copy and of portions of the first +rough draft. Together with a Biographical Sketch of the Rev. John +Gordon, of the Congregation of the Oratory, to whom the poem is +inscribed, containing an appreciation by Cardinal Newman. Imperial +folio. 31s. 6d. _net._ + +*** _This issue is restricted to 525 copies, of which 500 are +for sale._ + +LOSS AND GAIN: The Story of a Convert. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. + +CALLISTA: A Tale of the Third Century. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + +8. DEVOTIONAL. + +MEDITATIONS AND DEVOTIONS. Part I. Meditations for the Month of May. +Novena of St. Philip. Part II. The Stations of the Cross. Meditations +and Intercessions for Good Friday. Litanies, etc. Part III. Meditations +on Christian Doctrine. Conclusion. Crown 8vo. 5s. _net._ + +Also in Three Parts as follows. Fcap. 8vo. 1s. _net_ each. + +Part I. THE MONTH OF MAY. + +Part II. STATIONS OF THE CROSS. + +Part III. MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. + + +LETTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN HENRY NEWMAN DURING HIS LIFE IN THE +ENGLISH CHURCH. With a brief Autobiography. Edited, at Cardinal Newman's +request, by ANNE MOZLEY. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 7s. + +ADDRESSES TO CARDINAL NEWMAN, WITH HIS REPLIES, 1879-81. Edited by the +Rev. W. P. NEVILLE (Cong. Orat.). With Portrait Group. Oblong crown 8vo. +6s. _net._ + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _Collected Essays_, i. 35. + +[2] _Lectures on Evolution_, Cheap Edition, p. 16. + +[3] _Conservation of Energy_, § 210, p. 153. + +[4] F. W. Hutton, F.R.S., _The Lesson of Evolution_ (1902), pp. 9-11. + +[5] _Nineteenth Century_, February, 1889. p. 173. + +[6] This term is now applied almost exclusively to _physical science_, +or that whose province is the observation of phenomena and inferences +directly deducible from them. To avoid confusion, this sense of the word +"Science" will be here adopted: it is nevertheless objectionable +inasmuch as it implies that--as Professor Huxley following Hume would +have it--sound knowledge is restricted, outside the field of +mathematics, to "experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and +existence." But although all premisses or data of inference come to us +first through the gates of sense, there is much, beyond the limits +within which sensible experience is confined, to a knowledge of which +inference can lead us, and of which we become certain before experience +can verify what we have thus learnt. Thus a chipped flint or a fragment +of pottery is universally recognized as evidencing the work of man: a +single page of Virgil would suffice--apart from all other +information--to prove its author to have been both a poet and a scholar: +the shipwrecked mariner cast on an unknown shore argued soundly from the +sight of a gibbet that he had reached a civilized land ruled by law. But +more than this, Science herself proceeds on this principle to the +recognition not only of forces, the character of which is known by +previous experience, but of others concerning which she knows nothing at +all, except through the very effects from which she argues. Thus, as all +bodies left free are found to draw towards one another in a certain +mode, it is concluded with absolute confidence that there is a force +making them do so, although this is in itself utterly imperceptible, and +is known only by the way in which bodies behave under what must be its +influence. Yet, who questions the existence of Gravitation? In like +manner, the phenomena of light force us to admit the existence of the +Ether, as the medium through which its waves are transmitted. Yet, we +are compelled to attribute to this medium qualities apparently so +incompatible that, as the late Lord Salisbury said, Ether remains, "a +half discovered entity." But little as we can realize its nature, we +have no doubt that such a medium exists. + +[7] "Value of the Natural History Sciences" (_Lay Sermons_), p. 75. + +[8] Italics his. + +[9] _Confession of Faith of a Man of Science_, English translation, +1903, Preface, p. vii. + +[10] _Riddle of the Universe_, Cheap English Edition, p. 2. + +[11] _ibid._, p. 85. + +[12] And also, it should be added, travelling bodily through space with +a movement of "translation." + +[13] _Ibid._ + +[14] _Ibid._, p. 2. + +[15] The 15th Chapter of Haeckel's _Natural History of Creation_ is +devoted to this point. + +[16] _Confession of Faith of a Man of Science_, p. 32. + +[17] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 5. + +[18] _Ibid._, p. 78. + +[19] _Ibid._, p. 86. + +[20] _Ibid._, 134. + +[21] _An Easy Outline of Evolution_, by Dennis Hird, M.A., Principal of +Ruskin Hall, Oxford, p. 230. + +[22] _Presidential Address_, _Section D_, _Zoology_, Leeds, 1890. + +[23] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 2. + +[24] _Ibid._, p. 83. + +[25] "Pseudo-Scientific Realism," _Collected Essays_, i, 68, 74-78. + +[26] Newman, _Grammar of Assent_, p. 72. A "Law of Nature," as has +already been said, is simply a statement of what _de facto_ has always +been found to occur under certain conditions, and may consequently be +expected again. It is obvious however that such expectation is +implicitly based on the existence of some cause capable of ensuring the +result. + +[27] "The Teaching of Natural Philosophy," _Contemporary Review_, Jan., +1878. + +[28] _Lay Sermons_, p. 83. + +[29] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 6. + +[30] See Wasmann "Gedanken zur Entwicklungslehre," _Stimmen aus +Maria-Laach_, vol. 63, p. 298. + +[31] _Contemporary Review_, ut sup., p. 301. + +[32] Professor Weldon, F.R.S., in the _Dictionary of National +Biography_. + +[33] _Collected Essays_, v. 41. + +[34] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 75. + +[35] Professor Garnett in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_. By "Force" is +understood "any cause which tends to alter a body's natural state of +rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line." Of the nature of such +causes science professes to know very little, and as Clerk-Maxwell, who +knew as much as most men, sang apropos of a lecture of Professor Tait's: + + ... Tait writes in lucid symbols clear one small equation; + And Force becomes of Energy a mere space-variation. + + +[36] Balfour Stewart, _Conservation of Energy_, § 115; by Clerk-Maxwell, +_apud_ Garnett, _ut sup._ + +[37] Tyndall, _Fragments of Science_, 5th Edition, p. 23. + +[38] _Conservation of Energy_, § 209. + +[39] Sir William Thomson, now Lord Kelvin. + +[40] March 29, 1888. + +[41] So of another effort in the same direction Capt. Hutton tells us: +"The last champion in the field is Professor A. W. Bickerton, who thinks +he has found a way in which this dismal conclusion, as he considers it, +may be averted. But he is not very sure about it, and has to assume: +first, that space contains now and always will contain, a large quantity +of cosmic dust scattered through it with some approach to uniformity; +and secondly, that the Universe consists of an infinite number of what +he calls 'cosmic systems,' travelling through space, constantly throwing +off dust in all directions and occasionally colliding. As all this is +pure assumption and highly improbable, I cannot think that Professor +Bickerton has brought forward any serious objection to the theory of the +dissipation of energy, and his hypothesis must be added to the list of +failures." (_Lesson of Evolution_, p. 14, _n._) + +[42] _Lesson of Evolution_, p. 14. + +[43] _Darwin and after Darwin_, p. 17. + +[44] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 64. + +[45] _Über die Grenzen der Naturerkennens: Die Sieben Welträthsel_, +Leipzic, 1882. + +[46] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 64. + +[47] Du Bois-Reymond does not say that they are soluble, but only that +he cannot pronounce them "transcendental." + +[48] Samuel Laing, _Modern Science and Modern Thought_, Cheap Edition, +p. 19. + +[49] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 86. + +[50] _Ibid._ + +[51] P. 78. + +[52] P. 64. + +[53] _Origin of the Laws of Nature_, p. 23. + +[54] _Belfast Address_, 1874. + +[55] _Lay Sermons._ "On the Physical Basis of Life," p. 143. + +[56] Professor Tait, _Properties of Matter_, § 108. + +[57] _Contemporary Review_, January, 1878, p. 301. + +[58] _Story of Creation_, p. 11. + +[59] _Edinburgh Review_, October, 1903, p. 399. + +[60] Or "primal stuff." This looks remarkably like the old _Materia +Prima_ of the Schoolmen translated into Greek. + +[61] _Ibid._ _The Revelations of Radium._ + +[62] _Ibid._, p. 398. + +{_Note._--It is often assumed that the composite character of the +atom--if fully established--must upset the Atomic Theory. This is not +so; all that the new hypothesis does is to go further back in accounting +for the Atomic Theory, and for all practical purposes things remain +exactly as they were; except, indeed, that the dissolution of matter +does away with what was held as one of the most assured conclusions of +science.} + +[63] The Nebular Hypothesis itself is, of course, far from being an +established certainty, and is not devoid of grave difficulties. Into +these, however, it is not necessary now to enter. + +[64] _Apud_ Gaynor, _The New Materialism_, p. 83. + +[65] _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, "Biology." + +[66] _Apud_ Gaynor, p. 84. + +[67] Professor Marsh. + +[68] Professor Dewar at Belfast, 1902. + +[69] _Recent Advances in Physical Science_, 3rd Edition, p. 6. + +[70] Gaynor, p. 102. + +[71] _Lay Sermons_, p. 18. + +[72] _Critiques and Addresses_, p. 305. + +[73] Being the year in which this passage was written. + +[74] Viz. that of the derivation of life from life alone, as opposed to +_Abiogenesis_, or its production from lifeless matter. + +[75] See _Fragments of Science_, "Spontaneous Generation," for a full +account. + +[76] March 18, 1863. _Life and Letters_, i. 352. + +[77] April 30, 1870. _Ibid._ ii. 17. + +[78] _Critiques and Addresses_, p. 238. + +[79] _Lay Sermons_, p. 18. + +[80] _Evolution and the Origin of Life_, 1874, p. 23. + +[81] _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, "Biology." + +[82] _Fragments of Science._ "Rev. James Martineau and Belfast Address." + +[83] _Ibid._ "Scientific use of the imagination." + +[84] _Fragments of Science_, "Spontaneous Generation." + +[85] _Ibid._ "Rev. James Martineau and Belfast Address." + +[86] _Ibid._ "Vitality." + +[87] _Nineteenth Century_, May, 1886, p. 769. + +[88] Italics mine. + +[89] It has been established by Pasteur and others that the highest +temperature at which organic life is possible is 45° _Centigrade_ (113° +_Fahrenheit_). When the globe had cooled to this point from its +primitive molten condition, the epoch of terrestrial life commenced. + +According to what is perhaps the latest theory, that of M. Quinton, the +temperature immediately below this, 44° _Centigrade_, remains always the +best for living things, and those creatures are highest in the scale of +life, and consequently the most developed, which have contrived means of +keeping their internal heat at, or about, this level, despite the +refrigeration of their surroundings. In their blood-heat M. Quinton +therefore finds an absolute rule for fixing the relative rank of organic +forms, and the date of their appearance; those whose blood is warmest +being the most recently evolved. The results of this new system are +sufficiently startling. Birds are to be classed as the highest and +newest of all; while man, with the other _Primates_, has to take a much +lower place, the ungulates, including the horse and donkey, and the +carnivora, as dogs and cats, being his superiors. (_La Revue des Idées_, +January 15, 1904, pp. 29 seq.) + +[90] To D. Mackintosh, February 28, 1882. + +[91] To Sir J. D. Hooker, March 29, 1863. + +[92] To V. Carus, November 21, 1866. + +[93] To D. Mackintosh, February 28, 1882. + +[94] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 6. + +[95] _As regards Protoplasm_, p. 21. + +[96] _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, "Biology." + +[97] Printed in _Lay Sermons_. + +[98] _Nature_, June 5, 1902, p. 121. + +[99] _Id. ibid._ + +[100] _Op. cit._ p. 27. + +[101] _Presidential Address_, British Association, 1887. + +[102] _Les Emules de Darwin_, ii. 66. + +[103] _Op. cit._ ii. 63. + +[104] _Darwinism_, p. 474. + +[105] The other stages presenting similar difficulties are the 5th and +6th of Du Bois-Reymond's Enigmas, viz. the introduction of sensation or +consciousness (animal life), and of rational thought and speech. + +[106] _Contemporary Review_, January, 1878, p. 298. + +[107] _Die sieben Welträthsel_, D. 82. + +[108] Professor Huxley, it must be remarked, speaks of Homer as a "half +savage Greek" (_Lay Sermons_, p. 12), and intimates a mild wonder that +such a being could share our feelings in presence of nature to so large +an extent as his poems testify. This is undoubtedly a fine example of +the good conceit of ourselves which the pursuit of science is rather apt +to produce. + +[109] _Darwinism_, p. 475. + +[110] _Descent of Man_, c. ii. + +[111] _Ibid._ 54. + +[112] In his paper read before the British Association at Oxford in +1847. + +[113] _Lessons from Nature_, p. 89. + +[114] See Mivart, _Origin of Human Reason_, p. 166. + +[115] See Louis Arnould, _Une âme en prison_, and article "An imprisoned +Soul," by the Ctesse. de Courson, _The Month_, January, 1902, p. 82. + +[116] _Descent of Man_, i. 57. + +[117] i.e. ape-like. + +[118] Quoted by Romanes, _Mental Evolution in Man_. + +[119] _Ibid._, p. 371. + +[120] _Origin of Human Reason_, p. 385. + +[121] _Op. cit._ p. 379. + +[122] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 46. + +[123] "Ontogeny" signifies the genesis of the individual, "Phylogeny" +that of the race. Accordingly, when rendered into ordinary language, +declarations such as these, unsupported as they are by any evidence, are +found to mean that the development of the individual, tells us all about +the development of the individual, and the development of the race all +about that of the race. Is it really supposed, as it would seem to be, +that such points are scientifically settled by translating terms into +Greek? + +[124] _Lavengro_, passim. + +[125] _Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy_, p. 38. + +[126] _British Association Lecture_, 1873. + +[127] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 93. + +[128] _Origin of Species_ (5th Edition), p. 226. + +[129] Afterwards (April 17, 1863) Mr. Darwin wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker, +"I have long regretted that I truckled to public opinion, and used the +Pentateuchal term of creation, by which I really meant 'appeared' by +some wholly unknown process." + +[130] At a later period Mr. Darwin modified his views as to what he +still termed "that wondrous organ the human eye," writing thus (_Descent +of Man_, ii. 166): "We know what Helmholtz, the highest authority in +Europe on the subject, has said about the human eye: that if an optician +had sold him an instrument so carelessly made, he would have thought +himself fully justified in returning it." + +It is perfectly true that Helmholtz so expressed himself (_Vorträge und +Reden_, i. 253, etc., English Edition, "_Popular Scientific Lectures_," +pp. 219, etc.), adding that "the eye has every possible defect that can +be found in an optical instrument, and some which are peculiar to +itself." These utterances are frequently quoted, but Helmholtz says a +good deal more of which we do not usually hear. He observes, in the +first place, that in speaking as above he did so "from the narrow but +legitimate point of view of an optician." Having then enumerated all the +defects in question, he continues--"In an artificial camera, all these +irregularities would be exceedingly troublesome. In the eye they are not +so, so little troublesome, indeed, that it was occasionally a matter of +extreme difficulty to detect them." He adds that men in general not only +are unaware of the existence of such defects, but can hardly be induced +to credit it. Also that they "almost always affect those portions of the +field of vision to which at the moment we are not directing our +attention." What is still more to the point, he observes, that the +defects noted are all theoretical, while the purpose of the eye is +practical, and that if theoretically more perfect as an optical +instrument, it would be practically less serviceable. To complain that +the eye is not adapted for the special purposes of a microscope or +telescope is like condemning the boats of a sea-going ship because they +lack some of the qualities found in racing outriggers or Rob Roy canoes. +"As concerns the adaptation of the eye to its functions, [adds +Helmholtz,] this is most thorough, and is manifest in the very +limitations set to its defects.... A man of any sense would not chop +firewood with a razor, and we may assume that any elaboration of the +optical structure of the eye would have rendered it more liable to +injury and slower in its development." Helmholtz therefore concludes +that the eye is a product which "the wisest Wisdom may have +pre-designed." + +It thus comes very much to Pope's solution: + + Why has not man a microscopic eye? + For this plain reason: man is not a fly,-- + +and in view of his subsequent admissions, Helmholtz's flourish about +returning the eye to its maker looks very like theatrical clap-trap, +unworthy of such a man. + +[131] _Life of C. Darwin_, ii. 234. Erasmus Darwin to C. Darwin, +November 23, 1859. + +[132] _Animal Locomotion_ (International Scientific Series), p. 180. + +[133] _Origin of Laws of Nature_, p. 69. + +[134] _Lectures on Evolution_ (Cheap Edition), p. 37. + +[135] _Philosophical Basis of Evolution_, passim. + +[136] By a _Final Cause_ is meant the predetermined result or end, +towards which a work of intelligence is directed, the end being the +ultimate cause of the whole act. Thus the obtaining a light is the +_Final Cause_ of striking a match: while the striking of the match is +the _Efficient Cause_ producing the light. + +[137] _Grammar of Assent_, p. 69. + +[138] _Familiar Lectures_, p. 458. + +[139] "On the Reception of the 'Origin of Species,':" _Life of C. +Darwin_, ii. p. 187. + +[140] _Nineteenth Century_, No. 2. Reprinted in _Lectures and Essays_, +p. 388 (2nd Edition). + +[141] _Studies in the Theory of Descent_, vol. ii. p. 710; _vid. +Edinburgh Review_, October, 1902, _The Rise and Influence of Darwinism_. + +[142] _Ut sup._ p. 201. + +[143] _Sic._ The sense evidently requires either that the "not" should +be deleted, or "prove" be substituted for "disprove" in the preceding +line. This erroneous reading occurs not only in the text from which I +quote, but likewise in the _Critiques and Addresses_, p. 307, where this +passage forms part of the Professor's review of Haeckel's _Natural +History of Creation_, under the title of _The Genealogy of Animals_. + +[144] _Life and Letters_, ii. 195. + +[145] _Ibid._, p. 467. + +[146] _De Natura Deorum_, ii. 4. + +[147] _Principia, Schol. Gen._ + +[148] _Unseen Universe_, p. 47. + +[149] _Burnett Lectures_, p. 327. + +[150] See report of his words emended by himself, _Nineteenth Century +and After_, June, 1903. + +[151] Bradford, 1873. + +[152] Montreal, 1884. + +[153] _Annals and Magazine of Natural History_, 3rd Series, vol. v. p. +138. + +[154] "Reception of 'Origin of Species,'" _ubi sup._ p. 199. + +[155] November 26, 1860. + +[156] May 22, 1860. + +[157] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 92. + +[158] _The Scientific Basis of Morality_, by George Gore, LL.D., F.R.S., +p. 31. + +[159] May 22, 1860. + +[160] Bain, _De vi physica_, p. 76. + +[161] _Origin of Laws of Nature_, p. 61. + +[162] Lord Grimthorpe, _op. cit._ 85. + +[163] Letter to the _Times_, June 2, 1903 + +[164] The term _Monism_, invented by Wolf, originally bore a different +meaning from that in which Haeckel employs it. It was used to signify +equally the materialistic denial of the substantiality of mind, and the +idealistic denial of the substantiality of matter. Professor Haeckel, as +will be seen, maintains that mind and matter are but two names for one +thing. + +[165] _Confession of Faith of a Man of Science_ (English translation), +p. 60. + +[166] _Ibid._, p. 10. + +[167] _Ibid._, p. 3. + +[168] _Mind and Motion._ + +[169] _An Easy Outline of Evolution_, by Dennis Hird, M.A., Principal of +Ruskin Hall, Oxford, p. 184. + +[170] _Ibid._, p. 74. + +[171] _Confession of Faith of a Man of Science_, p. 51. + +[172] _Presidential Address_, _Section A_, _British Association_, +Norwich, 1868. + +[173] "Mr. Darwin's Critics." (_Critiques and Addresses_, p. 283.) + +[174] _Confession of Faith of a Man of Science_, p. 19. + +[175] To what extremes such doctrines must logically lead is illustrated +by Mr. Edmund Selous in his very interesting _Bird Watching_, where he +casually observes, as a matter of course, that the "life-part" of a +tom-tit is as important in the sum of things as Napoleon's (p. 248), and +declares elsewhere, more formally (p. 335)--"Surely, a beautiful +butterfly, that, for all time, charms--and raises by charming--some +number of those who see it, does more good on this earth than any single +man or woman, who, 'departing,' leaves no 'foot-prints on the sands of +time.' Homer, for instance, has left his _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, and +these have been, and still are, mighty in their effects. But let them +once perish, and Homer will be caught up and overtaken by almost any +bird or butterfly--even a brown one." + +[176] _First Principles._ + +[177] _Riddle of the Universe_, p. 92. + +[178] As to the term "Chance" which he frequently used, Mr. Darwin wrote +in one place (_Origin of Species_, Opening passage of c. v.): "I have +hitherto sometimes spoken as if the variations--so common and multiform +with organic beings under domestication, and in a lesser degree with +those in a state of nature--had been due to chance. This, of course, is +a wholly incorrect expression, but it serves to acknowledge plainly our +ignorance of the cause of each particular variation." It is obvious, +however, that this explanation only serves to show that, as we have +heard him confess, Mr. Darwin was anything but a clear thinker, for it +is absolutely meaningless if applied to his mention of "Chance" quoted +in the text above. He could not possibly mean that the mind refuses to +regard the world as the outcome of a cause whereof we know nothing, for +that is just what he thinks it is. Mr. Darwin, in fact, instinctively +recognized, as every man of common-sense must do, that if not due to +purpose, the order of Nature is due to chance, according to the true and +legitimate use of the word, and thus he commonly employed it. +Occasionally however he endeavoured, following Huxley and others, to +defend himself against the reproach of relying upon such a +factor.--_Vid. sup._, c. xii. + +[179] Although at first Mr. Darwin appeared to restrict his system to +_species_, very soon, as was but natural, it was extended to the +production of new _genera_, and even of divisions of the organic +kingdoms yet wider asunder. Thus--apart from the most famous instance of +all, treated by Darwin himself in his _Descent of Man_--it is now a +cardinal point with Evolutionists generally that all the higher forms of +life are descended from the lowest, and that even far up the line of +development, creatures apparently the most diverse have sprung from one +identical ancestor. Thus amongst vertebrates it is considered certain +that Birds and Reptiles are branches of the same stock,--and, still +farther on, that at least all placental mammals--bats and whales, +elephants and mice--trace their pedigree to some common progenitor. + +[180] _Origin of Species_, v. + +[181] _Ibid._, c. vii. + +[182] _Ibid._, c. vi. + +[183] "I remember well the time when the thought of the eye made me cold +all over, but I have got over this stage of the complaint, and now some +small trifling particulars of structure often make me feel very +uncomfortable. The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I +gaze at it, makes me sick." (_C. Darwin to Asa Gray, April 3, 1860._) + +[184] It will help to understand the nature of the task thus imposed +upon Natural Selection, to consider what Lord Grimthorpe writes on this +subject (_Origin of the Laws of Nature_, p. 103): + +"We take pieces of glass of different kinds and grind them to particular +shapes and set them in a frame and make a telescope, which refracts rays +of light so as to produce an 'image' of a very distant object near our +eye, and that appears much larger when seen through another glass of +proper shape. But we have never yet been able to make one that can bring +all the rays from a single distant point exactly to another point +without confusion. Yet there are many millions of apparently self-made +machines in the world that do it perfectly; and when we cut up one of +them and examine it we find that instead of our large lumps of glass +melted together into a coarse kind of uniformity, this machine has been +built up of an innumerable quantity of particles arranged in peculiar +and complicated ways, some of which have objects that we can understand, +though we cannot imitate them, and others that we do not. Moreover they +are persistently alike in every machine of the same class, and again +some of them persistently unlike those belonging to any other class of +animals. For a long time the retina of the eye used to be called a +membrane, or a kind of thin sheet. Then it was found to be a kind of +brush of which the hairs vibrate under the vibration of the rays of +light; and now these hairs are found by further magnification to be +divided into so many parts lengthwise that a picture of them has to be +as long as the picture of a striped or spotted animal to distinguish +them; and instead of being simply set fast by one end like hairs in a +brush, they pass through several frames or membranes; and of the use of +all these pieces we know nothing. Such is the 'simplicity of nature' in +that organ which next to a stomach is the commonest in all living +creatures; and such is our ignorance of nature yet." + +[185] _Ibid._, c. vii. + +[186] Although, as bee-keepers soon discover, Mr. Darwin supposed the +workmanship of bees' cells to be considerably more exact and accurate +than usually is the case,--there remains quite enough of architectural +merit to justify his remarks. It may even be said to increase the +mystery that the insects should thus appear to strive towards an ideal, +which they frequently fail to satisfy. + +[187] _Ranunculus ficaria._ It is remarkable that in the season of 1904 +this plant has ripened fruit profusely in various districts in which +such fruit had for many years been practically undiscoverable. + +[188] _Origin of Species_, c. xiv. + +[189] _Descent of Man_, Part I, c. i. + +[190] _Biological Lectures and Addresses_, p. 202. + +[191] _Charles Darwin et ses précurseurs Français_ (1870), p. 120. + +[192] _North British Review_, June, 1867. Professor Huxley likewise +declared this criticism to be of "real and permanent value." (_Critiques +and Addresses_, 252.) + +[193] _La vie des êtres animés_, p. 102. + +[194] Presidential Address Geologists' Association (_Proceedings_, vol. +v. 1875-6). Partly reprinted in _Contemporary Review_, February, 1877, +under the title "Evolution and the Vegetable Kingdom." + +[195] See APPENDIX A. p. 280a. + +[196] _Variation in Animals and Plants_, p. 343. By H. M. Verney +(International Scientific Series, 88). + +[197] J. W. Barclay, _New Theory of Organic Evolution_, p. 90. + +[198] Huxley, _Lectures and Essays_ (Popular Edition), pp. 28, seq. + +[199] Since Professor Huxley wrote the idea has been completely +discarded that these birds occupy such a place as he assigned them. The +wing of _Hesperornis_, for example, is now declared to be an instance of +_degeneration_ from one capable of flight. None of these fowls can be +considered as the progenitors of any now existing, but all as the +descendants of flying ancestors of arboreal habits, whereof no trace has +yet been discovered. (See Pycraft's _Story of Bird Life_, p. 190.) + +[200] _Philosophical Transactions Royal Society_, 1863, p. 36. + +[201] This point is well handled by M. Paul Janet, _Final Causes_, 2nd +English Edition, p. 245. + +[202] _Descent of Man_, ii. 156. + +[203] _Tablet_, May 26, 1888, p. 837. + +[204] _Lessons from Nature_, p. 297. + +[205] _Descent of Man_, _i._ p. 57. + +[206] In later editions (e.g. that of 1888, i. 133) the suggestion is +put in form of a question: "May not some unusually wise ape-like animal +...?" + +[207] _Origin of Species_, c. vi. + +[208] _Ibid._, c. viii. + +[209] It is a grave aggravation of the problem, which need only be +mentioned here, that the bees which make cells are neuters and have no +descendants, while the queens and drones which are the progenitors of +the whole race never do a stroke of work in the course of their +existence. + +[210] _Descent of Man_ (1st Edition), ii. 385. + +[211] _Ibid._, i. 107. + +[212] _Ibid._, ii. 386. + +[213] _Charles Darwin et ses précurseurs Français_, p. 151 + +[214] _Ibid._, p. 167. + +[215] _La vie des êtres animés_, p. 161. + +[216] Saint-Hilaire. + +[217] _Les Emules de Darwin_, ii. p. 82. + +[218] _North British Review_, July, 1867, p. 316. + +[219] P. 313. + +[220] November 5, 1903, _Journal of Botany_, January, 1904, p. 32. + +[221] Dr. Hudson, see _Nature_, February 20, 1890, p. 375. + +[222] _Origin of Species_, c. xi. + +[223] _Op. cit._ p. 59. + +[224] _History of Creation_, English Edition, ii. 353. + +[225] _The Genealogy of Animals: a Review of Haeckel's "Natürliche +Schöpfungs-Geschichte."_ The _Academy_, 1869. Reprinted in _Critiques +and Addresses_, and _Darwiniana_ (Collected Works). + +[226] The Thyroid gland in the throat, the function of which is unknown, +was supposed to be absolutely without use. It is found, however, that +its removal entails _myxoedema_, a condition closely allied to +cretinism. + +[227] "Geological Contemporaneity." (_Lay Sermons_, p. 206.) + +[228] Mr. Mivart, _Types of Animal Life_, p. 113. + +[229] _Les Emules de Darwin_, ii. 13. + +[230] Mr. Mivart, _Tablet_, April 21, 1888. + +[231] The Mexican _Axolotl_, the _Triton Alpestris_, and probably +others. + +[232] _Nature_, March 24, 1892. + +[233] i.e. the Science of Causes. + +[234] _Dictionnaire encyclopédique des sciences médicales._ + +[235] Thus having described in detail a series of experiments as to the +effects of an alteration of diet supplied to the larvæ of various +_hymenoptera_, M. Fabre writes: + +"Tout cela est bien autrement grave que les petits riens invoqués par +Darwin." (_Souvenirs entomologiques_, 3rd Series, p. 330.) + +[236] _Journal of Linnean Society_, vol. xix. + +[237] _Hibbert Journal_, January, 1903, p. 218. + +[238] _Revue de Philosophie_, April 1, 1904. + +[239] _Souvenirs entomologiques_, 3rd Series, p. 317. + +[240] For some further testimonies on this head see Appendix. + +[241] _Nature_, September 10, 1891. + +[242] _Coming of Age of the Origin of Species._ + +[243] _De opere sex dierum_, ii. 10, n. 12. + +[244] _Modern Idea of Evolution_, p. 97. + +[245] Darwin (_Origin of Species_, p. 274, 6th Edition) considers it +"incredible" that the same identical species should originate twice even +under the very same conditions. In the following passage, Haeckel +affirms such unity of origin in respect of a most remarkable species of +wide-reaching affinities. + +"All morphologists arrive at the firm conviction that all vertebrata, +from the _Amphioxus_ upwards to man himself, all fishes, amphibia, +reptiles, birds, and mammals, descend originally from a single +vertebrate ancestor, for we cannot imagine that all the different and +highly complicated conditions of life which, through a long series of +processes or stages of development, led to the typical formation of a +vertebrate, have accidentally happened together more than once in the +course of the earth's history." (Address to Munich meeting of German +Association, vid. _Nature_, October 4, 1877.) + +[246] _Origin of Species_ (6th Edition), p. 265. + +[247] _Les Emules de Darwin_, ii., 76. + +[248] _History of Plant Life and its bearings on Theory of Evolution_ +(1898). + +[249] Harebell. + +[250] According to the most recent system of classification, the +Monopetalæ, now re-christened _Sympetalae_, are ranked above the +Polypetalæ, the family of the _Compositae_ being highest of all. + +[251] _Proceedings_, vol. v., p. 17, etc. (1875-6). The substance of +this address appeared as an article in the _Contemporary Review_, +February, 1877, entitled, "Evolution and the Vegetable Kingdom." + +[252] See Appendix B. p. 284. + +[253] _Modern Ideas of Evolution_ (6th Edition), pp. 107, seq. + +[254] These first mammals, which were exceedingly small, are supposed by +most naturalists to have been Marsupials. They would appear presently to +have become extinct, no traces of them having been found in the chalk, a +formation so rich in other organic remains. As Professor Marsh tells us +on this subject (_Nature_, September 27, 1877, p. 471): + +"Of the existence of Mammals before the Trias we have no evidence, +either in the New or the Old World, and it is a significant fact that at +essentially the same horizon in each hemisphere similar low forms of +Mammals make their appearance. Although only a few incomplete specimens +have been discovered, they are characteristic and well preserved, and +all are apparently marsupials; the lowest mammalian group known in +America, living or fossil. The American Triassic mammals are known at +present only from two small lower jaws, on which has been founded the +genus _Dromotherium_, supposed to be related to the insect-eating +_Myrmecobius_, now living in Australia. Although the fauna of Europe +have yielded other similar mammals for the Oolite, America has as yet +none of this class from that formation, while from the rocks of +cretaceous age, no mammals are known in any part of the world." + +[255] P. 118. + +[256] P. 105. + +[257] _Le monde des plantes avant l'apparition de l'homme_, p. 34. + +[258] _Genesis of Species_, p. 129. + +[259] _Charles Darwin_, p. 185. + +[260] _Genesis of Species_, p. 130. + +[261] _Types of Animal Life_, 149. + +[262] _Genesis of Species_, p. 132. + +[263] "Primeval Vegetation in its relation to the Doctrine of Natural +Selection and Evolution" (_Essays and Addresses_, Owen's College, +Manchester, p. 251). + +[264] "Succession of Life on Earth." (_Half-hour Recreations_, 2nd +Series, p. 329.) + +[265] _Essays and Addresses_, Owen's College, Manchester, p. 220, note. + +[266] See note, p. 238. + +[267] "Geological Contemporaneity," 1862. (_Lay Sermons_, p. 222.) + +[268] "Palæontology and Evolution," 1876. (_Critiques and Addresses_, p. +182.) + +[269] P. 187. + +[270] P. 192. + +[271] _Genealogy of Animals._ + +[272] _Natural History of Creation._ + +[273] _Le Transformisme_, pp. 337-340. + +[274] _Lectures on Evolution_, New York, 1876. Cheap Edition, p. 43. + +[275] _Coming of Age of the Origin of Species_, etc. + +[276] _Essays on Controverted Questions_, p. 450. + +[277] "Utebatur autem equo insigni, pedibus prope humanis, et in modum +digitorum ungulis fissis; quem natum apud se, cum haruspices imperium +orbis terrae significare domino pronuntiassent, magna cura aluit." +(Suetonius, _Julius_, 61.) + +[278] The _radius_ and _ulna_ are the two bones of the forearm above the +wrist; the _tibia_ and _fibula_ the corresponding bones of the leg above +the ankle. In the horse, the _ulna_ and _fibula_ are almost, but not +quite, lost. + +[279] Animals and plants are placed in different _species_ when the +differences between them are only _relative_; in different _genera_, +when such differences are _absolute_. Thus, for example, the size of +teeth is considered relative; the number of teeth absolute. + +[280] _American Journal of Science and Arts_, 3rd Series, vol. 43 +(1892), p. 351. + +[281] _Modern Ideas of Evolution_, p. 119. + +[282] _Types of Animal Life_, 205. + +[283] Nicholson and Lydekker's _Manual of Palæontology_, ii. 1362. + +[284] _Origin of Species_, c. xi. + +[285] _Lydekker_, p. 1361. + +[286] _Evolution of the Horse_, 12. + +[287] "Succession of Life on Earth" (_Recreations in Popular Science_, +2nd Series, p. 339). + +[288] British Museum (_Nat. Hist._) _Guide to fossil mammals and birds_, +p. 38. + +[289] _American Journal of Science and Art_, 3rd Series, vol. 43 (1892), +p. 351. + +[290] _The Evolution of the Horse_, p. 16. + +[291] _Lydekker_, _ut sup._ p. 1363. + +[292] Sir W. Flower, _The Horse_, p. 74. + +[293] "It is a consequence of the theory of Natural Selection that +identity of structure involves community of descent; a given result can +only be arrived at through a given sequence of events; the same +morphological goal cannot be reached by two independent paths." Milnes +Marshall, _Biological Lectures_, 247. + +[294] _Origin of Species_, c. xi. "Geological Succession of Organic +Beings." + +[295] _Tablet_, April 21, 1888, p. 637. + +[296] _Catalogue of Mammals_, etc., _ut sup._ p. 38. + +[297] _Chain of Life_, p. 222. + +[298] _Les Enchainements du Monde Animal_ ... Mammifères Tertiaires. + +[299] _Chain of Life_, 227. + +[300] It is the "fingers" of the bat's "hand" which support the wing +membrane. Hence the scientific name _Cheiroptera_. + +[301] E.g. Dinotherium giganteum and Elephas meridionalis. (Vid. Gaudry, +_op. cit._ 169.) + +[302] Lecture at Royal Institution, January 2, 1904. + +[303] A remarkable instance of the need of caution is furnished by the +history of the Dinotherium itself. From the teeth, first found, Cuvier +set down the animal as a monster Tapir. Then, a whole skull being +discovered, Herr Kaup of Darmstadt, commenting upon the danger of such a +proceeding, himself classed the beast among the Edentata (Sloths, etc.), +and afterwards among the Hippopotami. Buckland and Strauss thought it +must have been an aquatic creature; Blainville and Pictet labelled it a +Manatee, or sea-cow. (Vid. Gaudry, _op. cit._ 187-9.) + +[304] _Op. cit._ p. 191. + +[305] Milnes Marshall, _Lectures on Darwinian Theory_, p. 66. + +[306] See Appendix C. p. 285. + +[307] _Modern Ideas of Evolution_, c. iv. + +[308] "Primeval Vegetation in its relation to the Doctrine of Natural +Selection and Evolution." (_Essays and Addresses_, Owen's College, +Manchester, p. 200.) + +[309] _History of Creation_, ii. 92, English Edition. + +[310] _Ibid._, p. 295. + +[311] _Les Emules de Darwin_, ii. 76. + +[312] As an instance M. de Quatrefages cites Haeckel's own words, from +his _Anthropogenie_. "The Vertebrate Ancestor No. 15, akin to the +Salamanders, must have been a species of Saurian (Lizard). There remains +to us no fossil relic of this animal; in no respect did he resemble any +form actually existing. Nevertheless, comparative anatomy and ontogeny +authorize us in affirming that he once existed. We will call this animal +_Protamnion_." + +[313] _Ibid._, p. 122. + +[314] _Revue Scientifique_ (1886), p. 486. + +[315] _Ibid._ (1877), I. 1101. + +[316] _Origin of Species_, c. x. + +[317] _Genesis of Species_, p. 134. + +[318] _Le monde des plantes avant l'apparition de l'homme_, p. vi. + +[319] _Op. cit._, p. 288. + +[320] _Life of Darwin_, ii. 193. + +[321] _Epistle_ I--to Pope. + +[322] _Hibbert Journal_, January, 1903. + +[323] _Order of Nature_, p. 239. + +[324] _Thoughts on Religion_, p. 123. + +[325] _Presidential Address_, British Association, 1871. + +[326] _Système Analytique des Connaissances positives de l'homme_ +(1830), pp. 8, 43. + +[327] _North American Slime Moulds_, Introduction, p. II. + +[328] Bloud's _Science et Religion_, No. 431, pp. 50, seq. + +[329] _Traité de Microbiologie_, I., p. 253. Also the Magazine +_Broteria_ (Lisbon), Vol. vi., 1907, Botany, p. 23. + +[330] See _Nature_, June 4, 1903, p. 113, in notice of a paper on the +subject by Professor F. W. Oliver and Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S. + +[331] _Linnean Society's Proceedings_, May 3, 1906. + +[332] See the _Congress Report_, vol. iv. + +[333] _Transactions American Philosophical Society_ (N.S.), 18, 1896, +pp. 119, 120. + +[334] _The Origin and Influence of the Thorough-bred Horse._ Cambridge, +1905. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Old Riddle and the Newest Answer, by +John Gerard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD RIDDLE *** + +***** This file should be named 33859-0.txt or 33859-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/8/5/33859/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif, Peter Vachuska and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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