FAC T S AND FAN C I ES IN M O D E R N

S C I EN C E

F A C T S A N D FA N C I E S
IN

M O DER N SCI ENCE:

S T U D I E S O F T HE RE LAT I O N S O F S C I E N C E
P RE VA L E N T S P E C ULA T I O N S AN D
RE L I G I O U S B E L I E F

TO

B E I N G THE LE C T UR E S O N

THE SA M UE L A

CR O Z E R F O UN D A

THE O L O G

TI O N I N C O N N E C TI O N " I TH THE CR O Z E R
I CA L S E M I N A R Y , F O R

1881

BY

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1.w DA " S O N

A M E R I CA N

LL D
.

F R S
.

PH I LAD E LPH I A I
B A PT I ST PU B LI CAT I O N
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P R E FA C E

H E obj ect before the min d of the au tho r

in p reparing thes e Le ctu res was to p re
sent a distin ct an d rational view of the p res ent
relation o f sc ie ntic thought to the religiou s
beliefs o f men and esp eciall y to the C hristian
revelation
The attemp t to make s cien ce o r sp ecula
tion s based o n scien ce su p ers ede religion i s
o n e o f the p re v alen t fan cie s o f ou r time an d
pe rv ades mu c h o f the popular lite ratu re o f
the day That su ch attempts can s u cceed the
au thor do e s n ot believe They have hitherto
given birth o nl y to s u ch abortion s a s Po s itiv
ism N ihili s m an d Pe ss imi s m
There is howeve r a n e c e s sa ry relatio n an d
parallelism o f al l truth s physical an d s piritual ;
and it is u s e ful to clear away the apparent
antagonism s which p roceed from parti al an d
im p erfect vie w s an d to poi n t o u t th e harmon y
,

P R E FA E

which exists between the natu ral an d the s p i r

it u al between what man can learn from the
physical creation an d what has bee n reveale d
to him by the Spirit of God To do this with
as mu ch fairnes s a s po s sibl e an d with du e
regard to the p rese n t state o f kn owl edge an d
to the mos t important di fcultie s that are like
1y to be m et with by hon est inqu irer s i s the
pu rpos e of the following page s
I t is p rop e r to add that in o rder to give com
l
e
t
e n e s s to the discu ssion i t has bee n n e c e s
p
sary to in trodu ce in some o f the l ectu res topics
p reviou sly treated o f by the au tho r in a similar
man n er in p u blication s bearing hi s name
,

J
A P R I L,

1 882 .

w D
.

C O N T E N TS

L E CT U RE
GEN E R AL

RE

LA T I O N S

P ULAT I O N

S EC

O F SC I E N C E A N D

L E CT U RE
T HE S CI E N C E O F

L I FE

II

A N D M O N I STI C E VO

L E CT U RE III
E VO

LU

TI O N A S T E STE D B Y

I o3

AN D

AN TI "UI TY

UR E

AS

ATI O N

M A N I F E ST

L E CTU RE
S C I E N C E A N D R E VE

LAT I O N

IV

O F M AN

LE CT U RE
N AT

47

T HE R E C O R D S O F T HE

LE CT U RE
GI N

LU TI O N

R O C"S

T HE O R I

A GN O STI C

P AGE

I 37

OF M I ND

VI

75

217

GENE R A L

R E L A T IO N S

OF

SC IE NC E AND AGN O S T I C SP E C ULA T I O N

LECTUR E I

GE N E R A L

RE

LATI O N S O F S CI E N C E
S P E C ULA T I O N

AN D

G N O STI C

H E indelity and the contemp t fo r s a

cred an d spiritual things which pervade
so mu ch of ou r modern literatu re are largely
attribu tabl e to the p reval en ce o f that form of
philosophy which may be designated as Agnos
tic Evolu tion an d this in its tu rn is popularl y
regarded as a result of the pu rsu it o f physical
and natu ral s cien ce
The last con clu s io n is
obviou sly only in part if at all correct since it
i s well known that atheistic philosophical s p e cu
l a t io n s were pu rsu ed qu ite as boldl y an d ably
as now long befo re the rise o f mo d ern science
Still it mu st be admitted that s cientic dis c o v
erie s and p rinciple s have been largely employ
e d in ou r time to give form and con s istency
to ideas otherwi s e ve ry dim an d shadowy and
thu s to rehabilitate fo r ou r benet the philo
s ophical d reams o f antiqu ity in a more s u b s ta n
tial s hap e I n this re s p ect the natu ral scien ces
,

11

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or rather the facts an d laws with which they

are co nversant m e rely share the fate o f othe r
things N othing howeve r in differe nt in itse l f
can come in to hu man han ds withou t acqu iring
thereby an ethical so cial political o r even re
An ou n ce o f l ead o r a
l ig io u s sign ican ce
dyna mite cartridge may be i n itsel f a thing
altogethe r destitu te of any highe r signican ce
than that dep en ding o n physical p rop erties ;
bu t let it pass into the power o f man an d at
o n ce in nite possibilities o f good an d of evil
clu ste r rou n d it according to the u s e to which
it may be applied This dep en ds o n essential
powers an d attribu tes o f man himsel f o f which
he can n o more be dep rive d than matte r can
be denu ded o f its inherent p rop erties ; an d if
the evils arising from misu se o f the s e powers
troubl e u s we may at l east co nsol e ou rs elves
with the reectio n that the po ss ibility o f su ch
evils shows man to be a free agen t an d not an
au tomaton
All this is emin e ntl y applicabl e to s cien ce
in its relation to agno s tic sp eculation s
The
material o f the phy s ical an d natu ral s cie n ces
consists of facts a s certained by the eviden ce o f
ou r senses and fo r which we d epen d o n the
truthfulness o f those s en s es an d the s tabili ty
,

M O

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S CI E N CL

of external natu re Science p roceeds by com

parison o f these facts an d by indu ctive rea
soning to arrange them u nder certain general
exp ression s o r laws So far all is merely phys
ical an d n eed have n o con n ectio n with ou r
o rigin or destiny o r relation to higher powers
B u t w e ou rselv es are a part of the natu re
which we stu dy ; an d we can not stu dy it with
ou t mo re o r le s s thinking ou r own thoughts
i n to it Thu s we natu rally begin to inqu ire
as to origin s and rst cau s es an d as to the
sou rce o f the energ y an d order which we p er
c e iv e ; and to thes e qu estions the human mind
demands some answer either actual o r s p e cu
lative Bu t here we enter i nto the domain o f
religiou s thought o r that which relate s to a
power or powers beyond an d above natu re
Whatever forms ou r thoughts o n su ch subj ects
may take these dep end not directly on the fact s
of scien ce bu t on the reaction of ou r minds o n
thes e facts They are truly a n th rO p o mo rp h ic
I t has been well said that it i s as idle to inqu ire
as to the o rigin o f s u ch religiou s ideas as to
in qu ire as to the origin of hu nger an d thirst
Give n the man they mu st n ecessarily exi s t
N ow whateve r form these philosophical o r
religiou s ideas may take whether that of A g
.

FA

n o s t ic is

C TS

AN D

F A N CI E S

m o r Pan thei s m o r Theism scien ce

p rop erly so call e d has no right to be eithe r

p raised o r blamed It s material may be u sed
bu t the s tru ctu re is the work o f the a rti c e r
himself
It is well howeve r to carry with u s the tru th
that thi s bo rde r lan d betwee n sci en ce an d re
lig io n is o n e which m en can no t be p reven ted
fro m en te ring ; bu t what they may nd the rein
d ep end s v ery mu ch o n themselves U n der " is e
gu idan ce it may p rove to u s an Eden the ve ry
gate of heav en an d we may acqu ire i n it larger
an d more harmoniou s view s o f both the s een
and the u nseen of s cien ce and of religion Bu t
o n the othe r han d it may be fou nd to be a bat
tl e e l d o r a bedlam a place o f con fu se d cries
an d in coheren t raving s an d strewn with the
wrecks o f hu man hop es an d aspiration s
There can be no qu estion that the mo re u n
pl easant asp ect o f the matter is somewhat p rev
al e n t i n ou r time and that we shoul d if po ss ible
u nderstan d the cau s es o f the conict an d the
confu sio n that p revail an d the way ou t o f
them To do this it will be ne cessary rst to
notice s om e o f the i n cidental o r extraneou s
cau s es o f di fculty an d strife an d then to in
quire more in detail a s to the actual bearing
,

M OD E R I V

IN

SCI E NCE

o f the scientic knowledge of natu re on

n o s t icis

Ag

On e fru itful cau se of dif culty in the rela

tion s of s cien ce an d religio n is to be fou nd in
the narr own ess and in capacity o f well meaning
C hristian s who u n n ecessarily bring the doc
trin es of natu ral an d revealed religion into
conict by misu nderstanding the o n e or the
other or by attaching obsol ete scien tic ideas
to H oly Scriptu re an d iden tifying them with
points where it is qu ite n on committal
It In
Mu ch mischief is also don e by a p revalen t habit
of sp eaking of all o r n early all the votaries
of s cien ce as if they we re irreligiou s
A secon d cau s e is to be fou nd in the e x t rav
a a n t specu lations indulged in by the adherents
g
o f certain philosophical systems Su ch s p e c u
l a t io n s often far o v erpass the limits of actual
s cientic knowl edge and are yet paraded b e
fore the ign orant as if they were legitimate re
s u l t s of s cience
an d s o become irretri evably
con fou nde d with it i n the popular mind
A third inu ence m ore closely co nn ected
with scien ce its el f arises from the rapidity o f
the p rogress o f discove ry and of the p ractical
application s o f s cientic facts an d p rinciples
This has u n settled the minds of men an d has
-

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gi v e n them the idea that n othing is beyon d

their reach There i s thu s a vagu e n otion that
s cien ce has overcom e s o many di fculties an d
explain ed so many mys terie s that it may u l ti
mately satis fy all the wan ts of man an d leav e
n o s cop e fo r religiou s belief Thos e who k now
the limitation s o f ou r knowl edge of material
things may not share this delu s io n ; bu t there
is reaso n to fear that many even of s cie ntic
m en are carried away by it an d it wi d ely a f
fe e ts the minds o f ge n eral readers
Again s cien ce has in the cou rs e o f its growth
become divided into a great nu mber o f small
s pecialties each pu rsu ed arden tly by its own
votaries This is ben ecial i n o n e resp ect ; for
mu ch more can be gained by m en digging down
ward each o n his own vein o f valuabl e o re
than by al l m erely s craping the su rface B u t
the sp ecialist as he desce nds fathom afte r fath
om into his mine however rich and rare t h e
gem s an d metals he may di s cov er becom es
more an d mo re removed from the o rdina ry
ways of m en an d more an d more regardless
o f the p rodu cts o f othe r vein s as valuable as
his own The spe cialist howeve r p rofou n d he
may becom e in the k nowledge o f his own lim
it e d subj ect is o n that v ery accou nt less tted
.

1N

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to gu ide his fellow men in the pu rsu it of gen

eral tru th Whe n he ve ntu res to the bou nda
rie s between his own and other domains of
truth o r whe n he con ceives the idea that his
own little mine is the sol e deposit of all that
requires to be known he sometimes makes
grave mistakes ; and thes e pass cu rren t for a
time as the dicta of high s cientic au thority
Lastly the lowest inu en ce o f all is that which
s ometimes regulates what may be term ed the
commercial side of s cien ce H ere the deman d
i s v ery apt to con trol the su pply N ew facts
and legitimate con clu sion s cannot be p rodu ced
with su fcient rapidi ty to satisfy the p opular
craving o r they are not su fcien tly exciting to
comp ete with other attractions
Science has
then to e nter the domain o f imagination and
the last n ew generalization showy and sp e
c io u s bu t p erhaps baseless as the plot o f the

last new n ovel brings grist to the mill o f the

scientist and his publisher

O nly on e permanen t and nal remedy is pos
sible fo r these evils an d that is a highe r moral
ton e and more thorough scientic edu cation o n
the part o f the general public U ntil this can
be s ecu red tru e scien ce is su re to be su rrou nde d
with a mental haz e o f vagu e hypotheses clothed
-

JE

'

18

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i n ill de n e dlanguage and which is mistaken by

the multitu de fo r s cie n ce itsel f Y e t tru e s cie n ce
shoul d not be held responsibl e for this excep t
in so far as its material is u sed to con s titu te th e

su bstance of the pseu do gn osis which su rrou nds

it Science is in this relation the hon est hou se
hol d e r whos e goods may be take n by thie v es
and applied to bad u s e s or the careful amass er
o f wealth which may be di ss ipated by s p en d
thrifts
It may be s aid that i f thes e s tatements are
tru e the ordinary reade r is helpless H ow can
?
he s eparate the tr u e from the fal s e
M u st he
resign himself to the co ndition o f o n e who
either believes o n m ere au thority o r refu s es to
?
believe anything or mu st he adop t the attitu de
o f the Pyrrhonis t who thinks that anything may
?
be eithe r tru e or fals e Bu t it is tru e n e v e rth e
l ess that commo n s ens e may su fce to delive r
u s from mu ch o f the p seu do s cien ce o f ou r
time an d to e nabl e u s to u nderstand how lit
tl e reason there is for the co nicts p romoted
by mere sp eculatio n betwee n s cien ce an d othe r
departments o f legitimate thought and inqu i ry
I n illu strating this we may in the p resent
lectu re co nside r that form o f s ceptical philos
O h
whi
c
h
in
ou
r
tim
e
is
the
most
p
revalen
t
p y
,
-

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19

and which has the most speciou s air o f de

This
is
the
system
of
e nd
e n c e on s cience
p
Agnost i c i sm combin ed with evolu tio n of which
M r H erbert Sp en cer is the most co nspicu ou s
ad
v o c a t in the English speaking world
This

philosophy deals with two subj ects the cau s e

o r origin of the u nivers e and o f things therein
and the m ethod of the p rogres s o f all from the
begin ning u n til now Spen cer s ee s nothing in
the rst of the se bu t m ere force o r en ergy
nothing in the secon d bu t a spontan eou s evo
All beyon d thes e is not only u nknown
l u t io n
bu t u nknowable
The theological an d philo
sophical shortcomings of this d octrin e have been
laid bare by a multitu de o f critics and I do not
p ropos e to con sider it in these relation s so mu ch
as in relation to s cien ce which has mu ch to say
with re s p ect to both force and evolu tion
An agnostic is literally on e who doe s no t
know ; and were the word u s e d i n its tru e
an d literal sen s e Agnosticism would o f meces
si ry be opposed to s cien ce since s cience is
knowledge an d qu ite in compatible with the
want o f it
B u t the modern agnostic does
not p reten d to be ignorant of the facts and
p rinciples of science What he p rofesse s not
to know is the existence o f any power above
.

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an d beyon d material natu re H e goes a littl e

farther however than mere abs en ce o f know
ledge H e holds that o f Go d nothing can be
kn own ; o r he may pu t it a littl e more s tro ngly
in the phra s e o f his p eculiar philosophy by say
i ng that the existen ce o f a God o r o f creatio n
by divin e power is u nthinkabl e
I t is i n th is
that he differs from the old fashio ned an d n ow
extin ct atheist who blu n tly denied the exist
en ce o f a God The modern agnostic assu me s
an attitu de o f greate r humility an d dis claims
the actual de nial of God Y e t he p ractically
goes farthe r in as s erting the impossibility o f
knowing the existen ce o f a D ivin e B eing ; an d
in t a k in g t h is farthe r step Agnosticism doe s
m ore to degrade the human reaso n a nd to cu t
it off from all commu nio n with anything beyon d
m ere matter an d force than does any othe r form
of philosophy an ci en t o r modern
Y e t in this Agnosticism there is in o n e poin t
an app roximatio n to tru th I f there is a God
he can not be known directly and fully an d his
plan s an d p ro cedu re mu s t always be mo re
o r less i ncomp rehe n sibl e The writer o f the
book o f J ob pu ts this as plainly as any mode rn
agn ostic i n the pa s sage begin ning C an st tho u
by searching n d ou t God lite rally C ans t
.

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21

thou sou n d the depths of God ? and a still

highe r au thori t y informs u s that no man hath
s ee n God that is known him as we know
material things I n short absolu tely an d essen
t iall y God is in comp rehensibl e ; bu t this is no
n ew discove ry an d the mistake of the agnostic
lies in failing to perceive that the same dif
culty stands i n the way o f ou r perfectly know
ing anything whatever W e say that we know
things when we mean that we know them i n
their p rop erties relations o r effects I n this
sen se the k nowledge of God is p erfectly pos
sibl e I t is impossibl e only I n that other s ens e
of the word know
if it can have su ch a
s en se in which we are requ ired to know
things in their absolu te essen ce and thorough
ly
Thu s the term agn ostic co ntains an in
it ial fallacy i n i t sel f ; and thi s philosophy like
many others rests in the rst instan ce o n a
m ere j uggle ry o f words The real qu estio n is
I s there a God who manifests himsel f to u s
?
m ediately and p ractically
an d this is a qu es
tion which we can not afford to s et aside by a
mere play o n the meanings of the verb to
know
If howeve r any man takes this position an d
p rofesses to be in capabl e o f k nowing whether

'

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o r not there is any power above an d behin d

material things it will be n ecessa ry to begi n
with the ve ry eleme nts of knowl edge and to
inqu ire if there is anything w hatever that he
really knows an d believes
Let u s ask him if he can subscribe to the
s impl e creed exp ressed in the words I am I
feel I think
Shoul d he deny the s e p roposi
tio ns the n the re is n o basis left on which to
argu e Should he admit this mu ch o f belie f
he has abando n ed som ewhat o f hi s agnostic
position ; fo r it would be easy to s how that in
eve n u ttering the p ro nou n I he ha s com
mit t e d hims el f to the belief in the u n knowabl e
?
What is the eg o which he admits
I s it the
mate rial o rganism o r any o n e of its o rgan s o r
?
parts o r is it something distin ct o f which the
o rganism i s m erely the garment o r ou tward
?
manifestatio n o r is the o rganism it s elf any
thing more than a bu ndl e o f appearan ces p ar
t ial l y known an d scarcely u n derstood by that
?
?
which calls itsel f I
Who knows
An d if
ou r own p ersonality is thu s inscru tabl e i f w e
can co nceiv e o f it n eithe r as ide ntical with the
whole o r a ny part o f the o rganism no r as ex
is t in g indepe ndently of the o rganism we s houl d
begin ou r Agno s ticism here and declin e to u tter
,

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23

the pronou n I as implying what we can not

know Still as a matte r of faith we mu st hold
fast to the proposition I exist as the only
standpoin t for scien ce philosophy o r common
life I f we are asked for evidence of this faith
we can appeal only to ou r consciou sness of
effects which imply the existen ce of the eg o
which we thu s have to admit o r su ppo s e befo re
we can begin to prove even its existen ce
This fact o f the myste ry of ou r own exist
en ce is full of mate rial fo r thought I t is in
its elf startling eve n appalling We feel that
it is a sol emn a dreadful t hing to exist and to
exist in that limitless space and that eternal time
which we can no more u nderstan d than we can
ou r own con stitu tion though ou r belief in their
existen ce is in evitabl e N o r can we dive s t ou r
selve s o f anxiou s thought s as to the sou rce
tendencies an d end o f ou r own being H ere
in short we al ready reach the threshold of that
dread u nknown fu tu re and its possibilities the
realizatio n of which by hop e fear and imagina
tion con stitu tes perhaps ou r rst introdu ction
to the u nseen world as distinguished from the
p rese n t world o f s ense
The agn o s tic may
s mil e if he pleases at religio n a s a pu erile
fancy bu t he knows like other m en that the

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mere co nsciou s n es s o f existen ce n ece s sarily

links itsel f with a fu tu re nay u n ending exist
e n ce an d that any being with this co nsciou s
n ess o f fu tu rity mu st have at l eas t a religio n
o f hop e an d fear In this we n d an in t e l l i
i
l
reaso
n
fo
r
the
u
niversality
o
f
religiou
s
b
e
g
ideas in relatio n to a fu tu re life Even where
this leads to beliefs that may be called s up er
s t it io u s it is mo re reaso nable than Agnostici s m ;
fo r it is su rely natu ral that a being inscru tabl e
by himsel f should b e l ed to believe in the ex
is t e n c e o f other things equally in s crutabl e bu t
apparently relate d to hims el f
B u t the thinking I dwell s in the midst o f
what we term exte rnal obj ects I n a certain
s en s e it treats the parts of it s own bodily o r
a n is m as if they we re things exte rnal to it
g
sp eaking o f my hand
my head as i f they
were its p rop erty B u t there are things p ra c
tically innite beyon d the o rgani sm itsel f W e
call them obj e cts o r thing s bu t they are o nly
appearan ces ; an d we know only thei r relation s
to ou r s elves and to each other Their es s ence
if they have any is inscru tabl e We say that
the app earan ces i ndicate matter an d en ergy
bu t what thes e are essentially we know n ot
W e redu ce matte r to atoms bu t it is impossibl e
,

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25

fo r u s to have any conceptio n of an atom or of

the supposed ether whe t her itself i n some
s en se atomic or not in cluding su ch atoms
O u r attempts to form rational conception s of
atoms re solve thems elves into complex conj e e
tu res as to vortices of ethers and the like of
which no on e p retends to have any disti n ct
mental pictu re ; yet o n this basis of the in c o m
p rehensible rests all ou r ph y sical scien ce the
rst tru ths in which a r e really matters of pu re
faith in the existen ce of that which we can not
u nderstan d Y e t all men would scoff at the
agnostic who on this accou n t should exp re ss
u nbelief in physical scien ce
Let u s observe here fu rthe r that s in ce the

mysteriou s and inscru tab l e I is su rrou nded

with an equally mysteriou s and in scrutable
u n iverse an d sin ce the eg o an d the exte rnal
wo rld are linked together by i ndissolubl e rela
tions we are i ntrodu ced to certa i n alternatives

as to origin s Either the u nive rs e or natu re

is a mere phantom conj u red u p by the eg o o r
the eg o is a p rodu ct of the u n ivers e o r both
are the re s ult o f some equally mysteriou s pow
e r beyond u s an d the material world N either
of these s uppositions is absu rd o r u nthinkable ;
and whichever of them we adopt we are again
,

26

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

introdu ced to what may be termed a religio n as

well as a philosophy O n o n e view man b e
comes a go d to hims el f o n another natu re b e
comes his god ; o n the third a Sup rem e B eing
the C reator o f both All three religio n s exist
in the worl d in a vast variety o f form s and it
is qu estionabl e if a ny hu man being do es n ot
more o r less give crede nce to o n e o r the othe r
S cie ntic m en eve n when they think p rop e r
to call themselves idealists mu st rej ect the rs t
o f the above alternative s since the y can not
doubt the obj ective existe n ce o f exte rnal na
tu re an d the y know that it s existen ce date s
from a time anterior to ou r possible existen ce
a s hu man beings
The y may hol d to eithe r
o f the other s ; and p ractically the minds of stu
de n ts o f scien ce are divided between the idea
o f a spontan eou s evolu tion o f all things from
s e l f exi s ten t matte r a nd fo rce and that o f the
creatio n of all by a s el f existen t omnipote nt an d
all wise C reato r Fro m certain poin ts of V iew
it may be o f n o consequ e n ce whether a s cie n
t i c man holds o n e o r o ther o f these views
Sel f existe n t force o r p owe r capable o f spon
t a n e o u s i nceptio n
o f change an d o f orderly
and i n fallible developme n t according to laws
o f its own imposition o r enactmen t which i s
.

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

27

demanded on the o ne hyp othesis s carcely

differs from the con ception o f an intelligen t
C reator deman ded o n the other while it is to
say the least equ ally incomp rehensible It is
besides o bj ectionabl e to scien ce o n the grou n d
that it requires u s to a s sum e prop erties in
matte r an d energy quite at varian ce with the
results of exp erien ce The remarkable alter
native p res ented by Tyn dall in his B elfast A d
d ress well exp re s ses this : Either let u s O pen
ou r doors freely to the conception o f creative
acts o r abandoning them let u s radically
change ou r notion s of matte r
The expres
sion creative acts here is a loose an d not
very accu rate on e for the operation O f creative
powe r The radical change in ou r n otio ns O f
matter involves an e ntire reve rsal of all that
s cien ce knows o f its es sential p roperties This
being u nderstood the se nten ce is a fair exp res
sion o f the dilemma in which the agnostic an d
the materialist n d themselve s
B etween the two hypotheses above stated
the re is however o n e material and vital dif
ference depending o n the natu re o f man him
sel f The u nivers e does not consist m erely o f
i nsensate matter an d fo rce and au tomatic vital
ity ; there happen s to be in it the rational and
,

28

F A C TS A N D

FA N CI E S

consciou sl y resp on sible being man To attrib

u te to him an o rigin from m ere matte r an d
force is n o t merely to attach to them a ctitio us
p ower an d signican ce : it is al so to rej ect the
ratio nal p robability that the o riginal cau s e mu st
be at least equ al to the effect s p rodu ced an d to
dep rive ou rs elves o f all commu nio n an d sympa
thy with natu re Fu rther whereve r the p re s
e n ce and potency O f hu man reason resides
there s eems n o reason to p reven t ou r s earch
ing for an d nding it i n the o nly way in which
we can know anything in its p rop ertie s an d
effects The dogma o f Agn osticism it is tru e
refu ses to p ermit this s earch after God bu t it
does so with as little reason as any o f thos e
s el f co nstitu ted au thorities that deman d belief
withou t qu estioning N ay it has the offen sive
p eculiarity that in the v ery term s i n which it
issu e s its p rohibitio n it contradicts itsel f Th e
same o racl e which asserts that the powe r
which the u n ive rs e manifests to u s is wholl y
in scru table afrm s al s o that we mu s t in e v ita
bly commit ou rs elves to the hyp othesis o f a
rst cau se
Thu s we are told that a powe r
which i s man ifes t is also in s cru table an d
that we mu s t commit ou rs elves to a bel ie f
i n a rst cau s e which o n the hypothesi s can
.

IN

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29

not be known to exist This may be philosophy

o f a certain sort bu t it certainly shoul d not
claim kin ship with s cien ce
Perhaps it may be well here to place in com
parison "ith each other the doctrin e of the
agnostic philosophy as expou n ded by H erbert
Spe nce r an d that of Paul O f Tarsu s an O lder

bu t certainly a n ot less acu te thinke r and we

may refe r t o t h e ir u tteran ces resp ecting the
o rigin o f the u niverse
Sp encer says
The verbally intelligen t sup
position s respecting the o rigin O f the u niverse
are thre e : ( I ) I t is s elf existent ; ( 2 ) It is self
created ; ( 3) It i s created by an external agen
O
n
these
it
may
be
remarked
that
the
c
y
second is s carcely even verbally in telligent ;
it s eems to be a contradictio n i n terms The
third admits o f a n important modication which
was manifest to Spi nosa if not to Sp encer
namely that the C reato r may nay mu st b e
not merely external bu t within the u nivers e
as well I f there is a God he mu st be m the
u n ivers e as a pe rva ding powe r an d i n every
part O f it and mu st n ot be shu t ou t from his
own work This mistaken con cep tion of God
as bu ilding himsel f ou t Of his own u nivers e and
acting on i t by external force is both irrational
.

'

3O

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C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

an d u nscientic being for example qu ite at

varian ce with the analogy of force an d life
R ightly u nderstood therefore Spen cer s al te r
natives resolve thems elves into two either the
u n ivers e is self existen t o r it is the wo rk o f a
s el f existe nt C reato r p e rvading all things with
his p owe r O f thes e Sp en cer p refers the rst
Paul o n the other hand refe rring to the me ntal
co nditio n o f the civilized heathen s o f his time
af rms that rationally they coul d believe o nly
in the hypothesi s of creation H e says o f
God :
H is invisibl e things even his eternal
powe r and divinity can be p erceived ( by the
reason ) being u nderstood by the things that
are made
Let u s look at thes e rival p roposi
tions I s the u niv ers e s el f e x I S t e n t o r does i t
?
show evidence of creative p ower an d divinity

The doctrin e that the u n ivers e is s elf existen t

may be u nderstood i n differen t ways I t may
m ean eithe r an endless su ccessio n of su ch
changes as we n ow s ee in p rogress o r a n
eternity o f su ccessive cycles p roceeding through
the cou rs e o f geological ages an d ever retu rn
ing into themselves The rs t is directly con
t ra ry to known facts in the geological histo r y
o f the earth an d can no t be maintained by any
o ne The seco n d would imply that the known
,

IN

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1
3

eological
hi
s
to
r
y
is
merely
a
part
o
f
on
e
great
g
cycle of an endles s series an d of which an in
nite number have already passed away I t is
eviden t that this innite su ccessio n of cycles is
qu ite as incomp rehe nsibl e as any other innite
su ccession o f things o r events B u t waiving
this obj ection we hav e the alternative either
that all the su ccessiv e cycles are exactly alike
which could n ot be in accordan ce with e v o l u
tion no r with the analogy of other natu ral
cycl es o r there mu s t have been a p rogre s sion
in the su ccessive cycl es B u t this last supposi
tion would involve an u n cau sed beginning some
where and this of su ch a character as to dete r
min e all the su ccessive cycles an d their p rogress ;
w hich would again be contrary to the hypo
thesis o f self existence I t is u seless however
to follow su ch qu estions farther since it i s evi
den t that this hypothesis acco u nt s fo r n othing
and would involve u s i n absolu te con fu sion
Let u s tu rn now to Paul s stateme nt This
has the merit in the rst place o f expressi ng a
known fact namely that me n do in fer power
and divinity from natu re Bu t is thi s a mere
su perstition o r have they reaso n fo r I t ? I f
the u nivers e be considered as a vast machin e
exceeding all ou r powers o f calculation in it s
,

2
3

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

magn itu d e an d compl exity it s eems in the la s t

degree absu rd to deny that it p res en ts evide n ce
o f power
D r C arp ente r i n a recen t lectu re
illu strates the p osition o f the agnostic i n this
resp ect by supposing him to examine the ma
chin ery o f a great mill and having fou n d that
this is all s et in motio n by a h uge iro n shaft
p roce edi ng from a brick wall to suppos e that
this shaft is s el f acting an d that there is no
cau s e o f motio n beyo nd Bu t whe n we co n
side r the variety an d the i ntricacy o f natu re
the u n ity an d the harmo ny o f its parts an d the
adaptatio n o f thes e to an in calculabl e nu mbe r
o f u ses we n d something mo re than po we r
The re is a tting toge ther o f things in a man
n e r not o nly above ou r imitatio n bu t above ou r
comp rehen sio n To re fe r this to m ere chan ce
o r to in nate te nden cies o r pote ncies o f things
we feel to be bu t an emp ty form o f wo rds :
con sequ en tly we are forced to admit s upe r
hu man co ntrivan ce i n natu re o r what Paul
terms divinity
Fu rthe r since the histo ry
o f the u nivers e go es back farthe r than we can
calculate an d as we can know n othing beyo n d
the First C au s e we in fe r that the Powe r an d
D ivi nity which we hav e ascertain ed in natu re
mu s t be ete rnal
Again s ince the creati v e
,

IN

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33

power m us t at some point i n past tim e have

spontaneou sly begu n to act we regard it as a
living power which is the term elsewhere
u s ed by Paul in exp ressing the idea of p er
sonality as held by theologian s Lastly if
eve rything that we kn ow thu s testies to an
eternal powe r an d divin i ty to maintain that
we can know n othing of this First C au se mu s t
be simply n onsense u nl ess we are conte nt to
fall back on absolu te nihilism an d hold that
we know nothing whateve r eithe r relatively o r
absolu tely ; bu t in this case not only is scien c e
dethron ed bu t reason hersel f is drive n fro m
her s eat and there is nothing left fo r u s to dis
cu ss Paul s idea is thu s p erfectly clear an d
consistent and it is not difcult to see that
common sen se mu st accept this doctrin e of an
Eternal Living Powe r an d D ivinity i n p refer
ence to the hyp othesis of Spe n ce r
So far we have considered the gen eral h ear
ing of agnostic an d theistic theories o n ou r
relation s to natu re ; bu t i f we are to test thes e
theories fully by scientic con siderations we
mu st look a little mo re into details The exist
e n c e s experime ntally or in du ctively kn own to
s cien ce may be grouped u nder thre e heads
matte r e ne rg y an d law ; an d each of the s e
,

34

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

has an indep enden t tes timony to give with ref

e ren ce to its o rigi n an d its co n nection with a
highe r creativ e power
Matter i t is tru e o ccupies a s om ewhat equ iv
ocal place in the agnostic philosophy Acco rd
ing to Sp en ce r it is built u p o r extracted from
exp erie n ces O f force an d it is o nly by fo rce
that it demon strates itsel f to u s as existing
This is tru e ; bu t that which demo nstrates
its elf to u s as existing mu st exist in whateve r
way the demon stration is made an d Sp en ce r
doe s not in co nsequ e nce O f the lack o f direct
evidence exten d his Agnosticism to matter
though he might qu ite con s iste ntly do so I n
any case s cience postulates the existen ce of
matter Fu rther scien ce is oblige dto con ceiv e
o f matter as composed o f atoms an d of atom s
fo r atoms diffe r i n weight
O f differen t kinds ;
and in chemical p rop erties an d the s e diffe r
fo r the y can no t be
e n c e s are to u s ultimate
changed Thu s s cien ce an d p ractical life are
tie d down to certai n p rede termin ed p rop e rties
of matte r W e may it i s tr u e i n fu tu re be
abl e to redu ce the nu mbe r o f ki n ds o f matte r
by nding that som e bodies believed to be sim
pl e are really compou n d ; bu t this does not
affect the qu estion in han d A s to the origin
.

IN

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35

of the divers e p rop ertie s o f atoms only two

suppositions s eem possible : eithe r in some past
p eriod they agreed to differ an d to divide them
selves into differe nt kinds suitable in quantity
an d p ro p e rtl e s to make u p the u nive rse o r
else matter in its variou s kin ds has been skil
fully manu factu red by a creative powe r
B u t there is a scientic way in which matter
may be resolved into force A n iron kn ife
passed through a powerful magn etic cu rren t is
felt to be resisted as if passing through a soli d
s ubstan ce an d this resistan ce is p rodu ced mere
l y by magn etic attraction
Why may it not be
?
s o with resistan ce in gen eral
To give effect
to su ch a supposition an d to reconcil e it with
the facts of chemist ry an d of p h y s 1cs I t I s n e
a t o ms o f matter are
to
suppose
that
the
c e s s ar
y
me rely minu te vortice s o r whirlwinds s et u p in
an ethereal m ediu m which in its elf an d when
at rest does not pos s ess any of the p rop erties
o f matte r That s u ch an ethereal mediu m exists
we have reason to believe from the p ropagatio n
o f light an d heat through space though we
kn ow littl e except n egatively of its p rop erties
Admitting however its existence the setting up
in it of the variou s kinds of vo rtices co n s titu t
ing the atoms of different kinds of matter is
,

6
3

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

j u st as mu ch in n eed o f a creative p o w e r to
i nitiate it as the creation o f matter ou t of noth
i ng would be B eside s this we now have to
accou n t for the exi s ten ce o f the ether its el f ;
an d here we have the disad v antage that this
su bstan ce p o ss es s es non e of the p rop erties o f
o rdinary matte r except m ere extensio n ; that
in so far as we know it is co n tinuou s an d n ot
molecular ; an d that whil e o f the most in co n
c e iv ab l e te nu ity it transmits vibratio n s in a man
n e r s imilar to that o f a body of the extremest
solidity I t would s eem also to be in de nite i n
exte nt an d beyo n d the co ntrol o f the o rdinary
natu ral fo rces I n short ether is as in c o mp re
h e n s ibl e as D eity ; an d if we su ppos e it to have
in s titu ted spontaneou sly the diffe ren t kinds o f
matter we have really constitu ted it a god which
is what in a loos e way some an cien t my th o l o
gies a ctually did W e may howeve r truly say
that this modern s cientic co n ceptio n o f the
p ractically innite and all pervading ether the
p rimary s eat of force brings u s n eare r than
ever before to s ome realizatio n o f the Spirit
u al C reato r
Bu t to ethe r both scien ce and Agno s ticism
mu st sup eradd en ergy the entirely immaterial
something which moves e th e r its e l f The rathe r
.

IN

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37

crude s cientic notion that certain forces are

modes o f motion p erhap s blin ds u s some
what to the mystery of ene rgy Eve n i f we
knew no other form of force than heat which
moves masses o f matter o r atoms it would be
i n many resp ects an i nscru table thing
Bu t
as traversing the subtle ether in su ch forms as
radian t heat light chemical fo rce an d electricity
e nergy becomes still more mysteriou s Perhaps
it is even mo re so in what s eems to be on e of
it s p rimitive forms that of gravitation where
it con nects di s tant bodies apparen tly withou t
any inte rv en ing medium Facts o f this kind
app ear to bring u s still neare r to the co n c e p
tion o f an all p erv ading immaterial c reative
power
B u t perhaps what ma y be terme d the deter
min atio n s o f fo rce exhibit this still more cl early
as a ve ry familiar instan ce may show Ou r

su n on e o f a cou ntless nu mber o f si milar

su n s i s to u s the gr e at cen tr e o f light and

heat s u staining all p rocesses whether merely
physical o r vital o n ou r plan et I t was a gran d
co n ception o f certain old religions to make the
su n the emblem o f God though su n worship
was a substitution o f the creatu re for the C re
ator and would have been dispelled by modern

'

8
3

FA

CTS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

dis cove ry B u t ou r s u n i s not merely o n e

o f cou ntles s su ns som e o f them o f greater
magnitu de bu t it is o nly a temporary de
of
a
limite
d
quantity
of
e
n
erg
y
ever
o s it o r
p
y
dissipating itsel f i nto space cal culable as to its
amou n t an d du ration an d known to dep en d fo r
its existen ce on gravitative force
W e may
imagine the beginn ing o f su ch a lu minary in
the collisio n of great mass e s o f matter ru shing
together u n de r the inu e n ce of gravitation an d
cau sing by their impact a c o n ag rat io n capabl e
o f en du ring for million s o f year s Y e t ou r im
a in in
su
ch
a
ru
de
p
ro
cess
fo
r
the
kin
dling
g
g
o f the su n will go a ve ry littl e way in accou nt
ing for all the m echanism o f the s olar system
an d things therein
Fu rthe r it rais es n ew
qu estion s as to the o rigi nal con ditio n o f mat
te r I f it was o riginally i n o n e mass when ce
came the i n calculabl e p ower by which it w as
re nt in to innu merabl e su n s an d systems ? I f
it wa s o n ce u nive rsally diffu se d in bou ndles s
space whe n an d how was the fo rce of gravity
tu rn ed on an d what determin ed its action i n
su ch a way a s to con stru ct the exi s ting u ni
?
ve rs e
This is only on e o f the simpl est an d
baldest possibl e views o f the intricate dete r
min at io n s o f fo rce displayed in the u nive r s e
.

'

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yet it may s u fce to indicate the necessi ty o f a

l iving an d determining Firs t C au se
The fact that all the manifestation s o f force
are regulated by law by no mean s favors the
agnostic view The laws o f natu re are merely
m ental gen eralization s o f ou r own and so far
as the y go show a remarkable harmony b e
tween ou r mental natu re and that man ifeste d
in the u nivers e They are not themselves pow
e rs capable o f p rodu cing effects bu t m erel y
exp ress what we can ascertain o f u ni fo rmity
of action in natu re
The law o f gra v itation
for example give s no cl ew to the origin of that
force bu t merely exp res s es it s con s tant mode
o f action in whateve r way that may have bee n
determined at rst N or are natu ral laws de
crees o f n ecessi ty
The y might hav e been
otherwise nay many o f them may be other
wis e in part s of the u n ivers e inaccessibl e to u s
o r they may change in p roces s o f time ; fo r the
p eriod ove r which ou r knowledge exte nds may
be to the plan s of the C reato r like the lifetim e
o f som e minu te insect which might imagin e
hu man arrangements o f n o great p ermanen ce
to be o f eternal du ration
U nless the laws o f natu re w ere co nstant in
s o far as ou r exp erien ce extends w e c oul d have
.

4o

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

n o certain basi s eithe r fo r s cien ce o r fo r p racti

cal life All woul d be cap riciou s an d u n ce rtain
an d we could cal culate o n nothi ng Law thu s
adap ts the u nivers e to be the residen ce o f ra
Viewe d
t io n al beings an d n othing els e cou ld
i n this way we s e e that natu ral laws mu st be i n
their relatio n to a C reato r volu ntary limitatio n s
of his power in certai n directio n s fo r the ben e
t o f hi s creatu res To s ecu re thi s en d natu re
mu st be a p erfe ct machin e all the parts o f which
are adj u sted fo r p erman e nt an d harmoniou s
actio n
I t may p erhap s rather b e compared
to a vast s eries o f machin es each ru n ning in
dep en dently like the train s o n a railway bu t all
co n n ected an d regulated by an invi s ibl e gu i d
ance which dete r min e s the tim e an d the dis
tan ce o f e ach a n d the man n er in which the less
u rge nt an d le s s imp ortan t s hall gi v e place to
other s Even this doe s not exp res s the whol e
tru th ; fo r the harmo ny o f natu re mu st be co n
n e c t e d with co n stan t chan e an d p rogres s to
g
ward highe r p erfection D oes this con cep tio n
o f natu ral law give u s any warran t fo r the idea
?
that the u n ive r s e i s a p rodu ct o f chan ce
Is
it not the highe s t realizatio n o f all that we can
co nceive o f the plan s o f s up erhu man in t e l l i
?
gen ce
.

IN

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M OD E R I V

41

The stupid notion still lingering in certain

quarters that when anything has bee n referred

to a natu ral law o r to a secon dary cau se u n der

law Go d m ay be dispe nsed with in relation to
that thing is merely a su rvival of the s u p e rs ti
tion that divin e action mu st be of the natu re
of a c ap ric io u s in terferen ce The tru e theistic
co nception o f law is that al ready stated of a
volu ntary limitation o f divin e p ower i n the in
t e re s t of a mate rial cosmos an d its in telligen t
inhabitants
N o r is the p erman en ce o f law
dependent On n ecessity o r o n m ere mechanical
rou tin e bu t on the u n changing will of the Leg
is l a t o r ; while the cou n tless var i et i es and vicis
s it u de s of natu re depend not on cap rice or on
accidental interferen ce bu t on the i nteraction s
and adj u stments of laws of diffe ren t grades an d
so nu merou s an d varied in their scop e and ap
plication and in the combination s o f which they
are capable that it is often impossibl e fo r nite
minds to calculate their results
I f n ow in conclu sion we are asked to su m
u p the hypotheses a s to the o rigin of natu ral
laws and o f the p roperties an d determination s
o f matter an d force we may do this u nder the
following heads
1
Absol u te c r eatio n b y the w ill of a Su pr em e
,

42

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

I ntelligen ce s el f existent an d omnipote nt Thi s

may be the ul timate fact lying behind all mate
rials force s and laws kn own to s cience
M ediate creation o r the making of n ew
2
complex p rodu cts with material al ready created
an d u n der laws p reviou sly exis ting This is
applicabl e not so mu ch to the p rimary o rigin
of things as to their s ub s equ e n t determination s
an d modications
B
oth
o
f
the
abo
v
e
ma
y
be
i
nclu
de
d
u
n
d
e
r
3
the exp ression creation by law implying the
in stitu tion from the rs t o f xe d laws o r modes
of action not to be subsequ ently deviated from
Theistic
evolu
tion
o
r
the
gradual
devel
4
O me n t of the divin e plan s by the appare ntl y
p
sp ontaneou s in teractio n of things made This
is u niversally admitte d to occu r in the mino r
modication s o f created things though o f cou rs e
it can hav e no place as a mode o f explaining
actual origin s an d it mu s t be limited within
the laws o f natu re established by the C reato r
Practically it might be difcult to mak e any
sharp distin ction s betwee n s u ch evolution an d
mediate c reation
Agnostic
an
d
monistic
evolu
tion
which
5
hold the spontan eou s origination an d differen
tia t io n of things ou t o f primiti v e matte r an d
-

IN

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DE R N SCI E NCE

43

force self existent o r fortu itou s The monisti c

form of this hypothesis assu mes on e p rimary
substan ce or existen ce poten tially e mb ra c mg
all su bsequ en t developments
These theo ries are of cou rse not all a n tag
to o ne another
They resolv e them
o n is t ic
s elves into two grou ps a theistic and an a th e
The form er in clu des the rst fou r ; the
is t ic
latter the fth A ny o n e who believes in God
may su ppos e a primary creatio n o f matte r and
en ergy a subsequ ent moulding an d fashioning
of them mediately an d u n der natu ral law an d
also a gradual evolu tio n of many new things
by the in teraction of things p reviou sly made
This complex idea of the o rigin of things seem s
i ndeed to be the rational ou tcome of Th eism It
is also the idea which u nderlies the ol d record
i n the book o f G e n esis where we have rs t an
absolu te creation a nd the n a s eries of mak
ings and placings an d o f things bringing
forth othe r things in the cou rs e o f the crea
tive p eriods
O n the othe r hand Agnosticism postulates
prima ry force o r fo rces sel f existen t and in clu d
ing poten tially all that i s subsequ ently evolved
fro m them The o nly way in which it ap p ro x i
mates to theism i s in its extreme moni s tic fo rm
-

F A C TS

44

AN D

FA

NCI E S

where the o n e fo rce o r p owe r su ppo s e d to u n

de rl ie all existen ce is a s ort o f Go d s horn o f
p er s onality will an d reason
The actual relatio n s o f these O pp osing theo
ries to scien ce can not be bette r explain ed than
by a refere nce to the wo rds o f a leading mo n
ist whos e v iews we shall have to notice i n the

n ext l ectu re
I f s ays H aeckel anybody feels
the n ecessity o f rep rese nting the o rigin o f mat
te r as the work of a s u p ernatu ral creative fo rce
i ndep enden t o f matter its el f I would remin d
him that the idea o f an immate rial force creat
ing matte r in the rst instan ce is an articl e o f
faith which has nothing to do with s cie n ce
Where faith begins s cien ce e n ds
Precis ely s o if o nly we invert the las t s en
ten ce an d say Where s cien ce ends faith b e
gin s
I t is o nly by faith that we know of any
force o r eve n o f the atom s o f matte r them
s elves an d in like mann e r it is by faith we
know that the creative age s have been co nsti
t u t e d by the wo rd o f
The only differ
en ce is that the moni st ha s faith in the p oten cy
o f nothing to p rodu ce something o r o f some
thing material to exis t fo r ever an d to ac qu ire
at some poin t o f time the p ower spon taneou sly
E is t l to H b r ws
i
3
p
,

IN

M O

DE R N

C NCE

S IE

45

to enter on the p roces s of d e v elopmen t ; whil e

the theist has faith in a p rimary intelligent Will
as the Autho r o f all things The latte r has thi s
to conrm his faith that it accord s with what
we kno w of the inertia o f matte r of the con
stan c y of forces and of the p ermanen ce o f
natu ral law and i s in harmony with the p owers

o f the o n e fre e e ne rg y w e kno w that o f the

h u man w ill
.

II

HE

S C IE N C E

OF

LI FE AN D M O N IS T I C EVO LUT I O N

LECTUR E II
T HE

SC I EN C E O F

LI FE

AN D

M O N I ST I C

E VO

LU T I O N

N the last lectu re we have noticed the ge n

e ral relatio ns of agnostic sp eculation s with
natu ral science and have exposed their failu re
to accou nt for natu ral facts and laws We
may now inqu ire into their mode of deali n g
with the phenomena of life with regard to the
su pposed spontaneou s evolu tion of which and
its development u p to man himsel f s o many
condent generalization s have bee n pu t forth
by the agnostic and monistic philosophy
I n the earlier history of modern natu ral sci
en ce the tendency was to take natu re as we
nd it withou t speculatio n as to the origin o f
living things which men were content to regard
as direct p rodu cts of creative powe r Bu t at
a very early p eriod and especially after the
revelation s of geology had disclosed a su c

cession of as cending dynastie s of life su ch

speculations which independe ntly o f science
had commended themselve s to the poetical and
,

49

50

FA

C TS

FA

AN D

NCI E S

philosophical min ds of antiqu i ty were revived

I n France more particularly the theories o f Bu f
fo n Lamarck and Geoffroy St H ilaire op en ed
u p these exciting themes an d they might eve n
then have attain ed to the importan ce they have
since acqu ired bu t fo r the great a nd j u dicial
in tellect o f C uvier which pe rceived their fu til
ity and gu ided the researches o f natu ralists
i nto othe r and more p rotable elds
The
n ext stimulu s to su ch hypotheses was given
by the p rogress of physiology and esp ecially
by researches into the embryonic developmen t
of animal s an d plants H ere it was see n that
there are homologies an d liken ess es o f plan
linking o rganisms with each other an d that i n
the cou rs e o f their developmen t the more com
plex creatu res pass through stages correspond
ing to the adul t co ndition of lowe r forms The
qu estion s raised by the geographical dis t rib u
tion of animals as ascertai ned by the n u merou s
exp edition s an d s cienti c traveller s o f m odern
times tended in the same direction The way
was thu s p repared fo r the broad gen erali z ation s
of D arwin who seizing o n the idea o f articial
selectio n as p ractised by breeders o f animal s
an d plants an d imagining that something sim
il a r takes place in the natu ral struggle for
.

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

existence saw in this a plau sible solu tio n fo r

the qu estion of the p rogres s an d the variety
of organized beings
The o riginal D arwinian theory was soon
fou nd to be altogethe r insu fcien t to accou nt
fo r the observed facts becau se of the tendency
of the bare struggle for existen ce to p rodu ce deg
ra d
a t io n rather than elevation ; becau se of the
testimony of geology to the fact that introdu ction
o f n ew species takes place in times of e x p a n
sio n rather than o f s truggl e ; becau se of the
man ifest tende ncy o f the breeds p rodu ced by
articial s election to becom e in fertile and die
ou t i n p roportio n to their deviation from the
o riginal types ; an d becau se of the difculty
of p reventing su ch breeds from reverting to
the original forms which s eem in all cases to
be perfectly equ ilibrated in their own parts an d
adapted to external natu re so that varieties
tend as if by gravitative law to fall back
into the o riginal moulds A great variety of
other consideration s as those o f sexual selec
tion reprodu ctive acceleration and retardation
periods of more an d les s rapid evolu tion innate
tenden cy to vary at particular times and in par
t ic u l a r circumstan ces have been imported into
the original do ctrine Thu s the original D ar
,

2
5

FA

C TS

AND

FA

win is m

NCI E S

i s a thing o f the past ev en i n the min d

o f its great au tho r though i t h a s p rove d the
fru itful paren t o f a manifold p ro g eny o f allie d
ideas which continu e to bear its name I n this
resp ect D arwinism i s itsel f am enable to the
law o f evolu tion an d has been co ntinually
changing it s form u nde r the inu en ce of the co n
t ro v e rs ia l struggl es which have risen arou n d it
D arwinism was no t n ecessarily atheistic o r
agnostic Its au tho r was con ten t to assu me a
few living beings o r i ndep endent fo rm s to begin
with and did not propos e to obtain them b y any
spontan eou s actio n o f dead matter no r to a c
cou n t fo r the p rimary o rigin of life still less o f
all material things I n this he was su fciently
hu mbl e and ho n est ; bu t the logical weaknes s
of his positio n was at on ce apparent I f crea
tion wa s n e eded to give a few initial types it
might have p rodu ced others also The followers
o f D a rwin therefo re mo re esp ecially in Ger
many a t on ce pu shed the do ctrin e back into
Agnosticism and Mon ism giving to it a greate r
log ical con siste n cy bu t bringing i t i nto viole n t
conict with theism and with commo n s ense
D arwin himsel f early perceived that his do c
trin e if tru e mu st apply to man in so far at
l east as his bodily frame is con cern ed Man i s
,

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

53

in this an animal and closely related to o the r

animals To have claimed for him a distin ct
origin would have altogethe r discredited the
theory though it might be admitted that man
having appeared his free volitio n and his moral
and social instin cts w ould at once p rofou n dly
modify the cou rs e o f the evolu tion O n the
othe r hand the gulf which s eparates the reason
an d the con scien ce of man from instin ct a n d
the animal i ntelligen ce of lowe r creatu res O p
posed a n almost impassable barrier to the u nio n
o f man with lowe r animals ; and the attempt to
bridge this gulf threate ned to bring the theory
into a deadly struggl e with the moral social
an d religiou s in stin cts of mankind I n face of
this difcu lty D arwin and most of his followers
adopted the mo re daring cou rs e of maintaining
th e evolu tio n of the whol e man from lowe r
fo rms an d the reby e ntered i nto a warfare
which still rages with psychology ethics phi
l o l o g y an d theology
I t is easy fo r shallow evolution ist s u naware
of the ten den cies o f their doctrin e or for lat
it u din aria n chu rchmen carel ess as to the main
t e n a n c e o f tru th if o nly Ou tward fo rms are p re
s erved an d comp rehensio n secu red to overlook
o r make light of these antago nisms bu t s cience
,

5&

54

FA

C TS

A ND

NCI E S

F A

an d common sen s e alike deman d a s eve re ad

h e re n c e to tru th
I t becomes therefore ve ry
importan t to ascertain to what exten t we are
j u stied in adop ting the agnostic evolu tio n in
its relation to life and man o n s cie ntic grou n ds
Pe rhaps this may best be don e by reviewing the
argu men t of H ae ckel in his wo rk o n the e v o l u
tio n o f man o n e o f the ablest and at the sam e
time most tho rough exp osition s o f mon istic e v
o l u t io n as applied to lowe r animal s and to me n
Ern st Haeckel is an e minen t comparative
anatomist and physiologist who has earn ed a
wide an d des erved repu tatio n by his abl e an d
labo riou s stu dies o f the calcareou s spo nges the
radiolarians and other low fo rms o f life In
his work o n Tke E vol u tion of M o m he applies
this knowledge to the solu tio n o f the p roblem
of the origin o f hu manity an d sets himsel f n ot
o nly to illu strate bu t to p rove the des ce n t
of ou r sp ecies from the simplest animal typ es
a n d even to overwhel m with sco rn eve ry othe r
explanation o f the appearan ce of man except
that o f spon taneou s evolu tion
H e is n ot
me rely an evolu tionist bu t what he te rms a
mo nist an d the mo nistic philosophy as de
n ed by him in clu des certai n n egation s and
ce rtain positive p rin ciples of a most comp re
.

M O

IN

DE R N SCI E NCE

h e n s iv e

55

and important character It implies

the denial of all sp i ritual o r immaterial exist
e n ce Man 18 to the mo nist merely a physio
logical m achine an d natu re is o nly a greate r
self existing an d spontan eously moving ag g re
gate o f forces M onism can thu s altogether
dispen se with a C reative Will as originating
natu re an d adopts the othe r alternative of self
existen ce or cau seles sness fo r the u nivers e an d
all its phenom ena Again the mon istic doctrin e
n ecessarily implies that man the animal the
plant an d the mine ral are only su ccessive stage s
of the evolu tio n o f the same p rimordial matter
constitu ting thu s a con n ected chain o f being all
the parts of which sp rang spontaneou sly from
each other Lastly as the admixtu re of p rim
it iv e matte r a n d force would its el f be a s ort o f
dualism Haeckel regards thes e as ultimately
o n e an d apparently resolves the origin of the
u nivers e into the ope ration of a self existing
e nergy having in itself the poten cy o f all things
After all this may be said to be an app ro x ima
tion to the idea of a C reator bu t not a living and
willing C reato r Mo nism is thu s not identical
with pantheism bu t is rather a sort o f atheistic
monotheism if su ch a thing is imaginabl e ; and
vindicates the assertio n attribu ted to a late la
.

6
5

FA C T S A

ND

F A -VCI E S

me n t e d physical philosopher that he had fou n d

no atheistic philosophy which had n ot a Go d

somewhere
Haeckel s own s tatement o f this asp ect o f
his philosophy is som ewhat in teresting H e
says : The oppon en ts o f the doctrin e o f evo
l u t io n are ve ry fon d o f branding the mon istic
philosophy grou n ded upo n it as materialism
by comparing p kzl os op zeal materialism with the
wholly differen t and cen su rabl e mom "material
ism Stri c tly howeve r ou r mo nism m ight as
accu rately o r as inaccu rately be call ed spiritual
ism a s materiali s m The real materialistic phi
l o s o p h y asserts that the phe nomena o f vital
motion like all o the r phenom ena of motio n
are effects o r p rodu cts of matter The othe r
opposite extreme spirit u alistic philosophy
asserts o n the contrary that matter is the
p rodu ct o f motive force an d that all mate rial
forms are p ro d u ced by fre e fo rces e ntirely inde
p enden t o f the matter itsel f Thu s acco rding
to the mate rialistic co nception of the u nive rs e
matte r p recedes motio n o r active fo rce ; accord
ing to the spirit u al istic con ceptio n o f the u n i
vers e o n the co ntrary active fo rce o r motio n
p recedes matte r B oth views are dualistic an d
we hol d t h e m both to be equally fal s e A con
.

'

'

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

trast to both is p resen ted in the mon is tic philos

o h
which
can
as
little
believe
in
force
thou
t
i
"
p y
matter as i n matter withou t force
It is evident that if H aeckel limits himself
an d his oppon ents to matte r an d force as the
sol e possible explanation s of the u niverse he
may truly say that matt e r is in con ceivable with
ou t force an d force in conceivabl e withou t mat
te r
Bu t the qu estion arises What is the
mon istic powe r beyond these the powe r b e
hind natu re
and as to the tru e natu re of this
the j ena philosopher give s u s only vagu e gen
e ral it ie s though it is qu ite plain that he can not
admit a Spiritual C reato r Fu rther as to the
absen ce of any spiritu al el emen t from the
natu re of man he does not l eave u s i n doubt
as to what he mean s fo r immediately after the
above paragraph he in forms u s that the spirit
and the mind o f man are bu t forces which
are in separably con n ected with the material
substan ce of ou r bodies J u st as the motive
power of ou r esh is involved in the mu scular
form element so is the thinking force of ou r
spirit involved in the form element o f the
brain
I n a n ote app ended to t h e passage
he says that m onism conceives natu re as
on e whole an d nowhere recogni z es any bu t
,

58

AN D

F A C TS

F A N CI E S

m echanical cau ses

Thes e assu mption s as
to man an d natu re p ervade the whole book
and of cou rs e greatly simplify the task o f the
write r as he does not requ ire to accou n t fo r the
p rimary origin o f nat u re o r for anything in man
excep t his physical frame ; an d ev en this he can
regard as a thing altogethe r mechan ical
I t is plain that we might here e n te r ou r
disse nt from H aeckel s m ethod fo r he requ ire s
u s before we can p roceed a single step in th e
evolu tio n o f man to a s su m e many thing s
which he can not p rove
What evide nce is
there fo r exampl e of the p ossibility o f th e
development o f the rational an d mo ral natu re
o f man from the in tellige nce an d the i nstin ct
o f the lower animals o r o f the necessary
dep en d en ce o f the phenomena o f m ind o n
?
the stru ctu re o f brain cells
The eviden ce
so far as it go es seems to ten d the othe r way
What p roof is there o f the spontaneou s e v o l u
tio n o f l iv 1n g forms from ino rganic matter ?
Experiment so far n egatives the po s sibility
o f thi s Even if we give Haeckel to begin
with a singl e living cell o r granul e o f p ro
t O pl a s m we know that this p rotoplasm mu s t
have been p rodu ced by the agency o f a liv
ing vegetabl e cell p reviou sly existing ; an d we
.

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

have no proof that it can be produ ced in

any other way Again what particl e of evi
den ce have we that the atoms or the energy o f
an in candescen t re mist have in them any
?
thing o f the power o r potency o f life
We
mu st gran t the monist all thes e postulates as
p u re matters of faith before he can begin his
demon stratio n ; and as non e of them are
axiomatic tru ths it is eviden t that so far he is
simply a believer in the dogmas o f a philo
S ophic cre e d and in this resp ect weak as other
men whom he affects to despis e
We may here place over again st his au thority
that of another emin ent physiologist of more
philosophic mind D r C arp enter who has re
said
As
a
physiologist
I
mu
s
t
fully
rec
c e n tl
:
y
o n iz e the fact that the physical force exerted
g

by the body of man is not gen erated o e n ow by

his will bu t is derived directly from the oxida
tion of the co nstitu ents o f his food Bu t hold

ing it as equally certain becau se the fact is

capabl e of verication by eve ry on e as o ften as
he chooses to make the e xperiment that in
th e performan ce of every volitional movement
physical force is pu t i n action directed an d
con trolled by the individual p ersonali ty o r eg o
I deem it as absu rd an d illogical to afrm that
.

'

60

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

the re is no place fo r a God in natu re o rig in at

ing dire cting and co ntrolling its fo rces by his
will as it would be to assert that there is n o
place in man s body fo r his consciou s mind
Taking Haeckel o n his own grou nd as above
dened we may n ext inqu i re as to the m etho d
which he employs in working ou t his argu men t
This may be referred to three leading mode s
o f treatme nt which as they are somewhat di
ve rs e from thos e ordinarily familiar to logician s
an d are extensively u s ed by evolu tionists de
s erve some illu stration more esp ecially a s
H aeckel is a master in their u se
An eminent French p ro fesso r of the art o f
sl eight o f
han d has den ed the leading p ri n cip l e
of j uggl ers to be that of app earing and dis
appearing things
an d this is the b e s t de n i
tio n that o ccu rs to m e o f on e m ethod o f rea
soning largely u sed by Haeckel and of which
we n eed to be on ou r guard when we n d him
employing as he does in almost every page
su ch phrases as it can n ot be dou bted
we
may the refo re assu me
we may readily s u p
pose
this afterward assu mes o r becomes
we may co nden tly assert
this developed
directly and the like which in his u sage are
equ ival ent to the P r es to o f the conj u re r an d
,

IN

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DE R N SCI E N CE

61

which while we are looking at o n e stru ctu re o r

animal enable him to persuade u s that I t has
bee n su ddenly transformed into something else
I n tracing the geneal ogy of man he co nstant
l y employs this kind of sleight o f hand in the
most adroit man n er H e is pe rhaps describing
to u s the embryo o f a sh or an amphibian and
as we become in terested in the cu riou s details
it is su ddenly by som e cl eve r phras e tran s
form ed into a reptile o r a bird ; and yet with
ou t rubbing ou r eyes and reecting o n the dif
fe re n ce s an d difculties which he n eglects to
state we can scarcely doubt that it is the s am e
animal after all
The littl e lan celet o r A mpkzox u s ( see Fig I )
of the Eu rop ean seas a creatu re which was at
o n e tim e thought to be a s ea snail bu t is reall y
more akin to s h e s forms his link of con n ec
tion between ou r s h
ancesto rs and the in
v e rtebrate animals S o impo rtant is i t in this
re s p ect that ou r autho r waxes eloqu e nt in ex
h o rt in g u s to regard it with sp ecial ve n era
tio n as rep resen ting ou r earliest Silu rian
vertebrate an cestors as being o f ou r own
esh and blood and as better worthy of being
an obj ect of devou tes t reverence than the
worthless rabble o f s o called saints
In de
,

62

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

s cribing this animal he takes pain s to in fo rm u s

that it is more differe n t from an o rdinary sh
than a sh is from a man Y e t as he illu strates
its cu riou s an d u niqu e stru ctu re be fore we are
aware the lan celet is gon e and a sh is i n its
place an d this sh with the p oten cy to becom e
a man in du e tim e Thu s a creatu re in t e rme
diate in som e resp ects between shes an d mol
lu sks o r betwee n shes and worms bu t so fa r
apart from eithe r that it s e em s bu t to mark the
width of the gap betwe en them become s an
easy s tepping sto n e from on e to the othe r
I n like man n er the as cidia n s o r s ea squ irts
m ollu sks o f low grade o r as Haeckel p refe rs
to regard them allied to worms are most re
m ote in almost every respect from the ve rte
brates B u t i n the you ng state o f som e o f
these creatu res and in the adult conditio n o f
o ne an imal referred to this grou p ( Appen dic
M ZO F IO
they
have
a
sort
of
swimming
tail
)
which is s tiffe n ed by a rod of cartilage to e n
abl e it to p e rform its fu n ction and which fo r a
tim e gives them a ce rtai n resemblan ce to the
lan celet o r to emb ryo shes ; an d this u sually
tempo rary co n trivan ce cu riou s as an imitative
adaptation bu t of no o the r s ig n i ca n c e b e
comes by the art o f appearing and disapp ear
.

FIG

supp s d
im l
d
rd g
fm
T h g r i
th
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lt
typ f v rt b r t
H kl h
tr
t i l rg d t w i
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s;

gill p i g ;
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t m h;
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t h rd r d im t ry b k b
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en n

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-

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R, l , m,

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64

F A C TS A N D

FA

NCI E S

ing a ru dimentary backbo n e and enables u s

at on ce to recogniz e in the you ng ascidian a n
embryo man
A s econ d m ethod characteristic of the book
an d fu rnishing in deed the main basis of its ar
u me n t is that of co nsidering analogou s p ro
g
cesses as ide ntical withou t regard to the differ
e n ce o f the con dition s u nde r which they may be
carried o n The great l eading u se o f this argu
ment is i n in du cing u s to regard the develop
m en t o f the in dividu al animal as the p recis e
equ ival en t o f the s eries o f change s by which
the sp ecies was develop e d i n the cou rse o f g e
ological time
Thes e two kin ds o f de v elop
m e n t are distingu ishe d by app rop riate names
O n tog en es zs is the embryon ic developm en t o f
the individual animal and is of cou rs e a sho rt
p rocess dep en ding o n the p rodu ctio n o f a germ
by a parent animal o r paren t pai r an d the fu r
ther growth of this germ in con n ection mo re o r
l ess with the paren t o r with p rovision made by
it This is o f cou rse a fact ope n to obse rva
tio n and stu dy though s om e o f its p rocesses
a re mysteriou s an d yet involved in doubt and
u nce rtain ty P hy l og en e t ic is the su pposed de
v e l o p me n t of a sp ecies in the cou rs e of geo
logical time an d by the interven tio n o f long
,

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

65

s eries of sp ecies each in its time distin ct an d

composed of i ndividuals each going regularly
through a genetic circl e o f its own
The latter is a p roces s n ot op en to observa
tion within the time at ou r command pu rely
hypothetical therefore an d o f which the possi
bil ity remains to be p roved ; while the cau ses
on which it mu st depen d are n ecessarily alto
gether differen t from those at work in o nto
genesis and the co nditions of a lo ng series o f
differe nt kinds o f animals each p erfect in its
kind are equally dissimilar from those of an
animal passing through the regular stages from
in fan cy to matu rity The similarity in some
importan t respects of o ntogen esis to phylo
gen esis was inevitable p rovided that animals
were to be of differen t grades of complexity
sin ce the developmen t of the individual mu st
necessarily be from a more simpl e to a more
complex condition
O n any hypothesis the
parallelism between e mb ry o l o g l cal facts and
the history of animals in geological time affords
many interesting and important coin cidences
Y e t it is perfectly obviou s that the causes an d
the conditions of thes e two su ccession s can no t
have been the same Fu rther when we con

sider that the embryo cell which develops into

,

66

FA

C TS

ND

F A N CI E S

on e animal mu st n ecessarily be o riginally dis

tin ct i n its p rope rties from that which develop s
into another kind o f animal eve n thou gh n o
obviou s differen ce appears to u s we have n o
grou n d fo r supposing that the early stages o f
all animals are alike ; an d whe n we rigorou sly
compare the developmen t o f any animal what
ever with the su ccessive appearan ce o f animal s
o f the sam e o r similar group s in geological
tim e we nd many things which do not cor
respo nd not merely i n the wan t of links
which we might exp ect to nd bu t in the more
sign ican t appearan ce p rematu rely o r in o pp o r
t u n e l y o f form s which we would not anticipate
Y e t the main argu men t o f Haeckel s book is
the qu iet assumptio n that anything fou nd to
occu r i n ontoge netic developme n t mu st also
have occu rred i n phylogen esis whil e manifest
difculties are go t rid o f by assu ming atavism s
an d abnormalities
A third characte ristic o f the m ethod o f the
book is the u s e o f certain te rm s in p eculia r
s en ses an d as implying certain cau ses which
are taken fo r granted though their e fcacy and
their mode o f operation are u nk n own The
chief of the te rms so employed are heredity

an d adaptatio n
H eredity is u sually u n

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

67

de rs to o d as

exp ressing the power of permanen t

transmission of characters from parents to off
sp ring and in this asp ect it exp resses the con
s ta n c
of
sp
ecic
forms
bu
t
as
u
sed
by
;
y
Haeckel it means the transmission by a paren t
of any excep tional characters which the individ
u al may have accidentally assumed
Adapta
tio n has u sually been supposed to mean the
tting of an imals fo r their place in natu re
however that came abou t ; as u sed by Haeckel
it imports the powe r of the individual animal
to adapt itsel f to changed co ndition s and to
transmit these chan g es to its offsp ring Thu s
i n this philosophy the rule is made the e x c e p
tion and the exceptio n the rule by a skilful u s e
o f familiar terms in new senses ; and heredi ty
and adaptation are constantly paraded as if
they were two pote nt divinities employed in
constantly changing an d imp rovin g the face
of natu re
It is scarcely too mu ch to say that the con clu
sions of the book are reached almost solely by
the application of the above me ntioned peculiar
modes of reasoning to t h e vast store of facts
at c o mma n d o f the au thor and that the reade r
who would test these con clu sion s by the ordi
nary methods of j u dgm ent mu st be constantl y
,

68

FA C T

AN D

FA

NCI E S

o n his guard
Still it is not n ecessary to
believe that Hae ckel is an inten tional deceive r
Su ch fallacies are those which are especially
tte d to mislead e nthu siastic sp ecialists to be
identied by them with p roved results o f s c ie n ce
an d to be held in a n in toleran t and dogmatic
spirit
Having thu s n oticed H aeckel s assump tion s
an d his m ethods we may n ext sho rtly co n side r
the man n er i n which he p ro ceeds to wo rk ou t
the phyloge ny o f man H ere he pu rsu es a
p u rely phys iological m ethod only o ccasionally
and slightly re ferring to geological facts H e
takes as a rst p rin ciple the law lo ng ago form

z
/
d
m
e
i
r
/
u
m
x
o
by H u nter O
u lat e
D
e
o o
a law
which modern research has amply co nrmed
showing that every an imal howeve r complex
can be traced back to an egg which in its sim
l
s t s tate is n o mo re than a single cell though
e
p
this cell requ ires to be fertilized by the additio n
o f the co nten ts o f anothe r dissimilar c ell p ro
du c e d eithe r i n anothe r o rgan o f the same in
dividual o r in a distin ct individual This p ro
cess o f fe rtilizatio n Haeckel s eems to regard as
u n n ecessary in the lowes t form s o f life ; bu t
though there are som e simple an imals in which
it has n o t bee n r e cognized analogy would lea d
.

IN

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69

u s to beli eve that in som e fo rm it is necessary

in all Haeckel s monistic V iew howeve r re

qu ires that in the lowe st forms it should be ab
s en t an d shou ld hav e originated spontaneou s l y
though how does n ot seem to be very clear as
the explanation give n of it by him amou nts to
littl e more than the statement that it mu st have
o ccu rred Still as a dualistic p rocess it is
very signican t with refe rence to the monistic
theory
Mu ch s pace is o f cou r s e devoted to~the tra
cing o f the sp ecial development o r on togen esis
o f man an d to the illu stratio n of the fact that
in the earlier stages o f this de v e l o p me n t th e
human embryo is scarcely distingu ishable from
that of lowe r animals W e may indeed afrm
that all animals start from cells which in so far
as we can see are similar to each other yet
which mu st inclu de pote ntially the variou s p rop
e rt ie s of the an imals which sp ring from them
As we trace them o nward i n thei r developm en t
we see thes e differen ces manifesting themselves
At rst all pass according to Haeckel through a
s tage which he calls the i gastrula in which the
whol e body i s rep re s ented by a sort of sac the
cavity of which is the stomach an d the wall s o f
w hich consist of two layers o f cells It shoul d
.

'

'

7o

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

b e stated howev er that many em in e n t natu ral

is t s diss en t from this view an d ma in ta I n that
even in the earliest stages mate rial diffe re n ces
can be observed I n this they are p robably right
as eve n H aeckel has to admit some degre e o f
diverge nce from this all e mbracing gas traea
theo ry Admitting howev er that su ch early
similarity e xists within certain limits we n d
that as the embryo advan ces it sp eedily begin s
to in dicate whether it is to b e a coral an imal a
snail a worm o r a sh C o n sequ e ntly the
p hysiologist who wishes to trace the re s em
blances l eading to mammals an d to man has to
lop off o n e by o n e the s everal bran che s which
l ead in o the r dire ction s an d to follow that which
con du ct s by the most direct c o u f s e to the typ e
which he has i n view I n this way Haeckel can
show that the embryo Homo s op zeI zS is i n su cces
s ive stages so like to the you ng o f the sh the
reptile the bird and the o rdinary qu adrup ed
that he can p rodu ce fo r compariso n gu res
i n which the cu rsory observe r ca n detect s carce
l y any differen ce
All this has long been known an d has bee n
regarded as a wo nderful eviden ce o f the h o
mo l o g y o r u nity o f plan which p ervades natu re
an d as c o nstitu ting man the archetyp e o f the
,

'

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

animal kingdom the highest realization of a plan

p reviou sly sketched by the C reato r in many
ru de r and hu mbler form s
I t also teaches
that it is n o t so mu ch in the mere bodily
organism that we are to look fo r the distin
u is h in
characters
of
hu
manity
as
in
the
high
g
g
e r rational an d moral natu re
B u t Haeckel like other evolu tionists of the
monistic an d agnostic schools go es far beyond
this The ontogeny o n the eviden c e of anal
ogy as al ready explained is nothing less than
a miniatu re rep resentatio n o f the phylogeny
Man mu st in the long ages o f geological tim e
have arisen fro m a mo nad j u st as the in divid
ual man has in his life history arisen from an
embryo cell and the s everal stages through
which the in dividual passes mu s t be parall el
to those in the history o f the race Tru e the
supposed monad mu st hav e been wanting in all
the con dition s of o rigin s exual fertilization p a
rental inu ence and su rrou ndings There is
no p erceptible relation of cau se an d effect any
more than between the rotation o f a carriage
wheel and that of the e arth o n its axis The
analo g y might prompt to inqu i ries as to com
mon laws and similarities of operation bu t it
proves nothing as to cau sation
.

2
7

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

I n default of su ch p roof Haeckel favo rs u s

with anothe r analogy derived from the s cience
o f langu age
All the I n do E u ro p e a n lan
gu ages are believe d to be des cen ded from
a common an cestral tongu e an d this is an al
o o u s to the des cen t o f all animal s from on e
g
p rimitive sp ecies B u t u n fortu nately the lan
guages in qu estion are the exp ression s o f the
voice and the thought o f on e and the sam e
sp ecies The indivi d uals u sing them are k n own
historically to have descen ded by o rdi n ary ge n
sou rce and the co n
e ra t io n from a commo n
n e c t in
lin
ks
o
f
the
variou
s
dialects
are
u n
g
broken The analogy fails altogethe r i n the
cas e o f sp ecies su cceeding each othe r i n geo
logical tim e u nles s the v ery thing to be p ro v e d
is take n fo r granted i n the ou tset
The actual p roof that a basis exists in natu re
for the doctrin e o f evolu tion fou nded o n these
a n alogies might be thre efold F irs t There
might be changes o f the natu re o f phyloge nesis
going o n u nder ou r own obse rvation and eve n
a ve ry few o f thes e woul d be su fcie n t to give
some show of p robability Elaborate attemp ts
have bee n made to show that variation s as
existing i n the more variable o f o u r domes
t ica te d species lead i n the directio n o f su ch
,

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

73

changes ; bu t the results have been u n s at is fa c

tory and ou r autho r s carcely co ndescends to
notice thi s line of p roof H e evidently regards
the time over which hu man history has extended
as too short to admit o f this kind o f demon
s t ra t io n
S econ dly There might be i n the exist
ing system o f natu re su ch a close co nnection
o r c o n t in u o g s chai n of sp ecies as might at least
strengthen the argu men t from analogy ; and
u ndoubtedly there are many group s of closely
allied species or o f races co n fou nded with tru e
sp ecic ty p es which it might n ot be u n reason
abl e to suppose of common o rigin These are
howeve r scattered widely apart ; an d the con
t ra ry fact of exten sive gaps in the series is so
frequ ent that H aeckel is con stantly u nder the
n ecessity o f supposing that multitu des of
species and even o f larger groups have
p erished j u s t where it is most important to
his con clu sion that they should have remain ed
This is o f cou rs e u n fortu nate fo r the theory ;
bu t then as Haeckel ofte n remarks we mu st
suppose that the missing links on ce existed
Bu t th ir d/
thes
e
gaps
which
now
u
nhappily
y
exist may be lled u p by fossil animals ; an d
if in the su ccessive geological pe riods we could
trace the actual phylogeny o f even a few grou p s
,

74

FA

C TS

AN D

FA N

CI E S

o f living c reatu res w e might have the d emon

s t ra t io n desired
B u t here again the gap s are
so frequ en t an d so s eriou s that H aeckel scarcely
attempts to u s e this argu me nt fu rthe r than by
giving a short and som ewhat imp erfe ct su m
mary o f the geological su ccession i n the begin
n ing of his s econ d volum e I n this he attempts
to give a con tinu ou s s eries o f the an cesto rs o f
man as d evelop ed in geological time ; bu t

o f twenty on e group s which h e arranges in

o r d e r from the begin ning o f the Lau rentian
to the mode rn p e riod at least te n are n ot
k n own at all as fossils an d othe rs do no t
belong so far as k nown to the age s to which
he assign s them This n ecessity o f man u fa c
tu ring facts does not sp eak well fo r the testi
m ony o f geology to the su pp os ed phylogeny
o f man
I n p oin t o f fact it can no t be disgu ised that
though it is possible to pick ou t some s erie s
o f animal fo rms l ik e the horses an d camel s
re fe rred to by s ome pal ae ontologists which
simulate a ge netic o rde r the ge n eral testimon y
o f p al mo n to l o g y is o n the whol e adve rs e to
the o rdinary theo ries o f evol u tio n whethe r
applied to the vegetable o r to the an imal
king dom Thi s the write r has elsewhere e n
,

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

de av o re d

to show ; bu t he may re fe r here to

the labors o f B a rran de p erhap s u n rivalled in
exten t and accu racy which show that in the
leading forms of life in the olde r geological
fo rma t iop s the su ccession is not su ch as to
correspond with any of the received theo
*
ries of derivation
Eve n evolu tionists when
su fciently can did admit thei r cas e n ot p rov en
by geological eviden ce C au dry o ne o f the
best au thorities on the Tertiary mammalia
admits the impossibility of suggesti ng any
possible derivation for som e o f the l eading
groups and Saporta M iva rt an d Le C on te
fall back o n p eriods o f rapid or paroxysmal
evolu tion scarcely differi ng from the idea of
creati on by law o r mediate creation as i t has
been term e d
Thu s the u tm ost valu e which can be attached
to Haeckel s argumen t from analogy would be
that it suggests a possibili ty that the processes
which we see carried on in the evolu tion of the
i ndividual may in the laws which regulate them
be con nected in some w ay more o r less clos e
w ith those creative p rocesses which o n the
,

ho s wh w i h u d r t d
d
v ol ut i s h u l d s tudy B

T
on e

on

bites , Cep / p

to

e s an
arra n

za l o oo s , a n

th e

e s

r l b r i gs of p l nt l gy
ea

moirs

ea

a aeo

o o

l k a Sil u r ia n Tr zl o~
'

on

6
7

FA

C TS

AND

F A N CI E S

w ider el d of geological tim e hav e be en co n

cern ed i n the p rodu ctio n of the multitu dinou s
forms of animal life That H aeckel s philos
O p h y go es bu t a v ery littl e way toward
an y
u nderstan ding of s u ch relation s an d that ou r
p res e n t in fo rmatio n eve n within the mo re lim
it e d s cop e o f biological s cie n ce is too m eagre
to p ermit o f safe gen e ralization will app ear
from the co n sideratio n o f a few facts taken
here and the re from the multitu de employe d
by him to illu strate the mon isti c theory
Whe n we are tol d that a mon er o r an embryo
cell i s the early stage o f all an imals alike we
natu rally ask I s it mean t that all thes e cells
are really similar o r i s it only that they app ea r
similar to u s a n d may actu ally be as p ro fou ndly
u nlike as the animal s which they are destin ed
?
to p rodu ce
To make this qu estion mo re
plain let u s tak e the case a s fo rmally stated :
From the weighty fact that the egg o f the h u
man being like the egg o f all othe r animals i s
a simple cell it may be qu ite certain ly i n ferred
that a o n e celle d pare n t fo rm on ce existed from
which all the man y celle d animals man inclu ded
developed
N ow l et u s suppos e that we have u n de r ou r
m1c ro s c o p e a o n e celle d animalcul e qu ite as

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

s impl e in s tru ctu re as ou r supposed ancestor

Along with this we may have on the same slide

another cell w
hich is the embryo of a wo rm
an d a third which is the embryo o f a man All
thes e according to the hypothesis are similar
i n app earan ce ; so that we can by n o mean s
gu ess which is destined to con tinu e always an
an imal cul e o r which will becom e a worm o r
may develop into a poet o r a philosopher I s
it meant that the things are actually alike o r
only apj a re n tl y so ? I f they are really alike
then their destinies mu st depend o n external
circu mstances Pu t either of them in to a pond
and it will remain a monad Pu t eithe r o f them
into the ovary of a complex animal an d it will
develop into the liken ess o f that animal B u t
such similarity is altogether imp robable an d it
would destroy the argu men t o f the evolu tio n
ist I n this case he would be hopelessly shu t
u p to the con clu sion that hen s were befo re
eggs an d Haeckel elsewhere info rm s u s that
the exactly opposite V iew is n ecessarily that o f
the monistic evolution ist Thu s though it may
o ften be conve nien t to speak o f thes e three
ki nds of cell s as if they were perfectly similar
the m ethod o f disappearan ce has immediate
l y to be resorte d to an d the y are shown to be in
,

8
7

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

fact qu ite dissimilar The re is in deed the best

gr ou nd to su pp os e that the o n e celled an imal s
an d the embryo cells referre d to have littl e in
commo n excep t their gen eral fo rm We know
that the mos t minu te cell mu st in clu de a su f
c ie n t nu mbe r o f mol ecules of p rotoplasm to
admit o f great varieties o f p ossibl e arrange
m ent an d that these may be con nected with
most varied p o s sibilities as to the actio n o f
fo rces Fu rther the embryo cell which is p ro
du ce d by a particular kin d o f animal an d whos e
developme n t results i n the rep rodu ctio n of a
similar animal mu st contain potentially the
parts an d s tru ctu re s which are evolved from
it ; and fact shows that this may be afrm ed o f
both the embryo an d the sp erm cell s w here
there are two s exes Therefore it is i n the
highes t degre e p robabl e that the eggs o f a
wo rm an d tho s e o f man though possibly alike
to ou r coarse methods o f i nvestigation are as
dissi milar as the animals that result from t h em
I f so the egg may be befo re the hen
b u t it
is as difcult to imagin e the spontan eou s p ro
du ctio n of the egg which is pote ntially the he n
a s o f the hen its el f Thu s the s imilarity of the
eggs and early embryos of an imal s o f diffe ren t
grade s is appare n t only ; an d thi s fact w hich
.

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

79

embodies a great and p erhap s insoluble mys

t e ry invalidates the whole of Haeckel s reason
ing on the alleged resemblan ces of diffe ren t
kinds of animals in their early stages
A second di fculty arises from the fact that
the simpl e embryo cell o f any of the high er
animals rapidly p rodu ces variou s kinds of spe
c ial iz e d cells differen t i n stru ctu re and appear
an ce and capable of p erforming differen t fu n c
tions whereas i n the lower forms o f life su ch
cells may remain simple o r may me rely p rodu ce
seve ral similar cells little o r not at all differ
e n t ia t e d
This obj ection when ever it occu rs
Haeckel e ndeavo rs to tu rn by the assertio n
that a compl ex animal is m erely an aggregate
of independe n t cells each of which is a sort o f
individual H e thu s tries to break u p the in
t e g rity of the complex organism an d to redu ce
it to a m ere swarm of monads H e compares
the cells of an organ ism to the individual s
of a savage commu nity who at rst separate
and all alike in their habits an d occupation s at
length o rgani ze themselves in to a commu nit y
and assu me different avocations Singl e cells
he says at rst we re alike and each p erformed
the sam e simpl e ofces of all the othe rs
At
a late r period i s olated cell s g athe red into com
,

83

FA

mu n itie s

C TS

AND

F A N CI E S

grou ps o f s imple cells which had

arisen from the continu ed division o f a single
cell remained together an d now began grad
to
p
erform
diffe
rent
o
fces
o
f
life
u all
y
B u t this is a m ere vagu e analogy I t does
not rep res ent anything actually occu rring i n
natu re excep t i n the case o f an embryo p ro
du c e d by s ome animal which al ready shows all
the tissu es which its embryo is destin ed to re
p rodu ce Thu s it establishes n o p robability
of the evolu tio n o f compl ex tissu es from sim
ple cells an d leave s altogethe r u n explain ed that
wonderful pro cess by which the embryo cell
n ot o nly divides into many cells bu t becom es
develop ed i nto all the variety o f dissimilar tis
su es evolved from the homogen eou s egg ; bu t
evolved from it as we natu rally suppos e b e
cau se o f the fact that the egg represents p o
t e n t iall y all thes e tissu es as existing previou sl y
in the parent organism
Bu t if we are conten t to waive thes e o bj e c
tio ns o r to accept the solu tio n s given o f them
by the app earan ce an d disappearance argu
men t we still n d that the phylogeny u nlike
the o ntogenesi s is full o f wide gap s only to be
pass ed per S et /
tu m o r to be accou n ted for by the
disappearance o f a va s t nu mbe r o f conn ecting
;

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

8I

links Of cou rse it is easy to suppose that

these in termediate forms have been lost through
tim e and accident bu t why this h a s happen ed
to some rather than to others can not be ex
plain ed I n the phylogeny of man fo r exam
ple wh at a vast hiatu s yawn s between th e as
e idian an d the lan celet
an d an other between
the lan celet an d the lamp rey " I t is tru e that
the missing links may have con sisted of animals
littl e likely to be p reserved as fossils ; bu t w hy
if they ever existed do n ot som e of them re
?
main i n the modern seas
Again when we
have so many sp ecies of apes an d so many
races of men why can we n d n o trace recen t
o r fossil of that missing link which we are
told mu st have existed the ap e like m en
known to Haeckel as the Alali or sp eech
les s men ?
A fu rther qu estio n which should receive con
sideration from the mon ist school is that very
s eriou s on e Why if all is mechanical in the
development and actions of living beings should
there be any p rogre ss whatever ? O rdinary peo
pl e fail to u nde rstand why a world of mere dead
matter should not go on to all ete rnity obeying
physical and chemical laws withou t developing
life ; or why if some low form of life were intro
.

82

FA

C TS

FA N CI E S

AND

o f rep rodu cing simpl e o n e celle d

o rganisms it should not go o n doing so
Fu rthe r even if som e chan ce deviation s shoul d
o ccu r we fail to p erceive why these should go o n
i n a denite man n e r p rodu cing no t o nly the most
complex machin es bu t many kinds o f s c h ma

chin es o n differen t plan s bu t each pe rfect I n I t s

way Haeckel is n eve r weary o f telling u s that
to mo nists o rganisms are mere machin es Even
his own m ental work i s merely the gri nding o f
a cerebral machin e B u t he s eems n ot to p er
c e iv e that to su ch a philosophy the homely a r
u me n t which Paley derive d from the s tru ctu re
g
o f a watch woul d be fatal : The qu estio n is
whether mac h i n es ( which mo nists co nside r all
an imals to be in cluding themselves ) innitel y
mo re complicate d than watches coul d come in to
existen ce withou t design somewhe re
that i s
by m ere chan ce C ommo n s e ns e i s not likel y
to admit that this is possibl e
The di fcu lties abo v e refe rred to relate to the
in trodu ctio n o f life an d o f n ew sp ecies o n the
monistic view O thers might be refe rre d to in
con n ectio n with the p ro du c tl o n o f n ew o rgans
An illu stratio n i s affo rded among others by the
discu s sion o f the introdu ctio n o f the v e nger s
du c e d capable

B k tt
ec

O r ig in

La w:

N a tu r e

FI G

2.

pr s i n f ng rs d t s of
Amphibi n o f th
L w r C rb if r us Ag fr m th l w s t C rb if r us b d i
f th
mb r
v id
f t th t th
S ti
w
N v
l r dy s l t d f th h ds d f t f th rl i t k w l d
v rt b r t s d th t th d im l sys t m f t t
w ith l l th t
it i v ol v s to m w d t rmi d i th P l i Ag T h upp r
g r tur l si th l w i d d
Im

e s o

on

ve

an

e o

e,

ve

an

oe

on

e o

co

e ec e

ea

a e

na

or

an

en ce

an

an

an ,

as

ze,

ac

an

ec

e e

er

ee

ne

u ce

ea

nu

es

no

n o a io n ,

a aeo z o c

ve

e.

as

an

84

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

a nd to es of man which app ear to d escen d to u s

u n changed from the amphibian s o r batrachians
o f the C arbon iferou s p e riod I n this an cient
age o f the earth s geological history fee t w ith
v e toes app ear in nu m e rou s sp ecies o f rep
t il ia n s o f v ariou s grades ( Fig
They are
p re cede d by n o other vertebrates than shes

a nd thes e have nu me rou s n rays in stead o f

toes There are no p rop erly tran sitio nal form s
either fossil o r re cen t H ow were the v e n
?
e r e d limbs acqu ired in thi s abrupt way
Wh
y
g
we re they v e rathe r than any othe r n u mber ?
Why when o n ce introdu ced have they co ntinu ed
?
u n changed u p to the p resen t day
H aeckel s
an swer is a cu riou s exampl e of his m ethod :
The great signican ce of the ve digits de
p ends o n the fact that this nu mbe r has been
tran smitted from the Amphibia to all highe r
ve rtebrates I t would be impossible to dis
cove r any reaso n why in the lowest Amphibia
as well as i n rep til es an d in highe r ve rtebrates
u p to man there should always originally be
ve digits o n each o f the ag t e rio r an d p oste rio r
limbs if we denied that heredity from a com
mon v e n g e re d paren t fo rm is the e fcient
cau se of this phenom en o n ; heredity can alone
accou n t fo r it I n many Amphibia certainly as
,

IN

M OD E R

N SCI E NCE

85

well as in many higher vertebrates we n d les s

than ve digit s B u t in all these cas es it can
be shown that separate digits hav e retrograded
and have nally been compl etely lost
The
cau ses which affected the developmen t of the
v e n g e re d foot of the highe r vertebrates in
this amphibian form from the many n g e re d
foot ( o r p roperl y n ) mu st certainly be fou n d
in the adaptation to the totally altered fu n ction s
which the limbs had to discharge du ring the
transitio n from an exclu sively aquatic life to o n e
which was partially te rrestrial While the many
n g e re d n s of the sh had previou sly served
almost exclu sively to propel the body through
the wate r they had n ow also to affo rd support
to the animal when creeping on the land This
effected a modicatio n both of the skel eto n an d
o f the mu scles of the limbs The nu mber of n
ra y s was gradu ally lessened and was nally re
du c e d to ve
Thes e ve remaining rays were
ho wever develope d more vigo rou sly The soft
cartilaginou s rays became hard bon es The rest
o f the skeleton also became con siderably mo re
rm The movemen ts of the body became not
only more vigorou s bu t also more varied an d
the paragraph p roceeds to state othe r ame l io ra
t iOn s of mu scular an d n er vou s system supposed
,

86

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

to be relate d to o r cau s ed b y the imp rovem ent

o f the limbs
I t will be observe d that in the abo v e extract
u n de r the fo rmula the cau ses which affected
the developm e n t o f the v e n g e re d foot
m u st certainly be fou nd all that o th e r me n
w oul d regard as demanding p roof is qu ietly
assu m ed an d the an imal grow s befo re ou r
eyes from a s h to a rep tile as u n der the
wan d o f a co nj u re r Fu rther the transmissio n
o f the ve to es is attribu te d to heredity o r u n
changed rep rodu ctio n bu t this of cou rs e gives
n o explanation of the o riginal fo rmatio n o f the
stru ctu re no r o f the cau ses which p reven te d
heredity from applying to the s hes which
b ecam e amphibian s an d acqu ired ve toes
o r to the amphibians which faithfully tran s
mitt e d their ve to es bu t n o t their othe r
characteristics
I t is p erhap s s carcely p rotabl e to follow
fu rther the criticism o f this extrao rdinary
book I t may be n e ce s sary however to re
p eat that it co ntain s clear an d i n the main
accu rate sketches o f the embry ology o f a
nu mbe r Of animals o nly s lightly colo red by
the te n den cy to mI n I ml z e differen ces I t may
al s o be n ecessary to say that i n critici s ing
.

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

87

Haeckel w e tak e him on his own grou n dthat

o f a monist an d have no sp ecial referen ce
to those many phases which the philosophy
of evolu tio n assu mes i n the minds o f other
natu ralists many o f whom accep t it o nly par
t ia ll y or a s a form of mediate creatio n more o r
less reconcil abl e with theism To these more
moderate views no reference has been made
though there can be n o doubt that many of
them are qu ite as assailabl e a s the position
o f H aeckel in point o f argu men t It may
also be obs erved that Haeckel s argu ment is
almost exclu sively biological an d conned to
the animal kingdom an d to the special lin e
o f descen t attributed to man The monistic
hypothesis becomes as already stated still
l ess tenable whe n tested by the facts of pal ae
o ntology H en ce most of the p al mo n to l o g is t s
who favo r evolu tion appear to shrink from
the extreme position o f Haeckel
C audry
o n e of the abl est of this school i n his recen t
work on the development of the Mammalia
candidly admits the mu ltitu de of facts fo r
which derivation will not accou nt and p er
c e iv e s in the grand su ccession o f animals in
time the eviden ce o f a wis e an d far reaching
creative plan conclu ding with the words : W e
i

'

88

F A C TS A N D

F A N CI E S

may s till leave ou t o f the qu estion the p ro

cesses by w hich the Au tho r o f the world ha s
p rodu ce d the changes o f which pal aeo ntology
p resents the p ictu re
I n like mann er the
C ou n t de Saporta in his I/VO I l n of P l a n ts
clos es his su mma ry o f the p erio d s o f vegeta
tion with the wo rds : B u t if we ascen d from
on e phen ome no n to anothe r be y o n d the sphere
o f con tinge nt and changeabl e app earan ce we
n d ou rs elves arrested by a B eing u n change
abl e an d su p rem e the rs t exp ression an d
absolu te cau s e o f all existen ce i n whom diver
s it
u
nite
s
with
u
nity
an
eternal
p
roblem
i
n
y
solubl e to scien ce bu t ever p re s en t to the
hu man co nsciou sn ess
H ere we reach the
tru e sou rce of the idea o f religion an d there
p res ents itself distin ctly to the min d that con
c e t io n
to
w
hich
we
apply
in
stin
ctively
the
p
n ame o f God
Thu s thes e evolu tio nists like many others
in this cou ntry and in Englan d n d a model :

o zo en o z betwee n evolu tio n

an d theism They
have committed thems elves to an interp reta
tion of natu re which may p rove fan ciful an d
evan escent an d which ce rtainly u p to this
time remains an hypothesis ingeniou s and
cap tivating bu t no t fo rtied by the evi d en ce

'

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

89

o f facts Bu t i n doing so they are not pre

pared to accept the pu rely m echanical creed
of the mon ist o r to se parate themselves from
thos e ideas of morality of religion and of
sonship to God which have hitherto been the
brightest gems in the crown of man as the
lord of this lower world Whether they can
maintain this position against the monists an d
whethe r they will be abl e in the e nd to reta i n
any p ractical form of religio n along with the
doctrin e of the derivation of man from the
lowe r animals remain s to be seen Possibly
before these qu estions com e to a nal issu e
the philosophy of evolu tion may itself have
bee n modied o r have give n place to some
n ew phase of thought
O n e cu riou s poin t in this con n ection to which
littl e attentio n has been given by evolu tionists
is that to which H erbert Sp en ce r has given the
name of direct equ ilibratio n though he is su f
c ie n tl y wise not to I n v i te too mu ch attention
to it This is the balan ce of parts an d forces
within the organism its el f The o rganism is a
complex machin e ; an d if its parts have bee n
pu t togeth er by c h an ce and are driftin g onward
in the path o f evolu tion there mu st o f n e c e s
s ity be a continual stru gl e going o n between
g
.

90

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

the d iffe re n t o rgan s an d fu n ction s each ten d ing

to swallow u p the others and each struggling
fo r its own existen ce This resolu tion o f the
body o f each animal into a hou s e divided
agai n st itsel f is at rst sigh t so revolting to
commo n s en se an d right fe eling that few like
R ou x and othe r re cen t
to contemplate it
writers howeve r esp ecially i n Germany have
brought it into p romin en ce and it is no doubt
a neces sary co nsequ ence o f the evolu tionary
idea though altogethe r at variance with the
theory o f intelligen t design which su pposes
the animal machin e pu t togethe r with care
and fo r a pu rpose an d p roperly adj u sted in
all its parts O n the hypothesis o f evolu tion
the animal thu s ceases to be in the p rop er
se ns e o f the te rm even a machin e and b e
comes a mere mass o f conicting parts depe nd
ing fo r any co nstan cy they may have o n a
chan ce balan ci ng o f hostil e forces withou t any
comp elling p owe r to bring them togethe r at
rst o r any m ean s to bin d them to j oin t action
i n the system The more su ch a doctrine is
considered the more difcult does it s eem to
believe i n the possibility o f its tru th E v o l u
tion has already redu ce d the cosmos into chaos
the harmo ny of the u nive rs e into disco rd ; bu t
,

'

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

1
9

it seems past belief to introdu ce this in to the

m icrocosm itself and to s ee n othing in its ex
u is it e adj u stments except the mome n tary equ i
q
libriu m o f a well balanced ght Geological
history also adds to the absu rdity of su ch a
view by showing the marvellou s permanen ce
o f many form s of life which have continu ed to
p erp etuate themselve s through almost imme a s
u rab l e
ages withou t mate ri al changes thu s
p roving u nan swe rably the p erfect adj u stment
of thei r parts
Viewed rightly this direct equ ilibration of the
parts of the animal seems to throw the greate s t
po s sible doubt on the capacity of any form o f
evolu tion to p rodu ce n ew species I t is ce r
tain from the facts collected by M r D arwin
himsel f i n his work o n animal s u nder domes
t ic a t io n that whe n man distu rbs the balan ce o f
any organism by changing i n an y way the re
l at io n s of its parts he i ntrodu ces el ements of
instability and weakness which despite the e f
forts o f natu re to correct the evils resulting
speedily lead to degen eracy in fertility and ex
tinction M r T Warre n O N e il of P h il ade l
phia has rece ntly argu ed this poin t with mu ch

a b il it f
and
has
shown
o
n
the
testimony
o
f
y
R f t ti
88
f D wi i m Ph il d l p h i
,

u a

on o

ar

n s

a, 1

0.

2
9

FA

C TS

AN D

F A I VCI E S

D arwi n s facts that u nles s

natu ral s electio n

is a mu ch more skil ful b reede r than man an d
p ossesses som e s ecrets no t yet discovered by
u s the effects of this imaginary p owe r would
lead not to the p rodu ction o f n ew sp ecies bu t
m erely t o the extin ctio n o f those al ready ex
is t in g
I n short all the eviden ce goes to show

that s o b e au t ifu ll y balan ced are the parts o f

the organism any excess o r decien c y in any

o f them whe n articiall y o r accidentally intro
du c e d brings in el emen ts not o nly o f in stabil
ity bu t o f decay and destru ction This subj ect
is dese rving o f a mo re full treatmen t than it
can receive here bu t e nough has been said to
show that in this evolu tionists have u nwittingly
fu rn ishe d u s with a n ew co nrmation o f the
theory of in telligen t design
I n som e places the re are in Haeckel s book
tou ches o f a grim hu mo r which are not withou t
i nterest as showing the subj ective side o f the
monisti c theory and illu strating the attitu de
of its p ro fesso rs to things hel d s acred by othe r
m en Fo r exampl e the following is the intro
du ctio n to the chapte r headed From the Prim
it iv e Wo rm to the Skulled Animal an d which
has fo r it s motto the lin e s o f Go ethe b e
gin ning :

'

IN

lk
t l ik

Not i
Bu

th e
th e

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

93

g ds m I fu ll w ll I k w ;
w o rms wh i h i h du t mu t g
a

no

t e

o.

B oth in prose an d poetry man is ve ry often

compared to a worm ; a miserabl e worm a
poor worm are common and almost compas
s io n a t e phrases
I f we can not detect any deep
phylogen etic referen ce in this zoological met
least
safely
assert
that
it
a h o r we might at
p
contain s an u ncon sciou s comparison with a
low condition o f animal developmen t which
is interesting in its bearing on the pedigre e
of the human race
I f Haeckel were wel l read in Scriptu re he
might hav e qu oted here the melancholy con
fe s s io n of the ma n of Uz :
I hav e said to the
worm Thou art my mother an d my sister
Bu t though j o b like the German p rofesso r
could hu mbly say to the worm Thou art my
mother he could still hold fast his integrity
an d believe in the fatherhood of God
The moral bearing of monism is fu rthe r
illu s trated by the following extract which
refers to a mo re advan ced step of the e v o l u
tion that from the ap e to man and which
show s the honest p ride o f the worthy p ro
fe s s o r in his humbl e parentage :
J u st as most
p eople p refer to trace t heir p edigre e from a

FA

94

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

decayed baro n or if possibl e fro m a cel ebrate d

p rin ce rathe r than from an u nknown hu mbl e
p easant s o they p re fe r s eeing the p roge nito r
o f the hu man race i n an Adam degraded by
the fall rathe r tha n in a n ap e capabl e o f higher
d evelopme nt an d p rogre s s I t i s a matte r o f
taste an d su ch gen ealogical p refe ren ce s do
not therefo re admit of dis cu ssio n I t is more
to my in dividual taste to be the m ore h ighly
develop ed des ce ndan t o f an ap e who in the
struggl e for existe n ce had develop ed p ro
from
lowe
r
mammals
a
s
they
from
re s s iv e l
y
g
still lowe r v e rte brates than the degraded de
Adam Godlike bu t debased
a n t o f an
s ce n d
by the fall who was form e d from a clo d o f
earth an d o f a n Eve create d from a rib o f
Adam As regards the celebrated rib I mu st
here exp ressly add as a su pplemen t to the
history of the developm en t o f the skeleton
that th e nu mber o f ribs is the sam e in man
*
an d i n woman
I n the latter as well as in
the fo rme r the ribs o riginate from the ski n
b ro u s laye r an d are to be regarded p h y l o g e
ae
as
lowe
r
o
r
ventral
ve
rtebr
n e t ic all
y
T
,

'

s r ly
ss ry to r f r to th i s h il d i sh obj tion u l ss
l sk l to f A d m h d b n i qu s tio
th i d iv id
th
r
v
r
t
b
r
l
r
h
s
R
1
I t was

e e

ua

n e ce

ca c e

n o

a c

e e

ee

ec

n.

n e

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

95

There is no ac cou nting for t astes yet we

may be pardo n ed for retaining some p refer
en ce fo r the rst lin k of the old j ewish gen e
alogical table : Which was the so n of Adam
which was the son of God
As to the de
baseme n t of the fall it is to be feared that
the abo riginal ap e would obj ect to bearing the
blame o f existing hu man iniqu ities as having
a risen from any improvemen t in his natu re
and habits ; an d it is scarcely fair to sp eak o f

Adam a s form ed from a el oo of earth which

is not p recisely in accordance with the record
As to the rib which s eems so offensive to
Haeckel on e would have th ought that he
w ould as an evo l u tionist have had som e fel
low feeling in this with the writer of Gen esis
The origi n of s exes is on e o f the acknow
ledged difculties o f the hypothesis and u sing
his m ethod we might su rely assu m e o r even
conden tly ass ert the possibility that in som e
early stage of the developme n t the u nnished

v ertebral arches o f th e skin b ro u s layer

m ight have p rodu ced a n ew individual by a
p rocess o f bu dding o r gemmation "uite as
remarkabl e supposition s are co ntained in some
parts of hi s own volumes withou t any special
divin e power fo r ren de ring them p racticable
,

6
9

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

Fu rther if o nly an in dividual man o riginate d

in the rs t in stance an d if he we re not p ro
sp ou s e he might have
v ide d with a su itable
inte rmarrie d with the u nimp roved an thropo ids
an d the results o f the evolu tio n woul d hav e
bee n lost Su ch co n side ratio n s shoul d have
weighed with H aeckel in in du cing him to sp eak
mo re resp ectfully o f Adam s rib esp ecially in
view o f the fact that i n dealing with the hard
qu e s tion o f hu man o rigin the au tho r o f Ge nes is
had not the ben et o f the researche s o f B ae r
an d H aeckel H e had no doubt the advantage
o f a rm faith i n the reality o f that C reative
W ill which the mo nis tic p rophe ts o f the n ine
t e e n t h ce ntu ry hav e banishe d from their c a l c u
l a t io n s
W e re Haeckel not a monis t he might
als o be reminded o f that gran d doctrin e o f the
lo rdship an d su perio rity o f man based o n the
fact that there was no help me et fo r him
an d the fou ndatio n o f the mos t sacred bon d
of hu man society o n the saying o f the rs t
man : This is now bon e o f my bon es and esh
o f my esh
B u t mon ists p robably attach
littl e valu e to su ch idea s
It may be p rope r to add he re that i n his re f
e re n c e s to Adam H aeckel betrays a weaknes s
not u nu su al with his school i n pu tting a fal se
,

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

gloss on the old record o f Ge n esis The s tate

men t that man was fo rm ed from the d u st of
the grou n d implies n o more than the p rodu c
tion o f his body from the commo n material s
employed in the con stru ctio n of other animals ;
this also in contradistin ction from the higher na
tu re derived from the inbreath i ng o r I n sp i rat io n
of God The p recise natu re o f the m ethod by
which man was made or created is n ot stated by
the au thor of G en esis Fu rthe r it would have
been as easy for D ivine Powe r to create a pair
as a n individual I f this was n ot don e and if
afte r the l esson of superiority taught by the in
an
d
the
lesson
o
f
s e c t io n of lower animals
p
language ta u ght by naming them the rs t man
in his deep sleep is con sciou s o f the removal
o f a po rtion o f his own esh an d then o n awak
ing has the w oman brought to him all this is
to teach a lesson not to be otherwise learn ed
The Mosaic record is thu s p erfectly consisten t
with itsel f and with its own doctri ne of creatio n
by Almighty Powe r
I have qu oted the above passages as exam
pl es o f the mo re j ocose vein of the j ena phys
io l o g is t ; bu t they constitu te also a s eriou s rev
elatio n o f the inu en ce of his philosophy on hi s
own mi nd an d heart in lo wering both to a col d
.

8
9

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

m echan ical an d u nsympathetic vie w o f man and

natu re This is esp e cially s eriou s wh en we re
m ember how earn estly in a recen t address he
advocated the teaching of the m ethods an d re
s u l t s of this b o o k a s thos e which in the p resent
s tate of knowledge should su pe rs ede the B ible
i n ou r s chools W e may well say with his great
oppon en t on that o ccasion that if su ch doctrin es
should be p roved to be tru e the teaching o f
them might become a n ecessity bu t o n e that
woul d bring u s face to face with the darkest an d
m ost dangerou s mo ral p roblem tha t has eve r
bes et hu man ity ; and that so long as they re
main u np roved it is both u nwis e an d criminal
to p ropagate them among the mass o f me n
a s c onclu sio n s which have bee n demonstrated
by s cien ce
I n conclu sion we may notice sho rtly a few
o f the cons equ e nces of the m o nistic evolu tion
as hel d by H aeckel an d others D octrin es are
p er haps n ot to be j u dged by the consequ ences

a t l east by the immediate con sequ en ces o f

their acceptan ce Y e t if thei r logical c o n s e
u e n ce s are su ch as to i ntrodu ce con fu sion into
q
ou r highe r ideas and sentime nts we hav e rea

so n to hesitate as to their adop tion if on n o

othe r grou nd becau se we ou rselve s are a part
,

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

99

o f natu re an d should be in harmony w ith any

tru e explanation o f it
We may afrm in this conn ection that agnos
tic evolu tio n redu ces all ou r s cien ce to mere
evanescen t anthropomo rphic fan cies ; s o that
like a parasite it rst su pports itsel f o n the
strength an d substance o f s cience an d then
strangles it to death Physical science is a
p rodu ct of ou r thinking a s to external things
I f therefore the thinking brain an d the ex
ternal natu re which it s tu dies are both of them
the fortu itou s produ cts o f blind ten dencies in a
proces s o f continu ou s u x and v icissitu de ou r
scien ce can embody no elemen ts of eternal
tru th nor any con ceptions as to the plans o f
a highe r creative reaso n I n that cas e it is ab
s o l u te l
w
orthl
e
ss
an
d
a
pu
re
waste
o
f
time
y
an d en ergy except in so far a s it may yiel d an y
temporary material a d vantage s
Fu rther the agnostic e v olu tion thu s lea v e s
u s as orphans in the midst of a cold and insen
sate natu re W e are n o lo nge r dwellers in ou r
Father s hou s e beau tiful an d tted for u s bu t
are thrown into the midst of a h ideou s conict
o f dead forces i n which we mu s t nally p erish
an d be an nihilated I n a struggl e so hop el es s
it is a mere mocke ry to tell u s that in million s
.

'

0 4

I OO

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

o f years s omething better ma y com e ou t o f it

fo r we kn ow that this will be o f n o a v ail to u s
a n d we feel that it is imp os s ible Thu s the
agnostic philosophy if it be o n ce accep ted a s
tru e se riou sl y rai s es the qu e s tio n whethe r life
is worth living
B u t if w orth living then it mu st be fo r the
immediate an d s el s h graticatio n o f ou r de
sire s an d pa s sion s ; an d s in ce we are dep ri v e d
o f God an d co n scien ce an d right an d wrong
and fu tu re rewa rd o r pu n i s hm ent an d all m en
are alike i n thi s po s ition there can be nothing
l eft fo r u s bu t to ren d an d ght with ou r fellows
fo r s u ch s hare o f good as may fall to u s i n the
d eadl y s truggl e that w e ma y reach s u ch ha p p i
n e ss a s may be p o s sible fo r u s in s u ch an
existe n ce e re we d rift into n o n e n ity H ere
again we are tol d that th e struggle w ill s om e
tim e lead to the s u rv ival o f the ttest an d that
the ttest may ina u gu rate a n ew and better
reign o f peace Bu t the worl d has al read y
las te d cou ntle ss ages " ithou t arriving at this
result It can not con cern m e indi v idually any
mo re than what happen s to d ay concern s the
extin ct ichthyo s a u r o r the megathe riu m All
that i s left fo r m e i s to eat an d d rink fo r

to mo rro w I die
,

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

10 1

I f any o n e thinks that this is an exaggerated

p ictu re o f the effect s of agn ostic evolu tion as
applied to man I may refer him to the s tu dy
o f H erbert Sp en cer s re cen t work T/
t e D a ta

( 7 E t ies which has contribu ted very mu ch to

3
O p en the eyes o f thoughtful men to t h e depth
o f s piritu al moral an d even social and political
ru in into which we shall drift u nde r the gu id
a n c e of this philosophy I n this work the data
o f ethic s are redu ced to the o n e con s ideration

o f what is pleasu rabl e to ou rselves and

others an d it is admitted that ou r ideas o f
con s cien ce du ty an d even o f social obliga
tion are m erely ctions o f temporary u se u n
til the tim e shall come when what is pleasu rable
to ou rselves s ha ll coincide with what is pleas
u rab l e to others ; an d this is to come n ot ou t
o f the lo v e o f God and the inu en ce o f his
Spirit bu t o u t o f the blind struggl e o f oppos
ing interests It has bee n well said that this

system of morals if it can be dignie d with

su ch a name is in fer ior logicall y an d p rac
ticall y not only to the sup ernatu ral ethics
which it boastfully p rofesses to replace bu t to
the ethic s of A ris tOtl e an d C ice ro and that it
will not su pers ede revelation nor i s it likely to
displace the old data of e thics whether Greek
,

9 at

1 02

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

o r English
I ndep endentl y o f it s an
t ag o n is m to theism an d C hristianity it i s fore
doome d by the common s ens e an d the right
fe eling of e v en imp erfe ct hu man nat u r e
R oman

I I I

E V O L U T IO N
AS T E S T E D B Y

THE R E C O R D S OF T HE R O C "S

LE CTUR E
E VO

LU T I O N

A S TE ST E D

BY

III

T HE

R O C" S

R E CO R D S O F T HE

A Y I N G discu s s ed those vagu e a nalogie s

and fan cifu l p edigrees by which it has
been attempted to drag the s cie nce o f B iology
into the service of Agn ostic Evolu tio n we may
now tu rn to another scien ce that o f the earth
an d inqu ire how far it j u stie s u s in afrming
the spontaneou s evolu tion of plants and ani
mals in the p rogres s of geological time This
subj ect is on e which would require a lengthy
treatis e for its full development an d it can not
be pu r s u e d in the most satis facto ry way withou t
mu ch previou s knowl edge o f geological fact s
and principles an d of the classication o f an i
mal s and plants O n the presen t occasion it
mu s t t h e re fo re be treated in the most gen eral
possible mann er an d with reference merely to
the results which have been reached There
i s the more excu se for this mode of treatme nt
that i n works already p ublished and widely
,

1 05

I o6

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

I have e ndeavo red to p re s en t it s

details i n a popular fo rm to gen eral reade r s
Geological investigatio n has disclos ed a great
s eries o f stratied ro ck s compo s ing the cru s t
o f the earth an d fo rm e d at s u ccessive times
chiey by the age n c y o f water These can
be arranged in chro nological o r d e r ; an d so
arranged the y con stitute the physical monu
ments o f the earth s hi s to ry W e mu st here
take fo r granted o n the testimo ny o f geology
that the accu mulatio n o f this s erie s o f deposits
ha s exte n d ed ove r a va s t lap s e o f time and
that the su cce s si v e fo rmation s co ntain remain s
o f animal s an d plants from which we can l earn
m u ch as to the s u cce s sio n o f life o n the earth
W ithou t e nte ring into geological d etail s it ma y
be s u fcien t to p rese nt i n tabular fo rm ( s ee p
the
gran
d
s
erie
s
o
f
formations
w
ith
the
1 07
)
ge neral histo ry o f life as a s certain ed from them
I n the ol d e s t ro ck s known to geologi s t s
tho se o f the Eo z oic times om e in dication s o f
the p res en ce o f life are fou nd Great beds o f
l imesto ne are contain e d in the s e fo rmation s
vast quantitie s o f carbon in the form o f graph
ite an d thick be ds o f i ro n o re All the s e are

c irc u l a t e

df

St

ory o

ica l Time

M e E ar t , O r ig in

t e

a , C a in
PVor/
'

Life in Geol og

[I

TAB ULAR VI E "

OF

G
P

os t

or

Te r t ia ry
M oder n
.

88
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ER I OD

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tinc t
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a n d M ode r n

OF

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AN D

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i oc e n e .

1 07

AN I M AL
LI F E

e s t oc e n e , o r

5 m

E O LO GI CA L

GE O LO G I CA L

SCI E NCE

I II OD E R N

e r, or
e

di i f
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108

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

known from thei r mode of o ccu rren c e in late r

deposits to be resu lts dire ct o r indirect o f the
agen cy o f life ; an d if they afforded n o traces
of organ ic fo rms still th ei r chemical character
would co nv ey a p resump tion o f their o rganic
o rigin B u t additio nal evidence has been o b
t a in e d i n the p rese n ce o f certain remarkabl e
laminated form s p en etrated by micros copic
tubes an d canals an d w hich are supposed to
be the rema i n s o f the cal careou s skeleto n s o f
hu mbly organiz ed animals akin to the simplest
o f those n ow l iving in the s ea Su ch a n imal s
littl e more than mas s es o f living animal j elly

now abou n d in the waters an d p rotect them

s elves by s ecreting cal careou s skeleton s o ften
compl ex an d beau tiful an d p en etrated by po res
through which the soft animal within can s en d
fo rth mi nu te thread lik e exte nsion s o f its body
which s erve in stead o f limbs The Lau rentian

fossil known as E oz oon Ca n a a en se ( s ee Fig 3)

may have been the s kel eto n o f su ch a lowly
o rgan i z ed an imal ; an d if so it is the oldes t
living thing that we know B u t if really the
skel eto n o r cove ring o f su ch an animal E oz oon
is large r than any o f its su ccessors an d qu ite
as complex as any o f them There i s n othing
to s how that it could have originated from dead
,

FI G 3

w th r d t from th
t g ro k d h w i g it l mi t d s t ru tur
C s t s f irr g l r
li
h mb rs f upp r p r t ( m gni d )
f
3 S u rf
t f t h mb r h w i g it o st itu t h m
b l t m g i d
(
)
f
4 S ti
st s o f t h mb rs ( m gni d ) F r m th L ur n
t i n of C n d
S mal l

ai n i n

2.

p im

en of

ec

an

a ce o

er e s
.

ec

u a

a c as

on o

ca

oz oon

ana

na e

o r a c e rva

den se,

ne c

ea

e e

e c on

ou

s c

en

a.

10

1 09

F A CT

1 IO

AND

FA

NCI E S

matte r by any spo ntan eou s action an y more

,

than its modern rep res entative s could do so

There i s no eviden ce o f its p rogress by e vo l u
tio n in to any higher fo rm an d the group o f a n
ima l s to which it belo ngs has con tinu ed to in
habit the o cean throughou t geological time with
ou t an y p erceptible advan ce in rank o r com
l
e x it
o
f
stru
ctu
re
I
f
then
we
admit
the
an
y
p
imal natu re o f this earliest fossil we can derive
from it no eviden ce o f monistic evolu tio n ; an d
i f we deny its animal natu re we are co n fron ted
with a still grave r difculty in the n ext su ccee d
ing formations
B etween the ro cks which co ntain E oz oon an d
the n ext in which we nd any abu ndant re
main s o f life the re is a gap in geological hi s to ry
either destitu te of eviden ce o f life o r showing
nothing materially i n advan ce o f E oz oon I n
the C amb rian Age howeve r we obtain a vast
an d varied accessio n o f life H e re we n d evi
den ce that the sea swarme d with living crea
t ii re s n ear akin to thos e which still inhabit it
an d n early as varied R eferring m erely to
l eading grou ps we have here the so ft shell
s h e s and the worms the ordinary s h e ll s h e s
the s ea
stars and the c o ral s with the s ponges
I n s hort had we been able to drop ou r dredge
.

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

111

into the C ambrian o r Lower Silu rian ocean

we should have brought up rep resentatives of
all the leading types of invertebrate life that

exist in the modern seas different it is tru e

in details of stru ctu re from those n o w existing
bu t constru cted on the same p r i nc iples and l l
ing the same places in natu re
I f we inqu ire as to the histo ry of thi s swarm
ing marine life of the early Pal aeozoic we n d
that its s everal sp ecies after endu ring fo r a
longer or a shorter time on e by on e became
extin ct an d were replaced by others belonging
to the same groups Thu s there is in each
great group a su ccession of n ew forms distinct
as sp ecies bu t n ot p erceptibly elevated in the
scal e of being I n many cases in deed the re
ve rs e s eems to be the case ; for it is not u n
u sual to nd the su ccessive dynasties of life in
any o ne family manifesting degradation rathe r
than elevation N ew an d sometimes higher
forms it is tru e app ear in the p rogress of time
bu t it is impossibl e except by violent s upposi
tions to connect them gen etically with any p re
de c e s s o rs
The su ccession throughou t the P a
l ae o z o ic p resents the appearan ce rathe r o f the
u n change d p ersisten ce of each group u nder a
su ccession of specic forms and the in t ro du c
,

1 12

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

tion from tim e to time o f n ew grou ps as i f to

replace others which w ere in p rocess of deca y
an d disapp earan ce
I n the late r hal f o f the Pal aeo z oic we nd a
nu mber o f higher forms breaking upon u s with
the sam e apparen t su ddenn e ss as in the case of
the early C ambrian animal s Fishe s app ear an d
soo n abou n d in a great variety o f sp ecie s rep
rese nting typ es o f n o mean rank bu t singular
l y en ough belo nging in many ca s es to group s
now ve ry rare ; while the common er tribes o f
m odern sh do not appear O n the lan d b a
t ra c h ia n reptil es now abou nd
s om e o f them
very high i n the su b clas s to which they b e
long
Scorpions sp iders insects an d milli
p edes app ear a s well as land s nails an d this
not in on e locality o nly bu t o v e r the w hol e
northe rn hemisphere At the s ame tim e the
lan d app ears clothed with an e x u beran t v e g e

a
t
i
o
n
not o f the lowest typ e s no r of the
t
highest bu t of in termediate fo rms s u ch as
tho s e o f the pine s the club mosse s an d the
ferns all o f which attain ed in those days to
magnitu des an d nu mbers o f sp ecies u n s u r
pass ed an d i n some cases u nequalled i n the
modern world N or d o they s how any signs
o f an u nformed o r imperfect state
Their
,

F IG

s to r tion ( b y G F M tt/ ) f Tr il b it ( P d i ) fr om th
f th
L o w r C mb r i n
v id
x is t
i
f r us t
m l s f h igh t yp
d gr t
mp l x it y i th is
rly g
I f su h
im l s w r
v l v d fr m Pr t
b y s l w d g r du l h g s th
t im r qu ir d w u l d b gr t r th th t w hi h i t r v n d b tw n
d th p r s nt t im
th
C mb r i n p r io d
Re

an

e e e

10

as

an

an

co

ea e

an

e e

a ra

e n ce o

an

ox

n e

a es

ace an

ea

o oz o a

e n ce

ea

an

zero

an

e.

an

ee

1 I4

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

s ee ds an d spores thei r fru its and s pore ca s e s

are a s elab orately constru cted the tissu es an d
form s o f their stems an d leaves as delicate an d
beau tiful as in any modern plants So w ith
-

the compou n d eyes an d l my win g s o f in s ects

the teeth bon es an d s cal es o f batrachian s an d
shes ; all are as p erfectly nished an d many
qu ite as complex an d elegant as in the animal s
of the p resen t day ( Figu re
This won derful Pal aeozoic Age was howeve r
bu t a tempora ry state o f the earth I t pass ed
away an d was replaced by the M esozoic em
phatically the reign o f reptiles when animals
o f that t y p e attained to colossal magn itu de to
variety o f fu n ction and stru ctu re to div ersity
of habitat in sea and on land altogethe r u n e x
a m l e d i n their degraded descendan t s o f m od
p
ern times Sea lizards o f gigantic si z e swarm
e d eve rywhere i n the waters On land huge
qu adru peds like Atlan tosau ru s and Iguanodon
an d M egalosau ru s greatly exceede d the el e
h
an
t
s o f late r times ; while winged reptiles
p
som e o f them o f small size others with wings
twenty fe et in expan se itte d in the air
Strangely enough with thes e rep tilian lords
appeared a few small and lowly mammals
fore ru nn ers o f the coming age B irds al s o
'

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

I 15

make their app earance an d at the close of

,

the p erio d fore s ts o f broad l eaved tree s alto

gether differen t from thos e o f the Pal ae ozoic
Age and resembling those of ou r modern
woods app ear fo r the rst time o v e r great
portions o f the northern hemisphere
The C ainozoic o r Tertiary i s the age of
mammals an d o f man I n it the great rep
tilian ty rant s of the Meso z oic di s app ear an d
are replaced o n lan d an d s ea by mammals o r
beasts of the same order s with thos e no w li v
ing though differing as to gen era an d specie s
see
Fig
So
greatly
indeed
did
mamma
(
l ian life abou n d i n thi s p eriod that i n the mid
dl e part o f the Tertiary most o f the leading
group s we re rep re s ented by more num erou s
species than at p resen t ; while man y group s
then existing ha v e now no r ep res entati v es
At the clos e of this great an d w on d erful p ro
cession o f living beings come s man himself
the last an d crowning triu mph of creation ; th e
head thu s far o f life on the earth
I hav e merely glanced at the leading events
of this wonderful history becau se its details
may be fou n d in so many manuals an d popula r
work s o n geology
Bu t if we imagine thi s
great chain of life extending o v e r p erio ds o f
-

1 16

F A C TS A

ND

FA

NCTE S

en ormou s du ratio n in compariso n with the

short span of hu man histo ry p resenting to
the natu ralist hosts of strange forms which he
coul d s carcely hav e imagin ed in his dream s we
may u nderstand how exciting hav e been thes e
dis coveries crowded within the lives o f two
gen eration s o f geologists Fu rther when we
co nsider that the gen e ral cou r s e of this great
developm en t o f life begin ning with Proto z oa
and e n d ing w ith man is from below u pward
from the mo re simpl e to the mo re compl ex
an d that there is of n ecessity in this gran d
growth o f life through the ag e s a liken ess o r
parallelism to the growth o f the individual a n
imal from its mo re s impl e to it s mo re complex
state we can u n ders tan d how natu ralists should
fan cy that here they have been i ntrodu ced to
the workshop of N atu re an d that they can
discover how o n e creatu re may have been de
v e l o e d from another by spontan eou s e v o l u
p
tion
Man y natu ralists like D ar win an d H aeckel
as well as philosophers like H erbert Sp en ce r
are qu ite carried away by this analo g y and a p
p ear u nabl e to perceive that it is merely a gen
e ral resemblan ce betwee n p rocesse s altogethe r
different i n their natu re and therefo re in thei r
,

1 18

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

cau s es
The greate r part howe v e r o f the
mo re exp erien ced pal aeon tologists o r stu dents
o f fossils have long ago s een that in the large r
eld o f the earth s histo ry there is v ery mu ch
that cannot be fou n d in the narrowe r el d o f
the developmen t o f the individual animal ; an d
they have endeavo red to redu ce the su ccession
o f life to s u ch gen eral exp ressions as shall ren
de r it mo re comp rehensibl e and may at le ngth
enabl e; u s to arrive at explanatio n s o f its com
pl ex phenomena O f thes e ge n eral exp res s ion s
o r co n clu sion s I may state a few here as appo
site to ou r p res en t subj ect an d as showing how
littl e o f real s u pport the facts o f the earth s
hi s to ry give to the p seu do gnosis o f mo nistic
evolu tion
1
The chain o f life i n geological tim e p re
s ents a won derful testimo ny to the reali ty of
a begin ning J u st as we know that any in di
vidual animal mu st have had its birth its
i n fan c y its matu ri ty an d will reach an e nd
of life s o we trace sp ecie s an d group s o f
sp ecie s to their beginning watch their culmi
nation and p erhap s follow them to their ex
tin ction I t is tru e that ther e i s a s en s e in
which geology shows no sign o f a begin ning
n o p rospect o f an e nd bu t this is manife s tl y
.

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

1 19

beca us e it has reached only a littl e way back

toward the begin ning of the earth as a whole
an d can s ee in its p resen t state no indication
of the t ime or man n er of the end Bu t its
revelatio n o f the fact that n early all the an i
mals and plants o f the p resent day had a very
recen t b e g i n n i ng in geological time an d its
dis closu re o f the disappearan ce of on e form
o f life after anothe r as w e go back in time
till we reach the comparatively few forms o f
life of the Lowe r C ambrian and nally have
to rest over the solitary grandeu r of E oz oon
oblige it to say that nothing known to it is
s el f exi s tent and ete rnal
2
The geological reco rd informs u s that the
gen eral laws of natu re have con tinu ed u m
changed from the earliest periods to which it
relates u ntil the p resen t day This is the tru e
u niformitarianism of geology which hol ds to
the dominion o f existing cau ses from the rst
B u t it does n ot refu se to admit variatio ns in the
intensity of thes e cau ses from time to tim e an d
cycles of activity and repos e like thos e that
we see on a s mall s cal e in the s easons the
occu rren ce o f storm s or the paroxysms o f
v olcanoes Whe n we nd t h at the eyes of
the old trilobites have had l enses and tubes
,

1 20

FA

C TS

AN D

FAN

CI E S

s imilar to thos e in the eyes o f modern cru s ta

c e a n s w e have eviden ce o f the p ersisten ce of
the laws o f light Whe n we s ee the stru ctu re s
,

'

o f Pal aeo z oic l eaves iden tical with those o f ou r

mode rn forests we k now that the arrange
m ents o f the soil the atmosphere an d the
rain were the s am e at that ancien t time as
at p rese nt Y e t with all this we also n d
eviden ce that long co ntin u ed p eriod s o f physi
cal qu iescen ce we re followed by great cru m
plings an d foldings o f the earth s c ru st and
we kn ow that this also is co nsisten t with the
op eratio n o f law ; fo r it o ften happ e n s that
cau s es long an d qu ietly op erating p repare
fo r changes which ma y be regarded as su d
den an d catacly s mic
Throughou
t
the
geological
histo
ry
there
3
is p rogress toward greate r complexity and
highe r grade alo ng with degradatio n an d ex
tin ction
Though exp erien ce shows that it
may be qu ite possibl e that n ew discoveries
may e nabl e u s to trace some of the highe r
form s o f life farthe r back than we now n d
them yet there can be n o qu estio n that i n the
p rogress o f geological tim e lowe r typ es have
given place to highe r l es s sp eciali z ed to more
sp eciali z ed
C u riou sly enough n o evide nce
,

'

IN

M OD E R IV

SCI E NCE

121

p roves this more clearly than that which

re

lates to the degradat io n o f old form s When

for example the reptiles o f the M esozoic Age
were the lords of creation there was appar
e ntly no p lace fo r the large r Mammalia which
app ear at the close o f the reptile dynasty So
in the Pal ae ozoic when trees o f the c ry p
t o g a mo u s typ e p redominated there s eems to
have been no room i n natu re fo r the forests
o f modern typ e which su cceeded them Thu s
the earth at every p eriod was fully p eopl ed
with living beings a t rst with low an d gen
e ral iz e d stru ctu res w hich attained their maxima
at early stages an d t hen declin ed an d after
ward with higher forms which took the places
o f those that we re passing away Thes e latter
again though their dominio n was taken from
them were continu ed in lower positions u nde r
the n ew dynasties Thu s none o f the lower
typ es of life i ntrodu ced was nally aban doned
bu t a fte r culminating in the highest form s o f
which it was capable each was still continu ed
though with fewe r sp ecies and a lower place
Examples of this abou nd in the history of all
the l eading group s o f animals an d plants
There
is
thu
s
a
con
tinu
ed
plan
an
d
order
4
in the history of life which cannot be fortu itou s
.

11

1 22

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

The chan ce inte raction o f o rganisms an d thei r

e nviro nm ent eve n if we assu me the o rganisms
an d e nvironme nt as given to u s could n eve r
p rodu ce an o rderly continu ou s p rogress of the
u tmost complexity in its detail an d extending
through an e no rmou s lap se o f time It has
bee n well said that if a pair of dice were to
tu r n u p aces a hu ndred times in su ccession
any reasonabl e sp ectato r would con clu de that
they we re loaded dice ; so i f cou ntless million s
o f atoms an d thou sands of spe cies each in
clu d ing within its el f mos t complex arrange
m e nt of parts tu rn u p in geological time i n
perfectly regular o rde r a n d a co n tinu ed grada
tio n o f p rogress something more than chan ce
mu st be implied It is to be obse rv ed he re
that eve ry sp ecies o f an imal o r plant o f how

c
eve r low grade co nsists o f many o o rdinated
part s in a con dition o f the nicest equ ilibriu m
Any change occu rring which p rodu ce s u n equal

o r disp ropo rtionate de v e o p me n t as the ex

e rie n c e o f breeders o f abnormal varieties o f
p
animal s an d plants abu ndan tly p roves imp eril s
t h e co n tinu e d existen ce of the species
C hange s
mu st therefore in order to be p rotabl e affect
the parts o f the o rgan ism simu ltan eou sly an d
s y mmetricall y The chan ces o f this may well
,

FI G

Gr p

P l t s ( r s t r d ) fr o m
ty f th
th
mpl x ity
d b
thou gh m y f th l d ing fo rms
this v ry n i t p ri d
ou

co

of

an

e au

an

o e

an

c en

ea

e
o

v ni p rio d ill u t r ti g
rl i s t k w l d v g t t i
f m d rn p l
ts
uk w i

th e D e
e

ea

an

no

an

an

are

e a

no

: 23

on,

I 24

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

be compared to th e casting o f aces a hu ndred

times i n su ccession an d are s o innitely small
as to be i ncredibl e u nder any othe r su pposition
than that o f intelligen t design
The
p
rogress
of
life
in
geological
time
5
J u st as the growth of trees is p romoted o r
arrested by the vicissitu des of su mme r and
win te r so in the cou rse of the geological his
tory there have bee n p e riods o f pau s e a nd a c
This
c e l e ra t io n i n the wo rk of advan cement
is i n acco rdan ce with the gen e ral analogy o f
the operation s o f natu re an d is in n o way at
varian ce with the doctrin e of u nifo rmity al ready
refe rred to N o r has it anything i n commo n
with the u n fou n ded idea at on e tim e e nter
t a in e d of su ccessive p eriods of entire de s t ru c
tion an d resto ration o f life ; Prolic pe riod s
o f this kin d app ear i n the marin e i nvertebrates
o f the early C ambrian the plants ( Figu re 6)
a n d shes of the D evonian the batrachians o f
the C arboniferou s the reptiles o f the Trias the
broad leave d trees o f the C retaceou s an d the
mammal s of the early Te rtia ry A remarkabl e
con trast is afforded by the late r Te rtiary an d
modern tim e in which with the exception of
man him s el f an d p erhap s a v e ry few othe r
species n o n ew form s of life have bee n intro
,

IN

M OD E R IV

SCI E NCE

1 25

du ce d

while many old forms have p erished

This is somewhat u n fortu nate since in su ch
a p eriod o f stagnation as that in which we
l i v e we can s carcely hope to witness eithe r
the creatio n o r the evolu tio n of a n ew species
E v o l u t io n iSt s themselves thos e at least who
are willing to allow the i r theo ry to be at all

modie d by facts now pe rceive this ; an d

hence we hav e the do ctrin e advanced by
M iv a rt Le C o n te an d others of
critical
p eriods o r p eriods o f rapid evolu tion alter
nating with others of greater quiescence I t
is fu rthe r to be observed here that in a limite d
way an d with referen ce to certain form s o f
life we can see a reason fo r these inte rmittent
creation s The greate r part of the mari n e
fos sils k nown to u s are from rocks n o w raised
u p in ou r contin ents and they lived at p eriods
w hen the contine nts we re subme rged N o w
in geological tim e thes e p eriods o f s u b me r
gen ce alternated with others of elevation an d
it i s manifest that each p e rio d o f contine ntal
submergen ce gave S cop e fo r the introdu ction
of nu mbers of n ew marin e sp ecies while each
contin ental elevatio n on the othe r han d gav e
opportu n ity for the increase of land life Fu r
the r periods w hen a w arm climate p rev aile d
.

1 1*

1 26

FA

C TS

FA

AND

NCI E S

i n the arctic regio ns p eriods when plants

su ch as now live in temp erate regio n s coul d
e nj oy six mo nths o f continu ou s su n shin e
wEre emin ently favo rabl e to the developm ent
o f su ch plants an d were u tiliz ed fo r the intro
du ction o f n ew o ra s which subsequ ently
sp read to the sou thward Thu s we s ee phys
ical changes o ccu rring in an o rderly su cces
sio n an d made su bservient to the p rogress o f
life
6 There is n o direct e viden ce that in the
cou rs e o f geological time o n e sp ecies has been
gradu ally o r su ddenly changed into anothe r
O f the latter we coul d s carcely exp ect to n d
any eviden ce in fossils ; bu t o f the fo rm er if it
had o ccu rred we might exp ect to n d indica
tion s in the histo ry of some o f the nu m erou s
sp ecies w hich have bee n traced through su cces
sive geological formations Sp ecies which thu s
con tinu e fo r a great length o f time u sually p re
s e n t nu merou s varietal forms which have s om e
times bee n described a s n ew s p ecies ; bu t when
carefully s cru tin iz ed they are fo u n d to be mere
l y local an d tempo ra ry an d to pas s in to each
other O n the other hand we con stantly n d
sp ecies replaced by others e ntirely n ew an d
thi s withou t any transition The two classes
,

I IV M O

DE R N

S CI E I VCE

1 27

o f facts are essen tially differen t ; and though it

is possible to point ou t in the n ewer geological
formatio ns some genera and species allied to
others which have p receded them an d to sup
pose that the later forms p roceeded from the
earl ier st ill when the con ne cting lin ks can no t
be fou nd this is mere supposition not s cie ntic
ce rtainty Fu rthe r it proceeds o n the p ri n ciple
o f arbitrary choi c e of certain forms ou t of many
withou t any eviden ce of gen etic con n ection
The worthlessness o f su ch derivation is well
shown i n a case which has ofte n been paraded
as an illu stratio n of evolu tion the supposed
genealogy of the horse I n America a se ries
of horse like animal s has been s elected begin
n ing with the O r o ifp u s of the Eocen e and
these have bee n marshalled as the ancestors of
the fossil horses o f America ; fo r there are no
native hors es i n America in the modern p eriod
Y e t this is pu rely a rbit ra ry a n ddepe ndent mere
l y o n a su ccession of genera more an d more
closely resembling the modern hors e being p ro
cu rable from s u ccessive Te rtiary deposits ofte n
widely s eparated in time and place I n Eu rope
on the other hand the ance stry of the hors e
has been traced back to P al a ot er iu In an e n
t ire l y diffe ren t form by j u st as likely indica
,

I 28

F A C TS

AND

F A N CI E S

tion s Bo th ge nealogies can s carcely be tru e

an d the re is no actu al p roof o f eithe r The
existing Ame rican hors es which are of Eu rop ean
paren tage are acco rding to the theory descend
zer iu nz
a n ts o f P a l a o t/
n o t of O r OAipp u s ; bu t
if we had no t known this o n historical evide nce
there would hav e bee n no thing to preven t u s
from tracing them to the latte r animal This
si mpl e c onsideratio n alo n e is su fcien t to show
that su ch gen ealogies are n o t o f the natu re o f
s cientic eviden ce
I t is fu rthe r to be obse rve d that some o f the
ablest pal aeo ntologists an d thos e who have e n
j oyed the largest O pportu nities o f observation
an d compariso n attach no valu e whateve r to
theo ries o f evolu tion as accou n ting fo r the
o rigin o f sp ecies O n e o f thes e is J oachim
B a rra n de the pal aeo n tologist o f B ohemia and
the rst au tho rity i n Eu rop e o n the fo ssils o f
the olde r formation s
B a rra n de like som e
othe r e minent pal aeontologist s has the mis fo r
tu n e to be an u nbelieve r i n t h e mo d ern gospel
o f evolu tion bu t he has ce rt ai nly labored to
overcome his dou bts with g r e ate r assidu ity than
even many o f the apostle s of the n ew doctrin e ;
and if he is not convinced the stubborn n ess of
the facts he ha s had to de al wi th mu s t be ar th e
.

'

IN

M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

1 29

blame I n con nection with his great and class

ical work o n the Silu rian fossils of B ohemia it
has bee n n ecessary fo r him to stu dy the similar
remains of eve ry other cou ntry ; an d he has
u sed thi s immen s e mass of material in p repar
ing statistics of the population of the Pal aeozoic
world more p e ffe c t than any other natu ralist
has been abl e to p rodu ce I n su cces sive me
moirs he has applied these statistical results to
the elu cidation of the histo ry of the oldest grou p
of cru staceans the trilobites and the highest
group of the m ollu sks the cephalopods I n
his lates t memoir of this kin d he takes u p the
brachiopods or lamp shells a group of bivalve
an d very abu n dantly
s h e ll s h e s ve ry an cie nt
rep resented in all the olde r formation s of every
part of the world an d which thu s affords the
most ampl e material for tracing its evolu tion
with the least possibl e di fculty in the natu re
of imp erfe ction of t h e re c o rd
B a rra n de in the publication befo re u s dis
cu sses the brachiopods with referen ce rst to
the variation s observed withi n the limits of the
species eliminating i n this way mere synonym s
and varieties m istaken for species H e also
arrives at variou s important conclu sion s with
reference to the origin o f sp ecies an d varietal
.

'

1 30

FA

C TS

AN D

F A I VCI E S

fo rms which appl y to the cephalopods an d

trilobites as well as to the brachiopods an d
s ome o f which as the writer ha s els ewhere
shown apply ve ry gen erally to fossil animal s
and plan ts On e o f these is that differen t co n
tempo raneou s sp ecies living u n de r the s am e
co ndition s exhibit ve ry differe nt degree s o f
A nothe r is the su d
v ital ity an d variability
den app earan ce at ce rtain hori z o n s o f a great
nu mbe r o f sp ecies each man ifesting it s com
With
v
e
ry
rare
e
x
l
e t e sp ecic c h a ra c t e rs i
p
al s o v arietal fo rm s are co n temp o
c e p t io n s
ra n e o u s w ith the n ormal fo rm o f their s p eci c
typ e an d occu r i n the same localitie s O nl y
in a v e ry fe w c ases do they su rvive it Thi s
an d the p reviou s result s a s well as the fact that
parallel changes go o n in group s ha v ing no
direct reaction o n each othe r p ro v e that vari
atio n i s no t a p rogre ssi v e i nu en ce an d that
specic distin ction s are not dep en d e n t o n i t
bu t on the s ove r eign action o f on e an d the
same creative cau se as B a rra n de exp resses
it These co nclu sio n s it may be ob s er v ed are

n ot arriv ed at by that slap dash method o f

m e re a ss ertio n so o ften followe d o n the othe r
s ide of thes e qu e s tion s bu t by the mos t s eve re
an d pain s taking indu ctio n an d w ith careful
,

'

I IV M O
.

DE R N

S CI E I VCE

I
3

elaboration o f a few apparent exception s and

doubtful cases
H is s econ d heading relates to the dis t rib u
tion i n tim e o f the ge n era and sp ecies of
brachiopods This he illu strates with a series
of elabo rate tables accompanied by explana
tion H e then p roceeds to consider the animal
populatio n o f each formation in so far as
brachiop ods cephalopods and trilobites are
con ce rned with refe ren ce to the follo wing
qu estions : ( I ) H ow many specie s are co n
?
tin n ed from the p reviou s formation u n changed
m

2
H
ow
many
may
be
regarded
as
od
i
ca
( )
tion s of p reviou s sp ecies ? ( 3) H ow many are
migrants from O ther region s where they have
?
been kn own to exis t p reviou sly
H
ow
(4 )
?
many are absolu tely n ew sp ecies
The s e
qu estion s are applied to each o f fou rteen su c
c e s s iv e formation s inclu d e d in the Silu rian o f
B ohemia
The total nu mbe r of species of
brachiopods in the s e fo rmation s is six hu n dre d
and forty giving a n average o f
to each
and the results of accu rate stu dy of each
species i n its characters its varieties its geo
graphical and geological range are exp ress ed
in the following sho rt statem ent which should
somewhat astonish those gentleme n who are
.

FA

1 32

C TS

FA

AND

NCI E S

so fon d o f ass erting that de rivation i s

strated by geological facts

d emon

p
Sp
Sp

Ne

2.
.

s o ti d u h g d
i s mig r t d fr m b r d
i s
ti d w ith m d i ti
s to rs
w sp i s w ith u t k w

ec ie

a e

ec e
ec e

nc

nu e

co n

an

ec e

no

ca

p er

c en

p er

ce n

oa

nu e

28

on

65

n a n ce

1 00

H e shows that the sam e o r ve ry similar p ro

p ortion s hold with resp ect to the cephalopods
an d trilobites and in fact that the p r oportio n
o f sp ecies in the su ccessive Silu rian fau n ae
which can be attribu ted to descent with mod
H e may well remark
i ca tio n is absolu tely n il
that i n the fa c e o f su ch facts the origin o f
sp ecies is n ot explain ed by what he terms l es
,

'

e ans

oti u es

ae

l imag in a tion

The third part o f B a rra n de s m emoir relat

ing to the compariso n of the Silu rian brachio
pods o f B ohemia with thos e o f other cou ntries
though o f great scientic inte rest an d import
an t in exte nding the con clu sion s o f his p reviou s
chapte rs does not so n early con cern ou r p res
e nt s u bj ect
l have thought it well to direct attention to
thes e m emoirs o f B a rra n de becau se they fo rm
a specime n o f co nscie ntiou s work with the
view o f ascertaining if the re is a ny basis in

IN

M O

DE R N

S IEN

CE

1 33

natu re fo r the doctri n e of s pontaneou s e vo l u

tio n of s p ecies and I am sorry to say a
striking co ntrast to the mixtu re of fact and
fan cy o n this subj e c t which too o fte n passes
cu rren t fo r science in England Ame rica and
Germany B a rra n de s stu dies are also w ell
d eserving the attention of ou r you nge r m en of
scien ce as they have befo re them more espe
c iall y in the widely sp read Pal ae o z oic formation s
of America an admirable eld fo r similar work
I n an app endix to his rst chap ter B a rra n de
mention s that the three m en who in their
resp ecti v e cou ntries are the highe s t au thorities
o n Pal ae ozoic brachiopods Hall D avi d son an d
D e "onin ck agree with him i n the mai n in his
con clu sion s an d he refers to an able memoi r
by D A rc h iac i n the sam e sen se o n the cre
ta ce o u s brachiopods
I t should be especially satisfacto ry to thos e
nat u ralists who like the write r had failed to
se e i n the p al mo n t o l o g ical reco rd any good
eviden ce for the p rodu ct ion of spe cies b y
those simple an d ready methods i n -vogu e
with most evolu tionists to note the exte n sio n
o f actual facts with respe ct to the geological
date s an d p recis e condition s of the in t ro du c
tion of n e w forms and to n d that the s e are
,

12

1 34

FA

C TS

FA

AND

NCI E S

more and more tending to p rove the existen ce

o f highly co mplex creative law s in con n ection
with the great plan o f the C reato r as carried
ou t i n geological time These n ew facts should
also warn the o rdinary reader o f the dange r
o f receiving withou t du e cau tio n thos e gen eral
an d o fte n boastful ass ertion s resp ecting thes e
great an d intricate qu estio n s made by p e rsons
not acquainted with their actual di f cu lty o r by
e nthu siastic sp eculato rs disposed to overlook
everything n ot in accordan ce with their p re
con ceiv ed ideas
I t may be asked I s there then no place i n
the geological reco rd eve n for theistic e v o l u
?
tio n
This it woul d be rash to afrm W e
can only say that u p to this tim e the re is n o
p roo f o f it I f natu re has followed this meth
o d she s eems carefu lly to have co n ceal ed the
p rocess I f su ch changes have o ccu rred as to
evolve from a sp ecies say of mollu sk o r coral
belonging to o ne geological p erio d som e form
fou n d i n an othe r p eriod an d ie co g n iz e d as a
distinct sp ecies we have to s u ppos e that th e
capacity fo r su ch change was i n som e way im
planted in the species o n its creation and ready
to be developed u n de r favo rabl e condition s o r
i n the laps e o f time Fo r example we may
.

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

1 35

suppose that a plan t originating in the long a re

tic summers o f a warm p eriod might o n mig rat
ing southward into the alternation s o f day and
night u ndergo material changes A marine
animal long conned to a limited sea basin
might O n being p ermitted to expan d over a
wide submerged contin en t be greatly modied
in
i ts
stru ctu re and habits Up to a certain
p o i nt we know that su ch changes have o c
cu rred and B arra n de himself has largely illu s
t ra t e d them
As an exampl e which I have my
sel f s tu die d I may refer to the common shell s
known o n ou r coasts as sand clams ( M y a tr u n
Ca ta an d M
a a r en ar ia
The
forme
r
species
y
)
in the cold waters of the Glacial Age assu med
a short form which it still retains in the arctic
regio ns and occasionally in the colde r waters
o f the more tempe rate regions though there a
mo re elongated form p revails Evidently the
two forms are interchangeable according to the
tempe ratu re of the water Still if we could
imagin e a perman ent refrigeration over all the
area occupied by the animal the S hort form
o nly might su rvive and might be suppos ed to
be a distin ct species This did not occu r how
ever eve n in the Glacial Age an d is not likely
to occu r Fu rther the allied though qu ite dis
,

'

6
3

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

tin c t sp ecie s M y a a r ena ria has li v e d with th e

other thro u gh all the long du ratio n o f the Post
Pliocen e and mo d ern p eriods and though ha v
ing it s own range o f varie tal fo rms has p re
s er v e d it s d istin ctn e s s C a s es of thi s kin d are
obvio us l y o f the nat u re o f v a rietal not s p ecic
change
I n con clu sion the whole of the fact s an d law s
abo v e d etaile d poin t to a p re d ete r mi ne d pla n
an d to an i ntellige n t C reato r of w h os e law s
an d mo d e s o f p rocedu re we ma y learn m u ch
by patien t an d careful s tu dy Thi s sur el y give s
a great additional intere s t to that ma rv ellou s
s tory o f the earth w hi c h in thes e la s t d ays ha s
bee n re v eale d to u s b y the s tu dy o f the rocks
W e may also in fer that n ot o n e m etho d o nly
bu t many have been emplo y e d in r e p len ishing
the e a Rth at rst with l i v ing being s and i n a d d
ing to these from tim e to time To what ex
te nt we may be abl e to u n derstan d these time
a n d fu tu re d is cove ries will S how I n the mean
time we can o nly s uggest s u ch gen eral theorie s
a s tho s e re fe rred to in the r s t o f thes e lec
tu re s b u t can a f rm that Agnostic E v olutio n i s
altogethe r abortive in its attemp t s to solve the
p roblem o f the chai n o f life i n geological time
,

THE OR I GI N AND AN T I "UI TY OF M AN

E
"
IZ

LECTURE IV
T HE O R I

GI N

A N T I " I TY

AN D

O F M AN

A N whe n regar d e d m erel y a s an o rgan

ism is clo s ely relate d to the lowe r an
imal s
H is bod y is constru cted o n the sa me
general p lan with their s M ore e s pecially he
is n ear akin to the othe r members of the cla s s
Mammalia B u t we mu st n ot forget that eve n
as an animal man i s s omewhat widely s eparated
from hi s hu mble r relatio n s ( se e
I t is
eas y to s ay that eve ry bon e eve ry mu scl e e v e ry
c onvol u tion of his brain has its cou n terpart in
the co rrespo n d ing parts of an o rang o r a g o
rilla B u t admitting thi s it i s al s o tru e that
eve ry on e of thes e parts is d ifferen t an d that
the aggregate of all the diffe ren ce s mou nt s u p
to an eno rmou s su m total more esp ecially in
relatio n to habits an d to capacitie s fo r ac
tio n Those remarkabl e homologies o r like
n e ss e s of plan which obtain in the animal king
dom are v ery wonderfu l and the stu dy of them
greatl y enlarges ou r concep tion s o f the u nit y
,

1 40

FA

C TS

ND

F A N CI E

o f natu re ; bu t we mu st n eve r fo rget that su ch

ge n eral agreeme nts in plan co v e r the most p ro
fou nd differen ces in detail an d in adaptatio n
to u se an d that " hil e they indicate a commo n
typ e this may rather poin t to a u nity o f design
than to a me re accidental u ni ty of des cen t
The re is a method well known to natu ral
scie nce fo r measu ring an d indicating the di
vergen ce o f man from his n earest allies This
i s the applicatio n o f those p rinciples o f cl a s s i
cation which though o f essential importan ce i n
s cie nce are by som e modern stu dents of natu re
s trangely ove rlooked o r misu nderstood Per
haps i n n othing has the p rogress o f ideas o f
evolu tio n m
ade a more i nj u riou s imp ress o n
the advan ce o f knowledge than in the man n e r
i n which it has cau sed many emin ent and abl e
natu ralists to dive rge from all logical p rop riety
i n their ideas o f classication Still in so far
as man is con cern ed there are some facts o f
this kind which are in dispu tabl e H e certainly
con stitutes a distin ct s p e c ie s in cl u ding many
races which all howe v er have commo n s p ecic
characte rs O n the other hand no on e p re
tends that he is eon speei e with any lower a n
imal All natu ralists would n ow deride the
stories at o n e tim e cu rren t that gorilla s an d
,

FI G

hi s p o r r l tion th go rill ( Af H l y ) Th
h d f th go r ill w ith imm s j ws d s m ll b r i s it s h u g
S pi s on th n k it s l g rms i
lo g t d p l v is d i h d
l ik f t w ith it s i p it y to ssu m h r t p s iti n i d i t i
rd in l d iff r n fr o m m
d h n
ssity f m ny int rm d i t
fo rms s til l u nk no wn to onn t th t w o sp i s
M

an

ea

an

ne

a
,

e a

ec

on

n ca

e e

en e

a,

ee

ac

ec

an

ts e
e

an , an

ce

t e

ter

a.

a e

e ec

ec e

ec e

a n -ca e ,

ux

ts

an
,

an

ca e

ts

a e

14 2

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

chimpan z ees are degraded races o f men O n

the other hand eve n Haeckel admits that there
i s a wide gap u nlle d by any re cen t o r any fos
sil creatu re between man an d the highest ap es
Again n o g en er ic relatio nship can be claime d
as betwee n man an d the lowe r animals H e
p resents s u ch stru ctu ral differences as e n titl e
him to ran k by himsel f in the genu s Homo
Still fu rther the ablest natu rali s ts before the
ri s e o f D arwinism hel d that man wa s e ntitl ed
to be placed in a separate family o r order from
the ap es Modern evolu tionists p refer to fall
back on the ol d arrangemen t o f Lin n aeu s an d
to place man and ap es togethe r in the grou p
o f Primates which however Lin n aeu s woul d
n ot have regarded as p recisely o f the sam e
valu e with an o rder as now held I n this thos e
o f them who have su fcien t ability to comp re
hen d the facts o f the cas e are u n doubtedly
warp ed i n j u dgme n t by the ten d ency o f their
to
magnify
resemblan
ces
an
d
to
l
i il O S O h
p y
p
minimize differen ces ; while the herd o f feebl er
m en have their ideas o f classication tho rough
l y co nfu s ed by the doctrin e which the y ha v e
received as a creed dictated by au tho rity an d
to which they adhere u nde r the inu en ce o f
fear I n poin t o f fact the differen ce s betwee n
.

IN

II/[O D E R I V

SCI E NCE

14 3

man and any othe r animal are so wide that they

warran t a disti nction n o t me rely specic an d
generic bu t of a family and an ordinal cha
,

ra c t e r.

Pe rhap s the best way to app reciate this will

be to sup pose that man has become extinct
and that in som e fu tu re geological p eriod his
fossil remain s are stu died by som e n ew race of
i ntellige nt beings an d compared with those o f
the lowe r animals his contemporaries Let u s
suppose that they have disinterred a human
skull or the bon es o f a hu man foot From the
foot they would learn that man is not an arbo
real animal bu t in ten ded to walk e rect on the
grou nd
T h ey could i nfer from this certain
stru ctu res and u ses of the vertebral colum n
and of the a n terior limbs diffe rent from those
fou nd in apes and which would certainly indu ce
them to con clude that they had obtain ed re
main s indicating a n ew orde r of mammals If
they had fou nd the foot alone they might doubt
whethe r the possesso r o f this strange an d high
l y sp eciali z ed organ had been carn ivo rou s o r
herbivo rou s mo re nearly allied to the bears o r
to the monkeys Shou ld they now nd the
s kull these doubts would be solved and they
would know that the n ew animal was some
,

1 44

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

w hat neare r to the ap es than to the bea r s b u t

still at a ve ry remote distance fro m them an d
,

his indicated by p eculiaritie s of brain cas e j aws

and teeth p roving divergen ce s i n fu n ction s till
wide r than thos e apparen t i n the s tru ctu res
They would also plainly p erceive that to lin k
man with his n eares t mammalian allies woul d
requ ire the discovery o f s everal missing links
When we co n side r the p sychological endow
me nt s o f man his dive rgen c e from lowe r
animals becom es imme nsely greater I n his
external s en ses and in the p ercep tio n s derived
through them it is tru e he resembles the bru tes
There is also mu ch in commo n with the m i n
his app etites an d emotio ns and in some o f the
lowe r man ifestatio ns o f in telligen ce B u t he
ad d s to this a highe r reason which cau s es hi s
actio ns to be diffe re ntly determin ed from their s ;
and this higher reason o r sp iritual natu re lead s
him to abstract ideas to co nsciou sness to
notion s o f right an d o f wrong to ideas o f
highe r spiritual beings and o f fu tu rity alto
gethe r u nknown to lowe r animals This divin e
reason in con n ectio n with sp ecial vocal con
t riv a n c e s
also bestow s o n him the gift of
s peech
N o r can sp eech be redu ced to a
mere imitatio n of natu ral sou nds ; fo r grant
-

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

14 5

ing that these s ou nds may be the ra w material

o f speech yet man is e nabled to apply this to
the expression o f ideas in a man ner altogethe r
p eculiar to himself Scien tic p recision obliges
u s to recogniz e these differences an d to admit
that they place man o n an e ntirely diffe re nt
plan e from the lowe r animals
Perhaps the exp ression a differen t plan e
is scarcel y correct fo r man can exist o n many
differen t planesa fact which has p rodu ced
some confu sio n in the minds of natu ralists
n ot versed in psychological qu estion s though
when rightly con si d ered it marks ve ry s trongly
the distin ction between the man an d the me re
an imal
The lowe r animals are tied u p by inva riabl e
instincts to certain lin es o f actio n which keep
all the individuals o f any species on n early the
same level excep t where some littl e distu rb
ance may be cau sed by man in his p rocesses
o f domestication B u t with man it is qu ite
differen t H e is emancipated from the bond
of in stin ct an d left free to follow the g u idan ce
o f his own will determin ed by his own reason
I t follows that the habits and the action s o f
a man depen d on what he knows and believes
and o n the dedu ction s o f his reaso n from the s e
,

13

146

F A C TS

AND

F A N CI E S

p remise s
Withou t k n owledge cultu re an d
training man is more helpl ess than any bru te
With th e n obl es t and highest capacities he
may devis e an d follow habits o f life more base
than those o f any m ere animal Thu s there
is an almost immeasu rabl e differen ce between
the Godlike height to which man ca n attain by
th e right u s e of his powe rs an d the depth to
which ign oran ce and dep ravity may degrade
him I t follows that the degradatio n o f the
lower races of m en is as strong a p roof o f
the differen ce betwe e n man and the lowe r
animals as i s the el evation o f the highe r races
B oth are characte ristic o f a being emancip ated
from the control of in stinct kn owing goo d an d
evil fre e to choos e an d differing i n thes e
respects from e v e ry o th e r creatu re o n earth
Su ch is man as we n d him ; an d we may
well ask by what p rocess animal instin ct could
eve r spontan eou sly develop hu man freedom and
hu man reason
B u t we might hav e eviden ce o f su ch a p ro
cess howeve r strange an d imp robabl e it might
at rst sight appear W e m ight be able to
trace man back i n history o r by p rehisto ric
remain s to greate r an d greate r approximation
to the lowe r animals and might thu s bridge
.

M O

IN

DE R N SCI E NCE

14 7

over the great chasm now existing between

man an d beast It may be in stru ctive there
fore to glan ce at what geology discloses as to
the origin of man and his rst app e aran ce o n
the earth
I n the older geological formation s no remain s
of man o r of his works have been fou nd N or
do we exp ect to n d them fo r no n e o f the
a nimals more n early related to man then ex
is t e d an d the co nditio n of the earth was p roba
bly not su ited to them N o r do we nd hu man
remains even in the earlie r Tertiary H ere
also we do not exp ect them for the Mammalia
of those times we re all sp ecically di s tin ct from
those o f the mode rn wo rld It i s only i n the
Pliocen e p eriod that we begin to n d modern
species of mammals H e re therefo re we may
look for human remains ; bu t we do not nd
them as yet and it is only at the clo s e of the
Pliocen e o r even afte r the su cceeding Glacial
p eriod that we n d u ndou bted traces o f man
Let u s glan ce at t h e s ignicance o f thi s
Mammalian life p robably culminated o r a t
t a in e d to its maximu m in the M iocen e and the
early Pliocen e p eriods Then there w ere more
nu merou s larger and bette r developed quadru
p eds on ou r con tin ents than we n ow nd For
,

14 8

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

example the elephan ts the n o b l e s t o f the

mammals are at p resen t rep rese nte d by two
*
sp ecies c o nn ed to I ndia an d parts o f Africa
I n the Middle Tertiar y there we re in a dd ition
to the o rdinary el ephant s two othe r ge n era
Mastodon an d D inotheriu m an d there we re
many sp ecies which we re distribu te d over the
whol e northe rn hemisphere The sub H ima
layan deposits o f In dia alon e have I believe
afforde d s e v en sp ecies som e o f them o f
gran d e r dim en sion s than either o f thos e n ow
existing W e hav e n o tru s tworthy evi d en ce
as yet that man live d at this p eriod I f he ha d
he either woul d have requ ire d the p rotection
o f a sp ecial E d e n o r woul d hav e n ee d e d s u
rh u ma n stre ngth and sagacity
e
p
B u t the grand mammalian life o f the M iddle
Te rtiary wa s de s tin e d to d ie ou t At the close
o f the Pliocen e cam e an age of refrigeration
when arctic col d crep t d own over ou r conti
n e n t s far to the s o u th an d when most o f the
animal s s u ite d to temp erate climate s we re
eithe r fro z en ou t o r drive n sou thwar d D u ring
o r closing this p e riod w a s al s o a great sub
m ergen ce o f the contin ents w hich m u st have
,

y lo l ph t i by s m b l iev d to
v r i ty o f th I d i n sp i s

Th e C e

prob bl y
a

e e

an

ec e

be

d is t i t b u t
nc

is

[1 V M O

DE R N SCI E NCE

149

been equally destru ctive to mammalian life

an d which exte nded over both Eu rasia an d
America till the su mmits of som e o f the high
est hills were u nder water Attempts have
been made to show that man existed before
o r durin g the Glacial Age bu t this is very
u nlikely and as I have els ewhere argu ed the
eviden ce a ddu c e d t o prove so great antiqu ity
of man whether in America o r Eu rop e has
*
altogether broken down
At the clos e of the Glacial p erio d the conti
n e n t s re emerged and becam e mo re exte nsive
than at presen t Su rvivors of the Pliocen e
species as well as other sp ecies not p reviou sly
known sp read themselves over this n ew land
I t would appear that it was i n this Post
Glacial p eriod that man made his appear
ance an d that he was the n co ntemporary with
many large animals now extin ct an d was the
possesso r of wide r co nti ne ntal areas than his
descendants n ow e nj oy To this age belon g
those human bon es an d implements fou nd in
the o l de r c av e an d gravel deposits of Eu rop e
and which are referred to those pal ae olithic o r
pal aeocosmic ages which p recede d the dawn o f
histo ry in Eu rop e and the arriv al therein o f
L
F
il [li
d
i

d
A
pp
(
,

'

oss

l3

*5

e/
z

on

on,

x.

0
5

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

the p res en t Eu rop ean races Th e occ u pation

o f Eu rop e an d p robabl y o f We s te rn Asia b y
thes e oldest tribes o f me n wa s close d by a
su bsiden ce o r su bme rgen ce at th e e n d o f that
s econ d co ntin e n tal p eriod as it has bee n
*
called by Lyell in which they li v ed Whe n
th e lan d wa s restored to its p re s e n t co nditio n
they we re replace d by the an cesto r s o f the
p rese n t Eu rop ean races
I t may be well here to tabulate that late r po r
tio n of the earth s geological history i n which
man app eared mo re esp ecially as it is s om e
times arrange d in a man n er no t su ited to co ri
vey a correct imp ression o f the actual su cces
s ion I t will be s een by the gen eral tabl e give n
i n the las t lectu re that the lates t o f the Te rtiary
ages i s that kn own as the P leistocen e o r Po s t
Pliocen e an d this with the su cceeding modern
pe riod may be best arranged as follows :
.

in l u din g
P
l
i
t
o
r
i
r
t
ontin
nt
l
r
i
d
n
d
v
ry
E
C
L
F
P
y
l
( )
t n i v mo d r t l i m t
i
5
L
t
P
l
t
w
o
r
l
i
l
in
l
d
in
g
Mid
G
D
k in
( )
(
I th is th r w
gr t p r v l n o f o l d d
gl i l on d itio s d g r t b m rg n o f th no rt h r l n d
II M
d M o d r n M mm l s i l d
N o r P rio d o f M
in g
l
i
l
t
o
r
on
d
ontin
n
l
r
o
d
wh
i
P
G
S
C
t
P
i
i
h th
n
( )
T h rs t
l p ri d w
th t f h rli r P li

P LE I S T O C E N E ,

ar

e s ocen e ,

e,

e a e c

ex e

a er

e s ocen e ,

O D ER

os

co n

ea

su

i e n ta

as

t e ea

an

e n

ce

a e

ce

an an

ea

ec

c u

as a

ac a

ac a

e e

an

a e.

ac a

nc u

o cene .

l a d was aga
e mp ra ry w h

SCI E NCE

M OD E R I V

IN

15 1

d p l o o mi m
w
in v ry t n i v
t o
it o m g r t m mm l th m mmot h w
tin t d th r o f l n d in th no rt h r n h mi s p h r w
g r t r t h n t p r s nt ( T h i s r p r nt th L t P l i s to n o f
t rmin t d b y g r t d v ry g n r l b
It w
D w k in s )
o mp ni d b y th d i s pp r n o f p l o o s mi m
id
d wh i h m y b i d nti l w i th th
d o m l r g M mm l i
h i s to ri l d l ug
h
wh
n
ontin
nt
tt
in
d
t
h
i
r
p
r
nt
l
v
l
t
O
R
t
( )
d l i v in g p i
i tin g r
o f m o l oni d E r o p
of
d th H i to r i
b ot h th P r h i to r i
m mm l
T h i in l d
P r io d

an

ex

e n ce , a c c

an

ca

ecen

ce

e e

a e

a a
e

ce

su

e a

as

ca

an

e c

en

c u

a s.

ea a

a , an

an

no

ac e s

ex s

as co n

ea

as

an

ese

a e

a s

as

e e

a ae

e, an

ea

a ea

ea e

ex e

ze

e se

e , an

es

c an

e s,

ec e s

The pal aeoco s mic men of the above table are

the oldest certainly known to u s and it has bee n
trul y said of them that they are so clo s ely re
lated to modern races that on any hyp othesis
o f gradual evolu tion we mu st look fo r the
transition from apes to me n not m e rely in the
Eoce ne Tertiary bu t even in the M eso z oic that
is i n formation s vastly older than any containing
any remain s so far as known eithe r o f man o r
of ap e s That thes e most an cient m e n w ere i n
tru th mos t truly hu man and that they p resented
no transition to lower animals will appear fro m
the followi ng notices which I con d en se from a
work of my own in which these s ubj ects are
more fully treated :
,

Th e

d t rmi
e e

pr is d t i y rs s ig bl to th is v t g l gy
l s wh r h w th t th tu l t iq ity
; bu t I h v
i
t d il u v i m h b n gr tly x gg r t d

ne

ec

a e

al aeo co s rn c o r a n e

e e

ea

an

a s

na

e e s

an

as

ee

e ac

ea

en
a

eo o

an

e a e

ca n n o
of

th e

1 52

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

The beau tifu l wo rk of La rte t an d C hristy

has vividly portrayed to u s the an tiqu ities o f
the limesto ne plateau o f the D o rdogn e the
an cie nt Aqu itan ia remain s which recall to u s
a pop ulatio n o f H o rites o r cave dwellers o f a
tim e anterio r to the dawn o f his to ry i n Fran ce
living mu ch like the modern hu nter tribes o f
America and as al ready stated po ssibly co n
tempo rary in their early history at least
w ith the mammoth an d its exti n ct compan io n s
o f the late r Post Plio ce n e fo res ts W e hav e al
ready noticed the arts and implem ents o f thes e
p eople bu t what man n e r o f p eopl e we re they
?
i n themselves
The an swe r is give n to u s by
the skel eton s fou n d in the cave o f C ro ma
gno n This cave rn is a shel te r o r hollow u nde r
an overhanging ledge o f limesto ne an d e x ca
v a t e d originally by the actio n o f the weathe r
o n a softe r bed I t fronts the sou th west and
the l ittl e rive r Vez ere ; and having o riginally
been abou t eight feet high an d n early twen ty
de ep m ust have formed a cosey shelte r from
ra in o r cold o r su mme r su n an d with a pl eas
ant ou tlook from its fron t All ru de races hav e
mu ch S agacity in making sel ectio n s o f this sort
B eing n early fty feet wide it was capaciou s
e nough to acc o mmodate se v e ral families an d
-

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

53

when in u se it n o doubt had trees o r shru bs in

front an d may have bee n fu rthe r completed by
stones poles o r bark placed across the op en
ing I t seems however in the rst instance to
have been u s ed only at intervals an d to have
been left vacant fo r con side rable portio ns o f
time Pe rhap s it was visited only by hu n ting
o r war parties
B u t subsequ en tly it was p er
ma n e n tl y occupied an d thi s for so long a tim e
that in some places ashes and carbonaceou s
matter a foot an d a hal f deep with bon es im
m
were
accumulated
By
this
tim
e
l
e n t s etc
e
p
the height of the cave rn had been mu ch dimin
is h e d and instead of clearing it ou t fo r fu tu re
u se it was made a place o f bu rial in which fou r
o r ve indivi d ual s were i nterred O f these
two were m en o ne o f great age the othe r
p robably in the p rime o f life A thir d was a
woman of abou t thirty o r forty years of age
The other remain s were too fragmentary to
give v e ry certain results
These bones with others to be mentioned
i n conn ection with them u nqu estionably belo ng
to the olde st hu man inhabitan ts k nown i n West
e rn Eu rop e They hav e been most carefully ex
a min e d by several comp etent anatomists and
arch aeologists and the re s ults have been pub
,

54

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

l is h e d

with excellen t gu res i n the R el iqu ia

They are therefore of the u t
A g u ita n ica
mos t i nterest fo r ou r p res ent pu rpo s e and I
shall try s o to divest the descrip tion s o f ana
t o mic al details as to give a cl ear notion of their
character
The Old Man o f C ro magno n
was o f great s tatu re being n early six fee t
high M ore than this his bon es sho w that he
was o f the stro nge s t an d mos t athl etic mu s c u
lar developm ent a Samso n i n strength ; an d
the bon es o f the limbs have the p eculiar fo rm
which i s characteristic o f athl etic m e n habit
u a t e d to rough walking climbing an d ru n ning
for this is I believe the real meaning o f the
e normou s s tre ngth o f the thigh bon e and the
atte n ed co nditio n o f the l eg in this an d othe r
old s kel eto ns It o cc u rs to som e exten t though
mu ch l es s than in this ol d man in Am erican
skel eto ns H is skull p resen ts all the charac
ters o f ad v an ced age though the teeth had
b ee n worn d own to the so cke ts withou t being
lost ; which again is the characte r o f some
though not o f all aged Indian skull s The
skull p rop er o r brain case i s very lo ng mo re

s o than in ordinary modern skulls an d this

l ength i s a ccompanied with a great breadth ;
s o that the brain w as o f greater s i z e than in
,

'

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

SS

average mode rn men and the frontal region

was largely an d well develop ed I n this respect
this most ancien t skull fails u tte rly to vin dicate
the e x pectation s o f those who would regard
p rehisto ric men as a pp roaching to the apes
It is at the opposite extreme The face how
eve r p resented very peculiar characters It
was extremely broad with p roj ecting cheek
bon es an d heavy j aw in this resembling the
coars e types of the American face an d the
eye orbits we re square and elongate d laterally
The nose was large an d prominent and the
j aws p roj ected somewhat forward This man
therefore had as to his fe atu res some resem
blance to the harsher typ e of American physi
with
overhanging
brows
small
an
d
o n o my
g
tran svers e eyes high cheek bon es and coars e
mou th H e had not lived to so great an age
withou t som e rubs for his thigh bon e showed a
depressio n which mu st have resulted from a
seve re wou ndperha ps from the horn of some
wild animal o r the spear of an en emy
The w
oman p resented similar characters o f
statu re and cranial form modied by he r sex
an d mu st i n form and visage have been a ve r
itab l e squaw who if her hair and complexion
w ere su itabl e would hav e passed at on ce fo r an
,

6
5

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

Ame r ican I ndian woman o f u nu sual siz e a n d

developm en t H e r head bears sad testimony to
the viole n ce o f he r age an d p eople She died
from the effects o f a blow from a s to n e heade d
o a mo a n o r sp ear which has p en etrated the
p g
g
right side o f the fo rehead with s o clean a frac
tu re as to in dicate th e extrem e rapidity an d
fo rce o f it s blow I t i s infe rred from the co n
ditio n o f the edge s o f thi s wou n d that she ma y
have su rvived its iniction fo r two week s o r
more I f as is mo s t likely the wou n d w as re
c e iv e d in some su dden attack b y a hostile tribe
they mu st have bee n driven off o r have retired
l eaving the wou nded woman i n the han ds o f he r
friends to be te nde d fo r a tim e an d then bu ried
eithe r with othe r m embers o f he r family o f with
othe r s who had p e rished i n the sam e skirmish
U nl ess the wou n d was inicted in sl eep du ring
a n ight attack s he mu st have fallen not i n
ight bu t with he r face to the foe p erhap s
aiding the resistan ce of her friend s o r s hielding
her littl e on es from destru ction With the peo
pl e of C ro magnon as with the American I n
dians the care o f the wou nded was p robably a
sacred du ty n ot to be n egle cted withou t in cu r
ring the greates t disgrace and the vengeance
of the guardian spirits o f the su ffere rs
,

IN

M OD E R

N SCI E NCE

157

The skulls of these p eople have been com

pared to those of the modern Esthonians o r
Lithuanians ; bu t on the au thority of M "u a
t re fag e s it is state d that while this applies to
the p robabl y later race of small men fou n d in
som e of the B elgian caves it does not apply s o
well to the people of C ro magno n Are then
these p eople the types of any an cient o r of the
most an cien t Eu rop ean race ? On e an swe r i s
given by the remarkable skel eton o f M ento ne
in the Sou th o f France fou nd u nde r circu m
stan ces equ ally suggestive o f great antiqu ity
Figu
re
D
r
ivi
re
in
a
memoir
on
this
R
e
(
skeleton illu strated by two beau tiful photo
graph s shows that the characte rs of the s kull
and o f the bon es of the limbs are p recisely
similar to tho s e of the C ro magnon skeleton
indicating a pe rfe ct identity o f race while the
obj ect s fou n d with the skel eto n are simil ar in
character
The o rnament s of C ro magno n we re pe r
fo ra t e d shells from the Atlantic and pieces o f
ivo ry Those at M ento n e were p erforated N e r
it in ae from the M editerranean an d canine teeth
o f the deer In both cases the re was evide nce
that these ancient peo p l e painted themselves
with re d oxide of iro n ; and as i f to complete
.

14

1 58

the similarity the Menton e man had an ol d

healed u p fractu re of the radiu s of the left arm
the effect of a viole nt blow o r of a fall Skulls
fou nd at C lichy an d Gren ell e in 1 8 68 an d 1 8 69
are described by Professo r B roca an d M r Fl e u
ren s a s of the sam e gen eral typ e an d the re
main s fou nd a t Gibraltar an d in the cave o f
P av il a n d i n Englan d s eem also to have b e
longe d to the sam e race The celebrated E n
gis skull believed to have belonged to a con
temp orary of the mammoth is also p recis ely o f
the sam e typ e though l ess massive than that o f
C ro magno n ; and lastly eve n the somewhat
degraded N ean derthal skull fou n d in a cav e
near D u sseldo rf though like that of C lichy in
fe rio r i n fro ntal development is referabl e to the
same p eculiar long headed s tyl e o f man in s o
far as can be j u dge d from the portio n that re
mains
Let it be obse rv ed then that these skulls
are p robably the oldest known in the world
an d they are al l referable to o n e race o f me n ;
an d let u s ask what they tell as to the posi
tio n and characte r o f pal aeolithic man The tes
t imo n y is here fo rtu nately wellnigh u nanimou s
H ux ley who well compare s som e of the p e c u
liar featu re s o f these ancie nt skulls an d s k e l e
,

F IG 8
.

Th i sk l t
P rt i f th s k l t f th f s il m f M t
mu l t d
w d is v r d b y D R iv ier u d r b u t t w t y f t f
g t th p l smi g
d ill s t r t s th h igh
deb i
It b l
typ ph ysi lly f th m f that p ri d T h k l t l ik th rs
of th t g i d i t s m of g r t st tur d mu u l r v ig r d
w ith b r i b v th v r g s i ( A R i i )
as

co

e on

ca

e,

e,

a n a

r.

e e

r s.

e e on o

on o

ca e

e a

a aeo c o

an

e a

ea

z e.

ee

en

an

en o n e .

an o

os

e,

an

e s

an

e e on

a e

e e on ,
sc

a e

a c cu

e o

an

er

v er e

S9

1 6o

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

to n s to tho s e o f Au s tralians an d othe r ru de

tribes an d o f the an cie n t D ane s of B o rro b y
a p eopl e n ot imp robabl y allied to the E s t h o
n ia n s an d Fin s remark s that the man ner i n
which the in d ividual heads o f the mo s t h o mo g e
i n the
n e o u s ru d e races diffe r from each other
same characte rs though p erhap s n ot to the s am e
exte n t w ith the Engis an d N ean d erthal s ku lls
seem s to prohibit any cau tiou s rea s on e r from
afrming the l atte r to have n e ces s a rily bee n o f
distin ct races
My own exp e ri en c e i n Am e r
ican skulls an d the s till larger exp erien ce o f D r
Wilso n fully conrm the wis d om o f thi s cau tio n
H e adds : Finally the comparatively large
cranial capacity o f the N eanderthal s ku ll over
lai d though it may b e by p ithecoid bony walls
an d the completely hu man p roportio ns o f th e ac
companying limb bon es toge the r with the very
fair de v elopmen t o f the Engi s skull clearly in
dic at e that the rs t traces o f the p rimordial
s tock whe n ce man has been derive d n eed n o
l o nge r be sought by those w ho e n tertain an y
fo rm o f the doctrin e o f p rogressive develop
m en t in the n ewest Tertiaries bu t that they may
be looked fo r in an epoch more distant from
ri
that o f the E l e /
ca s
en iu s
than
that
is
p n

from u s
I f he had pos s e s sed the C ro magno n
,

'

FA CTS AND FA NCI ES

1 62

an d M ento n e skulls at the time whe n this was

written he might well hav e sai d imm easu rably
distan t from the tim e o f the B l ep /ms pmn e
mm Professo r B ro ca who s eem s by no m ean s
disin clin ed to favo r a simian origin fo r m en
has the foll owing ge ne ral co n clu sion s which
refer to the C ro magn o n skulls The great vol
u me o f the brain the developmen t o f the fro n
tal region the n e ellip tical p role of the a n
t e rio r portio n o f the skull a nd the o rth o g n a
thou s fo rm o f the u pp e r facial region are in c o n
t e s ta b l y evide n ce o f su p e riority which are me t
with u sually o nly i n the civiliz ed races O n the
othe r hand the great breadth of face the alve
olar p rognathism the eno rmou s developmen t
o f the ascen ding ramu s o f the lowe r j aw the
exten t an d roughn ess o f the mu scular in s e r
tio ns e sp ecially of the masticatory mu s cles
give ris e to the idea of a viol ent an d bru tal
,

ra c e

Ifl e

adds that this appare nt antithesis s ee n

also in the limbs as well as in the skull a cco rds
with the eviden ce fu rnished by the associate d
weapo n s an d imp l e me n t s o f a ru de hu nte r
l ife an d at the sam e tim e o f n o m ean degre e
of taste an d s kill in ca rving and othe r arts
se
e
Fig
H
e
might
hav
e
added
that
(
,

IN MOD E RN S CIE NCE

163

thi s i s p recisely the antithesis s ee n in the

Ame rican tribes among whom art an d taste
o f variou s kinds an d mu ch that is high an d
sp iritual even in thought coexisted with bar
barou s modes o f life an d intense ferocity an d
cru elty The god an d the devil we re com
b in e d in thes e races bu t there wa s nothing
o f the m ere bru te
R ivi ere remarks with exp re s sion s o f s u r
p rise the same contradictory points i n the
M en ton e skeleto n
Its gran d developmen t
o f br ain case an d high facial angle eve n
higher apparen tly than in most o f these
ancien t skulls combin ed with other charac
ters which indicate a low typ e and barbarou s
modes o f life
Anothe r point which strikes u s in reading
the description s an d which d es erv e s the atten
tion of those who hav e acces s to the skeleto ns
is the indicatio n which they seem to p resen t
o f an extreme longevity The mas s ive p ro
portion s o f the body the great d evelopmen t
o f the mu scular p rocesses the extreme wear
i ng o f the teeth among a pe opl e who p re
dominan tly lived o n esh an d no t o n grain
the obliteration o f the su tu res of the skull
along with indication s o f s lo w os s ic ation o f
,

FA CTS A ND FA NCIES

1 64

the ends o f the lo ng bon es p oin t in this dire c

tion an d s eem to i ndicate a slow matu rity an d
great l ength o f life in this mos t p rimitive race
The p ictu re would be i n complete did we
not add that in France an d B elgiu m in the
immediately su cceeding o r reindeer age these
gigantic an d magni ce nt m en s e em to have
been sup ers eded by a feebler race o f smaller
s tatu re an d with sho rter heads ; so that we
have eve n in thes e oldes t days the sam e co n
t ra s t s so plainly p e rcep tibl e i n th e races o f th e
N orth of Eu rop e an d the N o rth o f Am e rica in
historical tim es ( Figu re
I t is fu rthe r signican t that the re are some
in dicatio n s to show that the large r an d n oble r
race was that which inhabited Eu rop e at the
tim e of its greatest elevation above the sea
an d greates t ho rizo ntal exten t an d when its
fau na i n clu ded many large quadrup eds now
extin ct This race o f gian ts was thu s i n the
possessio n o f a greate r co ntin ental area than
that n ow existing an d ha d to con te nd with
gigan tic bru te rival s fo r the poss essio n o f the
world
I t is al so n o t imp robabl e that this
early race became extin ct in Eu rop e i n co n
sequ en ce o f the physical changes which o c
c u rre d in con ne ctio n with the subsiden ce which
,

FI G

10

t o of th v f F r t l i B lgiu m ( Af t
f m d f h m mmoth g
l im st
w hi h r s t s
; 6 d p s it
d b v th is th r w
i m d r n t im s
m ss of
b d of gr v l
deb i
m mg th is
up th d tt d l i
h rth w
f ll
O
f un d t
w hi h w r n um r us b s f m d r im l s h
r m in s o f fun r l f s t s Th v w l s d w ith s t
d
impl m nts
r m t s d p ott y of th
withi w r s k l ton s s to
l ithi g Un d r th s w u d is t urb d r th f h p l
m mmoth g
T h f t s s h w h su
ss i i B lg iu m
li h i
d f
o f p l o osmi o r t d il u v i m
o o smi m ll i d
B s qu s t th L ps d l l th i s pr v io us to th d v nt f th
th
mo d rn r s
Se c i

on e

e,

on

c , or

ne

ne

an e

an

en

e, o n

e n

o na

an

en

ne

an

as

er

cce

o n,

e a

t e

o n e , an

an

ea

t e

ea

at

as c o e
,

ov

n re

a,

on e

ac

as ,

as

an

er

e e

e.

e o

e ca

e.

t e

e e

e e

e e

or

ea

ace

e a

a ae c

on a

to

e e

n eo

C, an

ca

r s,

en

a ac

en

65

to

FA CTS

1 66

FA NCIES

AND

redu ced the lan d to its p resen t limits and that

the dwa r s h race which su cceeded came in as
the app rop riate accompan imen t o f a diminished
land su rface an d a less genial climate in the
early modern p e riod
B oth o f thes e races
are p rop e rly pal ae olithic and are su ppos ed to
an tedate the p eriod o f polished ston e ; bu t
this may to a great exten t be a p rej u dice o f
collectors who have arrive d at a fo rego n e
co nclu sion as to the distin ctness o f these
p eriod s ( Figu re
J u dging from the great
c ranial capacity o f the olde r race and the small
n u mber o f thei r skeleto n s fou nd, it wou l d be
fair to suppos e that they rep rese n t ru de o ut
lying tribes belonging to races which els ewhere
had attain e d to greate r cultu re
Lastly both o f these old Eu rop ean race s
w e re Tu ranian Mongolian o r Am erican in
their head form s an d featu res as well as in
their habit s impleme nts an d arts To illu strate
thi s in so far as the olde r of the two race s is
co n cern ed I have carefully compared co l l e c
tion s o f America n In dian skulls with cast s
an d gu res rep resenting the form an d di
me n s io n s o f s ome o f the oldes t Eu rop ean
c rania abov e re fe rred to
Som e o f the
American s ku lls may fairly be compared
,

FI G

1 1.

li t rro w h ds fo u d tog th r i m d rn I n d i n d p o sit in

i id
i t im
f rud
d sh w i g h
d is h d
C n d
i t w p o s th t mo g l l s v g s us i g hi pp d int th p l o
lith i dn ol ith i g s
nt mpo r n ous
F

a,

ea

c an

an

or

ea

t e co

c a

e n ce

nc

are c o

an

a ae

1 67

FA CTS

1 68

FA N CI E S

AN D

in their characte rs with the M e nto ne sk u ll

an d others with tho se o f C ro magnon E n
gi s an d N eanderthal ; and so like are som e
o f the H u ro n I roquois an d othe r northe rn
A merican skulls to thes e an cien t Eu ropean
relics an d o the rs o f their typ e that it would
be difcult to a frm that they might no t have
belonged to n ear relatives
O n the othe r
hand the s mal l e r an d sho rte r heads o f the
race o f the rein dee r age in Eu rop e may be
compa red with the Laps and with some o f the
mo re delicately fo rmed Algon qu in an d C h ip p e
wayan skulls i n Ame rica I f the refo re the
reade r desires to realiz e the p robabl e aspect
o f the m en of C ro magno n o f M ento n e o r
o f Engis I ma y re fe r him to m odern
Ame rican hea d s So p e rman e n t is this great
Tu ranian race ou t o f which all the othe r
races now exta nt se em to hav e be e n develop ed
in the milde r and mo re hospitabl e region s o f
the Old World while in n orthern Asia an d in
America it ha s re tained to this day its p rimitive
characte rs
The reader re ecting o n what he ha s
learn ed from histo ry may be disposed he re
to ask M u st we su ppo s e A dam to hav e been
o n e o f thes e Tu ranian men like old men o f
,

IN MOD ERN S CIENCE

1 69

C ro magnon ? I n an swer I would say that

-

there is no good reaso n to regard the rst

man as h aving resembled a Greek Apollo o r
an Adonis H e was probably o f ste rner and
more mu scular mould B u t the gigantic pal ae o
lithic men o f the Eu ropea n caves are more
p robably represe ntatives o f that fearful and
powerful race who lled the antediluvian world
with violen ce and who reappear i n postdiluvian
times as t h e Anakim and traditional giants who
constitu te a featu re in the early history of so
many cou ntrie s
Perhaps n othi n g is more
cu riou s i n the revelation s as to the most
ancien t cave men than that they conrm the
old belief that there were giants in those
days
An d now let u s pau se for a moment to
pictu re thes e s o called pa lae olithic me n What
could the old man of C ro magnon have told
u s had we bee n able to sit by his hearth an d
listen u nde rstandingly to his speech Pwhich
i f we may j udge from the form of his palate
bon es mu st have resembled more that of the
American s o r M ongolian s than of any modern
Eu ropean people H e had no doubt travelled
far for to his stalwart limbs a lo n g j ou rney
through forests and o v er plains and mo u ntain s
.

15

FA CTS

170

AN D

FANCIES

w oul d be a mere pa s tim e

H e may have
bes tridde n the wild hors e which s eem s to
have abou nde d at the time i n France an d
he may have lau n ched his cano e on the waters
of the Atlan tic H is exp erien ce an d m emo ry
might exten d back a centu ry or more an d his
traditional lore might go back to the times o f
the rs t mothe r of ou r race D id he live in
that wide Post Plio cen e contin e n t which ex
?
r
ten ded westward through l e la n d
D id he
kn ow an d had he visited the natio n s that lived
in the valley o f the great Gihon that ran down
the M editerranean Valley o r o n that nameles s
?
rive r which flowed through the D ove r Straits
Had he visited o r s ee n from afar the great
island Atlantis whos e inhabitants could almost
?
s e e i n the su nse t sky the islands o f the blest
O r did he liv e at a later time afte r the Post
Pliocen e subsiden ce and whe n the land had
?
a s su med its p resent fo rm
I n that case he
coul d have told u s of the great deluge of the

huge animal s o f the an tediluvian w orl d known

to him o nly by traditio n and o f the dimini s hed

strength and longevity o f me n in his compar
We can bu t co nj ectu re
a t iv e l y modern days
all this B u t mu te though they may be as to
th e d eta il s o f thei r li v e s the man o f C ro
.

IN MOD E RN SCIE NCE

magn on and his contemporaries are elo qu ent

of o n e great tru th in which they coincide with
the American s and with the p rimitive men of
all the early ages They tell u s that p rimitive
man had the sam e high ce rebral organization
which he poss esses now and we may in fer
the same high intellectual and moral natu re
tting him fo r commu nion with God an d head
ship over t h e l o we r world
The y indicate
also like the M ou nd bu ilders who preceded
the N orth American I ndian that man s earlier
state was the best that he had bee n a high
and noble creatu re before he became a savage
I t is not con ceivabl e that their high develop
men t of brain and mind could have s p o n ta
engrafted
itself
on
a
mere
brutal
an
d
n eo u sl
y
savage life
These gifts mu st be remnants
of a n obl e organ ization degraded by moral
evil
They thu s j u stify the traditio n of a
Golden an d Edenic Age an d mu tely protest
against the philosophy of p rogressive develop
ment as applied to man while they bear wit
n ess to the identity in all importan t character s
o f the oldest p rehistoric m e n with that variety
o f ou r specie s which is at the p res ent day a t
o nce the most widely extended and the most
p rimitive in its man n ers and u sag es
,

FA CTS AND FA NCIES

2
7

Thus it w ould app ear that thes e earlies t

known me n are no t specically distinct from
ou rselves bu t are a distinct race most nearly
allied to that great Tu ranian stock which is at
the prese n t day an d ha s apparentl y from the
earliest historic time s bee n the most w idely
sp read o f all Though ru de an d u ncultu red
they were n o t either physically o r m entall y
in ferio r to the ave rag e m en o f to day an d
were indeed in seve ral re spe cts me n o f high
t y p e whose great cranial capacity might lea d
u s to suppos e that thei r an cestors had recen tl y
bee n in a highe r state o f civilization than them
s elves I t is howeve r possible that thi s cha
ra c t e ris t ic
wa s rathe r co n necte d with great
e n e rgy an d physical developmen t than w ith
high m ental activi ty
To the hypothesis of evol u tion as applie d
to man thes e fac t s evidently oppo s e great
di fculties
They s how that s u ch mode rn
degraded race s a s the Fu egian s o r the Ta s
man ia n s can not pre se n t to u s the typ es o f ou r
earlie r an ce s to rs s in ce the latte r we re m e n
o f a diffe re n t an d highe r styl e
N o r do
the s e olde s t k nown me n p resen t any app ro x
imatio n i n physical characters to the lowe r
animal s
F u rthe r we may in fe r from thei r
,

1N

MOD E R N S CIENCE

73

work s an d from what we know o f their beliefs

and habits that they we re n o t creatu res o f
instinct bu t o f thought like ou rselves an d
that materialistic doctrines of au tomatism an d
brain force withou t min d would be qu ite as
absu rd in their application to them a s to their
modern rep resentatives
I t is n ot too mu ch to say that i n p rese n ce
of these facts the spo ntaneou s origin o f man
from in ferio r animals can not be held as a
s cientic con clu sion
I t may be an articl e
o f faith in au thority or a sup erstitio n o r an
hypothesis bu t is in n o respect a result of
scie ntic in v e s tl g atio n i nto the fossil remain s
o f man B u t if man is not su ch a p rodu ct
o f spontan eou s evolu t ion he mu st have bee n
created by a B eing h aving a highe r reason
and a greater power than hi s own ; and the
an ce s try of the agno s tic an d the rational
powe rs w hich he exe rci s e s con st itu te the be s t
refutatio n o f hi s own doctrin e
,

15

V
N A T U R E
AS

A M AN I FES T A T I O N

OF

MIND

LECTUR E V
N AT

URE

A S A M A N I FE ST A TI O N

O F M I ND

H E s ubj ects al rea d y discu ssed shoul d

have p repared u s to regard natu re as
not a merely fortu itou s conge ries o f matte r
and forces bu t as embodying plan design
and contrivance ; an d we may now inqu ire
as to the characte r of thes e conside red as
possi b l e manifestation s of mind i n natu re
The idea that natu re is a manifestation o f mind
is an cien t an d p robably u nive rsal I t p roceeds
natu rally from the analogy between the ope r
a t io n s of natu re and those which o riginate in
ou r own will an d contrivance
When men
begin to think more accu rately this idea a c
qu ire s a deepe r fou ndatio n in the con clu sion
that natu re in all its varied manifestation s is
on e v ast machin e too great an d comple x for
u s to comprehend an d implying a p rimary
e ne rgy innitely beyon d that o f man ; and
thu s the u ni ty o f nat u re points to on e C rea
tive Mind
,

177

FA CTS AND FA N CI E S

8
7
.

Eve n to savage p eopl es i n who s e minds the

idea o f u nity ha s n ot germinated o r from
w hose traditio n s i t has bee n lost a sp iri t ual
e ss e n ce app ears to u n derlie all natu ral phe
n o me n a tho ugh the y may regar d this as co n
s i s ti ng of a s eparate sp irit o r manitou fo r
every material thing I n all the mo re culti
v a t e d race s the ideas o f natu ral religion have
take n mo re denite fo rm s in thei r theology
an d philo s oph y D ugald Ste wart has well e x
p re s sed the mo re scientic fo rm o f thi s i d e a
i n two short s tatem en ts :
1
Eve ry effect implies a cau s e
2
Every combinatio n o f m ean s to an e n d
implie s in tellige n ce
The thei s ti c asp ect o f the doctrine had as
we ha v e s e en in a p re v iou s l ectu re bee n
al rea dy admirabl y exp ress ed by Paul in hi s
Epi s tl e to the R oman s
W riting o f what
eve ry heathe n mu s t kn ow o f mi n d i n natu re
he s ay s : The invisibl e things o f him s in ce
the creatio n o f the wo rld are clearly s een
being p e rceive d through the things that are

made e v e n his e ternal p owe r an d divinity

The two thing s w hich according to him e v e ry
i ntellige n t man mu s t p ercei v e in natu re are
rst p owe r above an d beyon d that o f man
,

IN

M O

D E R N SCI E NCE

179

and s eco ndly su perhu man intelligen ce Even

Agnostic Evolu tio n can no t wholly divest itsel f
o f the idea o f m ind in natu re I ts advocates
continually u s e te rms imp l y ipg contriva n ce
whe n speaking o f natu re ; and
a n d plan
Sp ence r appear s explicitly to adm it that we
can not dives t ou rselve s o f the notio n o f a
Firs t C au se Eve n those writers who s eek
to shelter the ms elves u nde r s u ch vagu e and
u nmeaning stateme nts as that hu man in tel
l ig e n c e mu st be pote ntially p rese n t in atoms
o r in the solar e nergy are merely attribu ting
sup erhuman power an d divinity to atoms an d
forces
N o r can they escap e by the magiste rial de
anthropomorphic
n u n c ia t io n of su ch ideas as
fancies All s cie n ce mu st i n this s en s e be a n
t h ro p o mo rp h ic fo r it co n s ists o f what natu re
app ears to u s to be whe n vie w ed through the
me d iu m of ou r senses an d o f what we think
o f natu re as so p resen ted to u s The only

difference 18 this that if Agnostic Evolu tion

is tru e Scie nce itsel f o nly rep res en ts a certain
s tage o f the de v elopment an d can ha v e n o
actual o r p ermanen t tru th ; while if the theistic
v iew is co r rect the n the fact that ma n himself
belong s to the u nity of natu re an d is in har
.

FA CTS AND FANCIE S

1 80

mony with it s othe r parts gi v e s u s some guaran

te e fo r the absolu te tru th o f s cie n tic facts an d
p rin ciples
W e may n ow con s i d e r mo re i n d etail s ome
o f the a sp ects u nder w hich min d p rese nts itself
i n natu re
I t may b e main tain e d that natu re is an
I
exhibitio n o f regulated an d d etermin ed power
The rs t imp ressio n o f natu re p res ented to
a min d u n initiated in its myste ries is that it i s
a m ere co nict o f opposing fo rces ; bu t s o
soo n as we s tu dy any natu ral phe nomena in
detail we s e e that this is an erro r an d that
everything is balan ced in the n icest w ay by
the mos t su btl e i nte ractio n s o f matte r an d
fo rce
W e nd also that whil e fo rces are
mu tually co nve rtible an d atoms su sceptible
o f vast varieties o f arrangem ent all this is
dete rmin e d by xed la w an d carrie d ou t with
in v ariabl e regularity an d co nsta n cy
The v apor o f water fo r exampl e diffu sed
in the atmosphere is co nden sed by extrem e
cold and falls to the grou n d in s nowakes I n
thes e particles o f water p reviou sly kep t asu n
der by heat are u n ite d by cohesi v e fo rce ; and
the heat ha s go n e o n othe r mi s sio ns B u t
thes e particles do no t me rely u nite : the y
.

IN MO D E RN S CIENCE

81

geometriz e Like well drilled soldiers a rran g

ing themselves in ranks they form themselves
according to regular axes of a ttraction in
lin es diverging at an angle o f sixty degrees ;
and thu s t h e s nowakes are hexagonal plates
an d six rayed stars the latte r often growing
into ve ry complex shapes but all based o n the
law of attraction u nde r angles o f sixty degrees

se
e
Fig
The
frost
on
the
win
dow
pan
es
(
observes the same law and so does every
crystallization of water where it has s cop e to
arra n ge itsel f in accordan ce with its own
geometry B u t this law of cry stallization gives
to s now and ice the i r mechanical p rop erties
and is con n ected with a multitu de o f adj u st
me nts of wate r in the solid state to its place
i n natu re The same law varied in a vast
nu mber o f ways in eve ry distin ct su bstance
bu ilds u p c rystals of all kinds and crystallin e
rock s an d is con n ected with cou ntless adapta
tio ns of diffe ren t kinds of matter to mechanical
and chemical u ses in the arts I t is easy to see
that all this might have bee n othe rwise nay
that it mu st have been otherwise bu t for the
i nst itu t ion o f many and compl ex laws
A lu mp of coal at rs t suggests littl e to ex
cite in terest or imagination ; bu t the stu dent o f
-

16

FA CTS AND FANCIE S

1 82

its composition an d microscop ic stru ctu re nds

that it is an accu mulatio n o f vegetable matte r
rep resenting the action of the solar light o n the
leaves of trees o f the Pal aeozoic Age It thu s
calls u p images o f thes e pe rished fo rests and
o f the cau ses con cern ed in their p rodu ctio n an d
growth an d in the accu mulation an d p res erva
tion of their bu ried remains I t fu rthe r sug
gests the many ways in which thi s solar e ne rgy
so long s ealed u p can be recall ed to activity in
heat gaslight steam and el ectric light an d how
remarkably thes e things have bee n related to
the wealth an d the civilizatio n o f modern na
ti o n s An abl e write r o f the agnostic s chool
in a p opular lectu re o n coal has his imaginatio n
so stimulated by these thoughts that he ap o s t ro
phiz es N atu re as the cu nn ing contrive r who
s tored u p this bu ried s unlight by her strange
an d myste riou s alchemy k ep t it qu ietly to he r
sel f through all the long geological p eriods
when reptiles and bru te mammal s were lords
o f creation and through those centu ries of bar
b a ris m whe n savage me n roame d ove r the pro
du c t iv e coal district s in ign oran ce o f their tr e as
u res and the n revealed he r long hidde n stores
o f wealth an d comfo rt to the admiring stu dy o f
s cie nce an d ci v ilization an d fo r the benet o f
.

FI G

12

n w k s pi d fr m tu r u d r th mi ro s p d s rv in g
t
ill us t r t th
g m t ri l rr g m t f m l l s f w t r in
rys t ll i i g
6 s impl
s t r ; d h x g l p l t s ; f r ys f
l rg d mpl x t r h p d k Th l w f rr g m t f h
i
h
l i s of th r x s
m l u l s i s th t of tt r t i
g l s f
s ix t y d g r s d th v r i t i s
pr o du d b y d i ff r n s in t mp r
t ur d r t o f su pply of m t ri l
S

z n

e an

a,

e an

ee

a e

na

eo

ca

co

o ec

a e

co

s a

an

-s

ac

an

c,

a s

on

n t

es .

are

a e

en
e

ne

ce

co

o ecu e

ona
a

e, an

ee

e,

an

e e

a e

a e

en

at a n

ce

33

t e
o

FA CTS A ND

1 84

FA

NOIES

the million s belonging to de nsely peopled and

p rogressive nation s It is plain that N atu re
i n su ch a co n n ection rep resen ts either a poet
ical ctio n a sup erstitiou s fan cy o r an in t e ll i
gen t C reative M ind I t is fu rthe r eviden t that
su ch C reat iv e M in d mu st be in harmony with
that o f man t h ough vastly greate r in its s cop e
an d grasp in time an d space
Eve n the nu m erical relation s observe d in
natu re teach the sam e lesso n The leaves o f
plants are n ot arrange d at random bu t i n a
s eries of cu riou sly related sp irals differing i n
differen t plants bu t always the same i n the
sam e s p e cies an d regulate d by denite laws
Similar de n ite n e s s regulates the ramicatio n o f
l
an t s wh ic h dep en ds p rimarily on the arrange
p
m en t o f the lea v es The angl e o f ramica t io n
o f the v ein s of the leaf is s ettled fo r each
s p ecies o f plan t ; so are the nu mbers o f parts
in the owe r an d the angular arrangemen t of
these parts I t is the same in the animal king
dom su ch nu mbers as 5 6 8 1 0 being selected
to determin e the p arts in particular animal s an d
portion s o f animal s O n ce settled thes e num
bers are won d erfully pe rmanen t in geological
tim e T h e rst known lan d reptile s appear in
the C arboni ferou s perio d an d the y have n or
-

'

IN MO D E RN S CIENCE

1 85

mally ve toes ; these app ear in the earliest

known sp ecies in the lowest beds o f the C ar
Their p redecessors the shes had
b o n ife ro u s
nu me rou s n rays ; bu t when limbs fo r l o c o mo
tion o n land were contrived the nu mber ve was
adopted as the typical o ne I t still p ersists in
the ve toes and nge rs o f man himsel f From
these as is well known o u r decimal n otation is
derive d It did n ot originate in any sp ec ial t
n ess of the nu mbe r te n bu t i n the fact that men
began to recko n by cou nting their te n ngers
Thu s the decimal system of arithmetic w ith all
that follows from it was settled millio n s o f year s
ago in the C arboniferou s p eriod eithe r by cer
tain low browed and u nin telligen t batrachian s
o r by thei r Maker
N atu re p re s e nts to u s very remarkabl e
2
revelation s o f dissimilar an d widely sepa rate d
matters and for c es I have referre d to the nu
merical arrangeme nt of the leave s of plants ;
bu t the leaf itsel f in its stru ctu re and fu n c
tions i s one o f the most remarkabl e things in
natu re C omposed o f laye rs o f loosely place d
living cells with air spaces between them ; e n
closed abo v e and belo w with a transparen t
epidermis the spaces b etween the cells com
mu n ica t in g w ith the atmosphe re w itho u t b y
.

16

FA CTS AND FA NCIES

1 86

m ean s of micro s copic p ore s guarded b y cu n

n in l
co
ntrived
valves
op
e
ning
o
r
closing
g y
according to the hygrometric state o f the air ;
con n e cted with the stem o f the plan t by a
system o f tu be s strengthen ed with spiral bres
within the s tru ctu re o f the leaf is m echan
icall y con sidere d of extrem e beau ty an d com
l
e x it
Bu
t
I t s li v ing fu n ctio n s are still more
p
y
w on d erful R ecei v ing the wate r from the soil
with su ch mate rial s a s it brings then ce i n solu
tion an d absorbing carbo nic dioxide and am
moma from the air the li v ing p rotopla s m o f
the leaf cells has the p ower of chemically chang
ing all the s e sub s tan ces an d of p ro d u cing from
them thos e complicate d an d otherwis e in imita
bl e organ ic comp ou n d s of which the tissu e s o f
the plan t are bu ilt u p The force b y which
thi s i s do n e is that o f the s olar heat an d light
both admitte d freel y i nto the in terior o f the
leaf through the tran spare n t epidermis an d
therein imp rison ed so a s to constitu te a pow
e rfu l s torehou s e o f evaporation an d chemical
en erg y I n thi s wa y all the material s availabl e
for the main tenan ce o f life whethe r v egeta bl e
o r an imal are p rod u ced an d n o othe r stru ctu re
than the living vegetabl e cell a s it exist s in
the leaf has the po w er to effe c t the s e mi racle s
-

'

FIG

y d big
st
t sty l
b
i
m
i
w
;
w
h
h
t
r
t
r
i
k
upp
r
p
d
r
upp r
i
th
f
i
f
l y r f ll s w ith g r i f hl r ph y ll ; l w r l y r
ll s w th
hl r ph y ll ; l w r p id r mi ; s t m t o r b r th i g p o r s w ith
t r til ll s f p i g d l s i g

t
f l f

S e c io n

ea

of

th e

ac

ea

ce

e ce

uc u

a ns o

a,

of a

e s

o o

con

l f
o

or o

en n

ca

an

e n

n.

no

c o

a a,

e,

f th e
e

a,

C,

o o

one o

mo

a n c ie n
s

ea

ce

es

87

FA CTS A ND FA NCIES

1 88

o f tran smu tation H e re let it be observed

we have the vegetabl e cell placed in relation
with the sys tem o f the plan t with th e soil with
the atmosphere an d its wate rs with the distan t
su n its elf an d the p rope rties o f its emitted
e n ergies Let it fu rthe r be obse rved that on
the on e hand the chemistr y involved in this is
o f a characte r altogether diffe ren t from that
which applies to inorganic matte r and o n the
o ther the p r odu cts de rived from a ve ry fe w
elem ents embrace all that vast varie ty of com
pou n d s which we obse rve in pla n ts a nd an i mal s
an d which con stitu te the material o f o n e o f th e

most comple x o f s cien ces that o f o rganic

chemistry
Finally thes e complicated stru e
tu res were p rodu ced an d all their relation s
se t u p at a very early geological p eriod I n s o
far as we can j u dge from their remain s an d the
results effected the leaves o f the Pal aeo z oic
p e riod were fu n ctionall y as perfect a s their
modern su ccessors ( se e Figs 1 3
Of
cou rse the agn o s ti c evolu tionis t may if he
pleases attrib u te all this to fortu ito u s inter
actio n s o f the s u n the atmosphere an d the
earth an d may p rovide fo r what these fail to
explain by the a ss u mptio n o f potentialitie s
equ ivale n t to th e th ing s p rodu ced Bu t the
.

l g fr om th
l f rm t i h w i g s m o f th f rms f
l v s i st ru m t l in u mu l t g h rb f
l b ds by
th i r tion on th tmo sph r u d r h i u n o f su light
F o ia

ea

ac

coa

en a

e a

ac c

on ,

ca

a in

e e

t e

on

ce

ou r c o a - e

39

FA CTS AND

1 90

F A N CI E S

p robability o f su ch an hypothesis becomes

inn itely small when we co nside r the varie ty
an d the diversity o f things an d fo rce s which
mu st have co nspired to p rodu ce the resu lts
observed a n d to maintain them so co n stan tly
an d yet with so mu ch differe n ce i n circu m
stan ce s an d deta il s It is a relie f to tu rn from
s u ch bewildering an d gratuitou s supposition s
to the theo ry which suppo s e s a design ing
C reative M ind
From the bou n dle ss v ariety o f illu s tration s
which the animal king d om p re s ent s I ma y
select on e the c o n t rivan ce s b y m ean s o f
which marine a n imal s a r e ena ble d to oat o r
balan ce the ms el v es i n the wate rs The P ea rly
N a u til u s ( s e e Fig I 5 ) is o n e o f the most famil
iar an d also on e o f the most cu riou s It s
coil e d s hell i s divi d e d b y parti tio n s i nto ai r
chambe rs so p ropo rtion ed that the b u oyan c y
o f the ai r i s s u fcien t to cou n terp oi s e i n s ea
wate r th e weight o f the animal There are
also con trivan ces by which the den s i ty o f the
containe d ai r an d o f the body o f the animal can
be so modie d a s slightly to di s tu rb this e qu i
l i briu m an d to e nabl e the creatu re to rise o r
sink i n the wate r s I t wou l d be tediou s to
describe withou t a d equate illu stration s all the
,

'

FI G

15.

P r l y N u til us d it s h ll s h w i g th t th i m l
o upi s o l y th u t r h mb r th oth rs b i g ll d w ith i d
ti g
t w h s b u y y b m d i d by th tio of th
t u b o r s i ph u n l p ss ing th r o u gh th h mb rs

tion

Se c

cc

ac

e,

of

th e

as a

ea

e o

oa

o e

c e,

an

an c

can

e n

e c

a r an

e an

ac

FA CTS AND FANCIE S

1 92

m achin e ry con n ected with thes e adj us tments

I t is su fcie n t fo r o u r pu rpo s e to know that
they are p rovided in su ch a man n er that the
animal is p ractically exempted from the op era
tio n o f the fo rce of gravity I n the modern
seas thes e p rovision s a re e nj oyed by o nly a
a;
few sp ecies o f the ge n era N a u til u s and Spu u /
bu t in forme r geological ages more nu merou s
as well as large r an d more comple x form s
existed Fu rthe r this co ntrivan ce is v ery old
W e nd i n the O Tk CCI a l ztes an d their allie s o f
the earlies t Silu rian formation s thes e arrange
m en ts in their full p erfection and i n s om e
*
fo rm s ev en more complex than in late r typ es
The p eculiar co ntrivan ces ob s e rv ed in the
nau tilu s an d its allies are poss ess e d by n o o the r
mollu sks bu t the re i s an other group o f s ome
what lower grade that o f the [a u tkiu u o r vio
let s nails i n which otatio n is p rovided fo r in
anothe r way ( s ee Fig
I n thes e animal s
the shell is p erfectly simpl e though light an d
the oating apparatu s con sists i n a s erie s o f
horny air v esicles attached to w hat i s terme d
the foo t o f the animal an d which are in
c reas ed in n u mbe r to su it its increa s ing w eight
a s it grow s in s iz e There are s ome rea s o n s
A P l
f
x mpl
.

'

'

'

z ocer a s ,

or e

e.

FA CTS

1 94

FANCIE S

AN D

to belie v e that thi s e n tirel y diffe r en t contrivan ce

i s as old in geological tim e a s the chambere d
shell of the nau tiloi d animals I t wa s in deed
in all p robability mo re common an d a d ap ted to
large r animal s i n the Silu rian p erio d than at
p rese n t
Another c u riou s in s tan c enot s o fa r as yet
kn own existing at all i n the mo d e rn world is
that o f the remarkabl e stalke d s tar s h de
s cribed by Pro fe s so r Hall u n d er the nam e
Ca meI OCTzu u S an d who s e remain s are fou n d
i n the U p p e r Silu rian rock s
The C rinoids
o r feathe r stars are well known inhabitant s o f
the s ea s in both ancie nt an d mo d ern tim e s ; bu t
p reviou s to Profe s so r H all s d i sc o v e ry they
we re known only as animal s attached b y ex
ibl e s tem s to the s ea bottom o r cree p ing s lowly
by m ean s o f thei r ra d iating arms I t wa s n o t
susp ecte d that any o f them ha d committed
them selve s to the mercy o f the cu rre nts su s
pe nde d from oat s I t appear s ho w eve r that
this was actu ally reali z e d i n the Upp er Silu rian
pe riod when certai n animals o f thi s group de
v e l o p e d a hollow calcareou s v esicl e fo rming a
balloo n s haped oat from which they could
hang s u s p en d ed in the water and oat freely
see
Fig
So
far
as
known
this
remark
(
.

'

FI G

17.

r du d in s i ( r s to r d by H l l ) Th i s i s
rino id o r f th r s t r f th Upp r Sil ur i n p rio d ting b y
m
s of hollo w b ll o s h p d s t ru t u r d iv i d d into h mb rs
d fo rm d o f
l r o us p l t s
Ca merocrzu m,
'

ea

e an

an

e -

ze

ce

ca ca e

as

n-

a e

oa

1 95

1 96

FA

CTS

AND

FANCIE S

abl e contri v ance wa s temporary an d p robabl y

adapte d to s om e p eculiarit ies o f the habits an d
food o f thes e animal s o ccu rri n g onl y i n the
geological p erio d in which they existed
Exampl es of this s ort of adj u stmen t are fo u n d
i n other t yp e s of an imal life I n the beau tiful
Po rtugu e s e man o f wa r ( P ky sal za ) an d it s allie s
otation is p ro v ide d fo r b y m embranou s o r car
t il ag in o u s sac s o r v esicl es lle d with air an d
w hich are th e commo n su pport of nu m erou s
i n d i v i d ual s which hang from them ( s ee Fig
I n som e allie d creat u re s the bu oyan c y requ ire d
is s ecu re d by littl e v e s icle s lle d with oil s e
c re t e d b y the animal s them sel v e s
I n each o f these ca s e s we ha v e a s kil ful adap
ta t io n o f m ean s to e n ds
The oat i s s o co n
stru cte d a s to a v ail itsel f o f the p rop ertie s o f
gases an d liqu id s an d the apparatu s i s frame d
o n the mo s t scientic p rin ciple s an d in the mos t
arti s tic man n er That thi s apparat us gro ws an d
is n ot m echanically p u t together an d that i n
each case th e i nstin cts an d the habit s o f the
animal have been correlate d with it c an scarce
l y be held by the mo s t obtu s e intellect to in
v alidate the evide nce o f i ntelligen t de s ign
Stru
ctu
re
s
apparently
the
most
simple
an
d
3
o ften heedlessly spoke n o f a s if they involved
,

'

FI G

18

o r P r tu g u s m f w o f th Atl nti b ing

l y f im l s pr v i d d w ith l g t t l s us d h g l i s
r st
s il
h
d h gi g fr m m mb r o us o t w ith
to p d point d d wh i h b in g t u rn d fr om s i d to s i d s r v s
Th e P ky ml za ,

co o n

an

an

as

an

an

rudd r
e

e e

en

on

an -o

an

ar

e n ac e

a c e

as

or

c,

in

e,

ne

on

A CTS

1 98

AN D

FANCIE S

no compl exity p rove o n examinatio n to be in

t ric a t e an d complex almost beyo nd conce p tion
I n nothing p erhap s is thi s b ette r s ee n than in
that mu ch abu sed p rotoplasm which has been
made to do du ty fo r God i n the o riginatio n o f
l ife bu t which is its el f a most laboriou s ly man
Albu me n o r white o f egg
u fa c t u re d mate rial

which is othe rwise n ame d p rotopla s m

is
a v e ry complicated substan ce both chemicall y
an d i n it s mole cular arrangeme nts an d whe n
e n dowed with life it p rese nts p rop e rties al to
gether in s cru tabl e I t is easy to say that the
p rotoplasm o f an egg o r o f som e hu mbl e a n
imal cu l e o r micros cop i c emb ryo is littl e mo re
than a mass o f stru ctu rel ess j elly ; yet i n the
ca s e of the embryo a mic ro s c 0 p ic dot o f thi s
apparently stru ctu reless j elly mu st contai n all
the parts of the fu tu re animal howeve r com
pl ex ; bu t h o w we m ay n e v er k now an d ce r
t a in l y can not ye t comp rehe nd
There are minu te an imal cul es belonging to
the grou p o f ag e ll at e I n fu so ria some of which
u n de r o rdina ry m icroscopic powers appea r
m erely as moving s pecks an d s how their act
u al stru ctu res o nly u n d e r powe rs o f two thou
s an d diameters o r m ore y et the s e an imal s can
be s ee n to have an ou te r skin an d an in n e r
,

[N

I II OD E R I V

SCI E NCE

1 99

mas s to have pulsating sacs and rep rodu ctive

o rgans and threadlike agella wherewith to
swim Their eggs are of cou rs e mu ch small

er than themselves s o mu ch s o that some of

them are p robably invisible u nde r the highest
powers yet employed Each of them howeve r
is potentially an animal with all it s parts rep
resented stru ctu rally in some way N o r n eed
we wonde r at t h l S I t has been cal culated that
a speck scarcely vi s ibl e u n de r the most powe r
ful microscop e may contain two million fou r

hu ndre d thou san d molecules o f p rotopla s m i

I f each of thes e mol ecul es were a brick the r e
w ould be en ough of them to bu ild a terrace of

twen ty ve goo d dwelling houses B u t this is

su pposing them to be all alike ; wherea s we
know that the molecu les o f albu me n are capa
ble o f being of v e ry variou s ki nds Each o f
these molecules really co ntain s eight hu ndre d

an d eighty two u ltimate atoms namely fou r

hu ndred of carbon three hu ndred an d ten o f
hydrogen o ne hu n d red an d twenty o f oxygen
fty o f nitrogen and two of sulphu r an d pho s
N
ow
we
know
that
these
atom
s
may
h
o
ru
s
p
be differently arranged in differen t molecule s
m i d bt d fo r th s g ur s to my fr i d D S P R ob i s o f
I
,

t l

o n re a

e e

en

r.

2 00

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

p rodu cing co nsiderable diffe ren ce of p rop e r

ties Let u s try then to calculate o f ho w
many differe n ce s o f arrangem e nt the atoms o f
o n e molecul e o f p rotoplasm are su sceptible
and the n to calculate o f how many changes
thes e differen t assemblages are capabl e in a
micros copic dot compos ed o f two millio n fou r
hu ndred thou san d o f them It is s carcely n e c e s
sary to say that su ch a cal culation in the multi
tudes o f possibilities involved tran scends hu man
p owers o f imaginatio n ; yet it answers qu estion s
o f m echan ical an d chemical grou p ing merel y
withou t any referen ce to the additional myste ry
o f life Let it be obs erved that this vastly com
pl ex material is assu med as if the re we re noth
ing remarkable i n it by many o f those theo rists
who plau sibly explain to u s the spo n tan eou s
o rigi n of living things B u t natu re in a rran g
ing all the parts o f a complicate d animal befo re
han d i n an appare ntly stru ctu reles s mic ro s c o
pic ovu m has all these vast n u mbers to deal with
in working ou t the exact result ; and this not in
o n e cas e me rely bu t in multitudes o f cases in
volving the most varied combination s We can
s carcely su ppo s e the atoms themselves to have
the power o f thu s u n erringly marshalling them
selves to wo rk o u t the s tru ctu res o f o rganism s
,

MO D E R N SCI E NCE

IN

20 1

i nnitely varied yet all alike after their kinds

I f n ot then N atu re mu st be a goddess gifted
with sup e rhuman p owers of calculation an d mar
v e l l o u s deftness in arranging invisible atoms
i on and colo r
The
beau
ty
o
f
form
p
roport
4
ing that abou nds i n natu re affords evide n ce of
mind H e rcu lean efforts have bee n made b y
mo d ern evolutioni s ts to eliminate altogether
the idea of beau ty from natu re by theories o f
s e x u al s el ection and the like and to p ersuade
u s that beau t y is me rely u tility i n dis g u l s e an d
even then o nly an accide ntal coin ciden ce b e
tween ou r pe rception s an d certain external
thing s
B u t i n n o part o f their argumen t
ha v e they more signally failed i n accou nting
fo r the ob s erved facts an d in no part have the y
more s eriou s ly ou traged the commo n sens e
an d natu ral taste of m e n I n poin t of fact
we have here on e of those great correlation s
belonging to the u nity of natu re that in dis
s oluble con nectio n which has been established
between the sen ses an d the aesthetic senti
m ents o f man an d certain things i n the exte r
nal world B u t the re is m ore i n beau ty than
this merely anthrop ological relation C ertain
forms fo r exampl e adopted in the skele tons
o f the lower animal s are n ece s saril y beau tiful
,

20 2

FA

C TS

AND

FA N

CI E S

becau s e o f their geometrical p roportion s C e r

tain styl es o f colo ring are n ecessarily beau tiful
becau s e o f harmon ies and co ntrasts which
dep e n d on the e ss ential p rop erties o f the
waves o f light B eau ty i s thu s i n a great
mea s u re in dep enden t o f the ta s te o f the s pec
tato r I t i s also in dep endent o f m ere u tili ty
since even if w e admit that all the s e combina
tio n s o f fo rms mo tio ns an d colo rs w hich w e
call beau tiful are also u s e ful it i s ea sy to
p ercei v e that the e n d c oul d o fte n be attaine d
w ithou t the beau ty
I t is a cu riou s fact that s om e o f the sim p le s t
an imal s a s fo r e x am p le s po nge s an d Fo ramin
ife raare fu rnished w ith the mo s t beau tifu l
skel eto n s
N othing can ex ceed the bea u ty
o f form an d p roportio n s in th e s hells o f s om e
Fo raminifera an d P o l y c is tin a o r i n the s k e l e
ton s o f s om e siliciou s sponge s ( se e Fig
whil e i t is ob v iou s that the s e hu mble c r eatu re s
withou t brain s an d exte rnal s en ses ca n n eithe r
co ntrive nor app reciate the beau t y with w hich
they are clothed
Fu rther some o f thes e
Th e
stru ctu res are very ol d geologically
sponge whose s kel eton is k nown a s Ve nu s s

owe r basket p rodu ce s a s tru ctu re o f inte r

woven s iliciou s threa ds exqu isite in its beau t y
.

M gn i d p o rti n of s ili i us sp g s h w i g th pr i i pl of
o s t ru ti n f th h x ti ll id sp g s w ith i r y d Spi u l
i
h
t
t
in
d
tog
t
h
r
s
t
r
n
g
t
h
d
w
t
d
i
go
l
b
r
s
d
A
Z
l
t
j
( f
)
a

ac

c o

ne

on

e,

on

s x

nc

es

c
'

an

ene

na

ace

er

20 3

204

FA

C TS

AND

FA

NCI E S

an d p erfect i n it s mechanical arrangements

fo r strength ( Figu re
Eve n i n the ol d
C ambrian rocks there are remain s o f s ponge s
which s ee m already to have p ractically sol v e d
the geom etrical p roblem s in v olve d in the p ro
du ctio n o f the s e won derful skel eto ns ; and w ith
a C hin es e like p ersisten cy having attaine d to
p erfection they hav e adhe re d to it througho u t
geological time
N o r is there a nything o f
m ere inorganic c rys talli z atio n i n this The sil
ica o f which the s keleton s are ma d e is colloi d al
not c rys tallin e an d the form s them selve s have
n o relation s to the crystallin e axes o f s ilica
Su ch illu stration s might be multiplie d to any
exte nt an d apply to all the beau ties of form
s tru ct u re an d coloring w hich abou n d arou n d
u s an d far e x cel ou r articial imitation s o f
them
The
in
stin
cts
o
f
the
lowe
r
animals
impl
y
5
a H ighe r I n tellige nce I n stin ct in the theistic
V i ew
o f natu re can be nothing l es s than a
divin e inspiratio n placing the a nimal i n relatio n
with other things an d p rocesses o ften o f the
most complex character an d which i t could
by no m ean s have devised fo r itsel f Fu rthe r
instinct is in its ve ry e s s ence a thing u n imp ro v
abl e Like the laws o f natu re it operate s
-

'

FI G

E uP l ectel l a ,

its

or

g n r l fo rm
e

e a

18

Ve

n us s

R
e
(

o wer
,

20.

b sk t

du d fr
ce

m Am

Nt

s ili io us sP n8
c

a u ra l ist, v o l .

iv

e , sh owin8

)
205

FA CTS

206

AND

FA NCIES

in v ariably ; an d if dimin ished o r changed it

would p rove u s eles s fo r it s pu rpose
It is
not like hu man invention s s lowl y perfecte d
u nder the i nu en c e o f thought an d imaginatio n
an d labo riou sly taught by each gen eratio n to
it s s u cce ss ors : it i s inherite d by each ge nera
tio n in all its p erfectio n an d from the rs t
goe s directly to it s en d a s if it were a merel y
phy s ical cau s e
The fa v orite e x planatio n o f in stin c t from
the s i d e o f Agno s tic Evolu tio n is that it o rig
in at e d i n the struggl e fo r existen ce o f s om e
p re v iou s gen eration an d wa s the n p erp etu ated
a s an inhe ritance B u t like mo s t o f the othe r
e x planation s o f thi s s chool thi s q u ietly takes
fo r gran ted what shoul d be p ro v e d
That
instin ct is heredita ry i s eviden t ; b u t the qu es
?
tio n i s H ow did it begin an d to s ay s imply
that i t d id begin at some form e r p erio d is to
tell u s nothing From a s cientic point o f
view the invariabl e op eration o f any natu ral
law affo rds no eviden ce o f any gradual o r
su dde n o rigination o f it at any poin t o f past
time ; and whe n su ch law is con n ected with a
complicate d o rganism and v ariou s other laws
an d pro c e ss es of the external wo rld the su p
po s ition o f its slowly arising from nothing
,

'

[I V I II OD E R N

SCI E NCE

20 7

through many gen e ratio ns of an imal s becom es

too intricate to be credible In stin ct mu st have
o riginate d in a perfect condition and with the
organism and its enviro nmen t al ready estab
l is h e d I may borrow here an ap posite illu s
t ra t io n from recent pap ers on the u ni t y of
natu re by the D uke of Argyll which des erv e
careful stu dy by any on e who valu es common
s en s e views o f this subj ect
The exampl e
which I s el ect is that o f the action of a you ng
m erganser in its effort to elu de pu rsu it :
O n a s eclu ded lake in on e o f the H ebrides
I observ ed a du n diver o r femal e o f the re d
breas ted mergans er ( II/[erg u s s er r a ior ) with
he r brood o f you ng du cklings
O n giving
chas e in the boat we soo n fou n d that th e
you ng although n ot above a fortnight old
had su ch extraordinary powers of swimming an d
diving that it was almost impossibl e to captu re
them The distan ce they wen t u nder w ate r
and the u n expected places in w hich they
em erged ba f ed all ou r effort s fo r a consi d er
able time At last on e o f the brood made
for the s hore with the obj ect of hidi n g among
the gra s s and heather which fringed the margin
o f the lake W e pu rsu ed it as closely as we
could ; bu t when the little bird gain ed the
.

'

2 08

FA

CTS

AND

F A N CI E S

shore ou r boat was still abou t twe nty yard s

off Long drought had le ft a broad margin
of s mall at s tone s an d mu d betwee n the
wate r an d the u su al bank I saw the littl e
bird ru n u p abo u t a couple o f yard s from the
w ate r an d then su dd enl y d i s appear "nowing
what w a s lik ely to be enacted I ke p t m y eye
xe d o n the s p ot ; an d when the boat was
ru n u p on the beach I p ro c e e d ed to n d and
pick u p the chick B u t o n reaching the p lace
o f di s app earan ce n o sign of the you ng m e r
gan s e r wa s to be s een The closest s cru tiny
with the certain kn owledge that it was there
failed to e nabl e m e to detect it
Proceeding
cau tiou s ly fo rw ard I s oon becam e convince d
that I ha d al ready o v ershot the mark ; an d
o n tu rning rou nd it wa s o nly to se e the bir d
rise like an apparition from the sto nes an d
dashing pa s t the stran d e d boat regain the
lake whe re having no w recovered its wi n d
it in stantly dived and di s appeared The tac
tical skill o f the whol e o f this man oeuvre an d
the s u cce s s with w hich it was execu ted we re
greete d w ith lou d chee r s from the whole party ;
an d ou r admiratio n was no t diminis h ed when
we remembered that s om e two weeks befo re
that time the little p erfo rm er had bee n c o iled
,

IN

MODE RN SCI E NCE

2 09

up inside the shell o f an egg and that abo u t

,

a month before it was apparently n othing bu t

a mass o f albu men and of fatty oils
On this the du ke very p rop erly remarks that
any idea of training and exp erien ce is absolute
l y excluded becau se it assu mes the pre exist
e nce o f the ve ry power s for which it p rofesses
to accou nt
H e then tu rn s to the i d ea that
animals are merely au tomata or machines
H ere it is to be observe d that the e ss ential
idea of a mach in e is twofold First i t is a
m erely mechanical stru ctu re put togethe r to
do certai n things ; secondly it mu st be related
to a contrive r and constru ctor I f we think
p rop er to call the you ng m erganser a machin e
we mu st admit both of these characters more
especially as the bird is in every way a more
marvellou s machin e t han any of hu man con
stru ction H e conclu des his notice o f this cas e
with the follo w ing suggestive wor d s :
This i s a metho d o f escap e which can not be
resorted to su ccessfully except by birds whose
coloring is adapted to the pu rpose by a clos e
assimilation with the coloring of su rrou nding
obj ects The ol d bird would not have been
concealed o n the s ame grou nd an d woul d
n ever itsel f resort to the same metho d o f e s

13

2 10

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

cap e The you ng there fore cannot have been

in stru cted in it by the m etho d o f exampl e B u t
the small siz e of the chick together with its o b
scu re an d cu riou sly mottl ed coloring are s p e
adapted
to
this
mode
o
f
con
cealm
ent
c ia ll
y
The you ng o f all birds which breed upon the
grou n d are p rovide d w1th a garm en t i n su ch
p erfect harmo ny with su rrou nding effe c ts o f
light as to ren de r th i s man oeuvre ea sy
It
dep ends howeve r wholly fo r it s s u ccess u pon
absolu te stilln ess The slightest motio n at on ce
attracts the eye o f any e n emy which is sea rch
ing for the you n g And this absolu te stilln es s
mu st be p rese rved amidst all the emot ion s o f
fear an d terro r which the close app roach o f the
obj ect o f alarm mu st an d obviou sly does in
spire When ce comes this spl endid even if it
be u n co n sciou s faith i n the s u fcien cy o f a
defen ce which it mu s t requ ire su ch n e rv e an d
strength of will to p ractis e ? N o movemen t
not eve n the slightest though the en emy shoul d
s eem abou t to trampl e o n it su ch i s the te r
ribl e requ ireme n t o f natu re and by the chil d
o f natu re implicitly obeyed H ere again b e
yond all qu estion we have an i nstin ct as mu ch
born with the creatu re as the harmoniou s tin t
ing of its plu mage the exte rnal fu rnishing b e
.

IN

M OD E R I V

SCI E NCE

21 1

ing in s eparably u nited with the internal fu r

n is h in
of
min
d
which
enables
the
little
crea
g
tu re i n v e ry tru th to walk by faith an d not
by sight
Is this au tomatism ? Is this machi
?
ne ry Y es u n doubtedly in the s en s e explaine d
before that the in stinct has bee n give n to the
bird in p recisely the s ame s en s e i n which its
stru ctu re has bee n give n to it ; so that anterior
to all exp erie nce an d withou t the aid of in
stru ction o r o f example it is i n spired to act in
this man ne r o n th e app rop riate occa s ion ari s
ing
Lastl y the reaso n o f man hims el f is an actual
illu stratio n of mind in natu re H e re we raise a
qu estion which shoul d perhaps have been con
s id
e r e d earlier : I s man himself actually a part
of what we call natu re ? We are so accu stome d
to the distinction between thing s natu ral an d
things articial that we are liable to overlook
this essential qu estion I s natu re the u nive rs e
ou tside o f u s containing the things that we
stu dy an d which co nstitu te o u r e n viro n me n t ?
Are we elevate d o n a p edestal so to speak
?
above natu re o r on the othe r hand does na
tu re inclu de man himself ? I n that haz e o r fog
o f ideas which environ s modern evolutionism
it i s not wonderful that this qu estio n escap e s

2 12

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

notice an d that the mo s t co ntra d icto ry u tte r

a u ce s are gi v e n forth Tyn d allb y no m ean s
the most foggy o f the agn ostics may affo rd
an in s tan ce H e remarks resp ecting the phil
o s o h e rs o f an tiqu ity
The
exp
erie
n
ces
which
p
fo rmed the weft an d woo f o f their theo rie s were
drawn n ot from the stu dy of natu re bu t from
that which la y mu ch clo s e r to them the o b
s ervatio n o f man
Their theo ries accord
in g l y took an an thro p omo rphic form
H ere
we s e e that i n the v iew o f the write r man i s
distin ct from an d ou tsi d e o f natu re an d so mu ch
ou t o f harmon y with it that the obs ervatio n of
him l ead s to false c on clu sion s stigmati z e d a c

in g l y as a n th rO p o mo rp h ic
I n this cas e
c o rd
man mu st be s up ernatu ral and preternatu ral as
well Bu t it is Tyn dall s p re cis e obj ect to show
u s that there is nothing su p ernat u ral either in
man o r elsewhere The co n tradictio n is a n in
stru ctive exampl e o f the delu s ion s w hich s ome
times pas s for scien ce
I f with Tyndall we are to place man ou tsi d e
o f natu re then the hu man min d at o n ce be
come s to u s a su p ernatu ral in tellige n ce Bu t
tru th forbid s su ch a con clu sion
The reaso n
o f man howe v e r beyon d the intelligen ce of
B lf s t A ddr ss
,

J N

MODE RN SCI E NCE

213

l owe r animal s s o harmoniz e s with natu ral law s

that it i s evidently a pa rt of the great u nity of
natu re and we can n o more dissociate the min d
o f man from natu re than from his own animal
body I f we could do so we might have grou n d
to distru st the v alidi ty of all ou r con clu sions a s
to natu re and thu s to cu t away the fou ndation s
of s cien ce ; an d what remain ed o f philosophy
an d religion would be p rete rnatu ral in the ba d
sen s e of de s troying the u nity of n atu re an d im
p erilling ou r c onden ce in the u nity of the C re
ator himsel f
I n con n ection with this we have cau s e to co n
s ider the tru e m eaning an d u se of two term s
o ften hu rled at theists as weapon s o f attack
The word anthropomorphic is a term o f
reproach for ou r interp reting natu re in har
mony w ith ou r own thoughts o r ou r own con
s t it u t io n
B u t if man i s a part of natu re he
mu st be a comp etent in terp rete r of it I f he
is not a part of natu re then whethe r we make
him godlike o r a demon w e h ave i n him to
deal with something sup ernatu ral I t is tru e
that i n a certain sen s e he is above natu re bu t
n ot in any sense which so dissociates him from
it as to p revent him from rationally thinking o f
it in hi s own thought s and speaking of it in his

2 14

FA

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

own fo rm o f wo rds So tru e i s this that n o

writers are more anthrop omo rphic i n their
mo d es o f sp eaking o f natu re than tho s e who
most s tro ngl y denou n ce anthrop omorphism
Even the celebrated denitio n o f life by H e r
bert Sp e n ce r can no t e s cap e this tin ctu re
Life he say s i s the co ntinu ou s adj u stmen t

o f i nte rnal to e x ternal co n dition s

N ow the
es s ence o f this denitio n lies i n the wo rd a d
j u stment
B u t to adj u s t is to arrange adap t
o r t all pu rel y hu man an d i ntelligen t action s
N othing the refo re coul d be mo re anthropo
morphic than su ch a s tatemen t As thei s ts we
n e ed n ot complain of thi s bu t s u rel y a s agno s
tic s w e s hould d eci d e d l y obj ect to it
The othe r wo r d whos e meaning i t i s n e ce s

sa ry to c on s i d er is s u p ernat u ral which it

might b e w ell p erhaps to follow the e x ampl e
o f the N e w Te s tament in avoiding altogethe r
as a m i s leading term I f b y s u p ernat u ral w e
m ean s omething ou tside o f an d above nat u re
an d natu ral law there i s reall y no s u ch thing
i n the u nive rs e There may be that w hich i s
spiritu al a s d istingu ished from that which i s
natu ral in the material s en s e ; bu t the spiritual
has its own la ws which are not in co n fl ict with
tho s e o f the nat u ral Eve n God can not i n thi s
.

MOD E R N SCI E NCE

IN

215

sense be said to be s u pernatu ral sin ce his w ill

is n ecessarily i n con formity with natu ral law
Y e t this absu rd sen se of the term s u p e rn a t
u ral is con s tantly fo rced u po n u s by s o called
advan ced thinkers an d employe d as an argu
m en t against theism The o nly tru e s en se in
which an y being or any thing can be s aid to be
s up ernatu ral is that in w hich we u s e it with ref
eren ce to the original creatio n o f matter and
force an d the institu tio n of natu ral la w The
p owe r which can do the s e things is above na
t u re bu t not outside of it ; fo r matter en ergy
an d law mu st be in clu ded in and in harmony
with the C reative Will
To retu rn from this digre ss io n I f man is a
part o f natu re we can s ee ho w it i s that he con
form s to natu ral law no t m erely in his bodily
o rganization and capabilities bu t in his min d
an d habits of th o g h t s o that he can comp re
hend natu re an d employ it for his pu rposes
Even his moral an d his religiou s ideas mu st in
this ca s e be con form ed to hi s conditions o f ex
We ha v e here
is t e n ce as a part o f natu re
also the su re s t guarantee of the correctness o f
o u r conclu sio n s resp ecting the law s o f natu re
I n like man ner there is he re a s en se in which
man is above natu re becau se he is placed at the
,

FA CTS

2 16

AND

FANCIE S

head o f it I n anothe r s e nse he is 1n fe rio r to

the aggregate o f natu re becau s e a s Agassi z
well p u ts it there is i n the u niver s e a wealth
o f e ndowm en t o f t h e most comp rehe nsive m e n
tal man ife statio n s w
hich man can n eve r fu ll y
comp rehe n d
Still fu rther if the u nivers e has bee n created
the n j us t a s it s law s mu st be i n harmo ny with
the will o f the C reato r so mu s t ou r men tal co n
a s a reaso ning an d co n
s t it u t io n ; an d man
s ciou s being mu st b e mad e in the image o f hi s
Make r I f we dis card the idea o f an intelligen t
C reato r then min d an d all it s power s mu s t be
potentially in the atoms o f matte r o r in the
fo rces which move them ; bu t thi s is a m ere
form o f words s igni fying nothing o r if it has
any signican ce this is co ntrary to s cie nce
s in ce i t be s tows o n matte r p rope rties which
exp e riment do es not sho w it to poss ess Thu s
the existe n ce o f man is no t o nly a positive
p roo f o f the p res en ce o f mi nd in natu re bu t
affo rd s the stronges t possible p roo f o f a highe r
C reative M i nd from which that o f man ema
nates The power which o riginated and su s
tain s the u nive rse mu st be at least a s mu ch
greater and mo re i ntellige nt than man as the
u nivers e is greate r than man in the powe r and
.

IN

MO D ERN SCIENCE

2 17

the contrivan ce which it indicates Thu s we

retu rn to the Pauline idea that the power an d

the divin ity o f the C reator are shown by the
things he has made Legitimate s cie nce can
say nothing more an d can say n othing l es s
.

19

SC I E N C E A N D R E VE LA T I O N

LECTUR E VI
R E VE

SCI E N C E A N D

LAT I O N

H US far w e have p roce eded s olely o n

s cienti c grou nds an d ha v e s ee n that
Monism and Agnosticism fail to accou n t for
natu re W e may therefo re feel ou rselves j u s
t i e d in as s u ming as the only p romising solu
tio n o f the e nigma o f existen ce the being
o f a D ivin e C reator B u t this doe s n ot wholl y
e x hau st the relation s o f s c i en ce to religion
Whe n Scien ce has led u s into the p resence of
the C reator she has brought u s to the thresh
ol d of religion and there she suggests the
possibility that the spirit o f man may have
other relation s with God beyon d those estab
l is h e d by m erely physical law
S cien ce may
ventu re to say : I f all natu re e x p re s ses the
will o f the C reator a s carrie d ou t in his laws
if the instin ct o f lower animal s i s an inspira
tio n of God s hould we not exp ect that there
will be laws of a higher o rder regulating the
fre e moral natu re o f man an d that there w ill
,

19 *

221

FA

222

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

be p o s sibilities o f the reason o f man commu n i

cating with o r re cei v ing aid from the Sup rem e
?
I ntelligen ce
S cience u n doubtedly su ggests
this mu ch to ou r reason an d the suggestio n
has comm e nded itsel f to most of the greate r
an d clearer min ds that ha v e s tu die d natu re
whatever their religiou s beliefs o r thei r want
o f them
I t may thu s be allowabl e fo r u s withou t
e n croaching o n the do ain o f theolog y to
in qu ire to what exte nt s cie ntic p rin ciples an d
s cie nti c habits o f thought agree with o r di
v e rge from the religiou s beliefs o f me n I do
n ot p rop o s e to e n te r here into the inqu i ry as
to the accordan ce of the B ibl e with the earth s
geological history o r that o f it s re presenta
tio n s o f n atu re with the fact s as held by
s cien ce Thes e subj e ct s I have full y discu ssed
i n other works which are s u fcientl y access
*
ibl e
I shall m erel y refer to ce rtai n gen eral
relation s o f s cien ce to the p robability o f a
divin e re v elation an d to the characte r o f s u ch
revelation
As to what is te rm ed natu ral religion e nough
has al rea d y been s aid I f natu re testie s to the
,

'

o rk

o e

sp i ll y
ec a

in T e O rzg i n

M e " or l d

( L o d on
n

an d

N ew

MO D E R N SCI E NCE

I IV

223

being o f God and if the reason an d the con

s cience implanted in man accu sing an d ex
on
e
another
con
stitu
te
a
law
o
f
God
c u s in
g
within him regulating in som e degree his
relation s to God an d to his fellow men we
have a su fcient basis for the natu ral religion
which more o r l ess actuates the co ndu ct of
every human being
The case is differe nt
with revealed religion H ere we hav e an a p
paren t interferen ce o n the part of the C reato r
with his own work an addit ional intervent ion
in o ne department to effect resu lts which else
where are worked ou t by the ordinary opera
tion of natu ral law I n revelation therefore
we may have som ething qu ite ou t of the o rdi
O n the other hand it is
n ary cou rs e o f natu re
possible that even here we may have something
more in harmony with natu ral laws than at rs t
sight appear s
I t cann ot truly b e said that a revelatio n from
God to man is imp robable from the poin t o f
V iew o f s cience
Physical laws an d bru te in
s t in c t s are in their natu re u nvarying and nei
ther requ ire n or admit o f intervention Bu t
the reason and the will o f free agen ts are i n
this respect diffe re n t Though n ecessarily u n
der law they can j udge an d d e ci d e betwee n
,

FA CTS

2 24

AN D

FANCIES

o ne law an d another an d can eve n e v a d e o r

cou n teract o n e law by employing another o r
can resolve to be disobedien t R atio nal fre e
age nts may thu s ente r in to cou rs e s not in har
mo ny with their own interests o r their relation s
H en ce s o soo n as it
to their su rrou n dings
pl eased Go d to in trodu ce in any part o f the
u n ivers e a free rational will gifte d with certain
powers over lowe r natu re o nly two cou rses
were p ossibl e : either Go d mu st l eav e su ch free
age nt wholly to his own devices making him a
god o n a s mall s cale an d so far p racticall y ab
dic a t in g in his favo r o r he mu st place him u m
de r s om e law an d this not o f the natu re o f
me re physical compulsio n which o n the h y
o
t
h
e s is woul d be inadmissible bu t i n the na
p
tu re o f requ iremen ts addressed to his reason
an d his cons cien ce H e n ce we might in fe r a
r zor z the p robabili ty of s om e sort o f commu ni
p
catio n between Go d an d man Fu rther di d
we nd su ch ratio nal creatu re begin ning o n his
introdu ctio n into the world to mar the face o f
natu re to inict u n n ecessary suffering or inj u ry
o n lower creatu re s o r o n m embers o f hi s own
species to disregard the mo ral in stin cts im
plan ted in him o r to disown the Go d who had
created him we shoul d s till more di s tin ctly p er
,

'

'

IN

MO D ER N S CIENCE

c e iv e

225

the n eed of rev elation This would in

su ch case be no more at varian ce with scien ce
o r with natu ral law than the edu catio n given by
wis e parents to their children o r the laws pro
mu l g a t e dby a wise government fo r the gu idance
of its subj ects both o f which are and are in
tended to be intervention s affecting the ordi
nary cou rs e o f affairs
O f n e cessity all this p roceeds on the suppo
s it io n that there is a God
B ut in certain dis
Cu ssions n o w p reval en t as to the o rgin of re
l ig io n
it i s cu stomary qu ietly to assu me that
there is n o God to be known and co n s e
qu en tly that religion mu st be a mere gratu itou s
invention of man I t is not too mu ch to say
however that any scien tic con ception of the
u nity of natu re an d o f man s place in it mu st
forbid ou r making atheistic assu mptions I f
man we re a mere p rodu ct o f blind u n in t e l li
gen t chan ce the idea o f a God was not likely
ever to have occu rred to him still l ess to have
become the common p roperty o f all races of
men I n like man ne r the re is n o scientic
basis for the assu mption that man o ri ginated
in a low and bestial type an d that his religion
developed itsel f by degrees from the instincts
of lower animals from which man is supposed
.

FA CTS

2 26

AND

FA NCIES

to have o riginated Su ch su pposition s are u n

scien tic ( 1 ) becau s e n o ancie n t remains o f s uch
low fo rms o f man are known ; ( 2 ) becau s e the
lowest typ es o f man n ow extant can be p roved
to be degraded des cendan ts o f highe r typ es ;
becau
se
if
man
had
originated
i
n
a
low
( 3)
co ndition this would no t have diminished the
p robability o f a divin e revelatio n being gi v en
to p romote his el evatio n
O n th e o ther hand it is a sad reality that
man ten ds to sink from high ideal morality an d
reason i nto debasing vices an d gros s s u p e rs t i
tions that are not natu ral bu t which o n the
contrary place him at variance with natu ral as
well as with moral law Thu s the actu al an d
the possibl e debas ement o f man in stead o f
p roving his bestial o rigin o nly in creas es the
n eed o f a divin e revelatio n fo r hi s imp rove
m ent
B u t supposing the n eed o f a revelatio n to
be admitted o the r qu estio n s might aris e as to
its mode H ere the an ticipatio n s o f s cien ce
woul d be gu ided by the analogy o f natu re
W e should suppose that the revelatio n would
be made through the m ediu m o f the beings it
was inte nded to affect I t would be a revela
tion imp ressed o n hu man min ds and exp ressed
.

IN

MOD E RN

S CI E I VCE

2 27

i n hu man la n guage I t might be in the form

o f l aws with penalties attached or i n that o f
p ersu asion s addressed to the reaso n an d the
sentiments I t would probably be gradual an d

p rogressive a t rs t simple an d late r more

complex an d complete I t wou l d thu s becom e
historical an d would be related to the s tages
o f that p rogress which it was in tended to p ro
mote I t woul d n ecessarily be incomplete mo re
esp ecially i n its earlier portion s and it would
always be u nder the n ecessity o f more or less
ru dely rep resen ting divin e an d heav e nly things
by earthly gu res B eing hu man i n its mediu m
it would have the characteristics an d the idio
s n c ra s ie s o f man to a certain exten t excep t i n
y
so far as it might pleas e Go d to commu n icate it
directly through a p erfect hu manity ide ntie d
w ith divini ty o r through highe r and mo re p er
fe e t intelligences than man
We should fu rther exp ect that su ch revela
tion woul d not conict with what is good i n
natu ral religio n o r in the natu ral emotion s an d
s entiments o f man ; that it would not contradict
natu ral facts o r laws ; an d that it would take
advantage of the familia r knowledge o f man
kind in order to illu strate su ch highe r spiritual
tru ths as can no t be exp ressed in human lan
.

FA CTS

2 28

FANCIES

AN D

gu age Su ch a revelatio n would o f n ecessity

require that we should receive it in faith bu t
faith resting o n evide n ce de rive d from things
known an d from the analogy o f the revelatio n
itsel f with what Go d reveals in natu re
It
would be n o valid obj ection to su ch a revela
tio n to say that it is anthropomorphic s in ce
i n the natu re o f the cas e it mu st come through
man an d be su ited to man ; no r would it be any
v alid obj ectio n that it is gu rative fo r tru th as
to sp iritual realities mu st always be exp resse d
i n te rm s o f known p henomena o f the natu ral
wo rld
I t has been obj e cte d though n ot o n behalf
o f scien ce that su ch a revelation if it relate d
to things disco v erabl e by man w ould be u seles s
while i f it related to things not dis co v erable it
coul d not be u n derstood This is howeve r a
m ere play u po n w o rds a n d reminds o n e o f
the doctrin e attribu te d to the Arabian calip h
with referen ce to the Al exandrian Library : I f
its books contain what is writte n i n the "o ran
they are u s eless if anything differen t they a re
i nj u riou s ; therefore l et them be destroyed I t
woul d in deed be subve rsive o f all edu cation
human as well as divin e ; fo r the ess ence of this
is to take advantage of what the pu pil kn ows
.

IN

MODE RN S CIENCE

2 29

an d to build o n it acqu iremen ts which unaided

he could n ot have attain ed
B u t though all may agree as to the possi
b il ity o r even the p robability o f a revelation
many may dissen t from particular dogmas con
t a in e d i n o r implied by the particular form of
revelation in which C hristian s believe I t is
tru e that this dissen t is bas ed not so mu ch on
s cie nce as o n alleged opposition to hu man sen
t ime n t s ; bu t it is more o r less supposed to be
rein forced by s cientic fact s an d laws O f do c
trin es su pposed to be obj ectio nabl e from thes e
points o f v ie w I may name the reality o f mir
acles and o f p rophecy ; the efcacy o f p raye r
and o f ato nem en t o r sacrice ; an d the perma
n e n c e o f the consequ en ces of sin
A dmitting
that thes e doctrin es a re not original discoverie s
o f man bu t revealed to him and that they are
no t fou nded o n s cie nce it may n everthel ess be
easily shown that they are in harmony with the
analogy of natu re in a greater degree than
either their frie nds o r thei r oppo nents u sually
suppose
M iracles o r s igns as they are more p rop

erly called in the N ew Testame nt are some

times stated to imply su spen sio n o f natu ral
law I f they we re su ch an d we re alleged to

20

FA

2 30

C TS

AN D

FA

NCI E S

be p rodu ce d by any po w er short o f that o f the

Lawmak er him s el f they woul d be in credible ;
an d if ass erte d to be by his p owe r they would
be s o far in credibl e as implying changeablen ess
an d therefore imp erfection I t ma y b e a f rmed
however o f the miracle s recorded i n Scriptu re
that they do n ot requ ire su sp en s io n of natu
ral laws bu t merely modicatio ns o f the ope ra
tio n an d p eculiar interactio n s o f the s e Many
o f them in deed p ro fess to be me rely u nu sual
natu ral effect s arrange d fo r sp ecial pu rpo s es
an d dep en ding fo r thei r miraculou s characte r
o n their appositen ess in time to certain circu m
s tan ces Thi s is the cas e fo r in s tance with
the plagu e s of Egypt the crossing o f the R e d
S ea an d the su pply o f quails to the Is raelites
M iracle s whethe r p erfo rmed a s attestation s of
revelatio n o r as works o f m e r cy o r o f j u dg
m en t belo ng to the domai n o f natu ral law bu t
to thos e op eration s o f it which a r e beyo n d h u
man control o r foresight Their nat u re i n this
resp ect we can u nderstan d by con s idering the
many op eration s possibl e to civili z ed me n which
may appea r miraculou s to a sa v age an d which
from his poin t o f view may be ampl y su f cien t
as eviden ce o f the s u p erio r k nowl e d ge an d
powe r o f him wh o p erfo rms them That o n e
,

MOD E RN SCI E NCE

IN

2 31

man shoul d be abl e in stan tan eously to tran s

mit his thoughts to another s ituated a thou sand
miles away wa s u ntil the invention of the el ec
tric telegraph imp ossible The actual p erform
an ce of su ch an op eration would hav e been as
mu ch a miracl e as the commu nication of thought
from on e plan et to another would be n ow B u t
if man can thu s work miracl es why should not
the Almighty do so when higher moral ends
are to be s erve d by apparen t interferen ce with
the ordina ry cou rs e of matter an d force
Ad
m i tt i ng the existe nce of God physical science
can have nothing to say against miracles O n
the contrary it can assu re u s of the p robability
that if God re v eals h imsel f to u s at all by nat
u ral means su ch re v elatio n will p robably be
miraculou s
I f the possibility of God commu nicating with
his rational creatu res be con ceded then the o b
I
f
e c t io n s taken to p rophecy los e all valu e
j
anything kn own to God an d u nknown to man
can be revealed things pa s t and fu tu re may be
revealed a s well a s things p rese nt Science
abou nds in p rophecy All through the g e o l o g
ical history there have be e n p rophetic type s
mu te witn esses to coming facts Minu te dis
t u rb a n ce s o f heavenly bodies altogether inap
-

FA CTS

2 32

AN D

FA NCIES

i bl e

by
the
ordinary
observe
r
e
nabl
e
the
p
astronomer to p redict the discovery of n ew
planets A lin e in a sp ectrum withou t s ig n i
cance to the u ninitiated fo retells a n ew elemen t
The me rest fragm ent su fcien t o nly for micro
s copic examinatio n enable s the pal aeontologis t
to describe to incredulou s au dito rs s ome o rgan
ism altogether u n known in its e n tire s tru ctu res
What possibl e reaso n can there be fo r e x cl u d
ing su ch in dicatio ns of the past an d the fu tu re
from a revelation made by him who knows p er
fe c t l y the end from the begin ning an d to whom
the fu tu re results of hu man actio n s to the e nd
o f time mu st be as evident as the simples t train
?
o f cau ses and effects is to u s
I t is H uxley
I think who says that if the l aws affecting h u
man condu ct we re fully known to u s it would
have been possible to calculate a thou sand years
ago the exact state o f affairs i n B ritain at this
mom ent Probably su ch a calculation might be
too complicated fo r u s even if the data we re
give n ; bu t it can not be too complicated fo r
the D ivine M ind and possibly might eve n
be mastered by some in telligen ce s in the
u nivers e subj ect to God bu t higher than
man
That there should be s uffe ring at all in the
re c a

IN

MODE R N S CIENCE

2 33

u n i v erse is no doubt a mysteriou s thing ; bu t

the fact is evident and certain ben ets which
ow from it are also evident I ndeed we fail
to see how a worl d o f se ntien t bei ngs coul d
co ntinu e to exist u nless the p enalty o f suffer
ing were attached to natu ral law Fu rther all
su ch penalties are in cons equ en ce of the p er
ma n e n c e o f matte r an d the con servatio n of
force , n ecessarily p erman ent u nless in cases
where som e reactio n s ets in u n der the inu ence
of Some othe r law or force than that which
brings the penalty Even in this cas e the effect
o f any violatio n of any natu ral law is eternal
an d innite N o san e man doubts this i n the
cas e of what may be called sins again st nat
u ral laws bu t many with strange incon sisten cy
doubt and disbeli eve it in the higher domain o f
morals I f we were fo r a momen t to admit
the materialist s doctr i n e that app etites pas
sion s an d sentiments are m erely effects of phys
ical changes in nerve cells the n we should be
shu t up to the con clu sion that the effects of any
derangeme nt of thes e mu st be p erpetual and
coexte nsive with the u niverse Why should it
be otherwise in things belonging to the domain s
of reason an d conscien ce ? Fu rther if natu ral
laws are the exp ression of the will of the C re
,

20 *

FA

2 34

C TS

A I VD

FA

NCI E S

ator an d i f thes e u n failingly ass ert themselve s

and mu st do so in o rder to the p ermanen ce o f
the material u niverse woul d n ot analogy teach
that u nless the Su p reme B eing is wholly bou n d
u p in material p rocesses an d is altogether in
differe nt to moral co nside ration s th e same reg
u l a rit
an
d
constan
cy
mu
st
p
revail
in
the
s
pirit
y
?
u al world
This qu estio n i s clos ely con n ected wit h the
ideas o f sacrice an d aton emen t N othing is
more certain in physics than that action a n d re
actio n are equal an d that no effect can be p ro
du c e d withou t an adequ ate cau s e
I t results
from this that eve ry action mu st i nvolve a cor
respon ding exp enditu re o f matte r an d fo rce
Anything els e woul d be pu re magic ; which we
kn ow is n onsense Thu s eve ry inte rvention
o n behalf o f others mu s t imply a correspon d
ing sacrice W e cannot rais e a falle n child
o r aid the poor o r the hu ngry withou t a sac
r i c e of power o r mean s p roportion ed to the
resul t So i n the moral world degradation
can n ot be rem edied no r pu nishmen t averted
withou t corresponding sacrice ; and this it ma y
be o n the part of thos e who are in n o degree
blameworthy I f men have fallen into moral
evil an d God p ropo s es to el e vate them fro m
,

MODE R N S CIENCE

IN

2 35

thi s condition this mu st be done by some cor

responding expenditu re o f force else we have
on e o f those miracles which would imply a sub
versio n o f law of t he most portentou s kind
The moral stimulu s given by the sacrice itself
is a s econdary co nsideration to this great law
o f equ ivalency o f cau se and effect There is
therefore a perfect con formity to natu ral anal
ogy in the C hristian idea o f the substitution of
the pu re an d p erfect Man for the sin ner as well
as in that of the pu tting forth of the divin e
powe r manifested in him to rai s e an d restore
the fallen
The e fcacy of p raye r is on e of the last
things that a scientic natu ralist should qu es
tion if he is at the same time a theist Prayer
is itsel f o n e of the laws of natu re and one of
those that show in the nest way how higher
laws override and modi fy thos e that are lowe r
The you ng raven s we are told cry to God ; an d
so they literally do ; and their cry is an swe red
fo r the parent ravens cru el an d voraciou s u n
der the impulse o f a God given instinct range
over land and wate r an d exhau st every energy
that they may satisfy that cry The bleat of
the lamb will not only meet with response from
the mother ewe bu t wil l eve n exercise a physi
,

FA CTS

2 36

AN D

FA NCI ES

ological e ffect in p romoting the secretion o f

milk in her u dder The mother who hears the
cry Of her child cru shed u n der som e weigh t y
thing which has falle n o n it will n ever pau se
to conside r that it is the l aw
o f gravitation which
has cau sed the acciden t ; she will defy the law
o f gravitation an d if n ecessary will p ray any
o n e who is n ear to help her P rayer in short
is a natu ral p ower so important that w ithou t it
the you ng of most of the higher animals woul d
have littl e chan ce o f life ; an d it triu mphs ove r
almost every other n atu ral law which may stan d
in its way I f then irrational animals can over
come the force s of dead natu re in answer to
p rayer ; if man himsel f i n an swer to the c ry o f
distress can do things in o rdinary circu mstan ces
almost impossibl e how foolish is it to su ppos e
that this link o f conn ection can not subsist b e
tween God an d his ratio nal offsp ring " On e
wonders that any man o f scien ce should fo r a
moment e nte rtain su ch an i dea if indeed he
has any belief whateve r in the existe nce o f a
God
There is another asp ect of p rayer insisted o n
i n revelation o n which the observatio n o f natu re
throws s ome light I n the cas e of animal s there
.

IN

MOD E RN S CIENCE

2 37

mu st be a certain relation between the on e that

p rays an d the on e that answersa lial relation

p erhaps and in any case there mu st be a cor

responde nce betwee n the language of prayer
an d the e motions of the creatu re appealed to
Except in a few case s where hu man training has
modied instinct the c ry of on e species of a n
imal awakes no response in anothe r of a differ
ent kind So praye r to God mu st be in the
Spirit of God It mu st also be the cry of real
n eed and with referen ce to needs which have
his sympathy There is a p raye r which n eve r
reaches God o r which is even an abomination
to him ; an d there is prayer p rompted by the
indwelling Spirit of God which cannot be u t
t e re d in hu man words ye t will su rely be an
All this is s o p erfectly i n accordance
s we re d
with natu ral analogies that it strikes on e
acquainted with natu re as almost a matter
of cou rs e
In tracing thes e analogies I do not desire to
imply that natu ral science can itself teach u s
religion or that it is to afford the test of what is
tru e i n spiritual things I have merely wished
to direct attention to obviou s analogies between
things natu ral and things s p iritu al wh ich sho w
,

FA CTS

238

AND

FANCIES

that there is no su ch antagonism bet w een s ci

e n ce and revelation as many supp ose an d that
in grand essen tial law s an d p rinciples it may be
tru e that earth is
,

But
E ac

th e

ht

s h do w
a

th e

h v
d th i g s th r i
oth r l ik mo r th
r th is tho ught
of

ea
e

e n , an

an o n ea

END

e e n