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Untitled Article
oitr allusion was not to such , passages , for we consider them as the reverse of pious , being what Emerson energetically calls , " a mush of concession " to Orthodoxy . It seems as if the outcry raised against the author , while not convincing him that his book was irreligious , had frightened him into def erence for a religion not his own .. Hence , if we are right , the i ncreased and positively unpleasant ' recurrence of these semblances of orthodoxy . The author should have boldly taken his stand u ^ 6 n his own convictions , trusting to their truth for victory— -to their sincerity for In . the course of our review , we shall endeavour to indicate the effect which this timidity has had in leading him still further away from the true conception of the Development Hypothesis , bringing into greater prominence the theologico-metaphysieal error with which he started . At present we will confine ourselves to his statement of the hypothesis .
It is unnecessary to go seriatim through the chapters of so well-known a book ; enough if we bring together certain passages , giving an exposition of his doctrine . Having sketched the Development Hypothesis , as illustrated in Astronomy and Geology , he comes to the consideration of the origin of living beings .-:- —• ¦ " The idea has several times arisen , that some natural course was observed in the production of organic things , and this even before we were permitted to attain clear conclusions regarding inorganic nature . It was always set quickly aside , as unworthy of serious consideration . The case is different now , when we had admitted law in the whole domain of the inorganic . There are even some considerations on the very threshold of the question , which appear to throw the balance of likelihood strongly on the side of natural causes , however difficult it may be to
say what these causes were . The production of the organic world is , we see , mixed up with the production of the physical . It is mixed in the sense of actual connexion and dependence , and it is mixed in regard to time , for the one class of phenomena commenced , whenever the other had arrived at a point which favoured or admitted of it ; life , as it were , pressed in as soon as there were suitable conditions , and , once it had commenced , the two classes of phenomena went on , hand in hand , together . It is surely very unlikely , a priori , that in two classes of phenomena , to all appearance perfectly co-ordinate , and for certain intimately connected , there should have been two totally distinct modes of the exercise of the divine power . Were such the case , it would form a most extraordinary , arid what to philosophic consideration ought to be a most startling exception , from that which we
otherwise observe of the character of the divine procedure in the universe . Further , let us consider the comparative character of the two classes of phenomena , for comparison may of course be legitimate until the natural system is admitted , the absurdities into which we should thus be led must strike every reflecting mind . The Eternal Sovereign arranges a solar or an astral system , by dispositions imparted primordially to matter ; he causes , by the same majestic means , vast oceans to form and continents to rise , and all the grand meteoric agencies to proceed in ceaseless alternation , so as to fit the earth for a residence of ^ organic beings . But when , in the course of these operations , fuci and corals are to be for the first time placed in those oceans , a change in his plan of administration is required . It is not easy to say what is presumed to be the mode of his operations . The ignorant believe the very hand of Deity to be at work . Amongst the learned , we hear of' creative fiats / ' interferences / ' interpositions of the creative energy / all of them very
obscure phrases , apparently not susceptible of a scientific explanation , but all tending simply to this , —that the work was done in a marvellous way , and not in the way of nature . Let the contrast between the two propositions be well marked . According to the first , all is done by the continuous energy of the divine will , —a power which has no regard to great or small : according to the second , there is a procedure strictly resembling that of a human being in the management of his iifliiirs . And not only on this one occasion , but all along the stretch vof geological time , this special attention is needed whenever a new family of organisms is to be introduced : a new fiat for fishes , another for reptiles , a third for birds ; nay , taking 'i }) the present views of geologists as to species , such an event as the commencement of a certain cephalopod , one with a few new hodulosities and corrugations upon its shell , would , on this theory , requiro the particular care of that same Almighty who willed at once the whole means by which infinity was replenished with its worlds I "
"his passage sufficiently rescues the hypothesis from any charge of Atheism . In both theories it is the creative energy at work ; the only question with which philosophy concerns itself being one of process . Of course novelty is to vulgar minds tantamount to infidelity . " Precisel y as , witli respect to the motions of tho henvonly bodies , the geocentric theory waa that which tho appearances first suggested , and thoreforo was first cmwiieed by man . It took some time to introduce the heliocentric theory , even after |' had been established by proof . So is thcro a force of prejudico to bo overcome JH this caso , before any now hypothesis on the subject can expect to be fairly judged . has oven been said that to presume a creation of living beings as a series of natural events , is equivalent to superseding tho whole doctrine of the divine
author-« l » p <> f organic nature . With such a notion infesting tho mind , it must of course ' »» ulinost hopeless that tho question ohould bo candidly entertained . There can , in 1 utilit y , bo no reason adduced for holding this as necessarily following from the idea <> organic- creation in tho mannor of law , or by a natural method , any more than ^<» n u similar view of inorganic creation . Tho wbolo aim of science from tho bejpniniig has boon to ascertain law 5 one set of phenomena after another has been mmtfht undor this conception , without our over fooling that Clod was less tho i 1 ( . ' ., cmitor of lliH own world . It scorns strange that a ntund should appear _ owswiry at thia particular point in tho march of science . Perhaps if our ordinary c « n respecting natural law wcro more just , tho difficulty might bo lessoned . It )()
i wl V , ' ¦ . "" flieiuntly improasod that tho whole idea relates only to tho mode in lc iv . n 1 ) rft y hlw bce " P 1 *? 180 ' 1 to mUnifoBt his power in tho oxtornal world . It iwh ° ¦ ' « ' <) ltlto fu ( 1 <; <) f hiH ft"thorHhip of and supremacy over nature , precisely hum l ^' ° Mly tollin ff " H thllt > in » teiMl of donling with tho natural world as a kit h fi K tnilHcs Wlth JliH owu ««' " « , adjusting each circumstance to a relation Itho V T clmunBblIMS 0 » afl tlloy oniorgo , in tho liioilo befitting his flnito capacity , ' wi-vo ' - ori ff inally conceived , and since Mistained , arrangements fitted to Win ,, '' 1 ? OIloml »«»^ c ««« oy for « U contingencies ,- hiuiHolf , of course , ncccswirily l ' iv nioinoi t " arrul > rolnontH ' m tho oalv mottua b y which they could bo , even I Compering tho groat unity of JNutm * o—considering how oH orgmo
forms resemble each other , both in the past and the present , we may well say with the author , —• " Can we be content to assume—for , after all , it is assumption— -that a series of miraculous creations Was invariably to be in the manner of a piecing on and blend ' vng from one to another ^ when we have the alternative of presuming ( grant it were to'be'left to presumption alone ) that these connexions are only memorials of a natural law presiding over the development of the whole organic creation , and making it one and not many things ? We can only wonder that a man learned in the subject can see such a difficulty as he has here stated , and find it more easily passed over than the bare fact that certain mammalia have not changed for three thousand years , —for such is the only difficulty he states on the other side .
" It must further be recollected , that we are not only to account for the origination of organic being upon this little planet , third of a series which is but one of hundreds of thousands of series , the whole g f which again '' form but one portion of an apparently infinite globe-peopled space , . where all seems analogous . We have to suppose , that every one of these numberless globes is either a , theatre of organic being , or in the way of becoming so . This is a conclusion which every addition to our knowledge makes only the more irresistible . Is it conceivable , as a fitting mode of exercise for creative intelligence , that it should be constantly paying a special attention to the creation of species , as they may be required in each situation throughout those worlds at particular times ? Is such an idea accordant with our general conception of the dignity , not to speak of the power , of the Great Author ? Yet such is the notion which we must form , if we adhere to the doctrine of special exercise . "
Elsewhere the author thus , in one decisive passage , expounds his doctrine ¦ - : '— - " " In physiology , particularly , a phenomenon of slow and gradual movement must ever have an advantage over one which consists in a great and sudden effect , because all the observable processes in physiology are of the former character . Supposing that the reproduction of living beings—say , for example , trees— -were , from the invisibility of the seed , amongst the unsolved problems of science—suppose that , every part of the process being inscrutable prior to the appearance of the young plant above the soil , it were assumed and held forth , that plants were produced all at once , whether by natural or non-natural forces , would it not be felt as a great relief from the unsatisfactory state in which this explanation would leave us , if a
Schleiden or a Brown were at length to announce that he had detected the process of germination , a process of slow and gradual steps , each one leading on to another ? Would not even a well-supported hypothesis as to the deposition of seed , the penetration of sap , the expansion and bursting of the germ , and the sprouting forth of the stalk , be greatly preferable to remaining under some hazy , unsupported notion as to a miracle being required for every individual plant ? It is , then , as , in addition to all special evidences in its favour , the simplest explanation—as an explanation involving slow and gradual movement , such , as we usually see in nature—as an explanation appealing to and allying itself with science , instead of resting on a dogmatic assumption of ignorance , that I bring forward on this momentous occasion the principle of peog-kessive development .
" The proposition determined on after much consideration is , that the several series of animated beings , from the simplest and oldest up to the highest and most recent , are , under the providence of God , the results , first , of an impulse which has been imparted to the forms of life , advancing them , in definite times , by generation , through grades of organization terminating in the highest dicotyledons and vertebrata , these grades being few in number , and generally marked by intervals of organic character which we find to be a practical difficulty in ascertaining affinities ; second , of another impulse connected with the vital forces , tending in tho
course of generations , to modify organic structures in accordance with external circumstances , as food , the nature of the habitat and tho meteoric agencies , these being tho ' adaptations' of tho natural theologian . Wo may contemplate these phenomena as ordained to take place in every situation , and at every time , where and when tho requisite materials and conditions are presented—in other orbs as well as in this—in any geographical area of this globo which may at any time arise—observing only tho variations duo to difference of materials and of conditions . "
We have italicized certain phrases in this extract , desiring to call the reader ' s particular attention to them , for therein lies tho primary error of the author ' s doctrine , to which wo shall hereafter recur . Tho opponents of the Development Hypothesis always lay great stress on tho objection , that we have no evidence of any transition having taken place . There is no recorded fact of a fish having been developed into a reptile , and so on . On this the author remarks : —
" With regard to grade , it must bo admitted at once that , in Nature ' s government , there is no observable appearance of such promotions . But it may be asked , if , supposing such events to bo within tho scopo of nature , wo are necessarily to oxpoct to see them take place , or even to hoar of them having been recorded ? To sottlo this question , let us first inquire into the proportion of tho number of thoao grades to tho space of time believed to bo represented in tho fbssiliforous series of rocks . Mr . Lyell tolls us that tlto space between our nun and sorao of tho remote star-clusters , of which tho distance to Sirius ( not less than nineteen millions of millions of miles ) is but a fraction , may no inoro than compare with the wpaco of
time which has probably elapsed sinco tho origin of tho coralline limestone ovei which the Niagara is precipitated afc tho FuIIk . Now , tho number of grades of what may bo culled the first degree ( transitions from class to clans ) paBNOtl through by tho vertobrntft winco their « rigin in the early roolcs in , at tho utmost , three . Such a leap in organic : progress lias , thoreforo , only taken placo once in w ( iw / millions of millions of years . If such bo tho caso , all charico of such grade truiinitioii » being witnessed within tho four thousand years of historical humanity becomes so attenuated uh scarcely to have an existence " Elsewhere , —
" Wo seo this persistency , nnd think it fixed , exactly as inou have hitherto aeon tho solar position in tho univorue . Wo advanco among tho nturs at tho rate of two millions of millions of miles a year ; but astronomors toll us thwt it would tnko ninety millions of years to enable ufi to pass through tho whole , won at this rapid rate . Well , therefore , might tho uimHHinted eye and unoxamining intellect presume tho pince of tho solar system to bo fixed , for it is ovidont that no human tradition could record changes indicating tho translation . Yot wo jmum on to ilcrculos , although forty coutui'ioa iiulcd to romark tho oircuuwttuioo . fcJo may specific dis-
Untitled Article
AvGts * 20 , 1853 , ] IT tl fe t £ i A 0 E R . 813
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 20, 1853, page 813, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2000/page/21/
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