Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-06-15

time man remains as distinctly man as he
was before, just as all the animals with
which he is acquainted have preserved
their specific characteristics 1t is more
than questionable whether his faculties
have in any degree improved lie has
accumulated knowledge, he has increased
the instruments of his thought and action.
and his power has thus beer augmented.
But there Is some reason to think, with
Plato. that these numerous aids have ac-
tually debilitated his natural vigor of
body and mind At all events, it is i'm
glaring contrast with Mr.. Darwin's theory
of continuous development to observe
that the earliest known examples of mans
most essential characteristics exhibit his
faculties in the greatest perfection ever
attained No poetry surpasses Homer's
no religious sentiment is more sublime
than that in the Book of Genesis; no art
is more perfect than that of Greece; no
specimens of the human form are more
beautiful than the models which Greek
sculptnrs have preserved for U.S. History
is continuous refutatiOn of the theory
that faculties are gradually called into
existence by circumstances. On the con-
trary, they seem to start fully formed
from the brain of man, and to work out
their inherent power for the modification
of circumstances. Race after race ap-
pears on the scene-the Egyptian, the
Jew, the Greek. the German, each with
some special endowment working, as it
were, in its blood with inexhaustible
vigOr. The endowment is applied in
VA ioGs ways, and its forms are multi
piled; but il seems to lose, rather than to
gain, III fulness and fervency by the lapse
of time and the course ofeXperiy The
real problem of life lies in that mysteri-
Gus fertility, at once 50 constant and so
variable, by which the same nature is
constantly reproduced, but by which,
from time to time, germs of new energy
seem developed. The solution of this
problem is to be sought, not in Mr. Dar-
wins facile method of observing super
fetal resemblance, hut in tie difficult
task of penetrating into hidden differ
ences. 1t is problem which will be
solved, if at all. not by romances in hui
man and natural history, but by minute
investigations with the microscope and in
the laboratory.
We wish we could think that these
speculations were as innOcuous as they
are impractical and unscientific, but it is
too probable that. if unchecked, they
might exert very miSchievous influence
We abstain from noticing their bearings
on religious thought, although it is hard
to see how, on Mr. Darwin's hypothesis,
il is possible to ascribe TO rnan any other
spiritual existence, than tha; possessed By
the brutes But, apart from these ccnsid-
erations, if such views rs he advances on
the nature OF the moral sense wcre gen
orally accepted, it seems evident hat mo-
rality would lose all elements of stable
authority. and the "ever-fixed marks"
around which the tempests of human
passion now break themselves, would
cease to exert their guiding and controll-
ing influence Mr. Darwin is careful to
observe that he docs not wish "to main
tain that every strictly social animal, if
its intellectual and social faculties were to
become as active and as highly developed
as man, would acquire exactly the same
moral sense as ours" If this be the case.
why should our existing moral sense be
deemed a permanent standard? "If. for
ins'Gnce,'' says Mr.. Darwin, "to take an
extreme case, men were reared under pre-
cisely the same conditions as hive-bces.
there can scarcely be doubt that our un-
married females would, like the worker
| bees, think il "A sacred duty to kill their
brothers, and mothers would strive TO kill
| their fertile daughters, and no one would
think of interfering What is this but
TO place every barrier of moral obligation
at the mercy of the conditions of life :"
Men, unfortunately, have the power of
acting, not according to what Is this ulti-
mate social Interest, hut according 70 their
IDEAS OF it; and, if the doctrine could be
Impressed on them that right and wrong
have nc other meaning than the ru-s,~ii.
or the neglect of that ultimate interest.
conscience would cease to be check up
on the widest, or, as Mr. Darwin's own
illustration allows us 70 add, the most
murlerous revolutions. At moment
when every artificial principle of authori-
ty seems undermined, we have no other
guarantee for the order and peace of life
except in the eternal authority of those
| elementary principles of duty which are
independent of all times, and all circum-
stances. There is much reason to fear
that loose philosophy, stimulated by an
irrational religion, has done not little to
weaken the force of these principles in
France, and that this is, at all events one
potent element in the disorganization of
French society. A man incurs grave re-
sponsibility who, with the authority of a
well-earned reputation, advances at such
time the disintegrating speculations of
this book. He ought to be capable of
supporting them by the most conclusive
evidence of facts. To put them forward
on such incomplete evidence, such cur
sorry investigation. such hypothetical ar
guments as we have exposed, is more
II
than unscientific--it is reckless.-From a
Recieac ia the London T'iaaes.