Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-06-27
From the London Times
Mr.. Darwin's Hypothesis.

II, IN short, In It's general applica-
ton, Mr.. Darwin's hypothesis is ut
terly unsupported by observed facts
it is still more destitute of such sup
port IN 5 application to man. Mr..
Darwin himself admits two things /:
first, that the difference is immense
between the highest monkey and the
lowest savage; and, secondly that
"this great break in the organic
chain cannot be bridged ever by any
extinct or living species" or, as he
again expresses it, that "the connect
ing links between man and some
lower form have not hitherto been
discovered" No monkey has been
discovered which is even comparable
with man no race of savages, how
ever degraded, can be regarded as on
the level with monkeys. If Mr. OAR
wins hypothesis were true, it is all
most incredible that no evidence
should be producible of the existence
of ape-like creatures closely allied TO
man and showing u tendency to furth-
or development. On the other hand
we have the undoubted and recorded
experience of at least four thousand
years of history, during which many
races of man have been subjected to
influences the most diversified and
the most favorable to the further de-
velopment of their faculties. After
the lapse of that 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 facul~
ties have in any degree improved.
lie has accumulated knowledge, he
has increased the instruments of his
thought and action, and his power
has thus been augmented. But there
is some reason to think, with Plato,
that these numerous aids have actual
ly debilitated his natural vlgor of
body aud mind. At all events, it is
in glaring contrast with Mr.. Darwin's
theory of continuous development to
observe that the earliest known ex-
amples of mans most essential char.
acteristics exhibit his faculties in the
greatest perfection ever attained. No
poetry surpasses Homer's; no relig-
ious 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 ar
more beautiful than the models which
Greek sculptors have preserved for
us. History is continuous refutation
Of the theory that faculties are
gradually called iuto existence by
circumstances. On the contrary,
they seem to start fully formed from
the brain Of man, and to work out
their inherent power of the modifica-
ton Of circumstances. Race after
race appears on the scene-the Egyp.
tian, the Jew, the Greek, the Roman,
the German, each with some special
endowment working as it were in its
blood with inexhaustible vigor. The
endowment is applied in various
ways, and its forms are multiplied ;
bat it seems to lose rather than to
gain, in fullness and fervency by the
lapse of time and the course of expe-
rience. The real problem of life
lies in that mysterious fertility, at
once so 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..
Darwin's facile method of observing
superficial resemblances, but in the
difficult task Of penetration into hid
den differences. 1t is a problem
which will be solved, if at all, not by
romances in human and natural his
tory, but by minute Investigations
with the microscope and in the labor
atory.