Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1871-01-21
Huxley Oh the Hypothesis of Special
Creation. E@G4.


The arguments brought forward in
its favor all take one form IF species
were not supernaturnlly created, we
cannot understand the fact, DC we
cannot understand the structure of ami
mails or plants, unless we suppose they
were contributed for special ends; we
cannot understand the structure of the
eye, except by supposipg it to have been
made to see with We cannot under
stand instincts, unless we suppose ami
mails to have been miraculously endowed
with them
As q question of dialectics, it must
be admitted that this sort of reasoning
is not very formidable to those who are
not to be frightened by consequences.
1t is an argumentum al ignorantum-
take this explanation or be ignorant
But suppose We prefer to admit our
ignorance rather than adopt hypothe-
sis at variance with all the teachings Of
nature; or suppose for moment we
admit the explanation, and then seri
ously ask ourselves how much the
wiser are we; what does the explanation
explain? l. it any more than grand
Eloquent way Of announcing the fact
that We really know nothing about the
matter? A phenomenon is explained
when it is shown to be case of some
general law of nature; but the super
natural interposi,iou Of the Creator can,
by the nature Of the case, exemplify no
law, and if species have really arisen in
this way. it is absurd TO attempt to dis
cuss their origin.
Or lastly, let US ask ourselves whe-
ther any amount Of evidence which the
nature Of our faculties permits US to
attain, can justify Us IN asserting that
any phenomenon is out of the reach of
any causation ? To this end it is obvi-
ously necessary that we should know all
the consequences to which all possible
combinations continued threngh unlim-
tied time can give rise, Ii We know
these. and found none competent to
originate species. we should have good
ground for denying their origin by nat
ural causation Till we know them,
any hypothesis is better than one that in
wolves Us in such miserable presumption.
But the hypothesis of special crea,
tion is not only mere specious mask
for onr ignorance, its existence in biol>
ogy marks the yonth and imperfection
of the science. For what is the history
of every science but the history OF the
elimination of the notion of creative,
or other interferences with the natural
order of the phenomena, which are the
subject matters of that science? :? When
astronomy was young, the morning stars
sang together for joy, and the planets
were guided in their courses by celestial
hands. Here the harmony of the stars
has resolved itself into gravi,ations
according to the inverse square of the
distance, and the orbits of the planets
are deducible from the laws of the
forces which allow a schoolboy's stone
to break window. The lightning was
the angel of the Lord; but it has
pleased Providence in these modern
times, that science should make it the
humble messenger of man, and we know
that every fash which SINNERS about
the horizon on q summers evening
is determined by ascertainabe condi-
tions. and that its direction aud bright
ness might, if our knowledge of these
were great enough, have been calculat-
ed.-- Lay Sermons, Addresses and Re.
views, PIP 28l>3.1