, 1873-05-25
pAHW1N-AEASSIZ.


whom there are many-are apt to forget that Mr.
Darwin himself has never claimed for 1t any
higher value or authority than that OF q con-
+ lecture supported by some curious facts. Oar
winicm is not one Of the positive sciences. Its
conclusions arc not yet susceptible of demon
stration by the fire senses. Nor is it one of the
inductiye sciences. It does not proceed from
known facts to generalization Of the order Of
nature. It depends altogether upon priori
reasoning. Known reeemblances OF species have
suggested to Mr. Darwin, as they had previously
suggested to the author Of Vestiges Of Crea-
tion, the possibility that all animated nature,
including man, might have been propasated
from single germ through successive ages Of
evolution. To show how this might hare been
accomplished, Mr. Darwin published his work on
Selection il, Relation 10 Sea, exhibiting tendency
on the part of animals to propagate and preserve
the race from the highest and most perfect
specimens, willie the weaker and less perfect are
crushed out in the struggle for existence. To
this fanciful idea Dr.. Bastian has added another,
k441 tAA6AAaA 6IAAA lucy A8sV oNeA 4A0A0~S%e
BY the operation Of nature from inanimate vege-
table matter. He claims to hare produced
Bdcte7iH- microscopic animal germB-from Eo1u-
hons OF ;infusions Of hay, turnips, and other
vegetable substances which had been sub
jected to heat sufficient to have killed
any animal Life, and which, having been
inclosed in alright vessels, could not
have received any animal germs from the
atmosphere. The French chemist, Pasteur,
denies stoutly the possibility of producing ami
mai life in this way, alleging that DR.. Bastinn's
experiments are unsatisfactory, since the heat
which he employed WAS only 212 degrees Fahren-
heit the boiling point Of water, whereasit should
have been fully 1000 degrees to make sure Of
the destruction of all animal life contained in
the infusions.
Notwithstanding tie undemonstrated plight OF
the Darwinian theory, eo-called, the number OF
it's adherents is large, and embraces 80 many of
the foremost thinkers Of the age that it is deem
ed necessary for writer's on tho philosophy
Of life nowadays to declare themselves
for or ngainst it, and oven religious
publications have begun to inquire how
their respective crocds viii square with
it, it, in the future, it shall be accepted as an ex
PLANTATION Of the origin Of man. Mr- ". R.
Greg, in his late volume on the Ehtgnaas OF
Lifc,-a very profound and ennobling work in
many respects, makes the startling remark that
there are very fow thinkers who have given an
unprejudiced examination to the Darwinian
theory who have not given their adhesion to it
"a statement which re take leave to deny very
roundly. Certainly there is not more careful
Investigator Of natural science in the world than
Prof. Agassiz. This learned sarant recently de-
1ivered lecture at the Museum of Comparative
Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass, on the
brains and mental powers OF the lower
animals, in which he practically demolished
the so-callad science Of Phrenology, aud incl
dentally gave severe thrust at the Darwinian
theory. All animal life, unless derived from the
division Of another like itself, he says, proceeds
from IN egg, or ovu1e. This egg never develops
into anything superior to the parent organism
It may, and sometimes does, develop into some-'
thing intaior, but there is no instance in which
it has been known to yield, OF evolve, any higher
type than itself. Whether any progressive eYo'