The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-01-23
NATURAL

To still farther illustrate the fact that Mr..
Tyndall is a man of moods and lenses and a very
unsafe leader to follOw,-particularly when he
allows himself to drift beyond the realm of ex
%perimental science,-we reproduce the following
extracts from a discourse delivered by him upon
- The Scientific use of the Imagination in
September, 1870:
Does life belong to wha; we call matter, or is it
an independent principle inserted into matter at
some suitable epoch-say when the physical condi-
tons became such as to permit of the development
of life Let us put the question with all the rever-
ence due to a faith and culture in which we all were
cradled-a faith and culture, moreover, which are
the undeniable antecedents of our present e~nlighten-
ment. L say let Us put the question reverently, but
let US also put it clearly, definitely. There are the
strongest grounds for believing that during a certain
period Of its history the earth was not, nor was ii fit
to be, the theatre of life. Whether this was ever a
nebulous period, or merely a molten period, does not
much matter; and if we revert to the nebulous con-
dition, it is because the probabilities are really on its
side. Our question is this: Did creative energy
pause until the nebulous matter had condensed, until
the earth had been detached, until the solar fire Had
so far Withdrawn from the earth's vicinity as to per-
NIT a crust to gather round the planetl Did il wait
until the air was isolated, until the seas were formed,
until evaporation, condensation, and the descent Of
rain had begun, until the eroding forces Of the at
~mosphere had weathered and decomposed the molten
rocks so far as to form soils, until the suns rays had
become so tempered by distance and by waste as to
be chemically fit for the decompositions necessary to
vegetable life. Having waited those ICONS until the
proper conditions had set in, did it send the fat
forth Let life be2' These questions define a n.y.
potbesis not without its difficulties, but the dignity
of which was demonstrated by the nobleness of the
men whom it sustained.
"MOdern scientific thought is called upon to de-
eide between this hypothesis and another, that of
Natural Evolution. What are the core and essence
of this hypothesis ? Strip it naked and you stand
face to face with the notion that not alone the more
ignoble forms of animalcular or animal life, not
alone the nobler forms of the horse and lion, not
alone the wonderful and exquisite mechanism Of the
human body. but that the human mind itself-emo-
ton, intellect, will, and all their phenomena-were
once latent in a fiery cloud. Surely the mere state
ment Of such a notion is more than a refutation.
But the hypothesis would probably go even further
than this. Many who hold it would probably assent
to the position that. at the present moment all our
philosophy, all our poetry, all our science, and all
our art-Plato, Shakespeare, Newton, and Raphael
are potential in the fires of the sun. l do not
think that any holder Of the Evolution hypothesis
would say that l overstste it or overstrain it in any
way. l L merely strip it of all vagueness, and bring
before you unclOthed and unvarnished the notions
by which it must stand or fall. Surely these notions
represent an a~bsurdity too mOnstrous to be enter
tanned by any sane mind"
To this unequivocal, decisive and emphatic
condemnation of the hypothesis that life and
mind have gradually evolved from mere matter,
by mere natural law,-the multitude, both learned
and unlearned, can respond with a hearty amen.
This same Mr.. Tyndall, in 1874, in 81 hours of
weakness and doubt according to his own
confessiOn-come to the following conclusion
abandoning all disguise, the confession 1 feel
bound to make before you, is, that l prolong the
vision backward across the boundary of the ex-
perimental evidence, and discern in matter the
promise and potency of every form and quality
of life" This Z" confession 4" was made at Bel
fast. Being brought to bay, the scientist makes
another 40 confession - to the theologians, in which
he frankly admits that the {" confession ." made at
Belfast - did not commend itself to his mind in
hours Of clearness and yigor - in fact, that, " in
the presence Of healthier and stronger thoughts,
it even dissolved and disappeared" We may
reasonably infer that the conclusion reached in
his hours of clearness and yIgor, when stronger
and healthier thoughts possess his mind, is That
luton represent an a~bsurdity too monstrous to be
entertained by any sane mind. So say we all.