New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-09-19
EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION.
oartiuusa from F,r.. PAGE.


on and that on this hypothesis the. attempt to fix
any limit at which we could assign tne COM
mencement of this series of changes IS gwen
up. l am very anxious tbat you snan Ien,lao
that is to say, what they involve, you
can imagine spectator 70 nave Deen
present during the period 20 which they refer. On
Inc first hypothesis however far back in time you
place that spectator, he would have seen world
century though not perhaps IN AN ITS details Slmi-
lar to that which now exists. The ANIMALS when
existed would be the ancestors of those which now
exist and like them; the plants IN hike manner.
would be such ms we have now, and like them; and
de snpnosjtion is that at however distant period
of time you place your observer ne would sun hh9
mountains, lands, and waters, with animal ana
vegetable products AOurishiDg upon them and
sporting in them just as he finds now. That view
has been held. 1t was a faYorlto fancy OF
antiquity, and has survived along down toward the
present day. and il is worthy OF remark That III Is
hypothesis which is not inconsistent with what ge-
OsOgsts are familiar with as the doctrine OF TINT
forIntariansm That doctrine was held by Hutton,
and in his earlier days by Lyell. For Hutton was
struck with tho demonstration Of astronomers that
Die perturbations of the planetary bodies, however
treat they NAV be- yet sooner or later riehted them
lelves, and that the solar system contained within
kself self-aGjusting power by winch these aberra-
ions were all brought back to an equilibrium.
Hutton imagined that something OF the same kind
nav 90 on in the EARTH although no one recognized
more clearly than he the fact that the dry land is
being constantly washed down by ram and rivers
and deposited the sea, and that thus in certain
ength OF time, greater or shorter, the Inequalities
the carths surface must be leveled and its nigh
cunt the internal forces of nature by Which up
Ieayals become seated and give rise to new land,
hese operations may naturally compensate each
theT, and thus substantially for any asslgna-
BE time the general features OF the earth
night remain what they are And inasmuch as
here is no limit under these circumstances to the
successive development of the animals and plants,
{ is clear that the logical development OF tins idea
night lead to the conception OF the eternity OF the
World. Not that l mean to say that either Hutton
n Lyell held this conccption-assuredly not; they
would have been the first to repudiate 1t. But by
he arguments they used it might have been possible
Justify this hypothesis,
THE THEORY or CREATION IN PARADISE LOST.
The second hypothesis is that to which have re-
erred as the hypothesis which supposes that this
rider of THINGS had at some no very remote timo
ndden origin making it such as il now is. That is
he doctrine which you will find stated most fully
md clearly in tho immortal poem OF John Milton,
me English DiUina commedia, Paradise Lost"
believe It is alone through the influence of that
remarkable work, combined with daily teachings 10
Ehich we have all listened in our Childhood
,hat this hypothesis owes it general wide dlhusioh
AZ one of the current beliefs of Engish-speaAlng
oeople If You turn to the With Book Of Paradise
Lost YOU viii find there stated the theory the ny
rothesis TO which refer which is this; Ihat uhiS
visible universe of ours made It's appearance
Mt no great distance of time from the present
day, and that the parts OF which , ~ rs
eom,,osed made their appearance in certain oehu!Oe
3d. in fine space of six natural days, IN such a
monner that in the first of these days llSht appe'V
i'm rho second the armament or sky separated ttng
vvater above from the water beneath 1t; on the tn9
ay the waters drew away from Hle Iy ",U' 80; 81,
from it the vast vegetable ME Whc1 nom UAi H.
Juade its appearance; that the IOurtn udy was +oo
voted to the apparition of 1.-The sun, the Stars
line moon and the planets; tha5 on . Ine nh ~
Cay aquatic animals 0nglnateu With In ,orH
Ststers aud then on the sixth day the earth
Eaye rise TO our 1OnIIooleu t.It.ioi
Creatures aud to all varieties OF o ~
preceding day and finally man apPeare9 upon 1nc
rNartb and the work of fashl0nIng the nnlVcSc "SS
finished. John Milton rs nave ; Sla, these
,,orvclons processes occurred. doubt not that hlS
Immortal poem is familiar 70 all OF you Dut sholG
like to recall one passage to your MINDS IN Olucr tId'
NAV he justified in what shall have TO say he
rarIfng the perfectly concrete, definite CONCEPTION
which Milton had, what lac thought hau Oeeh 'ne
The sixth, and Of creation last, arose ,,,
With evening hsrps aud matn %9eg GT hcS lin Kind
Cattle and cIecpng things, and beast OF tae Ssrini
Opening her fertile womb, tccmd at birth
Numerous living creatures, perfect lOlns, o
IJlniJd and full grown; out OF the ground up rose
A. from his lair the wild beast where he wons
In forest wid, IN thicket brake, or den; ~,
4 A@O sSi Ge 1f the Il es od meadows grecn
Those rare ana solitary, these In focSs
Pasturing at once aud in broad hCards upsprung.
The grassy cods nov calved now half appears
Ma hinder par}s ;hGn springs broke from bonds
And rampant shakes Lis brinded In2us; tAe ounce
Thp libDaru and the tiger, az Jlit NlJc
Rising the crumblcd earth abo7e them threw
IN hlcck5; the swif. stag from under ground
Bore up his branching head scarce rom his mould
RehepOth biggest born OF Garth, u2hcayd
His vastness fseced the hocks aud beating rose
The river horse aud gcay crocodile.
Al once came forth whatever cgeeps the ground
There is no doubt as to the meaning of that ny
pothesis or as to what a man OF Nlltnns genius
expected would have been actually visible 10 one
who could know and witness the process, the
origination OF living things as he describes 1t.
THE EVOLUTION HYPOTHESIS
And then comes the third hypothesis, whichis the
bypothess of evolution, aud that suppOses that at
anv given period in the past we should meet with a
state of things more less similar to the present,
but less similar in proportion we go back in time;
that the physical form Of the earth could be traced
hack in this way to D condition in which
its parts were separated. as little moro than
a nebulous cloud making part of a
whole in which we find the sun and the
other planetary bodies also resolved; and
thatn we traced back the animal world and the
vegetable world, we should find preceding what
now exist animals and plants not identical with
them, but like them, only increasing their ditter-
enees as we 90 back IN time, aud at the same time
becoming simpler and simpler, unGli hnally we
should arrive at that gcatInous mass which, 20 laI
As our present knowledge goes, Is inc COhlhiOh
foundation of all life. =,
tins vast progression there would DC no pTeaeh OF
continuity no point at which We could say TINS IL
a natural process and this is not natural pro-
cess but that the whole might ho strictly com
pared to that wonderful series OF changes IiuGn
NAV DC seen going on every day under our eye, IN
virtue of which there arises ont of that seHl-nud'
homogeneous substance which we CAL an egg Ihe
complicated organization OF one OF the higher am
mails That, IN few WORDS Is WhaJ Is HeahI ny
the hypothesis of evolution -,
have already suggested that in dealing with