The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-05-10

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ING, NAY 10, 1876.
THE EvoLUFIeN THEORY.
lecture by sRey. DIR. ssasnson.f ii
ITt5t5f .;!.fTTssEg y u h :1tI ii r So
THE INHERENT FORCE IMMATURE DISCUSSED
hTHE TWO SCHOOLS sioF EyoLUTIosIsTss1A- e
WHAT THE MICROSCOPE HAS REVEALED
DARWIN AsD AGAssrz REvfEwED-NoRAL
AND nEIfdioYs ef BEaRrsG p 8 or THE SUBJECT.
Rev. DR.. George w, samson, formerly of
Columbian College, Washington, D. G., now
Of New York, delivered an interesting lee
ture on "The Evolution Theory y at Rich
mond College yesterday,
The lecturer referred TO the fact that all
its advocates admit the doctrine OF evolution
to be as yet but q theory; while, too, ass a
philosophy, it has its distinct schools. Sci
ence is systematiZed knowledge, art is ap-
piled knowlcdge, and philosophy is unified
knowledge; or, rs Aristotle, cited by HAM
ilton, defines it % Philosophy is the sci
ence of sciences and the art of arts" har-
monizing into one, system the principles
Of all sciences and. the experiments in all
arts. I Il theory is the suggestion OF o prin-
ciple not yet proved T.. to- be . scientific re-
ality. ;.5F .,. s5.'3... 81. M # ,... 49,
!, Evolution, as q doctrine, teaches that the
universe, with it's various organisms, has
taken form by an inherent force existing In
nature, as opposed to an external force inn
posed on nature. There are at the least five
classes OF forces recognized by all observers
Mechanical, such as that which has made
the earth, by its; own revolution, an oblate
spheroid;; physical, or chemical, by which
water, made up OF oxygen and hydrogen, is
composed or decomposed; Uita!, or that
which constructs plant organism; psychicdi,
or that which gives instinct and animal loco
motion; and spiritual, or that which evolves
thought and design. The Brallmins OF In
dia, in the early Vedas, developed theory
of the Universe covering the first and third
OF these forces; tne Greeks advanced their
theories so as toinclud de all the five, and thus
were the predecessors OF modern evolution
lists. .I5Ezl pe1.
In all ages, however, two schools have
divided evolutionists 1.-The material, who
make the evolving force an attribute OF
matter, and the ideal, who make it an attri-
butte Of spiritual being. To meet and, il
possible, harmoniZe these two classes, Got
anea, in India, indicated that five kinds Of
causes conspire in all organisms. This he
illustrated in the artists construction OF q
vase, in which the clay is the material cause,
the yase-shape which it assumes the formal
cause, the potter's wheel on which it is
whirled while being formed the Instrumental
cause, the artist who moves the wheel and
guides the scraper the efficient cause, and
the end for which the artist is making the
vase the final cause. Aristotle resolved the
third and fourth Of these into one,j and IL
Illustrated the four causes in the growth OF
plants rs the beet, and OF animals as the
fish. The ablest OF the Brahmin sages, as
Gotanea and Menu, showed that design
ing, creative mind must be the originator OF
ali forms; and Anagoras, Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle made his existence demon
stration, urging that it is unscientific to note
second causes at all unless the investigator
goes back to the first cause.
Modern eyolutionists have dwelt, some on
mechanical, others on vital forces; and they
are now resolved into two distinct schools
the English material Of Darwin and the
German spiritual of Haeckel; while that
leading mind, Spencer, seems to be seeking
to hold to BOTH Darwin is in both schools
the acknowledged discoverer OF the law OF
the vital force OF the organic world, as
Newton was the discoverer Of the naechQn'-
cal law Of the solar system. Prior to OAR
win. Lamarck and others contended that by
external causes, as change OF food and cll-
mate, animals in different regions had grown
into different species, and that Individual
effort had caused latent organs to be deVel-
oped, so that the. whales inns became
the crocodile's claws, and these again the
lions paws, the horses hoof, and the mon
keys hand. All this Darwin de-
nies, and puts forth a distinct the.
ory. The microscope has revealed that
the germ or ovum of fishes, reptiles,
ouadrupeds, and OF mankind, are lndistln-
guishable in structure; that in the process
OF growth from the embryo each passes sue
cessiYely through kindred stages of develop
ment; each, however, stopping at the limit
OF its parent. Darwin suggests that an I'M
proved animal OF lower type at length
gives origin to germ that develops into an
organism of higher type, and that thus the
human embryo in the succession OF ages may
have been evolved from the embryo OF the
lowest organism He seeks to sustain his
theory from from four considerations. First,
from the improvement in varieties OF ami
mails and plants effected by culture; second,
bv the geological succession OF plants and
animals existing in former ages; third, by
the parallel types now inhabiting different
zones and continents; fourth, from the
analogy OF embryonic development just
cited.
Agassiz has replied in frequent lectures
and publications to the second and fourth,
which are hinging points. The first Is,
however, the essential element in the theory.
To it the following facts are reply: First.
All Darwin's cited cases, as in pigeons, are
but improvements in Uarieties, not the pro-
duction of new species. Second. All these
improvements are effected, not by the anl-
mails and plants in nature, but by designing
mind acting on nature. Third. All I'M.
nroyed breeds OF cattle and varieties OF
fruits and flowers exhaust their power OF
reproduction in the process OF individual
Improvement. Fancy English stock runs
out improved fruits soon degenerate; q
Napoleon can be the father only OF idiots.
Instead, therefore, Of Darwin's essential
postulate being true that an improved va.
riety may produce superior germ the iact
is that it produces an inferior type.
The lecturer presented the main polnt IN
Darwin's second work, "The Descent OF
Man" He glanced at the issues made ny
Taeckel in common with and departing
from Darwin, and especially at the moral and
reiig;ous bearing Of eyolHtion-theorles IN
yolying the admission OF new and lmpor,,
tsnt truths in corroboration OF the sacred
Scriptures.