Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-12-07
Mn. HUxLEy's VIsrr.-We are not

M n. HUXLEY NISIT.-We 1Fe mol
among those who deprecated Mr.. Hux-
ley's visit to America, and certainly not
among those who regret that he came.
There was an indefinable dread of the
man among many religious circles, as
If he were not only an enemy, but a
very powerful enemy, who was pretty
sure to do mischief. The result, we
are sure, not only disappointed them,
but failed to give the expected support
to those who have been inclined to ia
vor the Darwinian hypothesis. The
first lecture introduced trick quite un-
worthy a fearless man of science, viz.
that of making Milton bear the ontfs of
the Mosaic account Of Creation To whip
the Bible around the shoulders of the
great poet, and assume to fight man.
when, in truth, he intended to fight
what all believers agree in regarding as
a sacred book, and most of them as an
inspired and authoritative book, was not
a pretty or manly thing to do. twas
a cunning performance, We admit, but
il was the performance Of q pcttiiogger,
and detracted very materially from the
popular respect which had been accord
ed to the man and his utterances.
1t is to be presumed that Mr.. Dar-
wins principal apostle would present
his facts and his arguments in the most
convincing way possible to him. He
took three evenings for the task. and
had the field all TO himself; but we do
not hesitate TO say that he failed in the
=" demonstratiye evidence" offered in
his closing lecture to fulfill the promi-
scs made in the first two. Had he de-
monstrated the soundncss Of his theory,
people would have believed in it. That
the most of them did not, Ought to be
regarded by Mr.. Huxley as evidence
worthy, at least, of his confederation
that his '' demonstrative evidence" de-
monstrated nothing. For, let it be re-
membercd, the religious mind of the
country is not as much afraid of the
theory Of evolution as it was, and is not
proof against conviction, as il might
once have been. 1t has apprehendcd
and accepted the fact that il takes a.
great power to originate an order OF
beings through evolution as by direct
act Of creation, and that to bind up oil
the possibilities and potencies of life in
protoplasmic masses, or ascidian cells,
is as marked an exhibition Of Almighti-
ness and infinite ingenuity as it would
be to speak into existence the perfected
creatures which we know. and which
we are. We do not hesitate to say that the
audiences which assembled to listen TO
Mr.. Huxley were tractable audiences.
They were not only tractable. bu. they
were capable. They were fully ade-
quate to the understanding Of his theo-
~, and the weighing Of his evidences
and arguments: and we have yet to
learn that he largely. or even appre-
ciably, increased the number Of his
disciples. Men went away feeling thai,
after all, the theory Of evolution was
nothing but theory it is still SO
much an hypothesis that it can lay no
valid claim to place in science. Ger
tainly, Mr.. Huxley shook no soundly
reasoning mans belief in God as the au-
thor of all life. 4" In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. "
When that beginning was,-how many
ages that beginning covered, d,-nobody
pretends at this day to know.
Everybody knows, however, that a
stream can rise no higher than its foun.
tain. If the conduits and recep,acles
into which that stream has been poured
are capable Of retaining IL, and incapa-
bic of conducting il further, it may not
rise so high. II seems to us repug-
nant to human reason that a low form
Of life uniformed by higher life, has
the power TO evolve form Of life high.
er than itself. There is not an analogy
of nature which does not initiate against
such a conclusion. There are none oi
the lessons Of science which do not
cad directly away from it. God NAV
work toward creative ends through
processes Of evolution, or he may
not. A horse may have been derived
from a three-toed animal, one Of whose
toe-nails spread into a hoof. with its
wonderful tarSus and metatarsus, or
he NAV not. A man NAV have de-
scended, or aseended, from a mon
KEY, or he may have been created by
a divine fat. II matters very little. 30
long as God is recognized a the author
of life, and the designer OF its multi,u-
dinous forms.
Cosr OF FENcEs.-We find bs CON-
pilstion of reports to the Department oil
Agric1lture,-that the cash value Of the
animal farm 1roiuefs pf the United