Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1876-09-28
Huxley on Evolution!

was even larger than that of Monday,
and thshE fessofS nay, unoratorial
ST. cry acceptable to it& he
ls.if addressing class of
b and women who had
(z I'll to learn something he had
eSn. Their close and respectful
Ion showed that he was right. He
Began his lecture with brief statement
of what he had already shown-the un-
tenability of that hypothesis which
would have the past history of the earth
eternally like the present, and the over
poWering objections to the Miltonian
| hypothesis that the earth was created
| but short time ago, with the fauna and
flora which exist at present. 1t was of
|. little moment whether Milton ives on
| was not flae author of the: hypothesis ;
NJ any case the objections TO It rernaif,ed
I The same; historical evidence complete.
T ly disproYed it. The doctrine of evolu
]. tion is that man is the last result of q
series of natural processes in which there
has. been. no interruption or break of any
sort. This doctrine he, would now test
|, aud see how far evidence bearing upon
/ il was indifferent--thst is, made neither
/ for nor against it; how far evidence
rendered it pF0bable,. and lastly, how
/ firmly if. established it as a truth. The
most foreibie, argument ever urged
against evolution was that which Calve1
| first advanced in opposition to the. views
| of Isamsrck. The expedition to- Egypt
I bad brought back to- France mummified
/ animals which had:once been n.wofshipped
[ and which, as has sigoe been shown,
fngist have existed 4, 600. or s 900. years
E-r,s
purpose of seeing what fouadati6n there
was for the belief. In q gradual charge
and progressive development m an.
in4als, and found by comparison of
their skeletons with those of similar an
inals yet living 10 Egypt that no. change
. had taken place. Hence he too hastily
eopelydBd that, ia so far, evidence was
s$sitst evolution. But advancing re-
search spga- furnished. even stronger
bases tbau this. Near the whirlpool at
Nisgars, and upon Goat Island, is, q SUI
perfioial deposit, In which are the per-
feGtlYs pFeseTved remaiAs of animals
whose shells are precisely the same as
these now found in Lake Erie. Inc
formation of the, country now shows
that. these shells. were Deposited when.
the lake covered Abe whole. of that re-
gf6n, and, therefere, before the Fails
had cat >thfiF way bHct through the
sofge.df Niagara, q distance of six miles:
1t Id. Iitbia h@ands to cay that tbe;gFeat-
est rate st. which that cutting was done;
was .of1e foot q wear, and, as there are
.E{S9t &c. .g39 feet IN six miles, we Gau.
sfitiiis thts6 .tFra> shsil-fisb, whose Fem4ins
afe found there, must have lived 10000
years. ago, /. yet they are precisely Like
th9se. now ia the lake, showing no
cEy@sge IN that long period. Yet even
scbis:is not the strongest case offered IN,
evidence, I'ae faana and a0ra of the
Gre aoe9us epgeh- are like, opEs-; the ,glo.
.bsgeEiEas af sahteh chalk is eohapesed
iaaihs are now f6rThih ohaiass eisFSssr.s ss
the bottom of the ogeaa, so that it must
be adm3ted that certain species have not
changed since the CEetacgous epoch. III,
then, we loaE at types and genera, 8
vasily greater tille must be alo%6d- to
these persistent forRss The bsf0e iouna
Id the BhgllSh. chalk Is. .nOg- represented
by 81 closely allied species ia the5 A tfaHtie
and Pacific; ard slill further back the
coal formations cont ala. scorpions hardly
tiiStisgaishabte from those of our .owI3
day, and ahen we cOBsiderthe enormous
jl,ae thai has elapsed since the Csrboni.
fer0ns era ended, the objection assumes
Astounding proportions ii it atone is to
De considered At the boiIoIn of the
Sil6rian, in tie. Camhrian formation
whGfe fossils are rare, there. are. yet re,
.fn4ins OF ta0llusps hardly distiagQ gQishable
from those OF the present, and WaFe once
clAssed wiCllrtheRl, as is the ancient lin
gala siflagflar t0that Of modern AUatraaIa.
0biGcjions like these seem fatal to the
d0ctfiae of evolution for which the mo-
d}ticatiau of sHimaE forms is. q necessary
postHlate. But at this pniat the G.
searches of Darwin lend it their ai1,
in that they bsye shown the
existence Of tae tWp great fac
tors ia tAc process OF evolution first,
the tendency to variation which is proved
by the observation of all living forms,
and, secondly, the inffuenee of surround
ing conditions upon parent FORMS ard
their descendants The tendency to
vary being granted, the survival of the
parent forms or their deriyations depends
on circumstances ; if the conditions IA
vOr the derived forms, the parents dis.
appear ii they favor the parent form
it survives. In the latter case there is
no advance of type, and in the former
there will be modification and change of
form. This puts us in position to say
that the persistence of types, SO far
from making against evolution, favors
1t. The scorpions which dourished in
the Carboniferous period persisted better
than any derived forms, nor is there
reason to believe that in favorable cir
cumstances, they might not endure for
&c II,
ton. 1t is Indifferent it tells neither
on one side or the other. Another order
of facts calls for the same Interpretation.
The great group of lizards which run
back to the Permian, just above the coal
formation, differs but little from our
present group, and, if the enormous
length OF time they have endured be
taken into consideration, the slightness
of the change is remarkable. AS we go
further back, and there find no trace of
lizards or reptiles, it is clear that the
doctrine of evolution would be over
thrown if the formations we examine
represent the whole series of facts in
regard to the life or absence of life at
the time when they were laid. But
here, with Lyell and Darwin, we must
consider how very imperfect is that rec
ord of the rocks. Its incompleteness
can be demonstrated irrefragably oblit-
Grafton of traces has been wrought by
the action of water, and the metamor-
phosis of rock under great heat. Meta
morphic rocks are found in all ages, and
where we know they must at one time
have held remains. To show the made
quacY of the objection to eyolutionists,
that where their evidence fails, they
make shift to say that it has been
destroyed, the Brontozoum (bird)
tracks SO abundantly found in the
rocks in the Connecticut Valley
the tracks are !. there, and
OF biped with a stride OF six feet nine
inches, yet never has bone or feath-
er belonging to it been found-all but
the record of the foot upon what then
was .the yielding sandy seashore has
been obliterated. 1t is, therefore DEM
onstrably fallacious to conclude that an
imals did not exist far back in the night
of time, for the sole reason that no re-
cord of them remains. All such cases
are Indifferent in their bearing on eyolu-
tion they make neither for nor against
it. We now come to the consideration
of facts which do not, indeed, demon
strate evolution, but which, IT that doc
trine be true, would necessarily exist,