The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-10-07
DARWIN,s THEORY ILLUSTRATED.

On Monday, Sept. Gath, number OF ladies
aud gentlemen assembled in the Franklin
School House for the purpose of being exam
ined in the several branches appertsfning to
the Academic Course of the Public Schools.
They entered that building fnlly realizing
that each one was q descendant Of Adam-en-
lowed with understanding, memory, and free
will. q being in fact, "a little lower than the
anpelsn-but, wonderful to relate, fifteen |
minutes spent inside those walls brought to |
each ones consciousness the startling conyio- |
ton that he was not what he thought himself
to be-but instead, q mass of gelatinous sub |
stance-in fact, o regular jelly fsh, o palpits' !
ting compound Of albumen and hbrfne. --
The muscles Of the system became perfectly
unreliable, losing both their tension and their
strength the flesh quivered like masses OF
blano-mange, and the faculties Of the mind
disappeared in one universal chaos.
The essential difference between the applt-
cant and the jelly Ash was, that while the lat
ter was acknowledged to be nothing but an
organized mass Of water and solid matter, the
former was supposed to be o reflective, dis.
eliminating, responsible moral being!
The accumulated knowledge Of many years
of study and experience became tangled mass
| wc, ds of three letters W as question Of mental
anxiety, and while the judgment seemed 30
have lost its balance the will remained in
complete allegiance.
Thus the will, the udsusnt and the memory
being eliminated from the mind, the muscles
deprived of their elacticity and the flesh Of its
consistency, did not Darwin's theory receive
palpable illustration, alike creditable to his
science and convincing to his followersf
The cause of the change, or metamorphosis,
was simple enough-apparently inadequate to
produce such startling effects. The PROFOUND.
ing of ten questions in various sciences apd
the requiring of answers in writing from each
applicant-this was the agency which trans
formed ladies and gentlemen into organized
Medues, or brought them all into the family
of Acalepks.
But as it lie mot death, but the cause of destl
that makes the martyr" 30 it WAS not the ex
animation, but the causes Of the examination
that led to such startling and unexpected
phenomena.
These causes ore so manifold that We oal
J, only glance at few of them. Some ar
}, pathetic, others ridiculous, but all are tangbl
d and real.
:, In one case, widowed mother, whose tende
hands had just closed the eye-lids of faithful
a daughter, and whose heart had opened t
!. receive that daughters helpless child, esssye
O with trembling fingers to perform the tas
), assigned her. The cause Of her nervous LEI
- ters and indistinct figures might be trace
- back to au early tomb, or to the feeble cry of
new born babe. The psper before her SCENE
to her the life or death warrant of that smiles
child, the passport to her own happiness c
g u tier desolation. God help the hand that trie
% to be steady, the heart that tried to be con
q posed
J. Another case furnished strange contrast
!, THE. Au applicant desired to obtain ros
10 ton was most eager in the pursuit of it,
n Order that she might be able to enjoy the In:
n,y of blue elk dress! That was o.
, but tie object was important, and to her tt
:, examination paper seemed a bill of dry good
- or a promise to pay, with time and intere
taken into consideration
N In another place, daughter strove to W
the privilege of supporting her eyed parent
% in this, a sister preferred to earn her own pi
~ money for ball-trimnings, to receiving it fro
le q wealthy brother.
ct There, father struggled with fortune
10 provide food and shelter for his family bel
bo a wife bravely stretched out her hands to a
"a one who, having borne al the heat and lab
of the day, was falling beneath the too-hea
W. burden.
In many cases seldsbness reigned suprem
in others far more humorous, necessity, gre
full love, disinterested devotion, holy instinct
NJ these were the motives-the unseen csuE
,al which made fingers weak, muscles unsteat
bv and heart and hssh tremulous with fear.
It Darwiu's theory (saVe the mark y may son
at times discover palpable confirmation Of
md absurdities, but the theory of human natl
TO must be e1plaiaed by hidden syringe and
Ike Visible agencies.
,ss The Psre& Fates that presided over t
ARA crucial test of mind and matter, unlike th
classic predecessors, had voices full Of sy
yil patty for the human, while their eyes W
by stern only with the determination of truth
fifth justice.
No doubt they analysed with scientific I
ucis cison the multitudinous effects displayed
fore them, and gagged the palpitating pr
plaEms bv their own large experence in