, 1877-10-20
The Origin OF species.
HOW SPECIES ARE EvoLyED--THE REC.
ORD of THE ROCKs--rHE LESSON MAN
MAY LEARN FROM NATURE.

hAi LEARN fRDM NAtl KE.
The lecture delivered 10y Professor
Cunning at Dashaway Hall on the 25th
ut. ON The Origin OF Species was
the best attended and most interesting
OF the course. The lecturer said he had
hcen'"d by many that although Caliior-
IN was very good ground or the stu,'yol
Geology, he would find that it was Il
very poor lecture field. In this, he said,
he lind been most ngrrcnbly disappoint-
ed, and complimentrd the citizcns nf
the State un the intelligent interest
"vlnced in the study ot gcalogy.
THE CRY FOR KNOWLEDGE.
The first articuhtc cry Of the human
mind, said the speaker, seems to have
been acry OF wonder Where and wlo,"
cried an ancient HindoO, was he,
the fellow without bones who made
the first fellow with bones! Where WAS
the life, the bone, the blood OF the
world, Yon bright sky was not, nor
was heavens o'erarchiug root stretched
abovc.' The Hebrew was not given
like the llindOo to distractions. He
spoke the mere facts OF creation; ii he
had concerned himsl with methods, he
would have seen TINT creation must
have gone on according to law and
through instrumentalhtics.
THE ANSWER OF SCIENCE.
Science concerns herself with methods.
If we look closely into nature, We see
that things reproduce their kind, but
not exactly after their kind, Tor change
ut place, habit, diet, etc, produce change
OF kind. An animal is taiget at which
nature shoots all her arrows; she assails
it with heat and cold, and rain and
drou,h. II it lives it must keep in equi.
| librium with nature about it. Stability
in the organic world is impossible while
the inorganic world is unstable.
Fluctuations must atf ct every animal
exposed To fluctuations of heat and
cold, OF light and darkness, of hunger
and safety No two blades ef grass are
alike, for they are not bedded in the
same atoms of soil, or bathed in the
same drops OF dew, or the same floods
of light. As the lorces and conditions
which surround life fluctute, SO fluct-
! uate the hubllliments in which life robes
itself. Here, then, is factor working
change IN the organic world-the ever.
changing conditions OF the inorganic
world. There is another factor the
struggle for lie. Nature assaiis one
organism with the hungry mouths OF
other organisms The mouths ale many,
The morscls few. Nature profftrs lite to
many, and sustalns but lew.
A BIG FISH STORY.
A Goldfish in one year, said the spea-
ker, lays 100000 eggs. Ii every egg
were to he hatchetl, and every codling
were to grow into cod, within n lew
years the progeny OF one cod would brim
the oceans from surface to abyss. But
this statement has been questioned as an
under estimate of the facts, and he
would try to set it right, and base his
declaration on mathematical calcula tiOn.
Suppose TINT every germ became fish,
and that space furnished matter MS fast
as the fish supplied germs. Suppose
there is in the universe only pair of cod
fish, and that you hold them in your
hand. Stand on the wharf ut your twen-
tieth birthday, and drop them into the
sea, and then fly! Below you, in one
year, will be 9,OOO,OO Goldfish; in two
years, 42 trilliun; in three years. null
titude transcending the powers of nu-
meration In ten years a palpitating
sea of cod would invest the globe, over
topping the highest pinaacICs of the
Alps Fly now through space with the
speed of light The sea OF cod sweIIs;
1t bounds outward through space with
speed greater than light. and on the
morning of your tittieth birthday it will
overtake and eugulf you.
THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.
This is but an illustration of the
struggle for life which is constantly
gong on. Nature Is the war of each