The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-01-13
TERMS or SUBSCRIPTION.
PROFESSOR DANA ON EVOLUTION.
The Views which he Presents In his Col
Entra uaasu.a.

PROFESSOR DANA ON EVOLUTION.
The Views which he Presents In HIS Col
lcge Lectures.
Professor James D. Dana, Of Yale Col
lege, sends a letter to the New York Ind,
pendent explaining his views on e~volutio,
as taught in his college lectures. In tn,
course ofthe letter he says:
any conclusion as to the chief point
whether evolution went forward by nat
ural causes, or by divine flats partly O.
wholly-as brought out in the last lectur,
OF the course. liz, in a condensed form, al
follows: That the special means Of change
and progress by which 1t Is supposed
species may have been made from species
and the systems OF life evolved are not ex,
planned by any facts thus far ascertained
or by any theory OF evolution; that nc
system OF causes has yet been proved to be
adequate for the results; that the insuftic
iency Of oil environments and environ
ment conditions, withouts some p%rofoundel
means, ia manifest; that the theory o.
natural selection is a theory Of selections,
aud not OF the origin Of species, and that
the selective breeding exempllded in man,
which It appeals to as It's fundamental
principle, can rarely take place under nat
ural conditions. .
.'But, alter saying that To me the causes
and conditions appealed to seem made
quate,' | nevertheless admit .
that, however inadequate the known agen-
cies OF change may seem TO be, 1t is alto
gothcr probable that there have been nat
ural causes Of work, which were sufficient
for the development otthe systems OF lie
20 lar that there were few occasions for
divine Intervention.
81 further endeayor to show that mans
physical nature, as well Us his spiritual,
was not q product or educt Of evolutionary
processes; but that 1t demanded Tor its
creation q divine act, referring for proof,
as done by Wallace, TO the TACT that the
brain OF the lowest race OF man has twice
the cubic contents OF the highest manape;
to the fact, further, that the skeleton OF
man Is adapted throughout for a vertical
position, and that Of the ape for a horizon
tai orinclined, and the geology has discov-
cred no human remains in the rocks that
indicate q lower grade Of man than now
exists, or one that makes the first shade Of
approximation TO the inclined structure oil
the ape, and also 10 the existence OF moral
sense, etc.-all showing that some other
power than Natures was required for
mans existence.
81 also argue that the facts from science
thus far asCertained sustain strongly the
view that the introduction of life on the
globe demanded divine intervention, and
that there may have been divine interven-
ton, for all that science has to say on the
subject, in other cases in the grand sys-
lem Of progress.
81 observe, further, that creation OF spe-
cies by divine flats does not necessarily
imply creation out OF dead matter, but
that creation Of species from species would
be as strictly creation by a divine act, and
OF tho two methods the latter would be,
most probably, the true one, in
view OF the economy Of action un.
der Gods laws. .
"As to my belief that the primary forms
OF animals out Of which the several great
classes were developed were determined
by the peculiar molecular construction OF
matter which favored the germof one class
or ofanother,' the Specification and signifi.
canoe are not precisely what would be
inferred by the reader Of these words in
the Independent 1t is my belief that all
resultsand conditions are reached through
or in concurrence with molecular law;
that the differences In germs, leading to
their different modes OF evolution and diff
ferent adult forms, are some way express.
ed in their molecular constitution. But,
NTH mo thi 10 wha1iu tndapanIaat af+ba
question whether evolution was carried
forward by successive divine acts, or.by
natural causes, after an initial fiat. Mole.
cular law is law by divine act; and
in conformity TO that law and through
it creation, whether by fiat or by
natural growth, must have taken place.
The great lines OF progress in the systems
OF life, indicated by the divisions OF class
es, orders, etc., l believe to have had their
foundation fixed in molecular law, under
the divine will, and not TO be a product or
consequence OF environment conditions.
The theories OF evolution which make
progress mere transformism, as II has been
designated, or q direct result OF the pull
ing, shaping or Transforming action OF en-
vironments, l regard as based on a super
fetal view OF nature. I hold that in evo.
luton there wa truly an evolving; that
beneath are molecular and physiological
laws whose action, external conditions or
the environments were able to'modify, but
not to control. And | may say further
that 1t ismy contiding belief that all law
Is law by divine appointment, for a divine
purpose, and that all force Is the ever
active divine will.
"Finally, 1 close my lectures by an ex.
position, from a scientific point Of view, oil
the first chapter OF Genesis, and present
the conclusion | have long held, that the
two records-the earlier revelation and the
later, Nature and the Bible are one in
their explanations Of the history OF erea'