The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1882-06-09
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEsT.
BY ARTHUR 4 cox. ].

I'm the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. And the earth
was without form, and void and darkness
was upon the deep !; and the Spirit Of God
moved upon the face 81 the waters .s
sa'And God said, Let the waters under
the heavens be gathered togather unto
one place, and let the ddry land appear;
and it was so. = n r.. H. MI >s4I ..f
III Was the universe created substantially
as we now find it, or has it come to. it's
present condition by succession Of in
fnitesimal changes under the known oper-
ations Of general 'laws7 The latter, or
Nebular hypothesis, seems to correspond
with Moses categorical account Of the Gre
alton: ai r.: @5Is- ~ .f#" !"
!. The dry land did appear. Small in
area.at first, and only, as it were. to raise
its head for moment and again to dive
into the great waters. -: ...@~E> ! ..
Before the existence of life upon the
earth, the atmosphere was loaded with car
bonic and other acids representing all the
carbon and carbonates, sulphur and sui
pilates now composing the crust of the
earth; while the aqueous vapors repre-
sented the water we now see distributed
s7ser its surface. = .--.. -. il
& We might trace with .minuteness, how
by succession of survivals, vegetation
arrived atthat luxuriance and perfection
at the end of Palaeozoic times, perhaps
/! we should do so, but we shrink from a
work, on which volumes have been writ
ten, nd merely take q survey o. them a.
they existed Had Sir Thos Moore
a.ansered on these strands instead ot his
aginary Utopia he would have found
wide seas and low tiaents Of small ex-
tent, hot moist air, sitting and unsuited
for1ife. Clinging to the rocks and hiding
away among their. hollows, instead of sea
-urchins, and starfshes, and crabs, he
, would have found crinoids and trilobites----1
marshes overgrown with huge lepoden-
s :drons and branching calamites-a dense
+ underground of ferns inhabited by insects
and amphibians, no, serene. sky or fra
grant flowers, no luscious fruits or song
full birds in these dreary. woodlands he
would have been lulled to sleep by rust
ling leaves and splashing waters, called
upon during the night by thousand rep
tiles, serenaded by a great band Of am
phibians,4 awolse by the croak Of insects
and greeted by myriad Of mosquitoes.
IN vain would he have sung = /
when the mists have rolled in splendor
From the beauty of the hills, y
And the sunshine. warm and tender,
Falls in kisses on the rills, ! j r-@..
We may read loves shining letter,
In the rainbow Of the spray;
We shall know each other better " W."
When the mists have cleared away"
The survival of animals IS now estab-
lished on the wen known principal Of fit
ness. The primitive horse had FIVE toes
and 4 very broad fat foot As he inhab-
/ tied rnarshy region only those that had
such a foot survived-the others mired in
II swamps. h An increase of ferocious ami
mails drove him from the marshes and
caused his existance to depend upon his
speed. Hence his numerous toes and
largefeet became impediments and only
the small footed horse survived. Having
no longer use for 50 many toes they becme
fewer by disuse and finally disappeared.
There are other animals ); if their existence
depends upon their large feet, they viii
surely survive. On this principal you
need never mistake a pedestrian. ..0@3
@ The trunk of the elephant, the neck of
the giraffe and the arm Of the blacksmith
are only additional illustrations that use
strengthens and disuse weakenss. The
opponents Of Darwinism think the mon
keys tail is an insurmountable obstacle
in Developing a monkey into man. This
is readily explained by the foregoing
principal on the ground that his tail IS
not lit. LII Ee~. @s
Ii is said that many baldheaded tray-
erlers fall asleep ncrossing the desert Of
Africa--the otriches come along and sit
down upon their heads and hatch them
and thus perpetuate themselves. How