The Portland daily press., 1884-12-19
THE SURVIVAL OF THE sRETTEsT
Rev. Mr. DnEt3n's Lecture Before the EH.
q. M. Association.

q. III. Association.
This phrase, said the lecturer, is the equiya-
lent OF "Natural Selection" 1t is preferred
as the title to lecture like this, because 1t is
clearer, though they both denote that law Of
nature which regulates the increase Of all
things that live anG grow.
The lowest forms OF life are not only micros-
copic, but less, rather than more, than three
thousandths of an inch in diameter, and con-
sist of single albuminous cell with the little
antenns, or fingers, by which they reach out
for the substances from which their little bod
les are nourished. From these minute animal
organisms, the theory of evolution assumes
that all forms of living beings have been de-
rived Prof. Huxley claims that the deriva-
tion of many forms of life from lower pre-exist-
ing typea is fact, the only doubt relating to
the factors by which the evolution is effectsd
II we accept Prof. Huxleys statement, Prof.
Asa Grsy's is no less true viz: That evolution
is only the Tudder that guides the ship, and not
the propelling force. 1t has no power of its
own. A guiding mind Is necessary to
its efficiency, and an actual cause to
force the ship ahead, or she will not even obey
the helm, or answer to the intimssions OF the
pilot Now, the essential thing in nature is
this intelligent purpose and originating power,
so that the cosmos may agree with the con-
Ception Of the greatest naturalists and think
ers from Aristotle to Agassjz, viz: that il is
ian expression of Divine thought" snd that
man msde in the image of God is the end of
the material creation. Professors Dana and
WYman of Yale and Harvard also assert this,
with whom Professor Fiske, pronounced
evolutioDist, is in entire accord, as appears
from his most recent publication on the sab
ject. With these definitions and safeguards
the theory mast ba remanded to scientists to
be settled by them on It's own merits The
phrases referred to are consistent equally with
the theory OF successive creations or evolu-
tions, OF new forms of lie, the fact remain
ing IN either case that more things are born
into the world than can live here. Hence the
recognition of Natural Selection" as the Law
by which the weakest must 60 to the wall,
while "the fittestp survive OF the existence
and operation Of this law there can be 10
doubt whatever. Without its constant opera-
tion the sea would soon be full nf fishes, and
the dry land overrun with every species of ami
NAL life. BY Hthe fttest," however ia
meant not always tho best or highest In orgaL-
| iZation.
An oyster will live where man would die,
and SO inferior races OF man will flourish in
| climates where tho superior would rapidly dis
| appear. Hence the Importance of studying
| the history of races and ''tbe bounds of their
hahitston" as determined by nature, for these
| cannot be overpassed with impunity by either
| the higher or the lower. The negro races were
Inau6 IOf L16 tropics, ana the tropics Tor them.
The Arysn ace seeks the temperate zone of
the earth. OF its several branches the Persian
and Greco-Latin have been the imperial DOW
ers OF the past as the Slavic and Teutonic are
are OF the present and future. II these races
continue to increase in numbers, wealth and
power century to come In the same ratio as in
the century past, they will dominate all others,
and 90 become the lords of creation. The
cannot indeed drive out the lower races from
their n.ro proper asg habitat but they will
stes will go forth the laws, from
their schools the learning, from their galleries
| the art, aud from their churches the moral
standards which will govern the nations. They
will govern the seat by "natural selection, be-
cause they have grown to be 1.-THE httest" and
will become still more fit to do go, "the ttest''
morally and Intellectually. In like manner
they win by application of the same law,
settle all disputes among themselves.
For by this law of Natural Selection.
the survival of the fittest, republics will soon
supersede monarchies and olgarchies in the
political sphere; free churches, state churches
universal education, general ignorance; science
superstition; just as already, chemistry has
superseded alchemy. and Capernicus Ptolemy;
| Calico the astrologers, Socrates the sophists,
| Bacon Artist ,te IS iafsiliole 4asn prtty, aud
| NewtoE's Law OF gravity, the old turtle theory
| and Kepler's few and simple laws OF plasstary
| motion, the ancient classic conception of the
| earth as disk around which rolled both san
| and stars. AS these questions have been
| solved SO will most, If net all Others of mo.
| me.t be in due time. The solution and sati--
| faction will come not by striving and crying in
| the streets, not by magnificent manifestoes,
but bs silent, irresistible manifestation of the
| truth to every mans mind. Mt he that as
| ssrts most loudly, bot he that can prove most
| clearly will prevail. Assumptions will not al
| ways pass for demonstrations of the truth and
| the right. For reason is to rise higher and
| shine forth more clearly. Ideas are rapid,
| becoming stronger than irons. Papers, pul.
| pits and platforms are more potent that Bed
| ford jails London towers French bastiles and
| Spanish dungeons. In this sense, "there is
| nothing good or evil, but thinking
| makes 1t so." Schools of art, orders
| of architecture, systems of education,
| forms of worship, ecclesiastical assumptions.
| clerical arrogance, conflicting dogmas, the riv-
| al claims of churches new and old, ancient
| regimes, partial laws, privileged classes, pro-
| tective Interests, profitable nonopolies, power
| full corporations, and whatsoever else concerns
the public welfare, one and all, will survive or
| perish. as they meet the ordeal of Natural Se-
| lection, which, in the lorg run, will insure
| "Tbe Survival of the Fittest"
| The lecturer closed with brief survey OF
| the future OF Maine and Portland as tested by
| this law, and predicted that it would be a
| great one, for both, if our people we're equal
| to their opportunities. He also referred to
men living and dead to whose public spirit and
| for the rank she has already attained among
| the cities of the land,
Tbs lecture gave great pleasure to the large
audience present at the library room last even
| ing