Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-12-20
rHE THEORY or EroLurioN.



Scott on the subject of Evolution.
Reprinted entire on the first and fourth
pages. Ed.
The article is suggestive one and it is
commended to the attention Of every
thoughtful reader Taking up the sub
ject in its different branches, Mr.. Scott
applies and illustrates it in the various
fields of organic and inorganic creation,
ending with its most immediate applca.
ton to the intellectual and moral
functions of man. This work is well
done and with the major part of Mr..
SCOTS arguments and inierences | agree.
But his article suggests some considera
tions not therein advanced, and ]
purpose, in cursory way, to examine
the theory Of evolution more particu-
larly in its relation to other and larger
problems, of more immediate interest
to mankind / refer to those Of
philosophy and religion.
Evolution as scheme of thought
regards nature as an organic whole. II
establishes causatve connection
between every part of the entire system
of things from the highest to the lowest
When the links are absent, it supplies
them when nature fails to furnish the
bond of connection, it steps in boldly
and postulates that bond. 1t unifes
creation. 1t connects all the sciences,
and causes them to coalesce and be
come the parts Of one universal science
1t establishes universal affinities, and
asserts mutual dependence of parts of
all existence throughout space and time
The progress Of the theory is strangely
illustrative of the natural tendencies OF
thought, applied first to the structural
relations of species in the animal
creation, it is not satisfied to stop there
but soon is extended to all the forms
of vegetable as well as animal life and
these are given common origin, and
all alike are declared to have sprung
from "a few forms or one" But even
here no halt is called, but the evolu-
ZIONIST proceeds to assert a genetic
connection between inorganic nature
and the life it nourishes, and in new
and literal sense the fruitful earth is
said to be our mother. Such con-
necton once established becomes
universal and the daring evolutionist
affirms that not merely do vital forces
depend upon the inorganic world, but
that thought and choice and feeling
have common parentage with the
clod, and that within the stardust which
clouded space immeasurable aeons
since, and which even now whtens
the infinite distances of Orion, lay hid
the promise and the potency of all
future being-the thoughts that wander
through eternity" the beauty and sweet
ness of virtue and "Honor that cannot
die" all the glory and loveliness that
attack to our mental and moral being
The sun--to state the matter crudely
is partially cooled Milton 1t is
travelling the road to personality and
self consciousness, the last and highest
function of being. Considered in the
light of this hypothesis, Wordsworth's
daring metaphor calling the bird ga
brother Of dancing leaves becomes
mere matter Of sober fact. Another
poet gives US the kernel of the
whole theory when he says:
Z" And striving to be man, the worm,
Mounts through all the spires OF FORM"
The arguments for this theory can
not fail to impress strongly every ra-
tional intelligence. Precisely the same
kind of reasoning which establishes the
cardinal truths of geology, applies with
equal force to the facts Of organic evo-
luton. In fact, the testimony of the
rocks, which establishes the causative
connections in geology, seems in the
same breath to affirm the mutability ol
species and it would seem well nigh
impossible to deny the last without dis
crediting the first An extension ol
this principle to the development o.
mind is in a sense forced upon the un
Outstanding. If mind were possessed by
: man alone there would be break in the
evolutionist's chain, and we might den,
his conclusion with some show of reason
but no, minds e0eskensiaeaoiM an,maiijt
Ia fact which few people realize, but on.
which is nevertheless undeniably true
and which goes far to establish the ev
olutionist's hypothesis The simples
: protozoan, merest bit of protoplasu
though it be, displays the first fain
dawnings Of soul. 1t is impossible tc
to say at what point stimulation be
comes sensation and sensation con
sciousness. But the beginnings ar,
there. Like the first far steps Of dawr
on eastern hills, are the faint and trem
bling approaches of consciousness in th'
; remote cycles Of creation. There is nj
break in the series. Mind, like tn,
light, increases by slow accretions O
impalpable fineness. And so on, eve
increasing complexity of function
slowly turns the worm into man, tn
man into Shakespeare. And who cal
:, deny these affinities ! We cannot lool
;. within without discovering that We ar
still linked to the brutes, and learning tina
our happy light is the last step frou
that old darkness" from Which we hav
just emerged.
1 A theory then Of so universal applics
4 ton substantiated by such weighty ev
d dences, must have important bearing
! upon some Of the cardinal doctrines {
4 philosophy. What are those bearings
!. One OF the chief postulates Ct religion
\ philosophy is the doctrine that the un
, verse bears marks Of design. This
really the only convincing and sati
II factory argument upon which to groun
Il the being and attributes Of God. Int
l. the merits OF this famous and tim,
o honored argument, do not propose
d enter at large, but merely to discuss tn
n relations OF the evolutionary hypoth,