The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1885-01-17
VOL. l..
Evolution,
Fer the Comet.
IA reply to "Prlvatc. u :

reSrSJ lhaI am compelleu, as IL
were, to offer a third article on this
subject. l regret it for the reason
that while Evolution is subject in
which a few of MS are interested, / am
inclined to think most readers soon
grow tired. ! will endeayor to an
swer the objections urged against my
former article by "Private," as con-
cisely as possible.
In the first place, "Privato" says, in
effect, that / show complete ignorance
of what Mr. Chas, Darwin teaches, in
regard to the causes Of pre-supposed |
evolution. He then goes on to show
that was entirely off my base in Civ
ing Natural Selection" and "Thc
Survival of the Fittest," as the two
causes suggested by Mr.. Darwin. He
then proceeds to show that "Sexual
Selection" is a cause which did not
mention, The truth is defined Nat
ural Selection in the same terms that
Mr.. Darwin defines Sexual Selection.
Now I hold had right to do this,
as ] was not quoting from Nh
Chas. Darwin, or any one else. J.
merely gave these as the two leading
causes which are essentially Darwin
ian; the arguments mentioned by
Private, belong mainly to other men,
for instance the Environment" was
the old idea of Lamarch and was
abandoned decades ago.
Private assures us that he sees no
reason for disbelieving Darwin's theo-
ry;I do. Allow me to mention q
few, According to his theory, the
first fishes introduced on the earth
should be Of the lowest type, and the
highest forms should appear after
wards. The reverse of this cannot be
accounted for on his theory at all.
And yet, the reverse is true. Hugh
Miller, the famous Scotch Geologist,
in his admirable work on the caster
olefis of Stramness," has shown most
conclusively that the Ganaids first
found in the Devonian waters were in
every respect in size, III organization,
superior to the Telicots OF the present
day. In fact geology is full OF just
such lessons Of this, the highest forms
of any family being introduced first;
with either none or only few inferi-
or species as fore runners. Again,
the breaks, the lost connecting links
which Mr., Darwin says disappeared
in Geology, have disappeared so mys-
teriously as to suggest to the minds Of
some, that they never existed. 1t is
needless to address further arguments
when you corner one OF these Darwin
ties he begins to call for time; and
when you have given him thousands
and millions of years, he is still cor
nered, and still yells for time; he
really needs at least 100,000,000,00C
years. You cannot catch him in that
way, he has all eternity to draw on
and it is well that he has.
A large part of 'Private's' essay il
devoted to an extract fIom one Mr.
Huxley, (Darwins ape showing thai
it has taken the Niagara River great
many thousand years to dig its way :
miles toward the lake from which i
flows. Now want to ask, what il
the name of common sense, this hal
to do with mans origin2 No one de
nies nowadays that the creation o
the inferior animal took place more
than six thousand years ago, Hux
ley spends good part Of his time il
trying to establish what his opponent
admit.
And again. in this wonderful pro
duction of Private, there occurs tn,
assertion that Scientists are more unit
ed in their beliefs than christians are
Let me ask if there has ever beer
anything like disagreement as to tn
Divine nature of the Savior; it is thi
belief that constitutes Christians, AM
that is the kind Of Christianity, t,
which had reference.
Seyenthly--as regards Mr. Alexan
der Winchell. He first wrote and ad
mirable work, entitled "Sketches G
Creation,' , in which evolution in th
inorganic world is the prominent idee
This WAS followed by work on evolu
ton, in which he gives the difTeren
theories held by eminent Scientist
and the arguments for and against
(wandoring away from the old Ian
marks you see) Then came his wor
on 'Preadanlites," And this was s
evidently contrary to the accepte
teachings of the Bible, that the
bounced him from the Vanderbilt
Men do agree as to the Biblical az
count of mans creation.
Private think, is like many, a
othor Scientists. He thinks ma
can be no Scientist who does not a,
cept Darwin's teachings. But INT
you show me the ancestors of tn
Trilohite. the tabled connecting link