, 1889-03-28

bony axis. This adds interest to the fact
that the young animal as II energies from
the egg. has a notochord, above which lies
a rudimentary tube (spine) n the ma
ture sea-squirt, this tube is entirely
shrivelled up" Evolution of Man."
volume l, page 432j
''ln this tail now develops cyliudrical
chord, composed of cells, the anterior end
of which extends into the body OF the
Iarva, between the intestinal and medul-
larry tubes. This is the corda dorsalis an
found only in vertebrates, and of which no
trace IL to be seen in invertebrates. Qbd,
page 456),
Gill openings afterwards appear In the
anterior section of the intestinal canal BY
which the whole ante rior intestine is trans.
formed into gill.body. This remarkable
arrangement is as we found, quite pecu liar
to vertebrates and except in the ascidians
occurs no where else." Qbid, volume
''When these organs are complete, the
progressive ontogeny of the ascidan il at
an end and retroRression now commences.
The freely.swimminR ascijiap larva sinks
to the bottom OF the sea and becomes liked.
The tail. which il Of no use, is now lost. !"
This long and particular account Of the
ascidian or sea squirt reveals the wonder
ful industry of this naturalist. He Ia on a
still hunt for gill.arches. spinal cords and
caudal appendaRes, and declares himself
successful in the case of this very early
denizen of the sea Admit it, for argu-
ment's sake. What thenP Let us see. II
this ascidian lived long ages before the
vertebrate fishes, from what race did he
get his embryonic gills, corda dorsalis and
tail? How could natural selection act
where there was no vertebrates or ailled fish
or tailed beings to select fromp How can
he bridge the vast chasmp How can he
escape the consequences of his contradic.
tory philosophy? But again, this scidian
illustration completely upsets the hypothe-
sis of the Survival of the 6ttest.' lts
continued existence to this day and it's
aborting its backbone, gills and tail, the
evidences OF the superior races from which
ii sprung, com pletely skaters whatever is
vital in Dar winism. Has the httest in this
case survivedP This distinguished scien-
tist has written two large volumes to prove
spontaneous generation and two more as
large to prove the descent of man from
the fish and monkey. 1t is no exagRera-
tion to say that he has contradicted him
self dozen times in each volume.
This is the gentleman who charged a
large number of naturalists in every way
his equal with LACK of philosophical cul-
tura." calling them rude emoiricists"
and destitute of the most important facts
of embryoloRy."
He says History of Creation, Vol. II,
PIP. 247 .9,250) What is even more det.
rimental to the general understanding of
nature as a whole, than this one.sided
tendency, is the want OF philosophical
culture, and this applies to most Of the
naturalists of the present day. 1t
is no. to be wondered at, that the deeper
river truth OF the theory of descent re-
mains sealed book to those rude empiri.
cists. Even in our own day
most paleontoloRists examine and describe
fossils without knowing the most inpor
tant facts OF embryology."
submit that this is re-
markable criticism of such men as
Agassiz. Dana, and. AS he says
.'most paeontolo1is.s of our day"
after such palpable blunders as We have
been reviewing. that this same gentleman
has been guilty of inem mbryology and
paleontoloey. Such egotism and self
laudation 10 disgusting to all thinking
people. thank the professor for the con-
cession made here that most Of the natur.
alists OF the present day are against
him.
Now after such reckless and careless
presentation of supposed facts by leading
scientists, is 1t any wonder that there
should be growing distrust among
thinking people as to much that passes
for science. Hear what the foremost prac.
tical scientist of this or any age says on
this subject. | refer to Mr.. Edison, who
has no peer in Europe or america. In
the New York Herald of Dec. 81, 1879. he
SAID:
1.-The text books are mostly misleading.
| get mad With myself when ! think
hayn laliaxal uh hot laurpadl,, %
out in them. There are more frauds in
science than anywhere else. Take whotB7
pile of tnem that can name and you will
find uncertainty, if not imposition, in half
OF what they state as scientific truth.
They bave time and again set down expert
ments as done by them-curious, out-of-
the-way experiments-that they never did,
and upon which they have founded 30.
called scientific truths. | have been
thrown off my track often by them and
for months at time. You see great
pertinent yourself. aud you find
the result altogether different.
tell you would rather
know nothing about thing in science,
nine times out OF ten, than what the books
tell me, for practical purposes. for applied
science, the best science, the only science.
would rather take thing up and 20
through with it myself. ] would find out
more about 1t than any one could tell me,
and | would be sure of what | knew.
That's the thing! Professor This sor- That
will controvert you out Of the books and
prove out OF the books that il cannot be so,
though you have it in the hollow of your
hand all the time and could break his
'pectacles with it,"
This is true portraiture of much of
The Darwinian theory, by a man who
knows whereof he speaks.
In the third lect,,re va will cootinna