New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-06-01

| in the camp OF those who were or NJ l"ast "cio
supposed TO be- confined by medieval dogmatc
restrictions. Men of science who were Indifferent
or inimical to religion confessed. did Professor
| Huxley himself that evolution had the greater
merit in their eyes because il was deemed irrecon-
| cilable with Catholic theology Now if 4 could
/ be shown that the most conservative OF tathohc
doctors had really left room enough for this new
theory: il il could be shown that without recon
/ structing their propositions and arguments. ana
without any novelties in the manner OF constituting
their words even extreme Darwinlsm could he
accepted in place Of previous scientific theories
| then there need lie no alarm on the part OF
| Christians who adhered 10 less elaborate systrps
Of belief or course he had no trouble In show
ING that in the case of 81. Augustine and even
, in that of Suarez dOctrnal expressions used and
even statements of scientific facts as understood
in the past were far from being antagonstic to
/ the latest views of science The conclusion FOL
! lowed as matter of course. that since Evolution
and Ultramontanism could lie down together in
/ pcacc the adherents Of intermediate forms Of
| opinion might give their weary tongues rest
! from the toll Of argument. But apparently argyll
/ Inent was too sweet to be given up. Inc
/ battle still RACES. Is it not the fact that on
! the one hand the people disohey the wise advice
! of Herman Lotze against mixing M religion
with cosmogonics and the other carry the
half truths OF science into morals, where only
whole truths and nothing but the truth are of any
service?
The two essays upon the theories of Professor
Weismann and Professor Elmer which are among
the more recent writings of Mr.. Mivart. are OF IN
tcrest because they deal or less directly WIN
the modern form of fatalism under the attractive
ruise Of heredity. Scientific objections are raised
against Weismanns Hypothetical gcrn-plasm, the
ana ,bo. will strike tho Cpnpral reader most
forcibly being that against the compeNity OF the
theory Weismann had said: Every detail OF
the whole organism must b. represented in the
germ-plasm by its own special and peculiar mr.
ranqoucnt Of molecules Promising that differ
enccs of quality are excluded, and that the Ger
man professor suppOsps the problem 10 DC Wholly
mechanical. Mr.. Mivart remarks
II we ONLY consider what must I've the com
peXity Of the arrangement OF minute S,ruclnres ~
order that arrangement alone may efficiently de-
tcrminc for all in the germ the precise nun
her Of all the epithclial scales OF me SKIN wnlcn
have to be cast of during the whole snoscpucnii
life rs we'll as every one Of the rapidly removed
and replaced cells Of all the glands Of the bodN
and every hlood-corpnscc which shall be touhd
between the first 10 appear and the last reproduced
AZ the end Of the longest life we may well he as
;onished But complcXity OF this kind Is
but an initial difficulty. We must also believe
that every modification Of structure. every process
of healing and repair, and the nerve ACCOMPANY
mentS Of every feeling and thought in each one :
life history must he similarly provided for in
definite manner n starting.
Logically Wcismann has 10 60 much further than
this. Not orlv is the career of single organism,
however complex determined by its germ pasm.
but all Organisms that have a common origin
were determined from the first by the common
ccrm-plasm The Imagination reels at the thought
of so many probabilities wrapped mp in nnclr-
olus existing only in hypothesis. One is almost
ready to think that Raheaisan schola-ticiS'n with
it's "chimaera tomhinans in vacuo' has been ont
done Bnt Mr.. Mvart is not just 70 the really
marvellous ingenuity Of Wrsmann's theory Inc
effects which seem complex have not become s'
without an equivalent advance in the compleNity
Of the cause All life is supposed TO have been
shown first in the single cells BY the union of
1hcGo. more and more complex organisms were
formed organisms which could not 10 exactly
alike because the gcrmnal forces Of which they
were the result could never have been exactly
equal When evolution reached n given pont
hieher organisms were produced, two Of winch
wcro re- ,nircd hcrceforth for the production Of
third Even granting that the germ-plasm had
descended unchanged hitherto the possibility Of
its modification now became practically infinite
in view of tho many individuals it must inhabt.
and their relations to each other. The germ
uIasm of each descendant was a combination OF
the cprm-plasms Of two parents. mere m1thc-
NAUTICAL computation will show that the
ccrn-pasm Of a modern human being. for cN-
annie IS n combination utterly beyond express |
sion in figures Then. if one introduces that
Darwinian deity, Natural Selection. graphlcally
described by Mr. Romancs as waiting and watch
ing for such combinations Of gcrmplasn "a VIII
give the resulting organisms the best possible
chance in the struggle for eNlstcnc"
the outcome must hc also measure OF hAliy
in tie midst Of infinite variety. Surely all
the conplcxity tina, Mr. Mvart complains Of Is
accounted for in this doubling and re1ohblina
Of ;lc efficient cause throughout countless ages.
Nevertheless Mr. Mvart qivcs Elmer credit for
having successfully disputed WcSmann's opinions.
Says Ec:
The doctrine that merely minute hapha7ard
change, in the molecular constitution OF germ
piaem are sufficient 70 account for all the beauty
all the variety. all the adaptations. ana an lng
varieties of fncliny habit and instinct TO be found
i'm the living world, he indrc triumphanlly ne
molislcs. lu; his attempt - show that all th"se
POWERS harmoncs and beauties are due t. nothing
but tho hereditary transmi.'ic of the action oi
The environment lie fails almost ludicronSy 10
rctaMish However thoroughly The faith Of III"
Nro D2rwirians NAV be- ovcrthrown. we certainly
shall not thereby lie led 70 take - rrr'gTadr
eton as would be return 10 the old dl'crc1lt'd
hvp thesis Of Lomarl and the "Nc',igcs OF
Creation
The ponts that have been touched in this article
belong TO the second volume Of Mr MIvarts |
ESSAYS But the first volume, containing as 1t
Gocg narratives OF travel in Spain and among the |
Austrian monastcrcs. studies upon Jlcobinism an |
the French Revolution, and dispositions upon |
stat, organization. national education, the pSy- |
cholopv of the emotions, with variety Of other
themes is easier reading than its companion.