Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-05-03

! 'oi'o, huu, L DeIleNe, us only place
OF exercise; beaten path extending
along three sides of a small wood,
measuring In all about one third of "A
mile, and bearing the name of ''Saud-
walk" In this seqnestered spot tie
great philosopher on every fine day
took his constitutional" if such a
word OF mundane association, so sug-
gestive of ones own too often vacuous
and listless promenade, can be applied
to the self-communIng sage whose
presence seems still to hover round
this lonely spot. We can picture HIM
as he paced the narrow footway, or
rested awhile on the rustic seats over
shadowed by thick shrnhs, pondering
long and painfully on the complex and
far-reaching results of his great central
generalization, the "Origin of Species
IN the world of organic nature That
the writer of this article is not giving
the reins to his own undisciplined
fancy Is shown by the simple incl
dent, related by Darwin himself, of
his noting ''the very spot on the high
road over which the carriage was pas
sing when the Idea of variation of spe-
cles by migration and change of local
! condition first occurred to him. We
can conceive how slowly but surely
the ultimate issues of that grand but
simple hypothesis thronged upon his
mental gaze, and how a calm confidence
IN the invlncible truth of Evolution
gradually but firmly established Itself
In his mind. Humble as he was. the
prospect must have filled his soul with
glowing expectations, not of human
applause or the rewards that fall to the
statesman, the senator, or the specu-
latOr; bu. of the calm triumph of truth
over error, of light over darkness, of
the symmetry and simplicity of natural
law over the CO Infusion and caprice
that marked the artificial hypothesis
of prejudice and ignorance.
Yet we must never forget that IT,
use Professor Tyndall's wordsl Evo-
lutIon neither solves nor processes to
solve the ultimate mystery of this uni
verse. Or, as the late Aubrey Moore
said Evolution has done nothing to
explain creation" The problem of
/ rcteblosis still remains unsolyed; and
we may do worse than fall back on
! the suggestion OF one of the greatest
I Fathers of the Church, when he says,
! in commenting on Genesis: "God at
! first created many germs which should
! afterwards develop according to their
| own laws"
In the garden through which a Wis.
! itor must pass to reach the "Sand-
walk there are seen the beds, diverted
once more to the cultivation of homeIy
! vegetables, and unconscious Of the high
er uses to which they were once dedica-
| ted by the great eXperimentalist, wGen
! he sowed different KIN Is of grass seed,
and counted each individual stem as 1t
grew, IN order to observe or discover
| the traces of cross sterilization, or the
/ tendency of any species to variation.
! And 1T was In the neIghboring meadow
| that he laid down the chalk, the grad
ual substance of which was TO mark
/ the rate of deposition OF the mould
above 1t by the operation of earth
] worms.
At the eastern extremity of the oul
buildings we're the dove-cots, the home
of birds now immortalized in the pro-
ssic records of science, in which were
reared the varieties of breeds and
cross- breeds of countless families of
! pigeons; and the results of these pa
| tlent and long continued experiments
became-as We all know-a very i'm
| portant factor in the practical confr-
nation of the theory of Evolution.
Here las DR.. l.. Ray Lancaster has put
IT. was proved the possibility of ''na-
| lance" or "elabOrGtIOn," or 'degen.
Grafton, IN the genus COitIDibG.
The ingenuity of the philosopher
discerns the direction of Natures laws
towardseimprovement or deterioration
In organized beings, according to the
more or less favorable condition % their
environment. Care, nurture, and fe-
lIcltous combinations produce variety
and beauty of form and color, and a
continual tendency to advance IN the
scale of natural endowment And the
converse is equally true; colony of
pigeons IN some far off island, isolated
from the haunts of civilized man. would
be compelled by the operation of law
to revert slowly TO some lower or more
primitive type; discarding the badges
of a higher culture, losing by degrees
the marks of grace and beauty once at
tanned to, and conforming to the ruder
image and less perfect structure of the
past. And the lesson runs INTO deeper
ground than this, for as domest Gated
animals gradually lose their higher
qualities If they chance to be driven
again into a Wild condition, so does
man deteriorate, both in body and
mind, by any reversiou to savagery i'll
social or civil or domestic life. By neg.
lecting physical requirements his
body must degenerate; and by disre-
garding the mental and spiritual cul-
ture of bis higher nature, his moral
character may become debased by law
lessness and vice, and his soul he
atrcphied by disobedience to the de-
mands of science and religion.
The visitors to Down House wer,
N N HIGnaFca1 hn 10 10
ing enjoyed with evident relish-after
their long pedestrian excursion over
the chalk plateau-the bountiful re-
freshments so literally laid out for
them by order of Mrs. Darwin The
lawns are spacious and beautifully
kept, and there was a profusion of
flowers on all Sides and some magnii-
cent trees and shrubs, winch, on the
southeast side, had formed leafy
alleys, atfording delightful strolls to
the urban visitors, and providing a
shady retreat, here and there, for the
contemphtive, in which to dwell on
some of the many problems of natural
existence, of mental and material life
In man and beast, which the works of
the great Kentish philosopher are con-
tinually bringing before us
How to disco IN between the "know
able" and the "unknowable"; how to
combine the assured prevalence of in
violable natural law with the undeni.
able claims and instructive convictions
of moral right and wrong, and, above
all, with the secret wbIsperiugs of the
hope OF immortality hereafter, must
ever provide the thoughtful mind with
the gravest and most momentous cogi
tations.
Yet, as full of such obstinate 1ues
tionings" we move homeward, per
haps, in more senses than one, the
answer may be found nearer than we
supposed: SOtUitur ambulandO.
And now, at the close of the record
of this memorable day, [ think 1 can
not do better tan conclude with the