The Portland daily press., 1895-11-19
ABOUT EVOLUTION.
Interesting Discussion at the COngle-
gatiOnal Club.

interesting Discussion at Tie ConsAo
gational Club.
Prof. Tyler, Prominent Biologist, READ
Paper That Excited Much Interest ana
Comment,
Last evening the Congregational OluD
held it's first meeting and banquet OF INC
season at the Preble House. About forty
gentlemen sat down to the table. Presl-
dent jenkins presided. The committee
on new members presented the name Oh
the Rev. Mr.. De Claybrook, pastor OF the
colored Congregational church, for mem
bership, also the name of Rev. Charles II.
Andrews of the Deering Free church was
presented for membership.
/ President jenkins appointed the follow
ing members to serve on the COMMITTEES
for nomination Of officers for the ensuing
year: Rev. E. P. Wilson, William N.
Marks, George Libby, Fl. Fl. Kicker, ".
K. Dana, Rev. Leroy H. Bean and Rev.
/ A. H. Wright. The committee will re-
port at the December meeting. President
Jenkins intimated that he should not be-
come the president of the club again.
He then introduced the guest of the
evening, Prof. John M. Tyler of Amherst
College, professor Of biology. His subject
was Conformity to Environment. He
said that he should start by taking for
granted the Darwin theory of evolution.
Ho asked his hearers to become for the
evening conservative eyolutionists. He
said that the main reason for studying
history was that we may forecast the
future. We fail to do this correctly. of
course. Our forecast must be gen eral.
but we believe in their value or we would
not study history.
But there is a difference between our
brief study of human history and the
study of the great biological history of
the world. The forecasts from the former
may be erroneous, but clear compre-
| henslon of the latter must result in true
forecasts Of the future, as matter Of
logical evolution.
| I He said that the earliest ant tor of man
must have been creature very similar
to the fresh water hydra of today, which
is creature that represents the lowest
form of animal life, having simply one,
cell structure, and that being simply
stomach. 1t has little arrangement for
producing spores and lives only for
digestion and reproduction.
| Our next ancestor, We may call the
worm, which certainly has muscles but
doesn't live for much more than digestion
| and raprn1uctiop
In our next ancestor we take a long
leap upward to the fish, which has
muscles for a special purpose and its
stomach is for its muscles, rather than
the reverse
Prof. Tyler next dwelt upon the
supremacy of intellect in man by which
he, with his inferior body, is able to sur
pass the physical superiorities of the
amin ais. Mans supremacy in develop
ment is purely mental, not physical; also
mans moral supremacy over his body
and mind is his unique glory.
Each of the above ancestral groups may
be characterized, it is seen, by its special
function. This is no chance succession
in this sequence of function. Digestion
and reproduction must come first because
they are most essential to existence. AS
we go upward to the worm and mammal
we see these first functions become sub
seryient to muscle and nerve and BRAIN
| Prof. Tyler declared that the real
characteristic of the vertebrate animal is
the providing of the brain material in the
head. The brain thus takes cogniZance
of it's surroundings, from those purely
physical to those suggesting unselfshness
and uprightness.
| The length of the reign Of these
characteristic functions has depended up
on its capacity for improvement and
developement.
You Lan't improve much on the
stomach of worm. 1t has almost as
good stomach as we have. But we have
enormously improved upon the brain Of
the worm, and now the brain function of
man is supreme in the animal kingdom,
not yet having reached the limit of its
capacity for development.
The above sequence of functions is not
reversible. Some animals have tried to
do so and they have become extinct.
Failure to take the upward step in this
development is result to result in extinc-
tion. What of man if he shall refuse to
take the upward step of evolution? Shall
he also suffer the death penalty that
science teaches is sure to follow
All this progress from digestion to
Righteousness has come about by a
selection, at each stage, of those best con-
formed to their environment Now there
can be but one environment for ali. 1t
is the same for the hydra and for man.
Form and color existed at the time when
the worm stage of animal development
was supreme, though the worm took no
cognizance of them. There is, OF course.
much now in environment that man
takes no cognizance of. In the worm
stage, environment appears as power
acting only for digestion and reproduc-
tfon. From the worm upward it appears