The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-16
AMONG THE NEN BOOKS
REVIEW OF REV. NJ. d. SHUTTERS
NEW WORK ON APPLIED
EVOLUTION
ALL OR NONE TO BE EMBRACED
Or the Theory Must Fall to the
Ground, No Special Crea-
ton Being Consistent
With 1t.

applied Evolution by Rev. Marion D.
Shutter. Cloth, limo, 29O pp Eugene
+. Endicott, Boston.
Rev. Marion D. Shutter, of Minneape-
lis, is the author of a work on Applied
Evolution just from the press, which
shows that the skill of the literary pas
tor of the Church of the Redeemer can
make the theory of evolution anything
but abstruse or ponderous; but, on the
other hand, can present 1T as an inter-
esting narrative of the story of the world
and each man and thing in it.
A wealth of imagery, a choice adorn-
ment from the best that has been said TN
the subject by eminent thinkers, and
finally a vigorous subdivision of the story
which makes it possible to present
connected exposition of the subject, make
the book not less Interesting than were
the series of sermons from which 1t is
taken with some Encouragement.
The first chapter is devoted to the debt
of religious thought to science. Sci
ence,' he says, has taught theology TO
look at facts as they are, and not as it
wishes or, hopes or imagine or guesses
them to be. Science is dumb regarding
origin and destiny. 1t deals simply with
methods and processes. The scientist, as
a scientist, can go no further. Inc as
tronomer turns from contemplating the
their fires were lighted"
"Evolution-What 1t Is and What 1t Is
Not is next considered, and this can
be best told in further selections from the
book itself:
Evolution means that the earth, in
stead of being flung into space ready
made sphere from the hand of God. took
its rise in nebulous mists and clouds,
and by a process of whirling and con-
densing and cooling through countless
ages, became the globe of today. ETolu-
ton means that whatever the ultimate
origin of life, the plants and flowers
and grasses and trees which clothe the
earth were not made at once, as we be-
hold them now, but began in the feWest
and simplest germs, and by slow and
gradual changes, under varying condi-
lions. attained the variety, luxuriance
and beauty. 1t means that the
whole animal kingdom began countless
ages ago in shapeless mass of jelly and
has developed from one form to an
other up to man.
Chapter three, devoted to the evidences
of evolution in nature, cites the resem-
dances in the skeletons of man and
lower forms of life; the presence in the
human stem of apparently superauous
and unused bones and other appendages
which Nm lower forms of animal life, are
found fulfilling functions useful to them,
which have been outgroWn by man. The
fact that the geologic records of animal
life show only the simplest forms in the
oldest rock formations is set side by side
with the progress Of the human embryo
through a similar but more rapid de-
velopment from the lowest to the h'gh-
est form, Mr.. Shutter writes: 'rhe sue
cession of life in the geological ages is
repeated in the embryonic development
of every human being. Into few weeks
are compressed the records and results
of millions of years.
Discussing in a separate chapter. the
evidences of the evolution of the hum n
mind, Mr.. Shutter replies to the objec-
ton that the gap between the human
and tho animal intelligence is too great
to be bridged by evolution, that the gan
between the scale insect, which lies on
a leaf and the ant, which is the tyre
of thrift and industry in the animal
kingdom, is as wide as that between man
and any of the lower animals.
To the objection that animals, save
man, make no progress, is cited the
adaptahility Of birds to changed con-
ditions in the building of their nests.
That animals do net use tools, he meets
with the instance of the baboon, which
defends itself from its fellow, CT from
man, with a stick or stone That
animals do not reason is challenged with
the instance of Rengger's monkey which,
accustomed to getting sugar wrapped UP
in paper, was Stung by q wasp in one
of the packages, thereafter always took
the precaution of placing the unwrapped
paper to its ear to see if a wasp was
buzzing within. Here he says, 1--WE
have the germs Of that power of infer
ence which reasoned from the falling
apple to the swinging planet THAT
animals have language ne does net
doubt. The dog and the monkey express
various emotions definitely. The objec-
ton that animals have no moral sense
is met with the plain fact of fear and
its expression by many animals, and the
fact that fear is the basis of any reiig.
ious feeling in the ruder tribes of man
yet, a topic which is treated in eXtenso
in later chapter.
Presenting the factors of evolution, Mr.
Shutter names environment, the use and
disuse of organs, natural selection and
physical selection. The adaptability of
the brine-shrimp, which changes it's col
or in proportion to the amount of salt
in the water surrounding it; the pres
ence of only rudimentary wings in birds
of certain islands where the.F are no
beasts of prey are pointed sit, the de-
feat Of those who can not adjust them
selves to their surroundings and the vic
tory Of those who can harness the ele-
ments to the chariot of life, and, final
ly, sexual selection, subordinate to and
largely involved in natural selection.
One of the most interesting chapters
in the book is that on the evolution of
morality from the time that hunger or
discomfor gave primitive man his first
impulses to effort or to seek shelter
through the development of the family,
and social instincts generally. Says Mr.
Shutter: 1T was given to a little child
to accomplish the most beneficent revo-
luton in human history. There in the
jungle, before priest of altar or cere-
money had been invented, thus didst
by thine inarticulate cries. by the appeals
of thy helplessness for love and care,
say to those who gave thee being, For
my sake live together, till death shall
part The combining of families in
tribes for mutual protection was an
other step in the process as yet unfinish-
ed, and not to be finished until the race
has reached loftier ideas, and clearer and
sharper standards of morality even than
now.
The evolution of religion is traced from
the time when the first man, spurred by
curiosity, began to speculate about the
mysterious forces about him, his fear of
what he did not understand, and his en-
deavors to propitiate the great unseen,
moving force, behind these phenomena,
until one, who had seen the bones of his
life partner bleaching where she had
died, saw her in a dream, and the belief
in the Immortality was born.
A chapter is devoted to ting
from history and installing in fiction the
story of Adams fall in Eden, but the
life and works of Jesus are embracing
in the development of the plan of evolu-
ton. Jesus, the descendant of Abrham
and of David embodying the best in all