The Lake County times., 1909-05-20


torney Joseph Conroy, who showed a
masterful grasp of his subject, and
the manner in which he presented 1t and
its concise form showed that he had
gone into the subject deeply, not only
for this particular occasion, but as a
| student. The paper which he read was,
although concise considering the sub
, jeet with which It dealt was neyerthe-
less somewhat lengthy, but excerpts
taken from it here and there show the
maner in which the author treated his
subject In part It was follows:
Excerpts From the Paper.
In presenting the subject under dis
cussion. no apologies are necessary |
Time and the application of the ve-y |
principles we seek to discuss have |
eliminated the necessity for an apollo
| getic Introduction.
| I'VE all know that in the develop |
ment Of an egg. It begins as a microsco-
pic germ cell, then grows into an egg,
forms chick, and finally grows into a
| full grown chicken. We also know that
i the whole follows some we'll recognized
| law, which process we call evolution.
This process pervades all nature and
concerns all departments of thought.
| The acceptance or rejection of this
! process determines the whole attitude
| of mind toward nature and God.
Nature is a system of correlated
parts and no matter in what field you
| investigate. you find the largest de
pendent in some degree on the small
est. form being worked out of the
chaos stability out of instability, hom-
ogeniety to hetrogeniety, all and each
following some unchangable. constant
and unerring law upward, which law
for the sake of better name we will
call evolution.
The Earth as an Example.
Examples of this universally, and
activity and unchangeablity are found
pregnant in every domain of science
and human thought.
Take the earth as an example-It
may be studied as a whole in its pres
ent form, and the mutual relation Of
its parts-lts lands, seas, mountains,
valleys oceans currents and air and
the way in which they act in and upon
, the other which by their action and
S interaction produce climate and phys
ical conditions as we know them. That
is physical geography-or. study the
earth in its gradual progress to what it
K is, from what it was. The study of
n geological evolution. and as LaCante
so aptly says Until the birth Of ge-
@ ology about the beginning of the last
century. the intellectual time horizon
!, of the human mind was bound by six
d thousand years" There was a time
when mountains We're supposed to have
been made at once with all their di-
versifed forms, of beetlng cliffs and
e laundering waterfalls, of gentle slopes
5 and smiling valleys, just as we find
n them. But now, we know that they
have become so only by very gradual
!. process, and are still changing under
J. our very eyes.
Is In a word they have been formed
by a process of evolution We know
now the date OF the mountain births
we trace their growth, maturity, decay
Is and death.
Ie In New Light by Evolution.
IS Seas, gufs, bays and rivers were
supposed to have originated at once
as we now have them. Now we know
they have changed and are changing
N not at random, or indifferently, but by
b a gradual change from less perfect tc
st more perfect. and with more complies
m inter-relation. that is by process o.
evolution.
In a word. there was time wher
it was thought that the earth with sub
/ SIanIldtiN llS present IOAllls comm ina
ty tion and climate were made at once on
III / of hand as fit habitation for man an'
a. animals Now. we know that it hal
90 been changing, preparing, becoming
I'd what it is by slow process through
d. lapse of time so vast that the min'
%. sinks exhausted in the attempt to grasl
II it, 1t has become what it is. by a pro
he cess of evolution.
re Right here is a great dividing lin
re with large proportion Of thinkini
re people. one. the believer in the yer
n ity of the law of evolution, the sam
in forces that are natural. resident In tn
ra cell to have it naturally developed ar
the same forces that are resident in tn
Solar System to give exercises to Kepe
ler's laws by the law of grayitation o
st Newton. The same natural force b
ey the unerring rule of induction, has a
Ir. believe that these natural forces ar
on resident in the organic kingdom t
Id make possible its progress
Another class believes that the dif
ferent species are such by special &C
of creation.
in The la MARKHAM Factors
st "Agassiz believed in all OF the princi
he pies we have enunciated but that tn
Ir development Of the organic kingdom
a special act OF creation and not a nat
ural process
ITO lead us to our goal we can mi
AI- little history with our facts, whie
to- will define our position on resideT
re- forces.
ed The first attempt at a scientif
" presentation on this subject was by Ii
Marck published in 1909, and he enune
Of ated two factors. now recognized as tt
m primary factors of evolution, in II
demonstrating Of the derivation
species by natural process, and know
z. as Lamarckian factors.
to The time was not then ripe for
led scientific theory The great obstae
arr then in the way of the acceptance
nts the derivation origin of species was Il
nd then prevailing notion concerning Il
-ell nature of life. 1t was supposed tn
to gravity, electricity. magnetism, hea
sit chemical affinity were entirely distinc
of Agassiz though denying this derivatio
did acknowledge and teach that T
bor embryonic development was repeated
lry a general way in the taxonoming
class arrangement and that the laws
geological succession are also the Ia
80 of embryonic development. While