The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-06-22
Proofs of Evolution
Paper Prepared and Read by Dr. Granville Lowther Before
the Methods, Brotherhood


y
win wrote his origin of Species and
Descent Of Man, the leading educators
treated It "a joke. and no one
scarorcly professod to believe it,.
4wenty-Hve years ago. few of the
more daring pioneers of thought adj
voolted il, but many OF them lost
their positions on account of it. Now
trcro is not college. university or
text book. in So far as | know of any
prestige or rank where it is not taught
and its thought pemcatcs all OF our
modern literature.
There are three classes of evolu-
tionists.
The first is Athestic or material
istic. who believe that matter gave
origin to mind.
The second is deistic. or those who
believe that The Great Eternal Mind
gave origin to matter; but that He
placed it under certain laws, to work
out the problems of the universe
without guidance or control, except as
the forces play upon and modify each
, other.
The third Is theistic, who believe
! that neither matter nor mind was
first, but that they are co-eternal
and co-eXtensive, the one an express
sion of the other. They believe that
| all material things are carnations of
one Infinite. Eternal, Omnisient, On
nipotent and Omnipresent Mind, that
permeates them through and through
Sometimes they speak OF it as Life,
Energy, Law or Power Sometimes
they call it God. But no matter
about the name. they believe that it
is the Great Cause, expressed in the
forms of Matter. They claim that
there is not an atom in the universe
where God does not exist.
What are the Atoms?
! They are particles or matter too fine
| for the eye, or even for the largest
microscopes, and are the unites OF
matter, because they cannot be sub
divided. There is in them a tendency
to unite and this tendency is called
the law OF chemical affinities.'' In
this tendency to unite, they tend to
solidify, and in solidifying they be-
come visible. To illustrate. the va
por in the air is in visible. Con-
| densed, it becomes rain. and is visi-
bic. Congealed, it becomes ice, and
is a solid. But it may again be melt
ed, evaporated. and again become in
visible. Or. to illustrate again. a
tree i, composed OF atoms, and is
visible. Burn it. and it is disorgan-
| lied into gases that when diffused arc
| invisible; but these same gases may
| be taken up again and reorgani2ed
| into forms when they again become
visible. Out of the invisible atoms
| worlds are formed: as Paul said
Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the Word
of Cod, so that things that are seen
were not made OF things that do APP
pear"
PrOtorIasm.
The first visible form of living MAJ
ter is protoplasm. 1t is Il tough
Shiny, granular. semi-fud, similar tc
the white of an egg. According tC
evolution, all the living things we sec
have come from this one life. The
only difference between atheistic and
theistic evolution at this point is that
the theistic evOlutionist believes that
previous to evolution there must have
been involution, and that God Is in
the atoms that compose the prOto-
pasmic substance, because He is pres
ent everywhere.
The many different forms of life
growing out of this one substance are
CAUSED by changes of external condi-
tons, as when species Of cedar on
the cast side OF the Cascade range
will become sage brush; on the west
side a mammoth tree. Also changes
| 90 s~to
ical affinities. natural selection and
the tendency for the habits of ono
generation to become hereditary in
the next.
| Thus nature presents almost Inf
mite combinations, Infinite modlfica-
tons, that have been going on
through Infinite time, and il launch
ed upon q path of Infinite progress
sion.
Proofs.
We offer tho following proofs of
the philosophy of evolution. The irst
is from geology. This branch OF
science reads the history of the
earth as 1t is written in the rocks
1t records that tho layers Of rock
have been arranged in chronological
order The oldest layer is the most
deeply buried, tho next oldest lies
next above it, the next just above the
second, and so on to the youngest
which is at tho top. The only ex-
ceptions to this are when the crust
OF the earth is broken by volcanic
eruptions, or seismic disturbances
| EN- bedded in these rocks are the
forms of life that existed at the time
| beta 4,
composed them were being stratined
They are preserved 50 perfectly that
we can trace the forms OF leaves and
the minute insects that fed upon
them. We can trace the forms Of
flowers. and the bees that sucked the
nectar. We can trace the coral in
| sects and the larger creatures of the
sea. We can see the trunks OF tree.
and trace the grain of the wood
Buried for millions of years beneath
the surface. these records have never
been changed in tho slightest degree
and they teach thst the lowest forms
of life are at the bottom, buried be-
meath the others in the lowest rocks
and are therefore the oldest Buried
next in the stratum just above IT, are
higher and more complex forms, un-
| til at last we come to the highest
which contains the bones of mammals
and of man. After such q course of
study the geologists feels like the
pslamist who said. He hath planted
my feet upon rock, and established
my goings."
Biology.
biology teaches that the many
forms of life have primarily one
substance. This was not discovered
and could not have been discovered