The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-01-15
BY DIR. w. III. BALLOU,
Woll-kn0wn Writer on Scientific
Subjects.

n the recent Toronto meeting
~ Of the American Association
for the Advancement Of.
Science. Prof. william Bateson. dis.
tinguished English biologist. said: Z
TT is impossible for scientists
longer to agree with Darwin's the
Org of the origin Of fpecies. No ex.
PLANTATION whatever after forty
years, no evidence. has been discov-
cred to verify his genesis of species"
Prof. Bateson is only one Of many
noted men Of science who have re-
Gently announced their inability to
find any evidence to support Oar.
winism, except that, in general
way, the doctrine Of evolution
stands. Just the same. when Oar
wins theory of the origin Of species
Is eliminated, 1t leaves the general
theory Of evolution on rather shalky
legs.
Darwin traced all life back to
primordial one-celled organisms.
gradually building up from these
Monads and Monera the whole an
imal kingdom on the one side and
the veget table kingdom on the other.
After possibly a hundred million
years. man evolved with a tremen.
dous chain Of ancestry.
SURVIVAL OF FITTEST."
Darwin's theory was supported
with additions and alterations. by
Cope. Huxley, Wallace. Spencer,
Haeckel and a long line Of great
men. Now a chain Is made up OF
the links, and each link must fit
with its fellows, 80 here arose the
additional doctrine Of the survival
of the fittest. which means parts
that fit, and not that the strongest
survive, as interpreted by the pub
lie. The strongest have not survived.
All of that type have persisted.
as gigantic fossils in the rocks show.
IL is tho little fellow that lives most.
ly under ground or in ocean depths
that has survived the geologic con
WILSON'S of nature. such as the mar
supiaIs, or pouch bearers. turtles
and many insects. The little marsu-
pial, Coenolestes Of Patagonia. for
instance, Is still living after millions
of years of wear and tear Of old
earth.
During the near half century
since the theory Of the origin OF
species was promulgated on
startled world. practically the whole
earth's surface has been scraped. at
an expense Of millions OF dollars, to
fill museums with all forms Of ex-
tinct animal life. Thousands OF
species of fossil animals and plants
have been gathered at enormous
cost. Not one of these fossils con-
stitutes a link in Darwin's chain OF
evolution. On the contrary. every
such find has increased the num-
Der Of links Of the chain called
missing" All Of these finds have
been placed under the head OF n
side-line ancestry"
.NEAREST ANCESTOR" MYTH.
The nearest ancestor below man
was set up as an extinct anthro-
poid. or man-like ape. No fossil OF
such ape has been found. Every
fossil ape taken from the rocks has
only increased the confusion. Each
seems to stand apart. needing an
ancestor below him. There Il no
fossil evidence to prove that man
Is descended from an ape or vice
versa, or that men and apes had =
common ancestor. No common an.
cestor has been unearthed.
Having no fossils with which to
make true ancestral links for man.
skulls of existing lower mammals
which seemed to lead UP to the
human skull were selected, and
their fossil ancestors Alphabetically
wero assumed to be links. Thus. the
fossil ancestor of the Spectral
Tarsier Of Borneo was made the
hypothetical ancestor Of man. The
fossil ancestor Of the Jumping
Shrew Of Africa was made the n.y.
pothetical ancestor of the Tarsier.
The common ancestor Of the shrew
was set up a. fossil ancestor Of the
Lemur Of Malay Peninsula. None
Of these fossil ancestors has ever
been found. Right here q terrible
wall interviewed between this hypo-
thetical ancestral tree Of man and
whatever the lemur evolved from.
Back of the alleged lemur.like
ancestor were only very primitive
marsupials, first mammals on earth,
which crawled through the noun.
famous wall which separates nam.
mails. from extinct reptiles. That
wall hides all that happened on
earth for from four to eight million
years. There Is no knowledge, no
fossil evidence to show what crea-
lures to any extent, inhabited earth
between the first mammal and the
last avfipof ronktla