The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-09-16
STUDY OF MENDEl AND DARWIN
Frogs and Pigs.
CONTINUED from page ID

Frogs and Pigs.
1t is true that the skelital structure
OF a frog is much like that of man.
The heart resembles to great extent
that of man, so does the nervous and
arterial system, and for this reason
anatomists and psychologists use the
frog for demonstrating the circulation
of the blood, etc.
The eye of the pig is said to be the
nearest in construction to the hu-
man eye, and thus it is used by those
studying the opticopupillary system.
Now, then, If man developed from a
frog, pig, ape or what you will, what
was the progenitor of these?
Little thought was given to evolu-
ton until Darwin published his Cor
igin of Species;;" then the scientific
world took more interest.
Most all of us do believe in some
form of evolution, j. e., gradual de-
velopment, and the illustration prin-
cipally used is that of horse.
The evolution of the horse is prac-
tically complete, stretching through
what Is claimed some three millions of
years, from the Eohippus of early Eo.
cence times, an animal not much larg-
er than the present cat. But through
all the ages it has remained horse.
So it is the same; down through a
great number Of species Of the animal
kingdom. The elephant of $500, 900
years ago-which is called long-jawed
mastodon, came down through the
mammoth, carcass of which was
found frozen in the ice of Siberia; and
it is alleged to have been served at
a dinner given by the Italian poet
DAnnunzio; but like the horse, the
elephant remained the elephant
whether we call it mastodon or nam.
moth.
Horse and Tiger.
In remote times, one of the ami
mails most feared by prehistoric man
was the saber-tooth tiger. larger and
more ferocious than our present one;
but through the ages he has remained
a tiger,
The horse did not become another
animal, nor did the mammoth or IT,
ger, but each remained what God Gre
ated though there were some chang.
es and in some cases great changes.
physically; but each retained his orig
inal identity. So it was with man !;
physically ne may be different, due
to his mode of living, changes in eli
mate. but he still remains MAN.
It is true that we cannot trace man
as far back as we can some of the an.
imal kingdom-for we know that the
animals were created before man.
The creation of man was the last act
Of God in creating the world and His
GROWING work.
Man, physically, is an animal-the
dissecting room of course proves this
but he differs from the brute by
having an immortal soul, created to
the image Of God. ~
We cannot consider many points OF
evolution at this time; space does not
permit. Darwin's theory that "pre.
sumably man was descended from the
ape cannot hold good unless the
law of Mendel is put aside.
Darwin's Law. :
Darwin, in the closing of Origin
of Species" states: There Is a gran.
deur in this view of life, with its sew.
eral powers having been originally
breathed by the Creator into a few
forms or into one; and that while this
planet has gone circling on according
to fixed law of gravity, from so sim.
pie a beginning, endless forms, most
beautiful and most wonderful, have
been and are being evolved"
Scientific progress does not run in
circles of centuries, for science new
century begins every second.
The eve of the nineteenth century
saw this demonstrated, and the ques.
tion that was occupying the minds OF
the scientific world was that of "He.
redity," which had been stimulated by
theory of development in nature as
given by the distinguished French bi.
ologist, Lamarck He had traced back
all animal forms to one primitive
form, the product Of primary act
of generation.
. At the dawn of the twentieth cen.
fury, three biologists, working In diff
ferent parts of the world and all In.
dependent of one another, re-discover.
ed a law with regard to heredity that
had been discovered by Gregory Men
del. These three men we're de vries,
Correns and Tschermak.
MendePs Discovery.
Prof. e. w. Castle of Harvard
states: What will doubtless rank as
one OF the greatest discoveries in the
study of biology and In the study OF