Evening star., 1925-07-02

| up. when they were attacked. to make
them appear more formidable to their
enemy; mans hair tends to stand on
end when frightened.
Hypothetical Grounds.
The effort Of the scientists has been
to link the story Of life from its be-
ginnings into an unbroken narrative
Of the gradual upward progress, re-
cording innumerable off-shoots from
the main stem, but always with a
| continuous central line of develop
ment. The Soundest scientists offer
| the theory as the most plausible ex-
PLANTATION Of species. and profess their
willingness to accept any new facts
| which may overthrow their hypothe-
sis: others. for there are dogmatists
among scientists as we'll as among
religionists, lay down rigid canons
of scientific orthodoxy and refuse to
consider any question of the ultimate
and aboslute truth of the theory. En-
lightened scientific opinion generally
| stands frankly on the hypothetical
grounds Of evolution, and offers 1t not
as a proven fact to be taught" but
as the formulation of a vast amount
| of diligent and profound research.
about which educated men should be
| informed.
Egyptians Worried Over 1t.
The scientist takes as a starting
point the fact that there are now
living in the world 1000 900 kinds of
animals and about 2,000,0 900 kinds of
PANTS. 1t has been estimated, al
though this belongs in the realm of
conjecture. that there have been per
haps 100000 varieties Of plant and
| animal life on the globe
What is the meaning Of this diver
sity? Were these creatures and
growths the result of special creation
or did they evolve from basic law of
| change, which constantly challenges
| inertia and forces continuous adapta
| ton toward some far goldman OF
some creature yet to come?
There is evidence that the Egyp
tians puzzled over this question-not
as we have clarified and defined it. bu,
| with a deep realization that here were
the diverging roads in mans progress
toward an understanding Of the uni
verse. When Psametichus opened tho
ports in Egypt, in $50 B. c., the Greek
philosopher. Thales, brought back
from Egypt dimly recorded conjec
lures that life and the physical uni
verse marked a gradual emergence
from some basic unity. This view
| reappears again and again In Hellenic
and Roman speculative philosophy,
but does not find clear definition until
after Bacon and the Italian philoso-
piers who had preceded him had laid
the foundation for the modern Undue
tive methods Of scientific research.
Other Studies Affected.
The acceptance by science of the in
ductive method is of the utmost i'm
portance in the story Of evolution, as
! it is based on generalization from
known and observable facts, and to
the limit of these facts, instead Of de
ductions from accepted or traditional
generalizations. AS modern science is
based on this method, it is the con
tention of the evolutionists that evo
luton must stand or fall with the en-
tire body of scientific achievement
and that any legitimate challenge OF
evolution must attack only its basic
data and the soundness of it's con
clusions, rather than its agreement or
disagreement with accepted views
| They maintain any attack wbich
would overthrow evolution would
overthrow all modern science, as such
an attack would draw the line be-
| tween the old deductive religion and
philosophy and the newer inductive
method.
So, from the viewpoint of the evolu
tionistS-of course the able and bril-
| liant controversialists who oppose
! them would not admit this-the tour
ney Of Dayton field will bring into the
lists the old and the new. Charles
Darwin, they say, has drawn a line
between the centuries, and across it
will contend the forces of modernism
and ancient tradition. If Thales, Aris
totle and Socrates should enter the
arena, they probably would take their
place in young Mr.. Scopes side OF
the grandstand. Plato, with his mystic
preoccupation" with ideal counter.
parts" might move over into Mr.
Bryan's section; John Milton, the
great Jesuit Father Suraz, Sir John
Lightfoot, brilliant Biblical scholar
and the great Gladstone would also
take their places on Mr.. Bryan's side
| Xenophanes, thoughtfully fumbline
| bits of the fossil bones of Syracuse;
| Steno, the great Florentine anatomist
and, of course, Cuvier and Agassiz,
| would be with Mr.. Scopes. For. in
truth, the centuries are looking down
on the little town Of Dayton, Tenn.
Continued tomorrow.