Evening star., 1925-07-05
WHAT is EVOLUTION?
By LenaueL F. Parton

must that this is the modern stand
of evolutionists he will be able to re-
fute them with their own pundits-
the giants Of a few decades ago who
explained the mutations of life by the
transmission of acquired characters.
| tics.
Search Only Begun.
The frank confession that evolution
has not yet made It's full case, so far
AS basic problems are concerned, is
! clearly stated by Henry Fairfield Os-
born In the preface to his book, The
Origin and Evolution of Life"
In truth" says DIR. Osborn, from
the period of the earliest stages of
Greek Thought man has been eager
TO discover some natural cause OF
evolution. and to abandon the idea OF
supernatural intervention in the
order OF nature. Between the ap
pearance of ''The Origin of Species, " in
1859, and the present time there have
been great waves of faith in one ex.
planation and then in another: each
or these waves of confidence has END.
ed In disappointment, until finally we
nave reached a stage of very general
skepticism. Thus the long period OF
observation, experiment and reason.
ing. which began with the French
natural philosopher Button, $50 years
ago, ends with the general feeling
that our search for causes, far from
being near completion, has only Just
begun.
Our present state of opinion is
this: We know to some extent how
plants and animals and man evolve
we do not know why they evolve
We know. for example, that there has
existed more or less complete chain
of beings from monad to man. that
the one-toed horse had a four-toed
ancestor, that man has descended
from an unknown ape-like form some
where in the tertiary. We know not
only those larger chains of descent
but many of the minute details OF
these transformations We do not
Know their internal causes, for none
OF the explanations which have in
turn been offered during the last 100
years satisfies the demands of obser.
walton. of experiment, of reason. II
ls best frankly to acknowledge that
the chief causes of the orderly evoIu
ton of the germ are still entirely un.
known. and that our search must
take an entirely fresh start.
Sees No Conflict.
AS regards the continuous adapta
bllity and fitness of living things, we
have a reasonable Interpretation OF
some OF the causes of the phenomena
OF adaptation, but they are the smaller
part of the whole. Especially mys
terious are the chief phenomena OF
adaptation in the germ; the marvel
lous and continuous fitness and beauty
OF form and function remain largely
unaccounted for. We have no scien
tific explanation of these processes OF
development from within, which Berg
son has termed creative evolution
and for which Driesch has abandoned
natural explanation and assumed
the existence of entelechy- that is
an internal perfecting influence"
DR.. Osborn is an evolutionist and a
great scientist. In thus admitting
the profound mystery OF the basic i'm
pulsions of life and organic change
he steps aside for those who say they
have a supernatural revelation. He
sees no fundamental reason for a
quarrel between religion and science
in their larger aspects and deeper es
sentials. Neither did the late Jacques
Loeb-great biologist-but he added
proviso: Il have no quarrel with the
supernaturalists." he said. provided
they Will offer their revelation as a
working hypothesis