Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Inconclusiveness And Aberrations Of Scientific Teachers.
' Origin of Species . ' Well , tho world—even the clerical world—has for the most part settled down in the belief that Mr . Darwin ' s book simply reflects the truth of nature ; that AVO AVIIO are noAV ' foremost in the files of time ' have come to the front through almost endless stages of promotion from loivor to higher forms of life . If to any ono of us Avere given the privilege of looking back through the eons across Avhich life has crept toAvards its present outcomeMs vision would ultimately reach a point Avhen the
pro-, genitors of this assembly could not bo called human . From that humble society , through the interaction of its members and the storing up of their best qualities , a better one emerged ; from this again a better still , until at length , by the integration of infinitesimals through ages of amelioration , Ave came to be Avhat we are to-clav . "
As a general truth , " Darwinism" is by no means generally accepted except by a limited class of thinkers , ancl the assertion that the majority of the educated accept the theory of a " protoplastic " creation of inferior animals , from which man Avas gradually to be developed , is equally , as far as I knoAv , unfounded . Dr . Johnson ridiculed Lord Monboddo ' s theory of the monkey as the original of the " homo , " but Avhat Avould ho have said of this neAv theory of " loAver form of life" gradually emerging in " higher . ' '
For anything that Professor Tyndall tells us to the contrary , we may to-day only bo a human development of the Ictbyosaurus or tbe Plethiosaurus ! " Risum toneatis amioi atque fratres !" Thus , then , in the nineteenth century , we have again to deal Avith the " oppositions of science , falsely so called . " Some of us may recall Norman Macleod ' s mot , which is alike oppositeand certainly not irreverent . He was alluding to the " meteoric theory "
, as tho origin of animal life , Avhich is not much removed in its absurdit y from the "lower form of animalism . " He remarked that the men of science woidd do Avell , in accordance Avith these last results of their research , to rewrite the first chapter of Genesis in this Avay : 1 . The earth Avas Avithout form , and void . 2 . A meteor fell upon the earth . 3 . The result was fish , flesh , and foAvl . 4 . From these proceeded the British Association . 5 . And the British Association pronounced it all tolerably good .
We must all feel , I think , in the present state of the discussion , the amazing force and reality of Ms words . In his Birmingham Lecture , Professor Tyndall , speaking on a " petitio principii , "—an erroneous assumption , never permitted in scientific inductionproceeds to propound a vieAv of his OAVU , utterly unfounded in itself , and' supported by no manner of evidence , except his OAvn VICAV of things , their " raison d ' etre , " and above all his OAvn "ipse dixit . " Most unscientific is he , according to my humble opinion , from first to fast . For what is all that folloAvs but an indirect , if not direct attack on all sup ernaturalism—nay , and the very credibility of inspired Revelation !
( surely many of the utterances Avhich have been accepted as descriptions ought to be interpreted as asph-ations ; or as having their roots in aspirations , instead of objective kiioivledge . Does the song of the herald angels , ' Glory to God in the highest , and on earth peace , good will toAvard man , ' express the exaltation and the yearnMg of a human soul , or does it describe an optical and acoustical fact—a visible host and an audible song 1 If the former , the exaltation ancl the yearnbig are man ' s imperishable possession—a foment long confined to individualsbut Avhich b-and-bbecome the leaven of the
, may y ye race . If the latter , then belief in the entire transaction is wrecked by non-fulfilment . Look to the East at the present moment as a comment on the promise of peace on earth and good Avill toAvard men . That promise is a dream dissolved by the experience of 18 centuries . But though the mechanical theory of vocal heavenly multitude proves untenable , the immortal song and the feeling it expresses are still ours , to be incorporated , let us hope , in purer and less sbadoAvy forms in the poetry , philosophy , ancl practice of the future
. _ Thus , folloAving the lead of physical science , we are brought from the solution of continuity into the presence of problems Avhich , as usually classified , lie entirely Outside 'he domain of physics . To these problems thoughtful and penetrative mmds are HOAV appl ying those methods of research which in physical science has proved their truth by 'heir fruits . There is on all hands a growing repugnance to invoke the supernatural in ^ counting for the phenomena of human life , and tbe thoughtful minds just referred to , nndbig no trace of evidence in favour of any other origin , are driven to seek in the inter-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Inconclusiveness And Aberrations Of Scientific Teachers.
' Origin of Species . ' Well , tho world—even the clerical world—has for the most part settled down in the belief that Mr . Darwin ' s book simply reflects the truth of nature ; that AVO AVIIO are noAV ' foremost in the files of time ' have come to the front through almost endless stages of promotion from loivor to higher forms of life . If to any ono of us Avere given the privilege of looking back through the eons across Avhich life has crept toAvards its present outcomeMs vision would ultimately reach a point Avhen the
pro-, genitors of this assembly could not bo called human . From that humble society , through the interaction of its members and the storing up of their best qualities , a better one emerged ; from this again a better still , until at length , by the integration of infinitesimals through ages of amelioration , Ave came to be Avhat we are to-clav . "
As a general truth , " Darwinism" is by no means generally accepted except by a limited class of thinkers , ancl the assertion that the majority of the educated accept the theory of a " protoplastic " creation of inferior animals , from which man Avas gradually to be developed , is equally , as far as I knoAv , unfounded . Dr . Johnson ridiculed Lord Monboddo ' s theory of the monkey as the original of the " homo , " but Avhat Avould ho have said of this neAv theory of " loAver form of life" gradually emerging in " higher . ' '
For anything that Professor Tyndall tells us to the contrary , we may to-day only bo a human development of the Ictbyosaurus or tbe Plethiosaurus ! " Risum toneatis amioi atque fratres !" Thus , then , in the nineteenth century , we have again to deal Avith the " oppositions of science , falsely so called . " Some of us may recall Norman Macleod ' s mot , which is alike oppositeand certainly not irreverent . He was alluding to the " meteoric theory "
, as tho origin of animal life , Avhich is not much removed in its absurdit y from the "lower form of animalism . " He remarked that the men of science woidd do Avell , in accordance Avith these last results of their research , to rewrite the first chapter of Genesis in this Avay : 1 . The earth Avas Avithout form , and void . 2 . A meteor fell upon the earth . 3 . The result was fish , flesh , and foAvl . 4 . From these proceeded the British Association . 5 . And the British Association pronounced it all tolerably good .
We must all feel , I think , in the present state of the discussion , the amazing force and reality of Ms words . In his Birmingham Lecture , Professor Tyndall , speaking on a " petitio principii , "—an erroneous assumption , never permitted in scientific inductionproceeds to propound a vieAv of his OAVU , utterly unfounded in itself , and' supported by no manner of evidence , except his OAvn VICAV of things , their " raison d ' etre , " and above all his OAvn "ipse dixit . " Most unscientific is he , according to my humble opinion , from first to fast . For what is all that folloAvs but an indirect , if not direct attack on all sup ernaturalism—nay , and the very credibility of inspired Revelation !
( surely many of the utterances Avhich have been accepted as descriptions ought to be interpreted as asph-ations ; or as having their roots in aspirations , instead of objective kiioivledge . Does the song of the herald angels , ' Glory to God in the highest , and on earth peace , good will toAvard man , ' express the exaltation and the yearnMg of a human soul , or does it describe an optical and acoustical fact—a visible host and an audible song 1 If the former , the exaltation ancl the yearnbig are man ' s imperishable possession—a foment long confined to individualsbut Avhich b-and-bbecome the leaven of the
, may y ye race . If the latter , then belief in the entire transaction is wrecked by non-fulfilment . Look to the East at the present moment as a comment on the promise of peace on earth and good Avill toAvard men . That promise is a dream dissolved by the experience of 18 centuries . But though the mechanical theory of vocal heavenly multitude proves untenable , the immortal song and the feeling it expresses are still ours , to be incorporated , let us hope , in purer and less sbadoAvy forms in the poetry , philosophy , ancl practice of the future
. _ Thus , folloAving the lead of physical science , we are brought from the solution of continuity into the presence of problems Avhich , as usually classified , lie entirely Outside 'he domain of physics . To these problems thoughtful and penetrative mmds are HOAV appl ying those methods of research which in physical science has proved their truth by 'heir fruits . There is on all hands a growing repugnance to invoke the supernatural in ^ counting for the phenomena of human life , and tbe thoughtful minds just referred to , nndbig no trace of evidence in favour of any other origin , are driven to seek in the inter-