T orch of
VOL. 2.
S IL V E R T O N , O REG O N , TH U R SD A Y , N O V EM B ER 17, 1898.
Free Speech.
of the ancient hypothesis is unfa­
vorable.
BY CHARLEH MACKAY.
A kindred an tith esis exists be­
tween the two fam ilies of beliefs, to
A LL conviction should be v a lia n t:
Tell th y tr u th , if tru th it be,
which the beliefs we are com paring
N ever seek to stem its c u rr e n t;
severally belong. W hile the one
T h o u ghts, like rivers, find th e se a :
I t will fit th e w idening circle
fam ily has been dying out, the
Of ete rn al verity.
o th er fam ily has been m ultiplying.
Speak th y th o u g h t if thou believ’st it,
Ju s t as fast as men have ceased to
Let it jostle whom it m ay,
E ’en alth o u g h th e foolish scorn it
regard different classes of phenom ­
Or th e o b stin ate g a in s a y ;
ena as caused by special personal
E very seed th a t grows tom orrow
Lies b en eath th e clod today.
agents, acting irregularly; so fast
! have they come to regard these d if­
If o u r sires, th e n o b le-h earted ,
P ioneers of th in g s to com e,
ferent classes of phenom ena as
H ad like som e been weak and tim id ,
caused by a general agency acting
T raito rs to them selves, and d u m b ,
W here would be our p resen t know ledge? uniform ly— the two changes being
W here th e hoped m illen n iu m ?
correlative. A nd as, on the one
W here would be triu m p h a n t Science,
h an d , the hypothesis th a t each
Searching w ith h e r fearless eyes,
T hrough th e in fin ite creation
species resulted from a su p e rn a tu ­
For th e soul th a t u n d e rlies—
ral act, having lost nearly all its
Soul of b eau ty , soul of goodness,
W isdom of th e e a rth an d skies?
kindred hypotheses, may he expect­
ed soon to become e x tin ct; so, on
W here would be all g reat in v en tio n s,
E ach from bygone fancies born,
th e other hand, the hypothesis th a t
Issu ed first in doubt an d d ark n ess,
each species resulted from the ac­
L aunched ’m id a p a th y and sco rn ?
How w ould noontide ever lig h t us
tion of n atu ral fcauses, being one of
B u t for daw ning oi th e m o rn ?
an ever-increasing fam ily of hypo­
W here would be our free opinion,
theses, m ay be expected to survive
W here th e rig h t to speak a t all,
If o u r sires, like som e m istru stfu l,
and become established.
H ad been deaf to d u ty ’s call,
S till greater will the probability
And concealed th e th o u g h ts w ith in th e m ,
Lying down for fear to fall?
of its survival and establishm ent
T hough an honest th o u g h t, o u tsp o k en ,
appear, when we observe th a t it is
Lead thee in to ch ain s or d e a th ,
one of a p a rtic u la r genus of hypo­
W h at is life com pared w ith v irtu e ?
Shalt thou not survive thy breath?
theses th a t h as been rap id ly ex­
H a rk ! th e fu tu re age in v ites th ee 1
tending.
The in terp retatio n of
L isten 1 trem b le, w h a t it sa ith .
phenom ena as resu ltin g from E vo­
It d em ands th y th o u g h t in ju stice,
lution, has been independently
D ebt, no t trib u te of th e f r e e ;
H av e n o t ages long d e p arted
show ing itself in various fields of
G roaned, and toiled, an d bled for thee?
in q u iry , quite rem ote from one a n ­
If th e p ast has lent th ee w isdom ,
P ay it to fu tu rity .
other. The supposition th a t the
solar system has been g radually
evolved out of diffused m atter, is a
General Aspects of the Evolution- supposition wholly astronom ical in
Hypothesis.
its origin and application. Geolo­
gists, w ithout being led th ereto by
BY HERBERT SPENCER.
astronom ical considerations, have
UST as the supposition th a t been step by step advancing to­
races of organism s have been w ards the conviction th a t the earth
specially created, is discred- has reached its present varied
ted by its origin; so, conversely, the stru ctu re through a process of evo­
supposition th a t these races have lution. The inquiries of biologists
seen evolved, is credited by its ori­ have proved the falsity of the once
gin. Instead of being a concep- general belief th a t th e germ of each
:ion suggested and accepted when organism is a m inute repetition of
m ankind were profoundly igno­ th e m atu re organism , differing
rant, it is a conception born in from it only in b u lk ; and they
Limes of com parative en lig h ten ­ have shown, contrariw ise, th at
ment. Moreover, the belief th a t every organism , arising out of ap-
ill organic forms have arisen in parently-uniform m atter, advances
conformity with uniform laws, in­ to its u ltim ate m ultiform ity through
stead of through bieaches of u n i­ insensible changes. Among philo­
form laws, is a belief that, has come sophical politicians there has been
into existence in the m o st-in stru ct­ spreading the perception th a t the
ed class, living in these b etter-in ­ progress of society is an evolution:
structed tim es. N ot am ong those the tru th th a t “ constitutions are
who have paid no atten tio n to the not m ade, b u t grow,” is a p art of
order of N ature, has this idea m ade th e more general tru th th a t so­
its appearance; but am ong those cieties are not m ade, but grow. It
whose p u rsu its have fam iliarized is now u n iversally adm itted by
them with the order of N ature. philologists th a t languages, instead
Thus the derivation of this m odern of being artificially or supernatu-
hypothesis is as favorable as th a t ra lly formed, have been developed.
J
R eason .
NO. 45.
And the histories of religion, of greatly th a t no visible resemblance
phil osophy, of science, of the fine! of any kind can be jo in te d out be­
arts, and the in d u strial arts, show tween them . Yet is the one ch an g ­
I
th at these have passed through ed in the course of a few • vears
into
»
stages as unobtrusive as those the other: changed so gradu ally ,
through which the m ind of a child th at a t no m om ent can it he said—
passes on its way to m atu rity . If, Now the seed ceases to be, and the
then, the recognition of evolution tree exists. W hat can be more
as the law of m any diverse orders widely contrasted th an a newly-
of phenom ena, has been spreading, born child and the sm all, sem i­
m ay we not say th a t there thence tran sp aren t, gelatinous spherule
arises the probability th a t evolu­ co n stitu tin g the hum an ovum ?
tion will presently be recognized T he in fan t is so complex in stru c­
as the law of the phenom ena we ture th a t a cyclopedia is needed to
are considering? Each fu rth er ad ­ describe its constituent parts. The
vance of knowledge confirms the germ inal vesicle is so sim ple th a t
belief in the unitv of nature; and it m ay be defined in a line. N ever­
the discovery th a t evolution has theless, a few m onths suffice to de­
gone on, or is going on, in so m any velop the one out of the other; and
departm ents of nature, becomes a th a t, too, by a series of m odifica­
reason for believing th at there is tions so sm all th a t were tne em bryo
no d ep artm en t of n atu re in which exam ined at successive m inutes,
it does not go on.
even a microscope would with diffi­
The hypothesis of Special C rea­ culty disclose any sensible changes.
tion and E volution are no less con­ Aided by such facts, the conception
trasted in respect of their legiti­ of general evolution m ay be ren d er­
macy as hypotheses. W hile, as we ed a s definite a conception as any
have seen, the one belongs to th a t of our complex conceptions can be
order of sym bolic conceptions rendered. If instead of the succes­
which are proved to be illusive by sive m inutes of a ch ild ’s fœtal life,
the im possibility of realizing them we take successive generations of
in thought; the o th er is one of those creatures—if we regard the succes­
sym bolic conceptions which are sive generations as differing from
more or less com pletely realizable each other no more than the fœtus
in thought. The production of all did in successive m inutes; our im ­
organic form s by the slow accum u­ aginations m ust indeed be feeble if
lation of m odifications upon m odi­ we fail to realize in thought the
fications and by the slow diver­ evolution of the most complex or­
gences resulting from the continual I ganism out of the sim plest. If a
addition of differences to differ­ single cell, under ap p ro p riate con­
ences, is m entally representable in ditions, becomes a m an in the space
of a few years, there can be no d if­
outline, if not in detail. Various ficulty in understanding how, u n ­
orders of our experiences enable us der appropriate conditions, a cell
m ay, in the course of untold m il­
to conceive th e process.
lion years, give origin to the h u ­
m an race.
It is true th a t m any m inds are so
But the experiences which most
unfurnished with those experiences
clearly illu stra te to us the process
of n atu re out of which this concep­
of general evolution are our experi­ tion is built th at they find difficulty
ences of special evolution, repeated in form ing it. H ab itu ally looking
in every plant and anim al. Each at things, rath e r in th eir statical
organism exhibits, w ithin a sh o rt th an in their dynam ical aspects,
they never realize the fact th a t, by
space of time, a series of changes
sm all increm ents of m odification,
which, when supposed to occupy a any am out of modification may in
period infinitely great, and to goon tim e be generated. The surprise
in various wavs, instead of one which they feel on finding one
way, give us a tolerably clear con­ whom they last saw as a hov, grown
into a m an, becomes incredulity
ception of organic evolution in gen­
when the degree of change is
eral. In an individual develop­ greater. To such the hypothesis
m ent we have compressed into a I th a t by any series of changes a
com paratively infinitesim al space protozoon should ever give origin to
a series of m etam orphoses equal­ a m am m al, seems grotesque— as
grotesque as did G alileo’s assertion
ly vast with those which the of the e a rth ’s movement seem to
hypothesis of evolution assum es to the A ristotleans, or as grotesque as
have taken place d u rin g those im ­ the assertion of the e a rth ’s spheric­
m easurable epochs th a t the e a rth ’s ity seems now to th e New Z ealand­
crust tells us of. A tree differs ers. But those who accept a lite r­
ally u n th in k ab le proposition as
from a seed im m easurably in every quite satisfactory may not u n n a t­
respect— in bulk, in stru ctu re, in u rally be expected to make a con­
color, in form, in specific gravity, I verse m istake.—Synthetic P hilos­
in chem ical com position; differs so i ophy.