THE RVNDAY- OREGONTAT7. PORTLAND. JULY 2, 1923
I BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION AND IN GOD
11
The Law of Growth Will Attain Its Full
Glory in the Life Beyond.
Blind Credence the Church's Foe
BY W. W. KEEN, M. D., Sc. D., LL. D.
THERE are two views of the creation
of man. One is that God created
man, completely furnished, physi
cally; mentally, morally and spiritually,
like the heathen legend of Minerva spring
ing full-armed from the brain of Jupiter.
The other is that his creation was a grad
ual instead of an instantaneous process,
starting from a far lower form of animal
life, slowly increasing in intelligence and
in his physical, moral and spiritual na
ture until he reached his present state.
This last view may be likened to the
creation and development of the tele
phone by Graham Bell, in our own day.
It has been a gradual evolution. Even
today It has not yet reached its full de
velopment. Every day adds new marvels.
Nor has man yet reached his full devel
opment. For myself. I believe that man
himself will only attain his final develop
ment In the future life beyond the grave.
In that wondrous life I believe as fully as
I do in my own present existence.
Do I also believe In evolution? Most
aseuredly. And for the very best of rea
sons, viz: that I see the evidence of it all
around me every day. Even in my own
lifetime I have seen a wonderful evolu
tion In vegetables, In fruit, in flowers
' compare the original wild rose of my
boyhood, with Its ring of only five petals,
with an American Beauty rose In pig
eons and chickens, In the dog, the cow
and the horse. The chronology of Arch
bishop TJssher, who lived three centuries
ago (IB 81-1656), when paleontology,
eeology, anthropology, philology, chemis
try and the spectroscope were in their
Infancy or even did not exist, Is a man
made addition to the Bible which has
no business to be there. To fix 4004
B. C. as the date of the creation is not
only . untrue, but has worked Immense
barm.
Dr. Schlesinger, the professor of as
tronomy at Yale, says that "many of
the stars . . . are so distant that it
takes more' than a million years for their
light (traveling at the rate of 186,000
miles a second) to reach us, and it Is
probable that some of them may require
five million years or even more." He adds
that there is "good evidence that the age
of the earth must be reckoned, not in
mere millions, but in billions of years."
In geologic times we have discovered
one link after another which nearly fill
the gap between the anthropoid apes
and the lowest human being.
The attitude of the church, and espe
cially of the clergy, toward science and
toward the origin of man is of incalcu
lable importance. Darwin's "Origin of
Species" was published in 1859, the year
when I graduated at Brown university.
The recrudescence of the warfare over
evolution, which for many years had .
subsided and almost disappeared, except
sporadically, is a strange phenomenon.
The illogical and fntile attacks upon sci
ence by some of the miscalled fundamen
talists, and an Illogical and even absurd
attempt to prove that the Bible contains
and anticipated the discoveries of modern
science, are doing immense harm to re
ligion. There is serious danger If present
tendencies triumph that intelligent peo
plethose who eventually mold the
thought of the world will be alienated
from the church and finally driven out
of it. It is not without deplorable signif
icance that Lord Bryce, in his "Modern
Democracies" (Vol. 2, page 326) states
that in Argentina and Brazil "Men of the
educated class have practically dropped
Christianity."
The Bible is a textbook of religion,
and not a textbook of science. Like our
common speech of today, its language
is popular, not technical. Sage and way
faring man alike find in it guidance and
gospel, the good news of an immortal
life through our Lord Jesus Christ. The
"impregnable rock oi'holy scripture" and
the impregnable rocks of the geologist
are equally God's handiwork, and, rightly
interpreted, must agree.
I have been a student and teacher of
anatomy and surgery since 1860, a period
of 62 years. I have diligently striven to
know these two subjects as thoroughly as
possible, and have. written hundreds of
papers and some books, in which I have
set forth this knowledge.
On the other hand, I am a firm be
, liever in Christianity. I follow, very fal
terlngly, it is true, in the footsteps of
my beloved Master and adore him as my
divine Savior. In him are all my hopes
for the future.
As a Christian man I find no difficulty
whatever in believing absolutely in evolu
tion and also absolutely in revelation.
Let me now point to facts not the
ories, but facts which demonstrate this
unity of the animttl kingdom, including
man. v
Let me relate some operations I have
done on the human brain. The brain in
animals, including man, consists in a
general way of (a) the cerebrum: (b)
the cerebellum; (c) the spinal cord and
(d) certain structures which bind these
three together. Extend the fingers
straight forward. The fingers then resem
ble the "convolutions' 'on the surface
of the brain; the furrows between them
resemble the "fissures" between te con
volutions of the brain. The principal
fissures between the convolutions are
similar in man and animals.
In the convolutions on . the surface of
the brain are certain small aggregations
of motor nerve cells in the gray matter
called "motor centers." On being stim
ulated by an electric current these cells
produce motion, each center in one defi
nite portion of the body, and never in
any other part. These motor centers are
all grouped around the fissure of Rolan
do, which runs obliquely downward and
forward above the ear. This and another
deep furrow called the fissure of Syl
vius are always readily identified in the
lower animals. The motor centers for
movements of the leg, arm, face, fingers,
etc., in the brains of the lower animals,,
up to the anthropoid ape, have been ex
actly mapepd out by experiments Tin an
imals. In the human brain the location
of the corresponding motor centers is
a duplicate of those in the brains of
animals. Let me relate some striking
cases to confirm this statement.
A young woman with epilepsy, in whom
the attacks were constantly increasing
In frequency and violence, insisted that
her attacks always began in her left
thumb, then spread to the hand, then to
the arm, followed by unconsciousness and
violent convulsions all over the body.
Careful observation for two weeks in
hospital confirmed her statements that
the fits always did begin In this left
thumb. If, then, I could prevent the fit
from beginning In this thumb, so I rea
soned, it might be that I could prevent
the entire attack. Just as, in a row of
bricks standing on end, if I can prevent
the first one from falling none of the
others will fall.
The possibility of the exact localiza
tion of the little cube of gray matter on
the surface of the brain dominating all
the muscles of the thumb was the key
to the whole operation. This localization
of the thumb center had been made ab
solute by experiments on the brains of
animals. Accordingly, I opened her skull,
identified the spot corresponding to the
thump center (i .e., the great toe of the
fore foot) In animals, and cut out a
small cube less than an inch on each
side.
Next note the fact that there are nine
muscles moving the thumb, some in the
ball of the thumb, some between the
thumb and the fore finger, some extend
ing up the front of the forearm, and some
up the back of the forearm, both of the
latter reaching nearly to the elbow. Some
flex and some extend the thumb, some
separate it from the other fingers, and
respond to the arm and leg in man. Bona
for bone, they are counterparts of the
human skeleton shoulder blade, humer
us, radius and ulna (the two bones of the
forearm), and those of the hand,with a
similar correspondence in the bones of the
hind leg and foot.
Nothing could be more unlike exter
nally than the flipper of a whale and the
arm and hand of a man. Yet you find fn l
the flipper the shoulder blade, humerus,
radius, ulna, and a hand with the bones
of four offive fingers masked in a mitten
of skin.
Observe the bones of the next chicken
you eat. The breast bone of all birds has
' a great ridge developed to give a large
surface for attachment of the large and
powerful breast muscles for. flight. You
will find in the wing the counterpart of
the shoulder blade, the humerus and the
radius and ulna. The bones of the bird's
wing, i. e., the hand, are three in number,
the bones corresponding to the little fin
ger and the ring finger being absent. They
are thus modified to support the feathers.
It is a hand altered to suit the medium in
which birds move so gracefully.
"
While" undoubted evidence shows that
man has existed for only about 500,000
years, the horse has a consecutive geolog
ical history of over 3,000,000 years. The
skeleton of the earliest horse, which was ,
scarcely larger than a cat, had four toes
in front and three behind. Gradually all
the toe bones except one the middle toe
have been lost. But the scond and
fourth digits, though thy do not show ex
ternally, are represented by two rudi
mentary bones, the two "splint bones."
The horse of today walks literally on
tiptoe, for the hoof is the toe or finger
nail.
The internal organs of the body have
the same story to tell of likeness or iden
tity. Let us first look at the heart. You
all know there is a right side of the heart
which sends the blood through the lungs
Showing the mavked similarity between the bony Structure of
men and horses .
by one we can make the thumb touch each
of the other four fingers. This is the mo
tion which differentiates tha human
"hand" from the animal forefoot.
When this patient awoke from the ether
every one of these hine muscles was par
alyzed and in not a single additional mus
cle was motion abolished. The human
brain center and the animal brain center
for the thumb were proved to be precisely
identical. My hopes were justified. Her
epileptic attacks, which had occurred al
most daily, recurred only about once in a
year. In a few months she even regained
full control over this thumb.
Do not such exact localizations of the
brain centers in animals, as directly ap
plied to man, in hundreds, if not thou
sands of operations by now, most closely
ally man to animals? t
!Bo with me next into the museum of
the Academy of Natural Sciences in Phil
adelphia and compare the skeleton of man
wfth those of the lower animals. Practi
cally, these animal skeletons all closely
resemble the human skeleton-, though
when clothed with flesh and skin they
look very unlike.
Look at the many skeletons with five
toes the prevalent or typical number
such as those of the cat, tiger, bear, ele
phant and others. Sometimes there are
only four toes in the hind leg, or the fifth,
if it exists, is rudimentary. Take for in
stance, the front and hind legs that cor-
to be oxygenated, and. a left side, which
sends the blood to all the rest of the
body. -Each of these sides has two cavl- .
ties the auricle to collect the blood, the
other, the ventricle, with strong, muscu
lar walls, to drive the blood on its long
Journey. These four cavities are all united
into one heart, with an important groove
on the surface, marking a partition be
tween the two auricles above and the two
ventricles below.
A steady, rhythmical action of the four
cavities Is essential for the proper propul
sion of the blood and, therefore, for
health and life. The four cavities act, not
all at once, but in succession, like the
feet of a walking horse 1, 2, 3,4; 1, 2,
3, 4, each foot having its own number.
Until 1892 we did not know exactly what
regulated this orderly sequence. In that
year the younger Dr. His discovered
that in the groove, between the auricles
and the ventricles there was a small bun
dle of muscular fibers which existed as a
single bundle until it reached a certain
point. There it divided into two smaller
bundles, one going to the muscles of the
right side of the heart and the other to
those of the left side.
But the great importance of this "bun
dle 'of His" was not fully appreciated until
12 years later (1904). If, under an an
esthetic, an animal's chest 1b opened,
the heart laid' bare, and this "bundle of
His" is Injured, the rhythm of the heart
Strangely like a Vuman hand is the
flipper of a whale '
is at once disturbed. Instead of 1, 2, 3, 4,
the order in which the hoofs struck the
ground might be 1. 4, 2, 3orl, 3, 2, 4,
etc. This fluttering of the heartHhreatens
life. If the bundle is destroyed death
quickly follows. '
Now. this fiundie of His is found in all
vertebrates, in man and other animals, in
birds and even in frogs and fishes. Does
not this show a solidarity of the entire
animal kingdom? Do not so many such
exact parellels between the human and
the animal body strongly suggest a close
inter-relation of the two? Even plants
convey the same message.
, I have seen Professor Bose of Calcutta
put plants to sleep with ether and chlo
roform. If enough is given they are killed
just as a man is killed. If only a moderate
dose is given the plant passes into a state
of greatly lessened activity, which may be
well called sleep. When the anesthetic is
withdrawn it gradually wakens and re
turns to its normal activity, just as a man
does.
One can even descend still further in
the scale to the bacteria, that 'is, germs
visible only by the microscope. As Welch
of Johns Hopkins points out, "The gen
tle killing of certain bacteria by chloro
form enables us to detect in their bodies
toxic (poisonous) substances which are
aestroyed by more violent modes of
death."
' Another evidence of our animal origin
is found in organs which are well de
veloped and actively functioning In some
of the lower animals, but which in man
are only rudimentary. The best-known ex
ample of this is the appendix, which, in
some of the lower animals is well devel
oped and functions actively. Its frequent
inflammation is also a good example of
the fact that such imperfect vegetil or
gans are very prone to disease and often
require the surgeon's skill to avert disas
ter. The only really safe place for the
appendix is in the surgeon's collection of
tiophies.
Let us now turn to the very significant
evidence of our animal origin In the em
bryonic development of man. I have time
to note but a single, though very enlight
ening. Instance. - ?
During prenatal development In man,
between the two- upper jaw bones is a
triangular bone which carries the four
upper incisors, or "front teeth." At birth
and afterward there is normally no such
bone because it has become fused on each
side with the upper jaw bone. In sheep
and some other animals this always per
sists as a separate bone called the pre
mammary bone. Now note a curious defec
tive development in human fetal life.
Sometimes this premaxillary bone in the
human embryo fails to unite with the
upper Jaw bone on the right or the left
side, and then we have what you all know
as "cleft palate." If not only the bones
fail to fuse together, but this failure ex
tends also to the lips, we have a "hare
Hp." We see in some cases only a cleft
palate, in others a harelip, in still others
both harelip and cleft palate.
When there is such a deformity it never
occurs in the middle line, or any indiffer
ent place, here or there, but invariably
to the right or left side and correspond
ing exactly to the site Of the failure of
this premaxillary bone, to unite with the
upper jaw.
Is not such an exact correspondence
between the anatomy and development of
the sheep and of the child most significant
Of the ancestry of the human body?
' Lastly, there have been discovered sev
eral grades of actual prehistoric men.
Their skeletons or skulls, their flint in
struments and the remains of their tires
are evidences of the grade of their several
civilizations. This chain of human ances
tors was unknown to Darwin, for they
have been discovered since his death.
I have myself seen in the caverns of
southern France the extraordinary and
convincing evidence of the assured exist
ence of our immediate ancestor, the Cro
Magnan man, who lived about 25,000
years ago. There are to be seen the work
of the first painter and the earliest sculp
tor, prehistoric Sargents and Rodins of
remarkable skill, -'
Before the Cro-Magnan man came the
Neanderthal man, "whom we know all
about, his frame, his head-form, his In
dustries, his ceremonial burial of the
dead," as Dr. Henry Fairfield Osborn has
pointed out. Before him was the Piltdown
man; before him the Heidelberg man;
still earlier, in Java, the Trinil man; and '
still further back in geologic time was
the Foxhall man all named for the local
ities in which their remains were found.
This earliest Foxhall man lived in Eng
land before the great ice age, about 500,
000 years ago,.
Bateson himself, who has been mis
quoted as an opponent of evolution; says:
"Let us proclaim, in precise and unmis
takable language, that our faith in evolu
tion is unshaken. Every available line of
argument converges on this inevitable
conclusion."
The difference between the highest an
thropoid apes and the lowest man grad
usually grow less and less the further we
trace them backward. We must clearly
understand that no existing species of an
thropoid apes could have been our ances
tors. The latter and we are collateral
descendants from apelike species living
far, far back in geologic time; before, and
probably long before the great ice age.
The earth is very big, the various ex
cavations have covered only a very minute
part of its surface during only half a cen
tury. Every discovery has but confirmed
the wonderful story of the ascent of man.
Man's ascent from an animal of low
intelligence seems to me to be absolutely
proved by the many phenomena which
reveal identical organs and physiological
processes in the animal and the human
body, a few of which, chosen out of a
very great number, I haveMescribed. It is
confirmed by the discovery of the remains
of a number of prehistoric men, as is now
definitely proved. This ascent of man, in
perfectly orderly sequence, is far more
probable than that evolution progressed
up to the anthropoid apes and stopped
there, and that God then made man by
a separate, special creative act, yet
mirable dictu with all these minute and
exact correspondence of similar structures
and functions In animals. Microscopically
the various structures in man and ani
mals are practically identical. Even the
tiny muscles moving the wings of Insects'
such as the fly and mosquito, resemble
microscopically the muscles of man.
If man was a special creation the
Almighty was not limited to the lowliest
form of matter the "dust of the ground"
as material for the human body. He
could have created a nobler, a more
subtle, a more puissant and exalted stuff
out of which to fashion man. The plan
and structure and function of man's body
would then supposedly have differed toto
coelo from man's present body. Probably
it would have been free from the defects
and deformities inherent In the animal
body, and free from the diseases which
it shares with animals.
But, no! God deliberately made man
(toncludsd en Fur 0.)