EVOLUTION

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21384, 29 January 1935, Page 8

EVOLUTION

TO TBI EDITOR OP THIS PRESS, Sir, —In your issue of Thursday, January 17, you had some significant comments from certain of the clergy interviewed regarding the cable from London on the previous day, giving the testimony of Sir Ambrose Fleming, president of ths Philosophical Society of Great Britain, on evolution. This is a question of intense interest to every generation, the origin and destiny of man. When the enquiry is called the "evolution of man," the question is begged or settled before it is begun. For if man is an evolution, he is not a creation. Sir Ambrose Fleming and the Philosophical Society of Great Britain stand, as the society since 1865 has stood, for creationism and the Bible testimony against agnostic evolution in any of its ever-chang-ing forms.

You head the result of the interview of clergy significantly, "Clergy Reluctant to .-Comment." "A theory," some said, "for scientists rather than for ministers." "The opposition believed to exist between certain scientific theories and Christianity which was the cause of much controversy now appears to give very little concern. Most interviewed did not consider the statement to be of immediate importance. Several clergymen were unwilling to make any public comment at all." One would have thought that, as ministers of the Gospel, many would rejoice to give publicity to the statement of one of the greatest of scientists. He declares that "belief in evolution is entirely inconsistent with belief in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity." As my object is to give prominence in this letter to the of Sir Ambrose Fleming, 1 refrain from comment on the deplorable lack of knowledge and certitude on the part of certain clergy or ministers. This inability or reluctance is not by any means the sole fault of ministers; but, in large measure, is the direct result of the sceptical and agnostic teaching on this great theme in our universities and theological colleges. These are the citadels beseiged or captured by the enemy. It was to meet this emergency that in the year 1865, when Darwinian evolution was making its first bid for supremacy in education and theology, that the Victoria Institute or Philosophical Society of Great Britain was founded in London. The past presidents have been: the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G. (1865-1886); Sir George Gabriel Stokes, D.C.L., F.R.S. (18861903); the "Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Halsbury, P.C., F.R.S. (1903-1921); the Rev. Henry Wace, D.D., Dean of Canterbury (1921-23); Sir Ambrose Fleming, from 1923 till the present time. In thc.se times and in our distant and isolated Dominion it is surely of importance for our youth to know that not all men of science are agnostics, nor all theological professors sceptics, and to know the testimony of one of the greatest scientific men of the age, versed not only in practical science but in questions of philosophy and religion. This great man, one of the world's greatest, has just published his "Memories of a Scientific Life." On the title page he is thus described: "Sir Ambrose Fleming, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S., Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering in the University of London; Honorary Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge; Fellpw of University College, London; Honorary Member and Faraday Medallist of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London: President of Victoria Institute (Philosophical Society of Great Britain)} President of the Television

Society; Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics; Albert Hall Medallist of the Royal Society of Arts." When he was recently presented with one of his almost innumerable scientific decorations by the University of Liverpool, the "Orator of the University" thus introduced him: 'John Ambrose Fleming has a conspicuous and most honourable place among those men of science whose work has enriched and enlarged the range of human communication, and set at the service of men natural forces now constantly employed for their pleasure and their work, but until recently either unimagined or left in the region of the unreal and miraculous. He has had a great part in introducing to this country telephone, tjje incandescent electric lamp, and wireless telegraphy and telephony. He is the inventor' of many cunning instruments, one or which, the thermionic valve, has given us broadcasting anu the beam system of wireless telegraphy. He has multiplied and developed the discoveries of electrical science; it may truly be said of him that he has spread light in the world. If, then, the dwellers in our towns and cities and in remote villages and hamlets owe him a great debt, we who live in a university owe him our thanks for fostering in the laboratory those studies, the utility of which he had proved to the large world. We do not forget that for 42 years ho was professor of electrical engineering in University College, London; a member of many learned and scientific • societies, we desire to bring him within our own borders and ourselves to take a share in the honour which he confers on all those who pay him the tribute of their respect and admiration. In the name of the Senate I present to you, John Ambrose Fleming, D.Sc., F.R.S., for the degree of Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa, of this University." May I add relative to the testimony of the Philosophical Society of Great Britain, of which Sir Ambrose Fleming is president, that for many years I have been an associate member of this society, and possess 65 volumes of its "Transactions." I shall receive by first mail, posted before it was delivered, a copy of Sir Ambrose Fleming's address, and shall be glad to give, with.his permission, more of this great man's testimony on philosophy, science, and religion. In my "Brief Statement of the Reformed Faith." excluded from publicity in the Presbyterian Church here by modernist machinery in the saddle. I quoted the following significant and whole-hearted testimony of Sir Ambrose Fleming:— "These sacred writings, though coming to us through men, are not solely the work of men, but are a communication to us from the Creator of the Universe, infallible in all that concerns the state, the salvation, and destiny of mankind. It is essential to bear in mind that one of the foundation stones of the Christian faith is the historical accuracy of the statements of the Bible." Regarding my booklet quoted, may I add that in a personal letter he wrote to me: "It appears to me to be a very admirable and valuable restatement of the Christian faith, and I hope it will be widely circulated," sending me at the same time one or two of his addresses. —Yours, etc., P. B. FRASER. Dunedin, January 25, 1935.

TO TIM EDITOB 0* THE PR«S». Sir, —This morning I neither lifted up my voice and wept, nor laughed hysterically, when I saw "rich" for "arch" "quack" for "quark," and "fcostilely" for "hastily"—l felt sorry for you ana the printer who are condemned to read and print my illwritten cryptic stuff. Instead lam thankful that it sometimes passes into print where it can be read, and it gives me an excuse to write yet another little one on the evolution of the voice. I notice another cablegram, from England this time—good old England, the home of "ros bif," and the British Israelites, and 365 other cults, one for every day in the year, so that everyone can take their pick, the home of the Royal House of David, son of Jesse, which has just sent us a scion to give us a look-over. We read in that cablegram that it is the Rev. John Maillard who is lifting up his voice—"a deep, ringing bass voice." I suppose some scientist has written about the evolution of the voice. Sir Arthur Keith, I expect, would give anything if he could examine the tonsils say, belonging to those old skulls that belie the Adam and Eve story, and that probably emitted grunts

groans only. Children should not be misled by woodcuts of shapely, naked parents. Edward Clodd, in his "Childhood of the World," shows them to be crouching, hairy, animal-like beings.— Yours, etc., PETER TROLOVE. January 26, 1935.