SIR AMBROSE FLEMING AND EVOLUTION.

Evening Star, Issue 21934, 22 January 1935, Page 3

SIR AMBROSE FLEMING AND EVOLUTION.

TO TUI'. EDITOR. Sir, —Many will have noted with groat interest the cabled report from London ot the address of Sir Ambrose Fleming, as president of the Victoria Institute or Philosophical Society of Great Britain, on the question of intense interest to every generation, the origin and destiny of man, or the “ evolution of man ” ; an expression which begs or settles the whole inquiry; for if man is an evolution, he is not a creation. Sir Ambrose I*leming and the Philosophical Society of Great Britain stand, as the society since 18C5 has stood, for creationism and the Biblical testimony against agnostic evolution in any of its changmg forms. You devote a leader in the same issue, Wednesday last, to indicate that, in _ language characteristic of evolutionists, “ all educated people ” belieye themselves to be an evolution of monkeys. You say that Sir Ambrose Fleming " challenges the whole Darwinian theory of evolution.” “He asserts,” you say, “ that belief in it is entirely inconsistent with belief in the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. Here the expert on electricity goes still further beyond his sphere. Theologians beyond number, as well as lay critics like the ‘ Daily Telegraph ’ will disagree with him.”

Aon go out of your way to brush aside as worthless the testimony of one of the greatest scientific men the world has known. He*is a “ bold man,” you H is “ daring ” on his part ns an electrical engineer,” not a biologist, to challenge, in the name of historic Christian faith, the Darwinian theory, now j as you indicate, swallowed wholesale by “ theologians without number,” and even “ lay critics ” like the ‘ Dailv J®i®g ra ph ’ and the ‘ Evening Star."’ Well, one would just ask what qualifications superior to Sir Ambrose Fleming have newspaper editors or .theologians—mere book-men theorists, most of them to settle the questions of human origin and de\-clopment. It so happens that I have just reprinted a forceful article by a wellknown London journalist and editor, Sydney Dark entitled ‘ Why I Cling to the Old Faith.’ Now, will you be good enough to give this brief and trenchant article to your readers? He concludes: “ The out-and-out unbeliever is, of course, a fool, but he is not half such a fool as the people who call themselves Christian Platonists and Modernists and other meaningless terms; who want the shadow without the substance; who delude the unwary and cause the weak to stumble.” The scientist whoso great lifo-Jong services to mankind you belittle as “ an electrical engineer,” has just published his ‘Memories of a Scientific Life.’ On the title 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; Fellow 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,” etc., etc.”

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 whoso 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 cither unimagined or left in the region of the unreal and miraculous. He has had a great part in introducing to this country the telephone. the incandescent electric lamp, and wireless telegraphy and telephony. He is the inventor of many cunning instruments, one of which, the thermionic valve, has given us broadcasting and the beam system of wireless telegraphy. He has multiplied and developed the discoveries of electrical science; it may truly bo 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 proud to the large world. We do not forget that for forty-two yeara he was professor of electrical engineering in University College, London; a member of many learned and scientific societies, wo desire to bring him within our own borders and ourselves to take a share in tbo honour which he confers on all those who pay him the tribute of their respect and admiration. Jn the name of the Senate i present to you, .John Ambrose Fleming. D.Sc.. F. 8.5.. for the degree' of Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa, of this University.” May I have space to refer to Sir Ambrose as president of the Philosophical Society of Groat Britain? The past presidents were :—The Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G. (1865-1886); Sir George Gabriel Stokes, D.C.L., F.R.S. (1886-1903); the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Halsbury, P.C., F.R.S. (19031921); Rev. Henry Wace, D.D., Dean of Canterbury (1921-1923). Sir Ambrose Fleming from 1923 till the present time. 1 have been for many years an associate member of this society, and possess sixty-five volumes of its ‘ Transactions.’ I shall receive first mail copy of Sir Ambrose Fleming’s address referred to, and 1 shall be glad to give more of this great man’s testimony on philosophy, science, and religion. In my ‘ Brief Statement of the Rclormed Faith,’ excluded by modernists, from publicity in the Presbyterian Church, I quoted the following from Sir Ambrose Fleming:— “Those sacred writings, though coming to us through men, are not solely the work of men, but are a communication to ns From the Creator of tho Universe, infallible in all that concerns the State, the salvation, and destiny of mankind. It is essential to hear in mind that one of the foundation stones of tho Christian faith is the historical accuracy of tho statements of the Bible.” Of my booklet, in a personal letter be wrote to me: “ It appears to me to be a very admirable and valuable restatement of the Christian faith, and I hope it will he widely circulated,” sending me at the same tinny one or two of his addresses.—l am, etc., P. B. Fuasuk, January 19,

[Mr Fraser’s letter merely confirms the only point we were concerned to make for our own part in the article he refers to, that Kir Ambrose Fleming is an electrical engineer, and as such no more qualified in bp an authority on evolution than if be was a journalist.—Ed. E.S.]