Mr Joseph McCabe.

Northern Advocate, 25 June 1910, Page 5

Mr Joseph McCabe.

(Auckland Correspondent.)

By the Sydney boat to-morrow will arrive in New Zealand one of the most eminent of living -exponents of the cult of rationalism and the science of evolution. Mr Joseph McCabe, philosopher and orator, is widely known as the translator of Haeckel's philosophic works, and as the author of a number ot works on evolutional-}-, social, and rationalistic subjects. His career has been a remarkable one. For some years he was Professor of Philosophy and Ecclesiastical History at St. Antony's College, and took the course of Oriental languages at Louvain University, while later he was rector of Buckingham College. Mr McCabe deserted the Roman Catholic priesthood at the age of 28, in order to devote himself to the study of the scient fie side of modern culture, especially in its bearing on evolution; and of late "years his works and lectures have become a household) word as lucfld and forcible expositions on •questions germane to the rationalistic movement.

Lucjd and absorbing as an author Mr Joseph McCabe is equally ominent as a lecturer. His manner is not that of the logician who desires to I convince you against your will, but rather that of the scientist who | seeks to direct the mind into the channels of thought which bring ultimate conviction. He went to Australia at the invitation; <of a Victorian Committee to deliver <„ series of lectures upon evolutionary topics, and his addresses in Melbourne were attended by crowded audiences, whose intellectual enjoyment of his masterly treatment cf his subjects was so keen as to surprise the lecturer. The course there had to be doubled, and equal success was attained in Sydney. On the night of his arrival Mr McCabe will lecture at the Unitarian Church, and on Monday he will speak in the Choral Hall upon "The Evolution of Man," the lecture being illustrated by a series of beautiful lantern slides. He talks of scientific subjects, but he talks cf them in such a way that everyone can understand him, with just that leaven of humor which serves to bring out the full significance of the facts which he produces. He is „ careful and accurate student, and has read the literature of five nations upon his subjects.