THE TIMES ON EVOLUTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4471, 17 June 1876, Page 3

THE TIMES ON EVOLUTION.

TO THE KDITOIU

: ' Slit—lt is with extremo-regret that I venture . again to aiijivar in your columns on tho subject of Evolution, and I do ho only under asense of duty, o& I cr-nnot ignore the fact thnt, without my courting it, I have been placed in a peculiar relation totbat queation in thi« emuHiuijity. I have read with profound pain and rejjgflt your leading article of this day,.and fe«l Coijs|taine(l, at whatoyer pain to myself, to enileavpur to undo its mischievous influence. I l'ljo tono nssumed throughout this article li peculiar. Tho;o who reject tho Evolutionary | theory of man's descent are charged, either clire^tly orMuijilioitly, with being " wanting in common sense," with "indifference'and pighea&dnesa," with " not taking the trouble to understand," with being '"very dull oi very dishouost," with being victims of unconquerable, prejudice," and «o on; and those who assert that it contradicts Christianity are said. toba doing something " unholy " — nay.jaomothinp only paralleled by the doings of the Inquifiition. It h thus uHsumed tliut tho believers in Evolution have a monopoly of all:themoral, intellectual, and religious virtues. This is the style of tho new school. It is certainly, su model of courtesy and modesty.. ' ■■'' But all this one qould let ]>ass.. It alone would not have provoked mo to break silence. WhaJi'l desire to warn the public -against is the assumption running, through the artiole that Evolution has been proved in such a. way that only can reject it. The reference is not merely to the law of growth, which no one ever disputed—not merely to the fact that the lay (if Natural Selection is one principle which nature employs, whichi hoc one> cares- much |,to challenge: but to the full grown assertion that man has become what he is by a process of development from lowest forms of life, reaching back" through boundless time. It is assumed tbat this has been proved,, that among, all. leading men of acieneo debate; ia ended, that-it- now takes its place alongside of conclusions of the exact sciences, that it is only left to dogsjjto bark at it, that men like me are antiquated ignoramuses for even doubting it ; '' conclusively established," "finally settled"—that, ia^ the tone of Uio writer in regard to tlie matter. I should like to ask that writer if. he is prepared to call the Duke of Argyle, to give only one example, a dull, prejudiced,, dishonest, or ignorant man t Will he heap on him, his choice vocabulary ?: Yet he thinks the loved theory of Evolution utterly unproved, and rejects it. Could the writer really ibe weighing hisotvords? Perhaps, however, it will be most to-tbe point .to confront this writer's tone and manner with that of his own masters. The: contrast will be found nat a lit'la remarkable^. It will add clearness if I arrange the matter, in parallel columns: "Ilam aware that "Proved.to be irr<v my view is only a pro- ■fEagably true.." "Abvisionwhypothesis or solutely conclusive.' — speculamoo, but until a . Timea^ better wMvanced, it may be serviceable."-^; . Darwin's " Plants aud Animals," 11.., '657. " Many of the views " Tlia one only mewhich have been ad- thod of solving and vanced. are highly spe- accounting: for the dilative, and seme no- fact* of Nature." doubt will prove erro- " Just as.certain as the 1 neous. . » It seemed fact that the world ia worth while to try how sphericall."— Times, far the principle of Evolution will throw light on some of the | most complex problems in the natuinl history of mam"1 — Darwin's Descent of Man, IL, 385. / " Some of the oppo- " Only a very dull nents of transmutation as very dishoneot mind who are well versed in can. thoroughly underNatural Hidtory admit stand and condemn that though that doc- what is mea::t by trine is untenable, it is. Involution."—Times, not without its practical advantage as a useful working hypothesis."—Ly ell's An- . : tiquity of Man, p. 473. " \\^ehave toe ;quire "Wonitswayamong haw it happens ■ that tfoo lea'ling scientific many naturalists of un- men in the civilized doubted ability and world."—Times. > knowledge have always held,, and still believe, that species have been c mstant from the beginning."—Lyell's Geology, 11., 28A "Mr Darwin, with- "A" conclusively out absolutely proving nrovedtheory."-Times , this, has made it appear (of a, former date.) in the highest. degree " probable. "-Lyell's Ge- ! ology, 11, 492. ' Sir, let the writer of this day's article weigh, : this contrast till be blushes with Bhame for his wanton, rash, and reckless words. He might : learn a moral lesson from his teachers. I have i ; written in justice to a misguided public—to beseech them to be carried away by no vehemence ! of assertion, and to rest assured that innumerable men, wlio are neither dull, nor ignorant, nor j pigheaded, nor dishonest, regard Evolution as ! unproved and incapable of proof.—l am, &c, j Wm. SalmoxVd.

Dunedin, 16th June.