A GREAT GEOLOGIST ON EVOLUTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2572, 8 July 1903, Page 74

A GREAT GEOLOGIST ON EVOLUTION.

Othniel Charles Marsh, nephew oi the rich plwlanthropist Peabody, was born on the 29th October, 1831, at Lockport, in New York State; studied in Yale College at New Haven, in Berlin, Heidelberg, and Breslau, and travelled in Germany, the Alps, and other parts of Europe during his student days. After his return to America, he was in 1866 appointed Professor of Palaeontology at Yale University, and Director of the Geological and Palseontological Department of the Museum founded by Peabody, a post which he occupied for thirty years. He organised numerous expeditions to the Far West, which was then a most inhospitable region, and secured over a thousand new species of fossil Mammalia. He bequeathed his private collection, formed at his own expense, to the -JPeabody Museum. The specimens collected at the expense of the State are now in Washington. He died at New Haven an March, 1899. The address as here given from an authorised report was delivered at a banquet given by the American Academy of Sciences in honour of Herbert Spencer during his visit to the United States some five-and-twenty years since : — Modern science and its methods may be said to date back only to the beginning of the last century, and at this time the first scientific theory of organic evolution was advanced by Lamarck. During the 20 centuries before, a few far-seeing men, from Aristotle to Buff on, seem to haye 1 had glimpses of the light, but the dense ignorance and superstition which surrounded them soon enveloped it again in darkness. Before the beginning of the last century, it was impossible for evolution to find a general acceptance, as the amount of scientific knowledge then accumulated was too small fo 'sustain it. Hence, the rarioua writers before Lamarck who had suggested hypothesis of development had based them upon general reasoning, or upon facts too scanty to withstand the objections naturally urged against new ideas. With the opening of the nineteenth century, however, the new era in science began. Here, at the very beginning, the names of Cuvier and Lamarck stand forth pre-eminent, and the progress of natural science from that day to this is largely due to their labours. Cuvier laid the foundation of the study of vertebrate animals, living and extinct ; but with all his vast knowledge he was enslaved by the traditions of the past. Although the evidence was before him, pointing directly to evolution, he gave the authority of his great name in favour of. the permanence of species. Lamarck made a study of invertebrate animals, and his investigations soon led him to the belief that living species were descended from those now extinct. In this conclusion, he found the germ of a theory of development, which he advocated earnestly and philosophically, and thus prepared the way for the doctrine of evolution as we know it to-day. The method of scientific investigation introduced by Cuvier and Lamarck had already brought to light a vast array of facts which could not otherwise have been accumulated, and these rendered the establishment of the doctrine of evolution for the first time possible. But the time was not yet ripe. Cuvier opposed the new idea with all his authority. The great contest between him and Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, the strongest advocate of. Lamarck's views, is well known s Authority which in the past had been so powerful in defence of tradition and creed till held sway, and through its influence, evolution was pronounced to be without foundation. This triumph of Cuvier delayed the progress of evolution for half a century. During this period, however, the advance in all departments of science was constant, and the mass of facts brought together was continually suggesting new lines of research and new solutions of old problems. In geology, the old idea of catastrophes was gradually replaced by that of uniform changes still in progress ; but the covollory to this proposition, that life, also, had been continuous on tha earth, was as yet only suggested. In the physical world the great law of the correlation of forces had been advanced, and received with favour ; but, in the organic world, the miraculous creation of each separate species was firmly believed by _the great mass of educated men. The very recent appearance of man on the earth and his creation independent of the rest of the animal kingdom, were •carcely questioned at the close of the first half of the last century. When the second half of the century began, the accumulation of scientific knowledge was sufficient for the foundation of a doctrine of evolution which no authority could suppress and no objections overthrow. The materials on which it was to be based were not preserved alone in the great centres of scientific thought, but a thousand quiet workers in science, many of them in remote localities, had now the facts before them to suggest a solution of that mystery of mysteries, the origin of species. In the first decade of the last half century, Darwin, Wallace, Huxley, and Spencer were all at the same time working ' at one problem, each in his own way, and their united efforts have firmly established the truth of organic evolution. Spencer did not stop to solve the difficulties of organic evolution, but, with that profound philo- [ sophie insight which has made him read and honoured by all intelligent men, ho made the grand generalisation that the law of organic progress is the law of all progress. To show how clearly, even in the beginning, he comprehended this great truth, let me read to you one sentence which he wrote five-and-twenty years ago : "This lasr of organic progress is the law of all progress. Whether it be in the I development of the earth, in the development of life upon its surface, in the de■"piloDment of society, of government, of manufactures, of commerce, of language, literature, science, art, this same evolution of the simple into the complex,

through a process of continuous differentiation, holds throughout." How completely the truth of this statement has since been established you all know full well. The evolution of life and of the physical world is now supplemented by the evolution of philosophy, of history, of society, and of all else pertaining to Human life, until we may «ay that evolution is-4he law of all progress, if not the key to all" mysteries. These profounder departments of evolution I leave to others, for in the few minutes allotted to me, I cannot at1 tempt to give even an outline of the progress of evolution in biology alone*. ' If, however, I may venture to answer "briefly the question, What of evolution to- [ day? I can only reply: The battle has been fought and won. A few stragglers on each side may still keep up a scattered fire, but the contest is over, and the victors have moved on to other fields. As to the origin of species, once thought to be the key to the position, no working naturalist of to-day who sees the great problems of life opening one after another before him will waste time in discussing a question already solved. This question, so long regarded as beyond solution, has been worked out by that greatest of naturalists Charles Darwin), whose genius all intelligent men now recognise, and whose recent loss the whole civilised world deplores. Not only do we know to-day that species are not permanent, but every -phase of life bears witness to the same general law of change. Genera, families, and the higher groups of animals and plants are now regarded merely as convenient terms to mark progress, which may be altered by any pew discovery. All existing life on tlie earth is now ~~- licved to be contacted directly witb that of the distant past, and one problem to-day ia to trace out the lines of descent. Here embryology and paleontology work together, and the results already secured are most important. The genealogies of some of the animals now living have been made out with a degree of certainty that amounts to a demonstration, and others must rapidly follow. In this, and in all other departments of natural science, the doctrine of evolution has brought light out of darkness, andmarks out the path of future progress. What the law of gravitation is to astronomy, the law of evolution now is to natural science. Evolution is no longer a theory, but a demonstrated vruth, accepted Vv naturalists throughout the world. The. most encouraging feature in natural science — indeed, in all science to-day — is the spirit in which the work is carried on No authority is recognised which forbids the investigation of any question, however profound ; and, with that confidence which success justly brings, no question within the domain of science is now believed to be insoluble; not even the grand pr6blems now before vs — the antiquity of the human race, the origin of man, or even the origin of life itself.