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EVOLUTION

A SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE

A LECTURE DELIVERED IN MONTREAL, MARCH, 1883

BY

ROBERT C. ADAMS

NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET
1883

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EVOLUTION

A SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE

A LECTURE DELIVERED IN MONTREAL, MARCH, 1883

EY

ROBERT C. ADAMS

NEW YORK
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

27 & 2Q WEST 23D STREET

I883

COPYRIGHT BY
ROBERT C. ADAMS

1883

Press of

G. P, Putnam s Sons
New York

EVOLUTION.

THE Germans say, " What is true is plain," but
many persons who begin to read about Evolution
meet the assertions, that the development of life pro-
ceeds from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous,
and that changes in the environment lead to differ-
entiation ; and, as these statements lack plainness,
the readers say : " What is obscure is false." Much
prejudice has been excited against Evolution by the
use of long words, which, though most serviceable
to the learned, are perplexing to the uninitiated.

An abstract of many books is here presented in
plain language, and for a fuller exposition of the sub-
ject, in a remarkably lucid and interesting manner,
the reader is earnestly referred to a work lately issued
by Messrs. Chatto & Windus of London, and re-
published by Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons of New
York, " Chapters on Evolution," by Professor Andrew
Wilson of Edinburgh, a work which has been of much
service in the preparation of this paper.

In earlier times it was believed that the earth was
a flat surface of moderate extent, roofed over by a
solid sky, under which were placed sun, moon, and
stars, small orbs designed to give light to the earth
around which they revolved. These people believed

2 EVOLUTION.

that all the existing forms of nature were made out
of nothing, at the word of a Creator, during six days
of evening and morning. They thought that all
forms of life were originally made in their existing
form complete, whether insect or elephant, grass-
blade or oak-tree ; and they believed that since the
day of creation each species had reproduced its kind
without important variation.

These theories of the earth and heavens were
generally accepted, until Copernicus and Galileo
began to influence opinion by calling attention to
evidences that the earth was round and that it moved ;
ideas that were afterward demonstrated by Kepler
and Newton. But, although some thinkers suggested
other views, the early theory of life remained with-
out serious opposition till the present century, when
Lamarck in 1801 formulated, and Darwin in i858
supported, the theory of EVOLUTION.

These writers studied the laws of Evolution as
applied to organic life upon the earth ; but Herbert
Spencer, prior to the publication of Darwin's great
work, " The Origin of Species," began to treat of
Evolution as the method of the universe, and to
apply its doctrines to every department of material
and mental existence.

In this broadest sense, Evolution is the theory
that all the varied details of the universe are the
result of a gradual development from simpler con-
ditions, through the working of the laws of nature

o <_>

EVOLUTION. 3

which now surround us. Worlds, minerals, plants,
animals, man, language, morals, laws, literature, arts
and sciences, as they exist to-day, are the outcome
of the unceasing successions of cause and effect that
have taken place, through the preceding ages, in
accordance with natural law.

But the term as popularly used refers more
especially to life, and in this sense, Evolution is the
theory that all existing forms of life have been pro-
duced from simpler forms by a gradual process of
change. Instead of an unchangeable universe con-
tinuing just as it was first created, the Evolutionist,
seeing constant variation in each kind or species of
plants and animals, has learned that these variations
may increase, until, in a long course of natural de-
scent, forms are produced that appear to be distinct
species. In the breeding of domestic animals and
in the crossing of plants, such marked differences
result in a short time, that it becomes certain such
variation continued through a long period would pro-
duce forms appearing to differ in kind from their
ancestors.

It is therefore seen to be both possible and probable
that all existing forms of life have developed from a
few simple forms, or even from one form, by slow
processes of change continued through vast ages.

Natural Selection.
The great work of Darwin was to point out the

4 EVOLUTION.

main process through which the evolution of forms
takes place. More organisms come into life than
the means of subsistence can support. This leads to
a struggle for existence. There is some variety in
the forms of individuals of each species of plants and
animals, and those possessing the variations most
suited to their conditions are enabled to survive,
while those less adapted to the circumstances perish.
This is called the survival of the fittest. These indi-
viduals reproduce in their offspring the variations
that have benefited them, and new variations occur,
those that are useful being perpetuated.

Thus there is a continual divergence from the

o

parent stock, wherever there is a change of surround-
ing conditions that makes variations serviceable to
existence. When these variations are long continued
they form new species. But where there is no
change in the circumstances of life, and the means
of existence are abundant, there is little or no change
in the forms of life. This process by which nature
selects the forms best suited to their surroundings is

o

called by Darwin NATURAL SELECTION.

Sexual Selection.

Darwin notes another cause of the variation of
species, which he calls Sexual Selection. The male
animals battle for the possession of the females. The
strongest wins, and transmits his peculiarities to his
descendants. In many cases the female selects the

E VOL UTION. 5

male possessing the most perfect form, the most
pleasing voice, or the most attractive colors, and
these advantages are perpetuated in their offspring.
An improvement in the song and beauty of male
birds arises from this selection. In savage races the
females select the strongest men best qualified to be
defenders ; but in civilized races the choice is more
influenced by intellectual and moral qualities, and in
each case the race shows an increasing variation in
the direction of these selections.

The Unity of Animal Life.

The proofs of the theory of Evolution extend over
the whole realm of nature. The most prominent of
these is the apparent connection of all forms of
animal life, such as would exist if each order of life
had grown out of the order below it. The students
of nature are continually finding intermediate forms,
or " missing links," between the established classes
of the animal kingdom. As a tree from a single
stem spreads out into numerous branches and twigs,
so life appears to manifest itself in a series of forms,
each closely allied to the other, or with such strong-
resemblances that a relationship appears certain.

The most marked distinction between animals is
the possession or non-possession of a backbone.
The theory of special creation was long supported
by triumphant appeals to the gap between the back-
boned (vertebrate] and the non-backboned (inverte-

O EVOLUTION.

brate) animals. It was claimed such a change could
only have been made by the special act of God in
creating- a new form.

o

But in the lowest fish, known as the lancelet or
amphioxus, we find a soft rod in place of the back-
bone. This is called the notochord, and represents
the commencement of the formation of the backbone
in animals. This little, fish is only one or two inches
long, and inhabits sandy coasts. It has neither
limbs, heart, nor brain, and a narrow fin is the only
distinct fish appendage that it possesses ; but in many
respects it resembles the molluscs, or soft-bodied
invertebrates.

One of the molluscs, the sea-squirt, or ascidian, is
a marine animal shaped like a bag. It attaches itself
to stones at low-water mark, and when handled it
squirts water from its orifices. Some of its species
are found with a permanent tail, and the first sign of
the notochord, the dawning backbone.

Here in the lancelet and sea-squirt we have con-
necting links between the two great classes of verte-
brates and invertebrates, and the gap that was
supposed to exist has been in a measure filled. The
lamprey is another link above the lancelet, and other
forms illustrate the Gradual rjse of backboned

o

animals from the invertebrates.

The articulates, or jointed animals, such as insects
and crustaceans (animals having a crust-like shell),
are allied to the molluscs by a marine worm called

EVOLUTION. 7

Balanoglossus, which has characteristics of both
divisions, and appears to be an intermediate form or
link between them.

The radiates, or rayed animals, as the starfishes,
are also connected with the articulates by worm-like
forms uniting peculiarities of both ; and through the
sponges we find the radiates connected with the pro-
tozoans, or first forms of life, such as corals and sea
animalcules.

Ascending- from the fish, the lowest of the verte-

o

brates, we find animals between the fish and the frog,
and between frog and lizard, that link fishes and rep-
tiles. The differences between reptiles and birds are
very marked, and it would seem at first thought that
no connection could be found between them, but the
fossil arch&opteryx.&n. ancient winged bird with a long,
jointed tail and with teeth, is pronounced by Prof.
Voet to be an undoubted intermediate form between

o

reptiles and birds. Fossils of flying reptiles are
found, and of land reptiles that approach the struct-
ure of birds.

Birds and mammals are connected by living forms
found in Australia. The duck-billed water-mole has
webbed feet and a duck's bill, and the fur and tail of a
beaver, and has teeth. It has no teats, but forces
milk from little holes in one spot of its body. The
Echidna makes a little advance upon this by having
a pouch over these holes, and the kangaroo gives us
a still more advanced form. A great distinction

8 EVOLUTION.

appears between animals that hatch their young from
eofors and those that give birth to living forms. But

oo o o

we find animals whose young break the egg as soon
as it is laid, and others that bring forth their young
in an imperfect state and nourish them in pouches
until fully developed. These marsupials are inter-
mediate forms, and surest other connecting links.

Oc> o

The researches of Prof. Marsh among the Tertiary
rocks in the Western States have revealed several
intermediate forms between existing groups of
animals. Fossils are found which combine charac-
teristics of the bear and the beaver ; others connect
the rat and the ant-eater, the odd-toed and the even-
toed animals, the whale and the seal, the swine and
the ruminants. An eminent naturalist was asked,
" Do you find the missing links ? ' " Yes, thousands
of them ! ' was the reply.

The resemblance between apes and men is very
marked, and Haeckel says : " It requires but a slight
stretch of imagination to conceive an intermediate
form between the lowest woolly-haired man and the
highest man-like apes." A great outcry is made for
the presentation of this missing link, that shall com-
pletely fill up the gap which exists. But the Evolu-
tion theory does not require, as many suppose, that
man should have descended directly from the exist-
ing form of apes. The gorilla and man are at the
top of different branches, which have sprung from
the same limb of the tree of life. The connection

EVOLUTION. 9

comes at some lower part of the tree, when, as
Wilson says, " from a common ancestor the human
and ape types took divergent roads and ways toward
the ranks of nature's aristocracy."

Gabriel de Mortelet has just issued in Paris a
scholarly work, which he claims establishes the fact
" that during Tertiary times there existed a being
intelligent enough to produce fire and to fabricate
instruments of stone ; but this being was not yet a
man." More evidence needs to be accumulated
before his conclusion can be considered to be proved;
but all analogies of the animal kingdom point to the
former existence of more man-like animals than have
yet been found. Only the discovery of their bones
will satisfy many minds, but what has already been
observed of the connection of various species and
classes of animals gives to others an assurance as to
the relationship of man to animals that would not be
increased by the presentation of any number of
"missing links." One link proves the existence of a
chain.

It must not be understood that every animal can
be traced back by connecting links to a lower one,
but that the types or great classes of animals are
more or less connected. A great number of indi-
viduals, however, can be followed back to earlier
forms, and analogy suggests that all might be thus
traced had not time destroyed the records. Huxley
says : " If one series of species has come into exist-

IO EVOLUTION.

ence by the operation of natural causes, it seems fol-
ly to deny that all may have arisen in the same way."
Although gaps still exist and missing links are looked
for, descent is traced, in Huxley's words, " not in one
straight series but by many roads, step by step, gra-
dation by gradation, from man at the summit to
specks of animated jelly at the bottom of the series ";
or, as Prof. Clifford expresses it : " The theory is, that
' at a stupendous distance of time all species were
alike, mere specks of jelly; that they gradually
diverged from each other and eot more and more

o o

different, till at last they attained the almost infinite
variety that we now find."

Thus by observation of living animals and of their
fossil remains we find that, although for convenience
naturalists arrange animals into six or seven large
divisions, there are many forms coming between
these divisions, and it is hard to say where one be-
gins or another ends. There is, therefore, evidence
of the unity of all animal life, — a sufficient resemblance
and connection to make it extremely probable that a
relationship exists between all, and that they have
sprung from a common origin.

The Unity of Plant Life.

Plants are divided into two great classes, the flower-
less and the flowering. These are again divided in-
to four classes, having hard names, and there are
further subdivisions. It is found that the plant world

EVOLUTION. II

is composed of marked types, just as is the animal
kingdom, and also that there are connecting links
between each class. The sea-weeds are joined by in-
termediate forms to the lichens, and the ferns and

club-mosses connect the flowerless with the flowering

<_>

plants. The whole plant world is bound together by
the evidence of a continued relationship from the
lowest to the highest form.

The Unity of All Life.

We have seen that the animal world may be con-
sidered a unit, a more or less closely connected as-
cending series of diverging organisms. Then we
have also seen that the plant world is linked together
in a manner that suggests progressive development
from its simplest to its most varied forms. But it is
found that animals and plants are joined by inter-
mediate forms that puzzle naturalists to tell which
kingdom they belong to. Haeckel calls these forms
Protista. They combine certain peculiarities of the
lowest forms of the two realms of life, and thus estab-
lish the unity of all life that exists upon the earth.
They represent a stage of existence, early in the
world's history, before life divided into the two
branches of animal and plant. Thus we find that
the quarter of a million of species of animals and
plants can be fairly assumed to have arisen from a
common origin. If they were created at once in all
these distinct forms, we are at a loss to see any mean-

1 2 E VOL UTION.

ing in their construction, but if we conceive that the
present condition of living things is the result of con-
tinued modifications of the parent forms, then the
whole chain of life becomes intelligible to us.

Unity of Substance.

We have seen that all animal and plant life is
allied in form, and we find further that it is identical
in substance. The microscope discovers that the
vegetable cells and the animal cells are alike com-
posed of what is called protoplasm, or first form,
which closely resembles the white of egg, a clear
semi-fluid substance. One of the lowest forms of
'•• animal life, the Amoeba, is just a speck of this sub-
stance, and in the nettle-hair the protoplasm is seen
lining the woody matter that forms the wall of the
cells that compose its structure. These cells of pro-
toplasm increase by division, multiplying themselves
and combining into varied structures. Microscopic
examination shows that the human body, in all its
parts, is built up of these little cells of protoplasm
The blood carries these little specks, resembling the
amoeba, to the place where they are to combine in
the structure.

Not only is the body composed of protoplasm, but
it originates in a single cell of this substance, and the
germs which produce men, dogs, sheep, or any of
the highest class of animals, cannot be discovered to
differ by any test of microscope or chemistry.

E FOL UTION. 1 3

Protoplasm is therefore styled by Huxley, " the
physical basis of life," and is seen to constitute the
essential parts of every living thing, animal or plant,
from the whale to the minnow, or the pine to the
sea-weed.

We thus learn that there is not one life of animals
and another of plants, but that their existences are
similar in nature. The same " vital force" acts with-
in each, and is seen at work also in the mineral
kingdom, forming crystals and combining various ele-
ments into one form. As all material things are now

o

supposed to be the variation of one original sub-
stance, so all the forms of matter are the results of
one force manifested in different ways.

Thus we come to the unity of all nature. From
the original existence of moving matter, the laws of
Evolution construct the varied universe.

Embryology.

Not only do we trace the connection of all forms
of life, by observing the relationship of living and
fossil species, but we have a marvellous testimony
to the common origin of all organic life, by the study
of embryology, or the development of animals from
the egg-speck or germ to the adult form.

It was supposed by many in the past that the
germ contained the minute form of the perfected
animal, which merely expanded to its final shape, or
else had new parts suddenly added to existing organs.

14 EVOLUTION.

Aristotle first maintained that the chick developed
from a little speck on the surface of the yolk of the
egg ; and Harvey, discoverer of the circulation of the
bloocl, declared that the forms were gradually devel-
oped from this speck through the action of the blood.

The great discovery of more recent times in this
department is the fact, that the germs of all animals
appear to be alike in their earliest stage, and they
develop through similar forms until they assume the
special features of their own species. The embryo
of each animal successively resembles the embryos
of the races below it, until they part company to attain
their final form.

The lowest forms of life, the protozoans, repro-
duce themselves by division of their bodies, or the
formation of buds, but all other animals produce eggs,
which, when fertilized, divide and sub-divide till they
form a mass of cells like a mulberry. The germ then
gradually changes into a cup-form, called gastrula,
having two different layers, called the primary-germ
layers. The germs of all invertebrates pass through
these changes, as do also those of the vertebrates, as
far as observed. Other changes occur which are

o

common to all animal germs, each one passing through
the forms common to the races below it, and then
diverging to its own peculiarities.

The development of man, as far as traced, agrees
with that of lower animals : the morida or mulberry
stage is shown, as in the sponge, sea-squirt, and

EVOLUTION. 15

lancelet ; and so on through forms resembling stages

o o o

of the embryos offish, reptile, and quadruped. Not ,
that man is ever a fish or beast, but his embryo and
that of a fish at certain periods are almost identical,

and each diverges — the fish toward its final form, and

«

man toward a resemblance to the embryo of a higher
class, at a period before it assumes its complete
shape.

Haeckel in " The Evolution of Man, "gives a plate
illustrating the development of the fish, salamander,
tortoise, chick, hog, calf, rabbit, and man, which
shows that at some period there is a correspondence
of form between the embryos of each which demon-
strates their relationship, and can only be explained
by admitting the unity of the nature of all verte-
brates.

What is the meaning of these remarkable facts ?

o

Is it probable that the Creator, after making all things
at once in a perfect form, decided that all future
structures should pass through all the gradations of
lower forms before assuming their designed condi-

o o

tions, or do the facts suggest that each individual >
declares to us the history of its race? If in twenty-one
days the chick passes through the forms common to
sponges, shell-fish, fish, and reptiles, does it not sug-
gest that its race may have developed through these
lower races during vast ages ? If in forty weeks a
single man now develops through forms common to
all the lower races of animals, may not the race of

1 6 EVOLUTION.

man have slowly arisen through all the ranks of life
below him, each great division leaving its record in
the unfolding germ of the latest individual ?

The embryos of all vertebrates, including man,
have tails, and all show the gill-clefts of fishes in their
early condition. Wilson says : "But reptiles, birds,
and quadrupeds are lung-breathers and possess gills
at no period of their life. Why should they develop
gill-clefts, which bear no relation to the wants of their
adult existence ? Why does this useless expenditure
of creative power exist ? ' The only answer is that
the forms are inherited from early ancestors. Dar-
win says : " We have only to suppose that a former
progenitor possessed the parts in question in a per-
fect state, and that under changed habits of life they
became greatly reduced, either from simple disuse or
through the natural selection of those individuals

that were least encumbered with a superfluous

, »
part.

Metamorphosis.

>

It is not only in the egg or embryo that we see
these developments. Many animals after birth
change to higher forms. The frog appears first as a
fish, then as a tailed newt, and finally as the tailless
air-breathing frog. The development of the butter-
fly from the caterpillar is a familiar instance. The
starfish is first a swimming worm-like creature. The
flat sole begins life at the top of the water, with a

EVOLUTION. I/

«

round body and eyes on each side of its head, then
falls to the bottom, becomes flat, and one eye moves
to its top side. The crab has at first a tail appendage
like a lobster or shrimp. Although the frog usually
develops from a fish form after birth, the Surinam
toad brings forth perfect frogs, which, however, have
passed through the fish stage when within the parent's
body.

It follows from these illustrations, selected from a
vast and constantly increasing store of facts, that no
animal is suddenly produced in the form of its parent.
They pass in the egg or germ state through the
successive stages of lower orders until they reach the
perfect form, or, if they are born when the process
has been only partially completed, they pursue the
upward changes after birth by the process we call
metamorphosis, or transformation. Therefore the
development of all life is similarly from lower to
higher forms, the difference being that sometimes
the changes are wholly completed within the parent's
body, and sometimes only partly there, the changes
being finished after birth. Metamorphosis, there-
fore, is common to all, to the dog as well as the
butterfly, the changes merely taking place under
different circumstances.

Morphology.

Evolution is strongly supported by observation of
the development of separate organs of the body, the

1 8 EVOLUTION.

t

science of Morphology. One of the most striking
proofs of the evolution of present organs from differ-
ent pre-existing forms is furnished by the horse.
The forelimb of the horse is modelled upon a type
similar to that of the arm of man. The upper arm
is concealed beneath the skin ; the forearm reaches
to the knee, which is the wrist, having only seven
bones in it, while man has eight. Man has five palm
bones, but the horse seems to have but one — the
long shank, or " cannon-bone," which corresponds
to the bone supporting the third finger. Below the
fetlock comes this finger with three joints, having its
nail enlarged into the hoof. Thus the horse walks

o

upon one finger, the third in man. But alongside the
cannon-bone are the two splint-bones, which are
proved to be rudimentary palm bones of the second
and fourth fingers. The proof of this is that the
horse is traced back by means of fossil remains in
Europe and India, and is found to have three toes
fully developed. In 1870 Prof. Huxley predicted
that a five-toed horse would be found, and in Amer-
ica a fossil has been discovered with four toes, and
the rudiment of a fifth. Each increase of members
is found in an earlier series of rocks, showing that
the change has been progressive during vast periods
of time.

Thus the present horse is proved to have devel-
oped from a five-toed animal. As far back as we
can go we find animal forms changing by slow de-

EVOLUTION.

grees. Analogy teaches that this has always been
the order of nature. By these evidences from
fossils, Huxley declares : " The evolution of many
existing forms of animal life from their predecessors
is no longer an hypothesis, but an historical fact."

The horse has changed the structure of his feet to
conform to altered circumstances that make it desira-
ble for him to possess speed. By natural selection
and the survival of the swiftest, the variations toward
the present hoof have been preserved. Some may
wonder that such degeneration of parts is called evo-
lution, but the changes that occur are for the advan-
tage of the animal, and therefore are truly an advance.

All the organs of the body are traced upward in
gradual stages from the simplest beginnings. A
favorite appeal for the special-creation theory is to
point to the marvellous structure of the human eye.
But the eye, brain, heart, lungs, limbs, and digestive
organs are found in different animals in conditions that
show a gradual ascent in structure, from the merest
suggestion of the organ to its most perfect form.
From the air-bladder of the fish to the lungs of man
we have an ascending series of forms, and in the
mud-fish, that spends half the year in dry mud and
half the year in water, we find the transition from
the bladder to the lung,- -another " missing link."
Scales and feathers are developments of the skin,
and in the penguin can be seen the intermediate
forms, half scale and half feather.

20 EVOLUTION.

Rudimentary Organs.

Strong evidence in favor of the descent of present
species from other forms is furnished by what are
called rudimentary organs- -imperfectly developed
and useless members. Crabs have eyes at the ends
of stalks, but in the Mammoth Cave are crabs hav-
ing stalks without eyes. Disuse has caused the
eyes to disappear, probably growing smaller in each
generation, but the stalks remain as rudiments and
prove the former possession of eyes by the remote
ancestors of the existing crabs. The right- whale has
teeth before birth, which are gradually absorbed and
disappear. The unborn calf has front teeth in the
upper jaw beneath the gum, but the adults have none.
The natural inference is that the ancestors of whales
and calves had such teeth fully developed. Many
birds, such as the ostrich and penguin, have abortive
wings ; their conditions of life not requiring the
exercise of these organs, they have diminished in size.
Rudiments of limbs are found in the python — a large
snake. The tail is traced through the animal king-
dom through various changes, till in some of the

o o

higher monkeys and in man it is only a rudiment.
There it remains as evidence of the descent of man
from tailed animals. Otherwise we must suppose
that when the Creator made man out of the dust he
decided to Qfive him a useless tail-bone. Lord Mon-

o

boddo, a Scotch lawyer of the last century, de-
clared that men had worn off their tails by sitting on

EVOLUTION. 21

them ; but we know now that the disuse of an organ
tends to its disappearance, and that a change in the
surroundings, and therefore in the habits of animals,
leads to changes in their structures.

Man has shrunken muscles in his cheeks, such as
animals use to move their ears, and he has the re-
mains of a third inner eyelid which is common to
beasts. The finger can detect a little projection near
the top of the ear that is the vestige of formerly
pointed ears. All mammals have two little bones in
the upper jaw, meeting in the centre of the face, and
called the mid-jaw bone. These were believed
not to exist in man, and their absence was claimed
as a strong proof of man's separate origin. But
Goethe, the great German pget and philosopher, was
so fully convinced of man's descent from animals that
he insisted that this mid-jaw bone must exist in man,
and at last he found it. It always exists in the human
embryo, but at an early period disappears by a union
with the upper-jaw bone. Men have remnants of
muscles used by animals to twitch the skin.

Darwin says : " He who rejects with scorn the
belief that his own canines (teeth) and their occasional
great development in other men are due to our early
forefathers having been provided with these formi-
dable weapons, will probably reveal, by sneering,
the line of his descent. For though he no longer
intends nor has the power to use these teeth as
weapons, he will unconsciously retract his ' snarling

22 EVOLUTION.

muscles ' so as to expose them ready for action, like
a dog prepared to fight."

Wilson also notes instances of rudiments in the
plant kingdom.

Resemblance.

The similarity in the structure of animals of the
same great divisions, though of different species, is a
special proof of Evolution. The members of each
great class are identical in their general plan. For
instance,- -the articulates, or jointed animals, have
the heart in the upper part of the body, the diges-
tive system in the middle, and the nervous system in
the lower part. Lobsters, crabs, barnacles, butter-
flies, spiders, and all the thousands of species of
insects agree in these particulars. In the vertebrates
the position is reversed ; the nervous system is on
top and the heart is at the bottom of the body.
There are always two pairs of limbs, represented in
the fish by fins, in the bird by legs and wings, in
beasts by four legs, and in man by legs and arms.
Fish, frog, reptile, quadruped, and man all possess
these peculiar features. The molluscs are dis-
tinguished by having the nervous system in three
great masses. Oysters, cockles, snails, whelks, and
cuttle-fishes all agree in this. The radiates have all
their parts arranged uniformly in lines diverging
from a centre, much like the parts of a flower. Sea-
urchins, starfishes, etc., are of this type.

EVOLUTION. 23

Not only is there a resemblance in the general
structure of animals, but the organs of the members
of each class show a striking similarity. The arm
of man, the wing of the bird, the forelimb of the
horse, the paddle of the whale, and the forelimb of
the frog show essentially the same structure and
have the same number of bones.

Spencer says : " What now can be the meaning
of this community of structure among these hundreds
of thousands of species filling the air, burrowing in the
earth, swimming in the water, creeping about among
the sea- weed, and having such enormous differences
of size, outline, and substance, as that no community
would be suspected between them ? Why under the
down-covered body of the moth and under the hard
winof-cases of the beetle should there be discovered

o

the same number of divisions as in the calcareous
framework of the lobster ? It cannot be by chance
that there exist just twenty segments in all these
hundreds of thousands of species. There is no reason
to think it was necessary in the sense that no other
number would have made a possible organism. And
to say that it is the result of design- -to say that the
Creator followed this pattern throughout, merely for
the purpose of maintaining the pattern, is to assign
a motive which, if avowed by a human being, we
should call whimsical."

He says that Evolution alone gives a rational in-
terpretation to these facts. If organic forms have

24 EVOLUTION.

arisen from common stocks by perpetual changes,
such as were required to adapt them to their sur-
roundings, then there would result these variously
modified forms, retaining traces of the characters of
ancestral races.

Evolution, therefore, shows that animals of each
type resemble each other because they have a com-
mon ancestry. Descent with modification is a phrase
that explains the existing facts. All the allied forms
have had a common origin, but have developed dif-
ferent peculiarities in consequence of having been
placed in differing circumstances. When a variation
of an organ occurred that was of advantage it was
perpetuated by natural selection.

The resemblance of man to animals is not only
observed as to structure, but many peculiarities are
possessed in common. Parasites infest their bodies,
their functions follow lunar periods, the same diseases
afflict them, and can be transmitted from one to the
other — colds, inflammations, fevers, apoplexy, etc., as-
sail each. Drugs affect both alike, — opium, quinine,
tobacco, alcohol, all produce similar results in each
and prove a likeness of constitution. Their wounds
heal by the same process. The laws of reproduction
are, in Darwin's words, " strikingly the same, from
the first act of courtship of the male to the birth and
maturing of the young." The mental powers and
moral sense are of the same character, only differing
in degree, and the manner of expressing emotions is
in many respects similar among men and beasts.

EVOLUTION. 25

Degeneration and Reversion.

But the evolution of forms is not always an ad-
vance, backward steps are often taken, and there is
retrogression as well as progress. Yet these facts
endorse the Evolution theory that organisms alter to
suit their surrounding conditions ; if the forms de-
generate, it is because the assumed form is more suit-
able to the changed circumstances. Some forms are

o

found to exist unchanged from very early ages. The
fossil lampshells in the chalk resemble almost exactly
those living in our own seas, the reason being that
the conditions of their marine life are unaltered.
The king-crab of the West Indies, the nautilus, and
some fishes correspond closely to-day to their fossil
ancestors ; they have not been forced in the struggle
for existence to make use of changed forms.

Darwin points out two great facts in nature.
First, that there is a tendency to vary and change ;
and second, that when a change of surroundings oc-
curs, any variation of form that is of advantage in
sustaining existence in the changed conditions is
perpetuated by the survival of the possessor of the
improved organs, while less favored ones perish.
Thus variation and natural selection account for the
progressive changes. But if, on the other hand, the
variations are of no advantage in the struggle for life,

o oo

tbfey do not supplant the parent form ; or if earlier
conditions are restored, the same tendency of nature
leads to a reversion to the previous form of organs.

26 EVOLUTION.

Thus retrogression, stability, and progression are all
accounted for and harmonize with the theory of
Evolution.

The Axolotl, a Mexican newt or small lizard that
retains the early fish gills with the later lungs, when
removed to Paris was found to develop into a differ-
ent animal, a gill-less newt named Amblystoma^ prov-
ing the power of changed circumstances to alter the
species. This case may be a reversion to an earlier
ancestral form.

Retrogression is shown in parasites. The ship
barnacle is at one time a swimming animal with
varied organs, but after attaching itself to its life
abode it degenerates to a lower form, because in its
dependent life the higher development of organs is
useless. The horse and mule sometimes have
stripes on their legs similar to those of the zebra,
suggesting that their ancestors have had that pecul-
iarity. In Madeira two hundred out of over five
hundred species of beetles " are so deficient in wings
that they cannot fly." The beetles that flew well
were blown out to sea, but those with smaller wings,
or that were indolent, remained and perpetuated
their peculiarities, the wings growing smaller from
disuse.

Men and women sometimes show reversion to the
forms of animals, such as hairy bodies, supplement-
ary breasts, and animal teeth ; one man in sixty has
certain muscles peculiar to quadrupeds, and muscles

EVOLUTION. 27

in the neck peculiar to apes. In Darwin's "Descent
of Man ' many striking facts of this nature are
noticed. Is there any plausible explanation of these
facts except that they show peculiarities of remote
ancestors ?

Mimicry.

The theory of Evolution is supported by what
Wallace calls mimicry. This is the resemblance
shown by some animals and plants to other animals
or plants, perhaps very different, or to other natural
objects. The " walking-leaf" insect looks like some
vegetable growth, and on the other hand some
orchids resemble insects. Insects are found that
resemble pieces of bamboo, bits of bark, twigs, and
drops of dew, and many animals conform in color to
their surroundings, being of a sandy color in the
desert or green and brown in the forest. A butter-
fly in South America has a strong odor that prevents
its being devoured by creatures that eat other butter-
flies. There are some very different butterflies that
lack this peculiar odor, but which imitate the strong-
smelling kind in appearance.

Natural selection explains these things by suppos-
ing that these resemblances, occurring first in slight
measure as variations from parent forms, have pre-
served the existence of their possessors by assisting
their concealment. The insects and animals nearest
in color to the leaves, bark, or ground upon which

28 EVOLUTION.

they live, have escaped the attacks of enemies, or
have been better able to secure food, while thoss
less favored for concealment have perished. Tbe
butterfly that most closely resembled the disagree; -
ble kind had the least chance of beino- devoured.

o

The plants that most resembled insects secured tl .e
visits of the insects necessary to distribute their pol-
len and ensure the propagation of their kind. Th.is
the survival of the fittest is secured by these reseii-
blances, and the tendency in successive generatio is
is toward greater likeness to protective or useful
forms.

This mimicry of animals is one of the hardest
things to explain upon the special-creation theory.
The Creator is supposed to have made all t^ese
distinct forms ; but some, especiallv ad^tcd to be
the food of others, he has gifKii with powers of con-
cealment, while others p"e left without protection, a
seeming exhibition rl" injustice and partiality.

Distribution.

The distribution of animals and plants over the
earth's surface : is made intelligible by the Evolution
theory that all the individuals of the same species
have proceet led from some one source, and have
been scattere 1 by various means, such as winds, cur-
rents, seeds attached to the feet of birds, and the
migrations of animals. It explains why oceanic
islands have fe vv inhabitants, and often of a peculiar

EVOLUTION. 29

kind ; why many organisms are absent from islands ;
and how barriers of mountains or deep straits affect
the character of life in the lands on either side.

It was the observation of the absence from the
Gallapagos Islands of many animals that can neither
fly nor swim that led Darwin, in his voyage in the
Beagle, to the reflection that produced his theo-
ries. Why the Creator should not have made frogs
in islands is a question that the special-creation theory
does not answer. Frogs cannot swim far, and have
stayed at home on the continents. The life upon
islands corresponds to that of the mainlands nearest
to them, and consists of such kinds as can be trans-
ported.

It was wondered why kangaroos and some other
types of life were confined to Australia. Wallace
has pointed out the deep channel which severed
Australia from the nearest land, and prevented the
migration of animals. Australia was formerly joined
to the continent of Asia, and possessed similar forms
of life ; but becoming separated, she has preserved
the types that have perished elsewhere by the com-
petition of other animals, that the conditions of her
climate did not tend to develop, and were prevented
by the Straits of Lombok from coming to her lands.

The regions that have been most completely sepa-
rated from others have the most distinct types of
life, and where facility for the migration of animals
and for the conveyance of seeds has been greatest,
there we find the greatest variety of forms.

3O EVOLUTION.

The Fertilization of Flowers.

The study of the fertilization of flowers shows, as
Wilson says, " that the production of new races and
varieties, and through these of new species, is part
and parcel of nature's constitution."

It was found by Darwin " that close interbreed-
ing diminishes vigor and fertility, and a cross with
another individual is occasionally indispensable."
Therefore the necessities of existence lead to new
varieties of form. The plant kingdom shows a law of
development similar to what prevails in the animal
kingdom.

The manner in which cross-fertilization is produced
by winds and insects conveying the pollen of one
flower to the pistil of another, and the wonderful
adaptation of the forms of flowers to insects, and of
insects to flowers, is a fascinating study that will
reward the reader of the works of Darwin and Gray.
Each peculiarity of color and form is believed to be
an element in the reproduction of its kind, and the
old theory that each sort of flower was created solely
for the enjoyment or use of man is disproved. The
flower that has produced variation in color that
attracts the insect whose visit is needed for its ferti-
lization, or that which has varied in form in a way
best to deliver its pollen to the visitor, or to receive
it, is perpetuated, and its variation is preserved and
increased in subsequent descendants, while the forms
less adapted to attract or make use of the visits of

EVOLUTION. 31

insects die out. Thus the adaptation of flowers to
insects, and the formation of new species by cross-
fertilization, is found to be due to Natural Selection,
not to special creative design that formed them in
their present shape and color.

Geology.

Geology gives the strongest support to the theory
of Evolution. The life-bearing rocks are supposed
to represent a thickness of about 1 30,000 feet. These
rocks were formed from deposits of ooze, at the
bottom of the waters, which gradually hardened into
stone. Vast ages were required for these formations,
and for the elevations and depressions which they
have undergone. In the lower half of these strata the

o

only forms of life are of the lowest order, and the
vegetable life is mainly of sea-weeds. In the next
higher strata we find the remains of fishes and ferns.
Above these come reptiles and pine forests, and
birds first appear ; and here the intermediate form
is found of birds with toothed jaws and lizard's tail.
The first sign of mammals is found here> the teeth of
a small animal of the kangaroo type. In still higher
strata appear mammals and leaf forests, and the
animals nearest to man are found. Finally, in the
latest deposit we find the remains of man and of cul-
tivated forests. But this era of man is not one two-
hundredth part of the vast ages through which or-
ganic life has existed, and he appears only as the high-

32 EVOLUTION.

est outcome of nature's development, the top branch
of the tree of life. And yet, though so late in the
world's history, it is probable than man has existed T
upon the earth for hundreds of thousands of years.
The evidence for the antiquity of man may be found
in the writings of Lyell, Lubbock, and Dawkins.

The rocks, therefore, show that both animal and
plant life have developed gradually from lower to
higher forms, from the simple structures in the
earliest a^es to the most varied and elaborate or^an-

o o

isms of the present. If the special-creation theory is
true, and each order of life was made at once, we
should find all the ranks of each order in the rocks
of one period ; whereas, the lower forms always
come before the higher, proving conclusively that no
race or species has been made all at once, and that

the forms of life have not degenerated as under

»_>

a curse, but that the course of nature is an onward
march of progress. " Of special creation the rocks
tell no tale."

The Imperfection of the Record.

That the geological record is not more perfect is
easily explained. Only the hard parts of animals are
preserved and the soft-bodied animals would not
leave many traces, though the tracks of sea- worms
and even the impress of a jelly fish have been found.
Many animals have existed at a distance from bodies
of water, which are necessary for the preservation of

EVOLUTION. 33

fossils. The rocks have been subject to convulsions
and heat, which, in many cases, would destroy their
records. It is to be remembered also that the varia-
tion of species is usually a very slow process. We
have been accustomed to consider that all changes
have occurred within six thousand years, but when
we extend nature's operations to millions of years, it
is not so surprising that the records of her action are
not more fully preserved. Comparatively little of
the earth's surface has yet been scientifically explored,
and it is too early to say what the rocks may not dis-
close.

Threefold Evidence.

Scripture tells us, " A threefold cord is not quickly
broken " ; and we have three great classes of evi-
dence that all existing life has been developed from
lower forms.

1. All living beings from the animalcule up to man
show a connected resemblance of forms that warrants
the comparison of animal life to the growth of a
tree ; and from sea-weed to oak tree a similar con-
nection of all plant life to the forms below and above
it shows that the same comparison may be made of
the plant kingdom.

2. Each individual begins life in the lowest form
of matter, and develops through forms common to all
the species below it. A man has by turns the forms
of the germs of plant, protozoan, mollusc, articulate,
and vertebrate- -fish, reptile, and mammal.

34 £ VOL UTION.

3. The existing orders of life are proved by fos-
sils in the rocks to have developed progressively in
time, the lowest forms being of the earliest date, the
highest forms belonging to the latest period.

That is to say : i. Animals and plants appear as
they would have done if one race sprang from
another. 2. Each being does spring from forms
common to the races below it. 3. Life has appeared
on the earth in the order that it would have done if
each higher race had developed from a lower one.

If Evolution appears to have been the order of
nature, does not reason compel us to believe that
such has been its method ?

Mans Animal Origin.

Some object to the animal origin of man as a
matter of taste. It offends their sensibilities. But
taste should not be an arbiter in the judgment of
truth. Nor should this view be deemed offensive.
It is nobler to ascend than to descend, and one should
prefer to be an improved animal rather than a
degraded angel. Civilized nations are the descend-
ants of barbarians, as is proved by customs, belief,
language, etc. Darwin says : " He who has seen a
savage in his native land will not feel much shame
if forced to acknowledge that the blood of some more

o

humble creature flows in his veins. For my own
part I would as soon be descended from that heroic
little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in

EVOLUTION. 35

order to save the life of his keeper, or from that old
baboon, who descending from the mountains carried
away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd
of astonished doofs — as from a savage who deliehts

O o £>

to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices,
practises infanticide without remorse, treats his wives
like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by
the grossest superstitions."

Mind.

Some who admit development of physical forms
from lower orders still cling to the idea that the mind
of man is a special creation. But consideration of
nature's facts will show the gradual development of
mind, from the instinctive movements of animalcules
for the purpose of procuring food or propagating
their kind, until its upward course culminates in the
thoughts of a Newton and a Darwin. When the
coral polyp throws out its lasso to capture the pass-
ing food, when a dog answers the dinner-bell, or
when a man raises his umbrella to the rain, is not
each giving evidence of the existence of what we
call mind ? There is a progressive development of
the brain in the higher animals, and mental powers
correspond in force with this growth.

Haeckel says : "The human mind is but a more
highly developed ape-mind," and Wallace declares
that there is less of a gap between the minds of a
dog and a Hottentot than between the minds of a

36 EVOLUTION.

Hottentot and a Newton. Dr. Gray gives instances
of the exhibition of mind in plants, as when they
catch and devour insects or reach out their tendrils
toward supports. Bikhner in " Mind in Animals,"
and Romanes in " Animal Intelligence ' give this
subject a very satisfactory treatment.

As force is in the muscles so thought is in the
brain. The magnet, powder, steam, the sensitive
plant, the lancelet burrowing in the sand, and the
thinking man, all show the combination of force and
matter which constitutes the universe. Mind devel-
ops in the child from bare consciousness to the
thoughts of a philosopher. Why should it not have
developed in the race of man by gradual process ?
The difference between the mental operations of
animals and men is one of degree not of kind.
Animals think the same kind of thoughts that men
do as far as they extend.

Speech.

Evolution is manifest in speech and in human
language. The origin of speech dates from the time
of the development of the organs of the throat.
Animals have the power of communicating ideas to
each other, and we can observe the dawnings of
speech in their cries. Our domestic dogs are
descended from wolves and jackals, and have learned
to bark in four or five distinct tones.

In language, we find the same law of Evolution

EVOLUTION,. 37

that governs physical forms. There are rudimentary
words and letters- -remains of ancestral forms ; varia-
tions constantly occur, and a struggle for existence
goes on between words, and also between various
languages. The survival of the fittest perhaps will
be evidenced in the future universality of the English
tongue.

Morals.

Not only form, mind, and speech show the method
of Evolution, but morals may be traced upward from
the emotions of animals and by observation of savage
races of men. Agassiz says that dogs have some-
thing very like a conscience. Animals show love
and sympathy. Moral sense has been developed by
the perception of what is serviceable ; and intuitions
of right and wrong, which we call conscience, are in-
herited from ancestors, and are the result of their
experience. Therefore we may hope for progress
as experiences accumulate, and may believe that in
the future man will be better than in the past.

Arts.

All the arts and sciences, except sculpture and
drawing, may be traced from animal origin up to
their highest development by man, by the same
orderly methods that prevail in the physical world.
In fact, every department of nature proves that EVO-
LUTION is UNIVERSAL.

38 EVOLUTION.

Nebular Hypothesis.

The nebular hypothesis, suggested by Sweden-
borg, Buffon, and Kant, and systematized by
Herschel and La Place, assumes the former existence
of a vaporous matter, extending beyond the orbit of
the farthest planet, which by rotation gradually gained
solidity, throwing off rings which broke up into
planets and moons, the central mass forming the
present sun. The existing solar system is satisfac-
torily accounted for by this theory, which is now
generally accepted by learned men as the best expla-
nation of the universe. All the other systems of
stars are supposed to have originated in the same
manner.

The earth being thus accounted for as the result of

o

a natural process, the evolutionist sees that all forms
of life upon it may have developed from the simplest
cell-form of matter, for he can trace an almost con-
tinuous evolution from the plant cell upward, through
all the grades of vegetable and animal life, to the
highest development — man, thus establishing the
unity and connection of all nature.

t

Spontaneous Generation.
Sir William Thomson has suo^ested that life

oo

originated on the earth from germs contained in
meteoric stones that fell from inhabited planets. But
this idea has not received much support. Haeckel
and many others maintain that the first forms of life

E VOL UTION. 39

came by spontaneous generation. Just as we see
crystals form themselves to-day, so by a process,
chemical and electrical, the atoms of carbon com-
bined into the speck of protoplasm or " primitive
slime," which constitutes the lowest living form — the

o

Moneron. No one claims that organized beings ,
have arisen spontaneously ; it is only in the case of
Monera — " structureless organisms without organs'
-that spontaneous generation is assumed to have
occurred at the fir^st beginning of organic life upon
the earth.

If the whole development of life and the formation
of intricate organs proceed without supernatural
aid, why should we assume that this principle, so con-
trary to all observed action of nature, must have acted
to produce this simple beginning of life in the
Moneron? Chemistry and electricity are conceivable
agents.

Primeval Matter.

Dr. T. Sterry Hunt has stated the hypothesis that
universal space is filled with a simple form of matter
from which the worlds have been evolved by a pro-
cess of chemical condensation. He found that this
theory had been anticipated in some little known
writings of Sir Isaac Newton, who suggested that all

o oo

space may be filled with an ethereal substance which
is* the food of plants and the material principle of
life. He says : " Thus, perhaps, all things may be
originated from ether."

40 EVOLUTION.

Dr. Hunt states that the earth has already ab-
stracted from the air chemical elements, such as
carbon, equal in weight to not less than two hundred
times its atmosphere. These elements, which com-
pose rocks, plants, and animals, he suggests have
been supplied gradually to the air from this ether or
gas that fills the space around earth and stars.

As we trace back human life to the plant cell, we
can trace its earlier origin and present sustenance
indirectly to the ether.

History of Evolution.

Evolution is by some considered to be a new doc-
trine, but like all the great discoveries of man, it has
grown through the ages by slow gains of knowledge.
Its principles are foreshadowed in the teachings of
Greek philosophers two thousand years ago. Anaxi-
mander, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Democritus, the
Roman poet Lucretius, and others, treated of the
natural development of the world from simple ele-
ments, and of all life from atoms.

In later times, Kant, Laplace, Goethe, Wolff,
Lamarck, Von Baer,and others, added to the advance
of the theory ; and in our own day, Darwin, Wal-
lace, and Spencer have so classified facts that Evolu-
tion, in its main outlines, has become, to most
scientific minds, no longer a theory, but a proved fact.

An eminent naturalist says : " With one excep-
tion, every man in the world who can properly be

EVOLUTION. 41

called a naturalist has accepted the theory of Evolu-

A * "

tion.

Summary.

Now, to summarize the evidences previously
alluded to, we find :-

1. The Nebular Hypothesis- -the formation of1
worlds from the moving " star dust ' -agrees with
all known facts concerning the solar system, and
is accepted as the best explanation of the universe.

2. All the orders of the animal world show a con-
nection, more or less complete, by which an ascend-
ing tree of life spreads out from a common root.

3. All the classes of the vegetable kingdom are
likewise allied by a continuous succession of forms.

4. Animal and vegetable life meet in the lowest
forms and suggest a common origin.

5. All vegetable and animal life originate in cells
of protoplasm which, to all appearance, are alike.

6. Every animal before reaching its adult form
passes through forms common to the races below it.
These changes occur either wholly before birth, as in
the case of quadrupeds and man, or partly after birth,
as with frogs and butterflies. The only intelligible
way of accounting for this development of individuals
is to suppose that the races to which they belong
have developed in a similar manner from lower
orders, and the history of their descent is repeated in
the history of each individual. " Development re-
peats descent."

42 EVOLUTION.

7. Animals and plants have rudiments of organs,
which are useless and in some cases disappear in
adult life. This can only be explained by the sup-
position that these forms are inherited from ancestors
who possessed them fully developed.

8. Change of surroundings causes change in the

O O O

organs of animals, in consequence of the survival of
those who possess any peculiarity that makes them
better fitted to endure the changes, and these peculi-
arities become fixed in their descendants.

Q. These changes of surroundings sometimes lead

•' O O

animals to revert to the forms of lower organisms,
making it probable that their race formerly arose
from those forms through the influence of changed
conditions, which ceasing, the new forms are no longer
useful and disappear.

10. The mimicry by animals of resemblances that
are useful shows that new species may arise by the
perpetuation of useful variations of form or color.

11. The distribution of animals and plants over
the earth shows that natural causes account for the
presence of each kind in its locality.

12. The study of fossil remains of plants and
animals reveals links between orders so separate that
they have been regarded as special creations. But
these intermediate forms show the transition from
one species to another.

13. In the oldest rocks the lowest forms of life are
found, and higher forms appear successively in later

EVOLUTION. 43

deposits, the highest creature- -man- -being found in
the latest strata, proving that the series of forms that
we now observe in existing life have been gradually
developed in the same ascending series during the
vast periods of the past.

14. The development of mind is traced upward
from the lowest instincts, as truly as is the develop-
ment of organic forms from simpler organisms, show-
ing no need for the theory of the special creation of
man's reasoning powers.

1 5. The study of languages reveals an orderly,
gradual development of speech, corresponding to the
growth of forms of life.

1 6. Moral sentiments have unfolded in animals
and man by a process of development, similar to
what is observed in organic forms.

17. There is no evidence that any thing has sud-
denly come into existence in a completely developed
form of varied structure. It is probable that the
lowest and simplest form of life is the result of the
combination of particles of matter by their own in-
herent energy, and that all subsequent develop-
ments have arisen from progressive changes that

'occurred in accordance with the same laws of nature
that surround us to-day.

1 8. Finally, one of the principal causes of these
progressive changes is observed to be the struggle
for existence, which secures the survival of the fittest,
or Natural Selection.

44 EVOLUTION.

The First Cause.

But does Evolution solve all the mystery of life ?
No one pretends that it does. It only traces back
the workings of natural law to the simplest and
earliest combination of matter and force ; the primary
cause still eludes discovery. But beginning with the
primeval ether or gas it accounts for all existing
forms, by the action of the laws of nature that we
now see in operation. The origin of matter and
force and why they vary in their productions lie still
in the region of the unknown, but we will not say
" unknowable," for who shall prescribe limits to the
future investigations of man !

Neither does Evolution necessarily question the
existence of God. It only concerns itself as to the
manner in which the Supreme Power works, and
claims that IT ACTS THROUGH NATURAL LAW and not
through miracle.

Truly, as Darwin says, " there is grandeur in this
view of life"; and there is also a simplicity in it that
is welcome to the perplexed mind that has pondered
with dismay on the incomprehensible idea of a
separate act of creation for every divergent form
of life. We may now see the method through
which the Infinite Power works out in orderly
sequence the development of the universe. Man, its
highest product, is brought into unison and sympathy
with all nature, and is stimulated by the evidence of
past progress to aspire toward future possibility.

PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

SPAIN AND THE SPANIARDS. By EDMONDO DE AIMICIS, au-
thor of "Studies of Paris," "Constantinople," "Holland," etc.
Octavo, with full-page illustrations. Cloth, . . . $2 oo

44 Under the above title the Messrs. Putnam have published a very readable
account of a journey made in Spain, during the reign of Amadeus, by Edmondo de
,Amicis. The author's books on Constantinople and Holland are well known to the
American reader through translations, and the version of ' Spain ' by Miss Wilhelmina
W. Cady reproduces, in a highly creditable degree, the singular animation and pic-
torial power of the original." — N. Y. Sun.

" For it may justly be claimed for this book that it contains one of the most
vivid, and withal one of the most agreeable and faithful panoramas of Spanish life
and scenery anywhere to be found.' —The Critic.

"This volume is the freshest and most readable of all recent ones aboat this
romantic land."— Hartford Courant.

" Of his now famous books of travel, 4 Spain ' is second to none of them in
freshness o- sight and vivacious description." — N. Y. Tribune.

44 In every sense an attractive book. The descriptions of scenery are brill-
iant."— Boston Sat. Eve. Gazette.

44 The book is altogether the pleasantest that has lately been written about
Spain." — Phila. Times.

A SCANDINAVIAN SUMMER— Up to the Midnight Sun. By
KATHARINE E. TYLER. Octavo, cloth, . . . . $i 75

44 The book will be eagerly read by persons who intend to visit the north of
Europe, on account of its store of information upon just the points travellers de-
sire knowledge of in advance." — Boston Journal.

44 The entire volume is agreeable and instructive." — Episcopal Register.
44 A very valuable and entertaining volume." — Observer.
44 A very pleasant book of travel." — N. Y. World.

NORSK, LAPP, AND FINN. By FRANK VINCEN'T, Jr., author of
" The Land of the White Elephant," "Through and Through the
Tropics," etc. Octavo, cloth, with frontispiece and map, $i 50

44 Without doubt, the most valuable work on the manners and customs of
these people that has appeared since Bayard Taylor's 4 Norway and Sweden.' " — The
Calif ornian.

44 From no recent traveller do we learn so much concerning the people of
Northern Europe as from Mr. Vincent, who was as fortunate in the selection of the
countries which he visited as in the tact which distinguishes his observations, and
who is to be congratulated both as a writer and as a traveller." — R. H. STODDAKD, in
the N. Y. Eve. Mail.

" * * * FUII pf interesting and instructive matter. * * * The book is
entitled to praise."— N. Y. Herald.

44 He writes in an easy, natural style, with the evident aim of telling in a
straightforward way just what he saw and what he thought of the scenes and people
he encountered." — N. Y. Tribune.

44 Intending travellers will find these pages invaluable." — N. Y. Independent.

CUBAN SKETCHES. By JAMES STEELE. Octavo, cloth extra,
about $i 50

Graphic studies of life and character by an old resident, who har. a keen
sense of humor and an exceptionally picturesque style.

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY.

L THE INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT IN NEW YORK, as

an Element in the next Elections and a Problem in Party Govern-
ment. By JUNIUS. Octavo, cloth, $1.00 ; paper . . 50

44 A clear and forcible presentation of truths which, while they have long been
familiar, were never so timely and important as at the present time." — N. Y. Evening
Post.

II. FREE LAND AND FREE TRADE. The Lessons of the

English Corn-Laws Applied to the United States. BY SAMUEL S.
Cox. Octavo, paper, 50 cents ; cloth . . . . $i 25

44 Clearly and forcibly written, and containing new and striking illustrations.
The questions treated must soon become burning ones." — N. Y. World.

III. OUR MERCHANT MARINE. How it rose, increased, be-
came great, declined, and decayed ; with an inquiry into the condi-
tions essential to its resuscitation and prosperity. By DAVIP A.
WELLS. Octavo, cloth $i bo

IV. THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE IN THE UNITED

STATES. By D. C. MCMILLAN. Octavo, cloth . $i oo

" Should be read with care by all interested in political matters. * * * The
author presents his ideas with clear, logical method." — Boston Traveller.

V. THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. Edited by

WORTHINGTON C. FORD. Part 7. — Governments (National, State,
and Local), the Electorate, and the Civil Service. Octavo,
cloth $1 oo

VI. THE AMERICAN CITIZEN'S MANUAL. Part II.— The

Functions of Government, considered with special reference to taxa-
tion and expenditure, the regulation of commerce and industry,
provision for the poor and insane, the management of the public
lands, etc. Octavo, cloth $r oo

A work planned to afford in compact form a comprehensive summary of the
nature of the organization of the government of the United States, national, State, and
local, and of the duties, privileges, and responsibilities of American citizens.

VII. SPOILING THE EGYPTIANS. A Tale of Shame. Told from
the British Blue-Books. By J. SEYMOUR KEAY. Octavo, paper,
50 cents ; cloth ......... 75

A narrative by a well-informed Englishman, jealous for the honor of his coun-
try, of peculiar interest and power, throwing light upon the causes which have pro-
duced the present exceptional and complicated state of affairs in Egypt, and making
clear some of the grounds for the bitter natred of Europeans which found fatal ex-
pression in the massacres of Alexandria. The story as given, and each statement of
which is verified by reference to the official documents, constitutes one of the most
fearful arraignments ever made against a Christian nation.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, PUBLISHERS,

27 & 29 West Twenty-third Street, New York.

Boston Public Library
Central Library, Copley Square

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