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2016
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A collection of digitised items from the Humanist Library and Archives telling the story of buildings and spaces occupied by the Conway Hall Ethical Society (formerly the South Place Ethical Society). Also includes several born digital items.
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Mansford, Frederick Herbert (1871-1946)
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Certificate of contract for redemption of Land Tax on 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 Lambs Conduit Passage, 13 June 1912
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<p>Certificate of contract for redemption of Land Tax on 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 Lambs Conduit Passage, (13 June 1912).</p>
<ul><li>(1) Commissioners for Redemption of Land Tax</li>
<li>(2) Algernon Augustus de Lille Strickland of Apperley Court, Tewkesbury, Glos, tenant for life, and Augustine Cecil Strickland of 23 Warwick Square, London, and Thomas Smith Curtis of 4 Bedford Row, London, trustees for purposes of Settled Estates Acts</li>
</ul><p>(1) and (2) have contracted for redemption of Land Tax of £8 14s 4d on houses and shops nos. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 Lambs Conduit Passage.</p>
<p>Consideration: £261 10s</p>
<p>Block plan of premises 3 June 1912.</p>
<p>Attached: invoice for consideration 13 June 1912.</p>
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SPES/3/1/1/26
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Lamb's Conduit Passage, Holborn
Land tax
Strickland, Algernon Augustus de Lille
Strickland, Augustine Cecil
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cfa9aec6b19986b374ef0749b3c5969c
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64- pp. It
Pamphlets for the Million—No. 8
LAST WORDS
ON
EVOLUTION
By ERNST HAECKEL
London :
WATTS & CO.,
17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.
'
k
1d.
v
�THE
RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION,
LIMITED.
Chairman :
Edward Clodd
Honorary Associates :
Alfred William Benn
Hypatia .Bradlaugh Bonner
Sir Edward Brabrook, C. B.
George Brandes
Dr. Charles Callaway
Dr. Paul Carus
Prof. B. H. Chamberlain
Dr. Stanton Coit '
W. W. Collins
F. J. Gould
Prof. Ernst Haeckel
Leonard Huxley
Joseph McCabe
Eden Phillpotts
John M. Robertson
Dr. W. R. Washington SullivanProf. Lester F. Ward
Prof. Ed. A. Westermarck
Secretary and Registered Offices:
Charles E. Hooper, Nos. 5 & 6 Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.
How to Join and Help the R.P.A.
The minimum subscription to constitute Membership is 5s., renewable in January of
each year.
A form of application for Membership, with full particulars, including latest Annual
Report and specimen copy of the Literary Guide (the unofficial organ of the Associa
tion), can be obtained gratis on application to the Secretary.
Copies of new publications are forwarded regularly on account of Members’ sub
scriptions, or a Member can arrange to make his own selection from the lists of
new books which are issued from time to time.
To join the Association is to help on its work, but to subscribe liberally is of course
to help more effectually. As Subscribers of from 5s. to 10s. and more are entitled to
receive back the whole value of their subscriptions in books, on which there is little
if any profit made, the Association is dependent, for the capital required to carryout
its objects, upon subscriptions of a larger amount and upon donations and bequests.
Ube Uitcravv Guide
(the unofficial organ of the R. P. A.)
is published on the 1st of each month, price 2d., by post 2.Jd. Annual subscrip
tion : 2S. 6d. post paid.
The contributors comprise the leading writers in the Rationalist Movement,,
including Mr. Joseph McCabe, Mrs. H. Bradlaugh Bonner, Mr. F. J. Gould,
Mr. Charles T. Gorham, Dr. C. Callaway, Mr. A. W. Benn, and “ Mimnermus.”
SPECIMEN COPY POST FJIEE.
London : Watts & Co., 17 Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, E.C.
�NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
Pamph lets for the Million—No 8.
ERNST HAECKEL,
Professor at Jena University
LAST WORDS
ON
EVOLUTION
A POPULAR RETROSPECT AND
---------------- SUMMARY--------------- -
ISSUED FOR THE RATIONALIST
PRESS
ASSOCIATION,
LIMITED
WATTS & CO., 17 JOHNSON’S COURT,
FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C. — 1912
�PAMPHLETS FOR THE MILLION
ALREADY ISSUED
1. Why I Left the Church.
6. Liberty of Man, Woman,
By Joseph McCabe. 48
and Child.
By Colonel
pp.; id.
R. G. Ingersoll. 48 pp.; id.
2. Why Am I An Agnostic? 7. The Age of Reason. By
By Colonel R. G. Ingersoll.
Thomas Paine. 124 pp.; 2d.
24 pp.; ¿d.
8. Last Words on Evolu
3. Christianity’s Debt to
tion. By Prof. Haeckel.
Earlier Religions. By
64 pp.; id.
P. Vivian. (A Chapter from 9. Science and the Purpose
The Churches and Modern
of Life.
By Fridtjof
Thought.') 64 pp.; id.
Nansen. 16 pp.; |d.
4. How to Reform Mankind. 10. The Ghosts. By Colonel
By Colonel R. G. Ingersoll.
R. G. Ingersoll. 32 pp.; id.
24 pp.; |d.
11. The Passing of Histo
5. Myth or History in the
rical Christianity.
By
Old Testament? By S.
Rev. R. Roberts. 16 pp.;
Laing. 48 pp.; id.
¿d.
�INTRODUCTION
Not very long ago the sensational announcement was made
that Professor Haeckel had abandoned Darwinism and given
public support to the teaching of a Jesuit writer. There was
something piquant in the suggestion that the “Darwin of
Germany ” had recanted the conclusions of fifty years of
laborious study. Nor could people forget that only two years
before Haeckel had written with some feeling about the
partial recantation of some of his colleagues. Many of our
journals boldly declined to insert the romantic news, which
came through one of the chief international press agencies.
Others drew the attention of their readers, in jubilant editorial
notes, to the lively prospect it opened out. To the many
inquiries addressed to me as the “apostle of Professor
Haeckel,” as Sir Oliver Lodge dubs me in a genial letter, I
timidly represented that even a German reporter sometimes
drank. But the correction quickly came that the telegram
had exactly reversed the position taken up by the great bio
logist. It is only just to the honourable calling of the reporter
to add that, according to the theory current in Germany, the
message was tampered with by subtle and ubiquitous
Jesuitry. Did they not penetrate even into the culinary
service' at Hatfield?
I have pleasure in now introducing the three famous lec
tures delivered by Professor Haeckel at Berlin, and the
reader will see the grotesqueness of the original announce
ment. They are the last public deliverance that the aged
professor will ever make. His enfeebled health forbids us
to hope that his decision may yet be undone. He is now
condemned, he tells me, to remain a passive spectator of the
tense drama in which he has played so prominent a part for
half a century. For him the red rays fall level on the scene
and the people about him. It may be that they light up too
luridly, too falsely, the situation in Germany; but the reader
�4
INTHOD UCTION
will understand how a Liberal of Haeckel’s temper must
feel his country to be between Scylla and Charybdis—between
an increasingly clear alternative of Catholicism or Socialism—
with a helmsman at the wheel whose vagaries inspire no
confidence.
The English reader will care to be instructed on the anti
thesis of Virchow and Haeckel which gives point to these
lectures, and which is often misrepresented in this country.
Virchow, the greatest pathologist and one of the leading
anthropologists of Germany, had much to do with the inspir
ing of Haeckel’s Monistic views in the ’fifties. Like several
other prominent German thinkers, Virchow subsequently
abandoned the positive Monistic position for one of agnos
ticism and scepticism, and a long and bitter conflict ensued.
It is hardly too much to say that Virchow’s ultra-timid reserve
in regard to the evolution of man and other questions has
died with him. Apart from one or two less prominent an
thropologists, and the curious distinction drawn by Dr. A. R.
Wallace, science has accepted the fact of evolution, and has,
indeed, accepted the main lines of Haeckel’s ancestral tree
of the human race.
The lectures are reproduced here not solely because of the
interest aroused in them by the “Jesuit” telegram. They
contain a very valuable summary of his conclusions, and
include the latest scientific confirmation. Rarely has the great
biologist written in such clear and untechnical phrases, so
that the general reader will easily learn the outlines of his
much-discussed Monism.
JOSEPH McCABE.
�CONTENTS
PAGE
Introduction..........................................................................
CHAPTER I
The Controversy
about
Creation .
Evolution and Dogma
7
CHAPTER II
The Struggle
Genealogical Tree
over our
Our Ape-Relatives and the Vertebrate-Stem
27
CHAPTER III
The Controversy
over the
The Ideas of Immortality and God
5
Soul
....
47
��LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
CHAPTER I
The Controversy
about
Creation
EVOLUTION AND DOGMA
f
HE controversy over the idea of evolution is a prominent
feature in the mental life of the nineteenth century. It is
true'that a few great thinkers had spoken of a natural evolu
tion of all things several thousand years ago. They had,
indeed, partly investigated the laws that control the birth
and death of the world, and the rise of the earth and its
inhabitants; even the creation-stories and the myths of the
older religions betray a partial influence of these evolutionary
ideas. But it was not until the nineteenth century that the
idea of evolution took definite shape and was scientifically
grounded on various classes of evidence ; and it was not until
the last third of the century that it won general recognition.
The intimate connection that was proved to exist between all
branches of knowledge, once the continuity of historical
development was realised, and the union of them all through
the Monistic philosophy, are achievements of the last few
decades.
The great majority of the older ideas that thoughtful men
had formed on the origin and nature of the world and their
own frame were far removed from the notion of “ self
development.” They culminated in more or less obscure
\ creation-myths, which generally put in the foreground the
idea of a personal Creator. Just as man has used intelligence
and design in the making of his weapons and tools, his
houses and his -boats, so it was thought that the Creator
T
7
�8
LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
had fashioned the world with art and intelligence, according
to a definite plan. Among the many legends of this kind the
ancient Semitic story of creation, familiar to us as the
Mosaic narrative, but drawn for the most part from Baby
lonian sources, .has obtained a very great influence on Euro
pean culture owing to the general acceptance of the Bible.
The belief in miracles, that is involved in these religious
legends, was bound to come in conflict, at an early date, with
the evolutionary ideas of independent philosophical research.
On the one hand, in the prevalent religious teaching, we had
the supernatural world,the miraculous, teleology : on the other
hand, in the nascent science of evolution, only natural law,
pure reason, mechanical causality. Every step that was
made by this science brought into greater relief its incon
sistency with the predominant religion.1
If we glance for a moment at the various fields in which
the idea of evolution is scientifically applied we find that,
firstly, the whole universe is conceived as a unity; secondly,
our earth; thirdly, organic life on the earth; fourthly, man,
as its highest product; and fifthly, the soul, as a special •
immaterial entity. Thus we have, in historical succession,
the evolutionary research of cosmology, geology, biology,
anthropology, and psychology.
The first comprehensive idea of cosmological evolution was
put forth by the famous critical philosopher, Immanuel
Kant, in 1755, in the great work of his earlier years, General
Natural History of the Heavens, or an Attempt to Conceive
and to Explain the Origin of the Universe mechanically,
according to the Newtonian Laws. This remarkable work
appeared anonymously, and was dedicated to Frederick the
Great, who, however, never saw it. It was little noticed,
and was soon entirely forgotten, until it was exhumed ninety
years afterwards by Alexander von Humboldt. Note par1 The word “evolution” is still used in so many different ways in
various sciences that it is important to fix it in the general significance
which we here give it. By “evolution,” in the widest sense, I understand
the unceasing “ mutations of substance,” adopting Spinoza’s fundamental
conception of substance; it unites inseparably in itself “ matter and force
(or energy),” or “nature and mind” ( = the world and God). Hence the
science of evolution in its broader range is “the history of substance,”/
which postulates the general validity of “ the law of substance.” In the
latter are combined “the law of the constancy of matter” (Lavoisier,
1789) and “the law of the conservation of energy” (Robert Mayer, 1842),
however varied may be the changes of 'form of these elements in the
world-process. Cf. Chapter XII. of The Riddle.
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
9
ticularly that on the title-page stress is laid on the mechanical
origin of the world and its explanation on Newtonian prin
ciples ; in this way the strictly Monistic character of the whole
cosmogony and the absolutely universal rule of natural law
are clearly expressed. It is true that Kant speaks much in
it of God and his wisdom and omnipotence ; but this is
limited to the affirmation that God created once for all the
unchangeable laws of nature, and was henceforward bound
by them and only able to work through them. The Dualism
which became so pronounced subsequently in the philosopher
of Koenigsberg counts for very little here.
The idea of a natural development of the world occurs in a
clearer and more consistent form, and is provided with a
firm mathematical basis, forty years afterwards, in the re
markable Mécanique Céleste of Pierre Laplace. His popular
Exposition du Système du Monde (1796) destroyed at its
roots the legend of creation that had hitherto prevailed, or
the Mosaic narrative in the Bible. Laplace, who had become
Minister of the Interior, Count, and Chancellor of the Senate,
under Napoleon, was merely honourable and consistent when
he replied to the emperor’s question, “What room there was
for God in his system? ” : “Sire, I had no need for that un
founded hypothesis.” What strange ministers there are
sometimes ! 1 The shrewdness of the Church soon recog
nised that the personal Creator was dethroned, and the
creation-myth destroyed, by this Monistic and now generally
received theory of cosmic development. Nevertheless it
maintained towards it the attitude which it had taken up 250
years earlier in regard to the closely related and irrefutable
system of Copernicus. It endeavoured to conceal the truth
as long as possible, or to oppose it with Jesuitical methods,
1 Certain orthodox periodicals have lately endeavoured to deny this
famous atheistical confession of the great Laplace, which was merely a
candid deduction of his splendid cosmic system. They say that this
Monistic natural philosopher acknowledged the Catholic faith on his
death-bed ; and in proof of this they offer us the later testimony of an
Ultramontane priest. We need not point out how uncertain is the love
of truth of these heated partisans. When testimony of this kind tends
to “the good of religion” (i.e., their own good), it is held to be a pious
work (pia fraus). On the other hand, it is interesting to recall the reply
of a Prussian Minister of Religion, Von Zedlitz, 120 years ago, to the
Breslau Consistory, when it urged that “ those who believe most are
the best subjects.” He wrote in reply: “His majesty [Frederick the
Great] is not disposed to rest, the security of his State on the stupidity of
his subjects.”
�I
LAS! WORDS ON EVOLUTION
and finally it yielded. If the Churches now silently admit
the Copernican system and the cosmogony of Laplace and
have ceased to oppose them, we must attribute the fact,
partly to a feeling of their spiritual impotence, partly to an
astute calculation that the ignorant masses do not reflect on
these great problems.
In order to obtain a clear idea and a firm conviction of this
cosmic evolution by natural law, the eternal birth and death
of millions of suns and stars, one needs some mathematical
training and a lively imagination, as well as a certain com
petence in astronomy and physics. The evolutionary process
is much simpler, and more readily grasped in geology.
Every shower of rain or wave of the sea, every volcanic
eruption and every pebble, gives us a direct proof of the
changes that are constantly taking place on the surface of
our planet. However, the historical significance of these
changes was not properly appreciated until 1822, by Karl
von Hoff of Gotha, and modern geology was only founded in
1830 by Charles Lyell, who explained the whole origin and
composition of the solid crust of the earth, the formation of
the mountains, and the periods of the earth’s development,
in a connected system by natural laws. From the immense
thickness of the stratified rocks, which contain the fossilised
remains of extinct organisms, we discovered the enormous
length—running into millions of years—of the periods during
which these sedimentary rocks were deposited in water.
Even the duration of the organic history of the earth—that is
to say, the period during which the plant and animal popu
lation of our planet was developing—must itself be put at
more than a hundred million years. These results of geology
and paleontology destroyed the current legend of the six
days’ work of a personal Creator. Many attempts were
made, it is true, and are still being made, to reconcile the
Mosaic supernatural story of creation with modem geology.1
All these efforts of believers are in vain. We may say, in
fact, that it is precisely the study of geology, the reflection it
entails on the enormous periods of evolution, and the habit
of seeking the simple mechanical causes of their constant
changes, that contribute very considerably to the advance of
1 See, for instance, Moses and Geology, or Harmony of the Bible with
Science, by Samuel Kinns (1882). In this work the pious Biblical
astronomer executes the most incredible and Jesuitical manoeuvres in
order to bring about an impossible reconciliation between science and the
Biblical narrative.
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
11
enlightenment. \et in spite of this (or, possibly, because of
this), geological instruction is either greatly neglected or
entirely suppressed in most schools. It is certainly emin
ently calculated (in connection with geography) to enlarge the
mind, and acquaint the child with the idea of evolution. An
educated person who knows the elements of geology will
never experience ennui. He will find everywhere in sur
rounding nature, in the rocks and in the water, in the desert
and on the mountains, the most instructive stimuli to
reflection.
The evolutionary process in organic nature is much more
difficult to grasp. Here we must distinguish two different
series of biological development, . which have only been
brought into proper causal connection by means of our biogenetic law (1866); one series is found in embryology (or
ontogeny), the other in phylogeny (or race-development). In
Germany “evolution” always meant embryology, or a part
of the whole, until forty years ago. It stood for a micro
scopic examination of the wonderful processes by means of
which the elaborate structure of the plant or animal body is
formed from the simple seed of the plant or the egg of the
bird. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century the
erroneous view was generally received that this marvellously
complicated structure existed, completely formed, in the
simple ovum, and that the various organs had merely to
grow and to shape themselves independently by a. process of
“evolution ” (or unfolding), before they entered into activity.
An able German scientist, Caspar Friedrich Wolff (son of a
Berlin tailor), had already shown the error of this “pre
formation theory ” in 1759. He had proved in his disserta
tion for the doctorate, that no trace of the later body, of its
bones, muscles, nerves, and feathers, can be found in the
hen’s egg (the commonest and most convenient object for
study), but merely a small round disc, consisting of two thin
superimposed layers. He had further showed that the
various organs are only built up gradually out of these
simple elements, and that we can trace, step by step, a series
of real new growths. However, these momentous dis
coveries, and the sound “theory of epigenesis ” that he based
on them, were wholly ignored for fifty years, and even re
jected by the leading authorities. It was not until Oken had
re-discovered these important facts at Jena (i<3o6), Pander
had more carefully distinguished the germinal layers (1817),
t 1
�12
LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
and finally Carl Ernst von Baer had happily combined ob
servation and reflection in his classical Animal Embryology
(1828), that embryology attained the rank of an independent
science with a sound empirical base.
A little later it secured a well-merited recognition in botany
also, especially owing to the efforts of Matthias Schleiden of
Jena, the distinguished student who provided biology with a
new foundation in the “cell theory ” (1838). But it was not
until the middle of the nineteenth century that people gener
ally recognised that the ovum of the plant or animal is itself
only a simple cell, and that the later tissues and organs
gradually develop from this “ elementary organism ” by a
repeated cleavage of, and division of labour in, the cells.
The most important step was then made of recognising that
our human organism also develops from an ovum (first dis
covered by Baer in 1827), in virtue of the same laws, and
that its embryonic development resembles that of the other
mammals, especially that of the ape. Each of us was, at the
beginning of his existence, a simple globule of protoplasm,
surrounded by a membrane, about jT^of an inch in diameter,
with a firmer nucleus inside it. These important embryo
logical discoveries confirmed the rational conception of the
human organism that had been attained much earlier by com
parative anatomy : the conviction that the human frame is
built in the same way, and develops similarly from a simple
ovum, as the body of all other mammals. Even Linné had
already (1735) given man a place in the mammal class in his
famous System of Nature.
^Differently from these embryological facts, which can be
directly observed, the phenomena of phylogeny (the develop
ment of species), which are needed to set the former in their
true light, are usually outside the range of immediate ob
servation. What was the origin of the countless species of
animals and plants? How can we explain the remarkable
relationships which unite similar species into genera and these
into classes? Linné answers the question very simply with
the belief in creation, relying on the generally accepted
Mosaic narrative: “There are as many different species of
animals and plants as there were different forms created by’
God in the beginning.” The first scientific answer was given
in 1809 by the great French scientist, Lamarck. He taught,
in his suggestive Philosophie Zoologique, that the resem
blances in form and structure of groups of species are due to
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13
real affinity, and that all organisms descend from a few very
simple primitive forms (or, possibly, from a single one).
These primitive forms were developed out of lifeless matter
by spontaneous generation. The resemblances of related
groups of species are explained by inheritance from common
s:em-forms; their dissimilarities are due to adaptation to
different environments, and to variety in the action of the
modifiable organs. The human race has arisen in the same
way, by transformation of a series of mammal ancestors, the
nearest of which are ape-like primates.
These great ideas of Lamarck, which threw light on the
whole field of organic life, and were closely approached by
Goethe in his own speculations, gave rise to the theory that
we now know as transformism, or the theory of evolution or
descent. But the far-seeing Lamarck was—as Caspar
Friedrich Wolff had been fifty years before—half a century
before his time. His theory obtained no recognition, and
was soon wholly forgotten.
.
It was brought into the light once more in 1859 by the
genius of Charles Darwin, who had been born in the very
year that the Philosophic Zoologique was published. The
substance and the success of his system, which has gone by
the name of Darwinism (in the wider sense) for forty-six
years, are so generally known that I need not dwell on them.
I will only point out that the great success of Darwin’s epochmaking works is due to two causes : firstly, to the fact that
the English scientist most ingeniously worked up the em
pirical material that had accumulated during fifty years into,
a systematic proof of the theory of descent; and secondly, to
the fact that he gave it the support of a second theory of his
own, the theory of natural selection. This theory, which
gives a causal explanation of the transformation of species, is
what we ought to call “ Darwinism ” in the strict sense. . We
cannot go here into the question how far this theory, is justi
fied, or how far it is corrected by more recent theories, such
as Weismann’s theory of germ-plasm (1B44), or De Vries s
theory of mutations (1900). Our concern is rather, with the
unparalleled influence that Darwinism, and its application to
man, have had during the last forty years on the whole pro
vince of science; and at the same time, with its irreconcil
able opposition to the dogmas of the Churches.
The extension of the theory of evolution to man was., natur
ally, one of the most interesting and momentous applications
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LA S 7' WORDS ON EVOLUTION
of it. If all other organisms arose, not by a miraculous/
creation, but by a. natural modification of earlier forms of life,/
the presumption is that the human race also was developed by/
the transformation of the most man-like mammals, the
primates of Linné—the apes and lemurs. This natural infer
ence, which Lamarck had drawn in his simple way, but Da?- •
win had at first explicitly avoided, was first thoroughly estab
lished by the gifted zoologist, Thomas Huxley, in his th/ee
lectures on Man s Place in Nature (1862). He showed tnat
this “ question of questions ” is unequivocally answered/ by
three chief witnesses—the natural history of the anthropoid
apes, the anatomic and embryological relations of man tp the
animals immediately below him, and the recently discovered
fossil human remains. Darwin entirely accepted these con
clusions of his friend eight years afterwards, and, in his twovolume work, The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection
(1871), furnished a number of new proofs in support of the
dreaded “descent of man from the ape.” I myself then
(1874) completed the task I had begun in 1866, of determining
approximately the whole series of the extinct animal an
cestors of the human race, on the ground of comparative
anatomy, embryology, and paleontology. This attempt was
improved, as our knowledge advanced, in the five editions
of my Evolution of Man. In the last twenty years a vast
literature on the subject has accumulated. I must assume
that you are acquainted with the contents of one or other of
these works, and will turn to the question, that especially
engages our attention at present, how the inevitable struggle
between these momentous achievements of modern science
and the dogmas of the Churches has run in recent years.
It was obvious that both the general theory of evolution
and its extension to man in particular must meet from the
first with the most determined resistance on the part of the
Churches. Both were in flagrant contradiction to the Mosaic
story of creation, and other Biblical dogmas that were in
volved in it, and are still taught in our elementary schools.
It is creditable to the shrewdness of the theologians and their
associates, the metaphysicians, that they at once rejected
Darwinism, and made a particularly energetic resistance in
their writings to its chief consequence, the descent of man
from the ape. This resistance seemed the more justified and
hopeful as, for seven or eight years after Darwin’s appear
ance, few, biologists accepted his theory, and the general
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i5
attitude amongst them was one of cold scepticism. I can
veil testify to this from my own experience. When 1 first
openly advocated Darwin’s theory at a scientific congress at
Stettin in 1863, I was almost alone, and was blamed by the
great majority for taking up seriously so fantastic a theory,
“fee dream of an after-dinner nap,” as the Göttinger zoo
logist, Keferstein, called it.
lhe general attitude towards Nature fifty years-ago was so
different from that we find everywhere to-day, that.it is
difficult to convey a clear idea of it to a young scientist or
philosopher. The great question of creation, the problem
how the various species of plants and animals came into the
world, and how man came into being, did .not exist yet in
exact science. There was, in fact, no question of it.
Seventy-seven years ago Alexander yon Humboldt de
livered, in this very spot, the lectures which afterwards made
up his famous work, Cosmos, the Elements, of a Physical
Description of the World. As he touched, in passing, the
obscure problem of the origin of the organic population of
our planet, he could only say resignedly : “ The mysterious
and unsolved problem of how things came to be does not
belong to the empirical province of objective research, the
description of what is.” It is instructive to find Johannes
Muller, the greatest of German biologists in the ^nineteenth
century, speaking thus in 1852, in his famous essay, On
the Generation of Snails in Holothurians ” :
The entrance
of various species of animals into creation is certain it is a
fact of paleontology; but it is supernatural as long as this
entrance cannot be perceived in the act and become an
element of observation.” I myself had a number of remark
able conversations with Müller, whom I put at the head of all
my distinguished teachers, in the summer of 1854. His lec
tures on comparative anatomy and physiology—the. most
illuminating and stimulating I ever heard—had captivated
me to such an extent that I asked and obtained his permission
to make a closer study of the skeletons and other preparations
in his splendid museum of comparative anatomy (then in the
right wing of the buildings of the Berlin University), and to
draw them. Müller (then in his fifty-fourth year) used to
spend the Sunday afternoon alone in the museum. He would
walk to and fro for hours in the spaoious rooms, his hands
behind his back, buried in thought about the mysterious
affinities of the vertebrates, the “ holy enigma ” of which was
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LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
so forcibly impressed by the row of skeletons. Now and
again my great master would turn to a small table at the side J
at which I (a student of twenty years) was sitting in the angly
of a window, making conscientious drawings of the skulls oJ
mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes.
/
I would then beg him to explain particularly difficult poin/s
in anatomy, and once I ventured to put the question : “Myst
not all these vertebrates, with their identity in internal
skeleton, in spite of all their external differences, have come
originally from a common form? ” The great master nodded
his head thoughtfully, and said : “Ah, if we only knew that !
If ever you solve that riddle, you will have accomplished a
supreme work.” Two months afterwards, in September,
I^54> J had to accompany Müller to Heligoland, and le/rned
under his direction the beautiful and wonderful inhabitants
of the sea. As we fished together in the sea, and caugnt the
lovely medusæ, I asked him how it was possible to explain
their remarkable alternation of generations ; if the medusæ,
from the ova of which polyps develop to-day, must not have
come originally from the more simply organised polypi? To
this precocious question, I received the same resigned
answer: “Ah, that is a very obscure problem ! We know
nothing whatever about the origin of species.”
i
Johannes Müller was certainly one of the greatest scientists
of the nineteenth century. He takes rank with Cuviei, Baer,
Lamarck, and Darwin. His insight was profound and pene
trating, his philosophic judgment comprehensive, ^nd his
mastery of the vast province of biology was enormous. Emil
du Bois-Reymond happily compared him, in his fine com
memorative address, to Alexander the Great, whose kingdom
was divided into several independent realms at his death. In
his lectures and works Müller treated no less than Jour dif
ferent subjects, for which four separate chairs were founded
after his death in 1858—human anatomy, physiology, patho
logical anatomy, and comparative anatomy. In fact, we
ought really to add two more subjects—zoology and embryo
logy. Of these, also, we learned more from Müller’s classic
lectures than from the official lectures of the professors of
those subjects. The great master died in 1858, a few months
before Charles Darwin and Alfred R. Wallace made their
first communications on their new theory of selection in the
Journal of the Linnæan Society. I do not doubt in the least
that this surprising answer of the riddle of creation would
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
17
have profoundly moved Muller, and have been fully admitted
by him on mature reflection.
To these leading- masters in biology, and to all other
anatomists, physiologists, zoologists, and botanists up to
1858, the question of organic creation was an unsolved
problem; the great majority regarded it as insoluble. The
theologians and their allies, the metaphysicians, built
triumphantly on this fact. It afforded a clear proof of the
limitations of reason and science. A miracle only could
account for the origin of these ingenious and carefully
designed organisms; nothing less than the Divine wisdom
and omnipotence could have brought man into being. But
this general resignation of reason, and the dominance of
supernatural ideas which it encouraged, were somewhat para
doxical in the thirty years between Lyell and Darwin,
between 1830 and 1859, since the natural evolution of the
earth, as conceived by the great geologist had come to be
universally recognised. Since the earlier of these dates the
iron necessity of natural law had ruled in inorganic nature, in
the formation of the mountains and the movement of the
heavenly bodies. In organic nature, on the contrary, in the
creation and the life of animals and plants, people saw only
the wisdom and power of an intelligent Creator and Con
troller; in other words, everything was ruled by mechanical
causality in the inorganic world, but by teleological finality in
the realm of biology.
Philosophy, strictly so called, paid little or no attention to
this dilemma. Absorbed almost exclusively in metaphysical
and dialectical speculations, it looked with supreme contempt
or indifference on the enormous progress that the empirical
sciences were making. It affected, in its character of
“purely mental science,” to build up the world out of its own
head, and to have no need of the splendid material that was
being laboriously gathered by observation and experiment.
This is especially true of Germany, where Hegel’s system of
“ absolute idealism ” had secured the highest regard, particu
larly since it had been made obligatory as “the royal State
philosophy of Prussia ”—mainly because, according to Hegel,
“ in the State the Divine will itself and the monarchical con
stitution alone represent the development of reason; all other
forms of constitution are lower stages of the development of
reason.” Hegel’s abstruse metaphysics has also been greatly
appreciated because it has made so thorough and consistent
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a use of the idea of evolution. But this pretended “ evolution
of reason ” floated far above real nature in the pure ether of
the absolute spirit, and was devoid of all the material ballast
that the empirical science of the evolution of the world, the
earth, and its living population, had meantime accumulated.
Moreover, it is well known how Hegel himself declared, with
humorous resignation, that only one of his many pupils had
understood him, and this one had misunderstood him.
From the higher standpoint of general culture the difficult
question forces itself on us : What is the real value of the
idea of evolution in the whole realm of science? We are
bound to answer that it varies considerably. The facts of
the evolution of the individual, or of ontogeny, were easy to
observe and grasp : the evolution of the crust of the earth
and of the mountains in geology seemed to have an equally
sound empirical foundation; the physical evolution of the
universe seemed to be established by mathematical specula
tion. There was no longer any serious question of creation,
in the literal sense, of the deliberate action of a personal
Creator, in these great provinces. But this made people
cling to the idea more than ever in regard to the origin of the
countless species of animals and plants, and especially the
creation of man. This transcendental problem seemed to be
entirely beyond the range of natural development; and the
same was thought of the question of the nature and origin of
the soul, the mystic entity that was appropriated by meta
physical speculation as its subject. Charles Darwin suddenly
brought a clear light into this dark chaos of contradictory
notions in 1859. His epoch-making work, The Origin of
Species, proved convincingly that this historical process is
not a supernatural mystery, but a physiological phenomenon;
and that the preservation of improved races in the struggle
for life had produced, by a natural evolution, the whole
wondrous world of organic life.
To-day, when evolution is almost universally recognised in
biology, when thousands of anatomic and physiological works
are based on it every year, the new generation can hardly
form an idea of the violent resistance that was offered to
Darwin’s theory and the impassioned struggles it provoked.
In the first place, the Churches at once raised a vigorous protest; they rightly regarded their new antagonist as the deadly
enemy of the legend of creation, and saw the very foundations
of their creed threatened. The Churches found a powerful
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ally in the dualistic metaphysics that still claims to represent
the real “ idealist philosophy ” at most universities. But
most dangerous of all to the young theory was the violent re
sistance it met almost everywhere in its own province of em
pirical science. The prevailing belief in the fixity and the
independent creation of the various species was much more
seriously menaced by Darwin’s theory than it had been by
Lamarck’s transformism. Lamarck had said substantially
the same thing fifty years before, but had failed to convince
through the lack of effective evidence. Many scientists,
some of great distinction, opposed Darwin because either
they had not an adequate acquaintance with the whole field of
biology, or it seemed to them that his bold speculation ad
vanced too far from the secure base of experience.
When Darwin’s work appeared in 1859, and fell like a flash
of lightning on the dark world of official biology, I was
engaged in a scientific expedition to Sicily and taken up with
a thorough study of the graceful radiolarians, those won
derful microscopic marine animals that surpass all other
organisms in the beauty and variety of their forms. The
special study of this remarkable class of animals, of which I
afterwards described more than 4,000 species, after more
than ten years of research, provided me with one of the solid
foundation-stones of my Darwinian ideas. But when I re
turned from Messina to Berlin in the spring of i860, I knew
nothing as yet of Darwin’s achievement. I merely heard
from my friends at Berlin that a remarkable work by a crazy
Englishman had attracted great attention, and that it turned
upside down all previous ideas as to the origin of species.
I soon perceived that almost all the experts at Berlin—chief
amongst them were the famous microscopist, Ehrenberg;
the anatomist, Reichert; the zoologist, Peters; and the
geologist, Beyrich—were unanimous in their condemnation of
Darwin. The brilliant orator of the Berlin Academy, Emil
du Bois-Reymond, hesitated. He recognised that the theory
of evolution was the only natural solution of the problem
of creation; but he laughed at the application of it as a
poor romance, and declared that the phylogenetic inquiries
into the relationship of the various species had about as
much value as the research of philologists into the genea
logical tree of the Homeric heroes.
The distinguished
botanist, Alexander Braun, stood quite alone in his full and
warm assent to the theory of evolution.
I found comfort
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LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
and encouragement with this dear and respected teacher,
when I was deeply moved by the first reading of Darwin’s
book, and soon completely converted to his views.
In
- Darwin’s great and harmonious conception of Nature, and
his convincing establishment of evolution, I had an answer
to all the doubts that had beset me since the beginning of
my biological studies.
My famous .teacher, Rudolf Virchow, whom I had met
at Wurzburg in 1852, and was soon associated with in the
most friendly relations as special pupil and admiring assist
ant, played a very curious part in this great controversy.
I am, I think, one of those elderly men who have followed
Virchow’s development, as man and thinker, with the greatest
interest during the last fifty years. I distinguish three periods
in his psychological metamorphoses.
In the first decade
of his academic life, from 1847 to 1858, mainly at Wurz
burg, he effected the great reform of medicine that culminated
brilliantly in his cellular pathology. In the following twenty
years (1858—1877) he was chiefly occupied with politics and
anthropology.
He was at first favourable to Darwinism,
then sceptical, and finally rejected it.
His powerful and
determined opposition to it dates from 1877, when, in his
famous speech on “The Freedom of Science in the Modern
State,” he struck a heavy blow at that freedom, denounced
the theory of evolution as dangerous to the State, and
demanded its exclusion from the schools. This remarkable
metamorphosis is so important, and has had so much influ
ence, yet has been so erroneously described, that I will deal
with it somewhat fully in the next chapter, especially as I
have then to treat one chief problem, the descent of man
from the ape. For the moment, I will merely recall the
fact that in Berlin, the “metropolis of intelligence,” as it
has been called, the theory of evolution, now generally
accepted, met with a more stubborn resistance than in most
of our other leading educational centres, and that this opposi
tion was due above all to the powerful authority of Virchow.
We can only glance briefly here at the victorious struggle
that the idea of evolution has conducted in the last three
decades of the nineteenth century. The violent resistance
that Darwinism encountered nearly everywhere in its early
years was paralysed towards the end of the first decade. In
the years 1866—1874 many works were published in which not
only were the foundations of the theory scientifically strength
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21
ened, but its general recognition was secured by popular
treatment of the subject. I made the first attempt in 1866,
in my General Morphology, to present connectedly the whole
subject of evolution and make it the foundation of a consistent
Monistic philosophy; and I then gave a popular summary
of my chief conclusions in the ten editions of my History of
Creation. In my Evolution of Man I made the first attempt
to apply the principles of evolution thoroughly and consistently
to man, and to draw up a hypothetical list of his animal
ancestors. The three volumes of my Systematic Phylogeny
(1894—1896) contain a fuller outline of a natural classification
of organisms on the basis of their stem-history. There have
been important contributions to the science of evolution in
all its branches in the Darwinian periodical Cosmos, since
1877; and a number of admirable popular works helped to
spread the system.
However, the most important and most welcome advance
was made by science when, in the last thirty years, the idea
of evolution penetrated into every branch of biology, and
was recognised as fundamental and indispensable. Thousands
of new discoveries and observations in all sections of botany,
zoology, protistology, and anthropology, were brought for
ward as empirical evidence of evolution. This is especially
true of the remarkable progress of paleontology, comparative
anatomy, and embryology, but it applies also to physiology,
chorology (the science of the distribution of living things),
and oecology (the description of the habits of animals). How
much our horizon was extended by these, and how much
the unity of our Monistic system gained, can be seen in any
modern manual of biology. If we compare them with those
that gave us extracts of natural history forty or fifty years
ago, we see at once what an enormous advance has taken
place. Even the more remote branches of anthropological
science, ethnography, sociology, ethics, and jurisprudence,
are entering into closer relations with the theory of evolution,
and can no longer escape its influence. In view of all this,
it is ridiculous for theological and metaphysical journals to
talk, as they do, of the failure of evolution and “the death
bed of Darwinism.”
Our science of evolution won its greatest triumph when,
at the beginning of the twentieth century, its most powerful
opponents, the Churches, became reconciled to it, and
endeavoured to bring their dogmas into line with it.
A
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number of timid attempts to do so had been made in the
preceding ten years by different freethinking theologians
and philosophers, but without much success. The distinction
of accomplishing this in a comprehensive and well-informed
manner was reserved for a Jesuit, Father Erich Wasmann of
Luxemburg. This able and learned entomologist had already
earned some recognition in zoology by a series of admirable
observations on the life of ants, and the captives that they
always keep in their homes, certain very small insects which
have themselves been curiously modified by adaptation to
their peculiar environment. He showed that these striking
modifications can only be rationally explained by descent from
other free-living species of insects. The various papers in
which Wasmann gave a thoroughly Darwinian explanation
of the biological phenomena first appeared (1901—1903) in the
Catholic periodical, Stimmen aus Maria-Laach, and are now
collected in a special work entitled, Modern Biology and the
Theory of Evolution.
This remarkable book of Wasmann’s is a masterpiece of
Jesuitical sophistry.
It really consists of three entirely
different sections. The first third gives, in the introduction,
what is, for Catholics, a clear and instructive account of
modern biology, especially the cell-theory, and the theory
of evolution (chapters i.—viii.). The second third, the ninth
chapter, is the most valuable part of the work. Ilj has the
title: “The Theory of Fixity or the Theory of Evolution?”
Here the learned entomologist gives an interesting account of
thè results of his prolonged studies of the morphology and
the cecology of the ants and their captives, the myrmecophilae.
He shows impartially and convincingly that these complicated
and remarkable phenomena can only be explained by evolution,
and that the older doctrine of the fixity and independent
creation of the various species is quite untenable. With a
few changes this ninth chapter could figure as a useful part
of a work by Darwin or Weismann or some other evolutionist.
The succeeding chapter (the last third) is flagrantly inconsist
ent with the ninth. It deals most absurdly with the application
of the theory of evolution to man. The reader has to ask
himself whether Wasmann really believes these confused and
ridiculous notions, or whether he merely aims at befogging
his readers, and so preparing the way for the acceptance
of the conventional creed.
Wasmann’s book has been well criticised by a number of
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
23
competent students, especially by Escherich and France.
While fully recognising his great services, they insist very
strongly on the great mischief wrought by this smuggling
of the Jesuitical spirit into biology. Escherich points out at
length the glaring inconsistencies and the obvious untruths
of this “ecclesiastical evolution.” He summarises his
criticism in the words : “ If the theory of evolution can really
be reconciled with the dogmas of the Church only in the
way we find here, Wasmann has clearly proved that any such
reconciliation is impossible. Because what Wasmann gives
here as the theory of evolution is a thing mutilated beyond
recognition and incapable of any vitality.” He tries, like a
good Jesuit, to prove that it does not tend to undermine, but
to give a firm foundation to, the story of supernatural creation,
and that it was really not Lamarck and Darwin, but St.
Augustin and St. Thomas of Aquin, who founded the science
of evolution. “ God does not interfere directly in the order
of Nature when he can act by means of natural causes.”
Man alone constitutes a remarkable exception; because “the
human soul, being a spiritual entity, cannot be derived from
matter even by the Divine omnipotence, like the vital forms
of the plants and animals ” (p. 299).
In an instructive article on “Jesuitical Science” (in the
Frankfort Freie Wort, No. 22, 1904), R. H. Francd gives
an interesting list of the prominent Jesuits who are now at
work in the various branches of science. As he rightly says,
the danger consists “in a systematic introduction of the
Jesuitical spirit into science, a persistent perversion of all
its problems and solutions, and an astute undermining of its
foundations; to speak more precisely, the danger is that
people are not sufficiently conscious of it, and that they, and
even science itself, fall into the cleverly prepared pit of
believing that there is such a thing as Jesuitical science,
the results of which may be taken seriously.” 1
1 The eel-like sophistry of the Jesuits, which has been brought to such
a wonderful pitch in their political system, cannot, as a rule, be met by
argument. An interesting illustration of this was given by Father
Wasmann himself in his controversy with the physician, Dr. Julian
Marcuse. The “ scientific ” Wasmann had gone so far in his zeal for
religion as to support a downright swindle of a “ miraculous cure ” in
honour of the “Mother of God of Oostacker ” (the Belgian Lourdes).
Dr. Marcuse succeeded in exposing the whole astounding story of this
“pious fraud” (Deutsche Stimmen, Berlin, 1903, iv. Jahrg., No. 20).
Instead of giving a scientific refutation, the Jesuit replied with sophistic
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While fully recognising these dangers, I nevertheless feel
that the Jesuit Father Wasmann, and his colleagues, have—
unwittingly—done a very great service to the progress of
pure science. The Catholic Church, the most powerful and
widespread of the Christian sects, sees itself compelled to
capitulate to the idea of evolution. It embraces the most
important application of the idea, Lamarck and Darwin’s
theory of descent, which it had vigorously combated until
twenty years ago. It does, indeed, mutilate the great tree,
cutting off its roots and its highest branch; it rejects spon
taneous generation or archigony at the bottom, and the
descent of man from animal ancestors above.
But these
exceptions will not last. Impartial biology will take no notice
of them, and the religious creed will at length determine that
the more complex species have been evolved from a series of
simpler forms according to Darwinian principles. The belief
in a supernatural creation is restricted to the production of
the earliest and simplest stem-forms, from which the “natural
species ” have taken their origin; Wasmann gives that name
to all species that are demonstrably descended from a common
stem-form; in other words, to what other classifiers call
“ stems ” or “ phyla. ” The 4,000 species of ants in his system,
which he believes to be genetically related, are comprised by
him in one “natural species.” On the other hand, man forms
one isolated “ natural species ” for himself, without any con
nection with the other mammals.
The Jesuitical sophistry that Wasmann betrays in this
ingenious distinction between “systematic and natural
species ” is also found in his Philosophic “ Thoughts on
Evolution” (chap, viii.), his distinction between philosophic
and scientific evolution, or between evolution in one stem
and in several stems. His remarks (in chap, vii.) on “the
cell and spontaneous generation ” are similarly marred by
sophistry. The question of spontaneous generation or archi
gony—that is to say, of the first appearance of organic life
on the earth, is one of the most difficult problems in biology,
perversion and personal invective (Scientific [?] Supplement to Germania,
Berlin, 1902, No. 43, and 1903, No. 13). In his final reply, Dr. Marcuse
said : “I have accomplished my object—to let thoughtful people see once
fnore the kind of ideas that are found in the world of dead and literal
faith, which tries to put the crudest superstition and reverence for the
rnyth of miraculous cures in the place of science, truth and knowledge
(Deutsche Stimmen, 1903, v. Jahrgang, No. 3).
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
25
one of those in which the most distinguished students betray
a striking weakness of judgment. Dr. Heinrich Schmidt,
of Jena, has lately written an able and popular little work on
that subject. In his Spontaneous Generation and Professor
Reinke (1903), he has shown to what absurd consequences
the ecclesiastical ideas lead on this very question.
The
botanist Reinke, of Kiel, is now regarded amongst religious
people as the chief opponent of Darwinism; for many con
servatives this is because he is a member of the Prussian
Herrenhaus (a very intelligent body, of course 1). Although
he is a strong evangelical, many of his mystic deductions
agree surprisingly with the Catholic speculations of Father
Wasmann. This is especially the case with regard to spon
taneous generation. They both declare that the first appear
ance of life must be traced to a miracle, to the work of
a personal deity, whom Reinke calls the “cosmic intelligence.”
I have shown the unscientific character of these notions in my
last two works, The Riddle of the Universe and The Wonders
of Life. I have drawn attention especially to the widely
distributed monera of the chromacea class—organisms of the
simplest type conceivable, whose whole body is merely an
unnucleated green, structureless globule of plasm (Chroococcus); their whole vital activity consists of growth (by
forming plasm) and multiplication (by dividing into two). There
is little theoretical difficulty in conceiving the origin of these
new simple monera from inorganic compounds of albumen,
or their later transformation into the simplest nucleated cells.
All this, and a good deal more that will not fit in his Jesuitical
frame, is shrewdly ignored by Wasmann.
In view of the great influence that Catholicism still has on
public life in Germany, through the Centre party, this change
of front should be a great gain to education.
Virchow
demanded as late as 1877 that the dangerous doctrine of
evolution should be excluded from the schools.
The
Ministers of Instruction of the two chief German States
gratefully adopted this warning from the leader of the pro
gressive party, forbade the teaching of Darwinian ideas, and
made every effort to check the spread of biological knowledge.
Now, twenty-five years afterwards, the Jesuits come forward,
and demand the opposite. They recognise openly that the
hated theory of evolution is established, and try to reconcile
it with the creed ! What an irony of history ! And we find
much the same story when we read the struggles for freedom
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LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
of thought and for the recognition of evolution in the other
educated countries of Europe.
In Italy, its cradle and home, educated people generally look
upon the papacy with the most profound disdain. I have
spent many years in Italy, and have never met an educated
Italian of such bigoted and narrow views as we usually find
amongst educated German Catholics—represented with
success in the Reichstag by the Centre party. It is proof
enough of the reactionary character of German Catholics that
the Pope himself describes them as his most vigorous soldiers,
and points them out as models to the faithful of other nations.
As the whole history of the Roman Church shows, the charlatan
of the' Vatican is the deadly enemy of free science and free
teaching. The present German Emperor ought to regard it
as his most sacred duty to maintain the tradition of the
Reformation, and to promote the formation of the German
people in the sense of Frederick the Great. Instead of this
we have to look on with heavy hearts while the Emperor,
badly advised and misled by those in influence about him,
suffers himself to be caught closer and closer in the net of
the Catholic clergy, and sacrifices to it the intelligence of the
rising generation.
The firmness of the belief in conventional dogmas, which
hampers the progress of rational enlightenment in orthodox
Protestant circles as well as Catholic, is often admired as an
expression of the deep emotion of the German people. But
its real source is their confusion of thought and their credu
lity, the power of conservative tradition, and the reactionary
state of political education. While our schools are bent
under the yoke of the creeds, those of our neighbours are
free. France, the pious daughter of the Church, gives
anxious moments to her ambitious mother. She is breaking
the chains of the Concordat, and taking up the work of the
Reformation. In Germany, the birthplace of the Reforma
tion, the Reichstag and the Government vie with each other in
smoothing the paths for the Jesuits, and fostering, instead of
suppressing, the intolerant spirit of the sectarian school. Let
us hope that the latest episode in the history of evolution, its
recognition by Jesuitical science, will bring about the reverse
of what they intend—the substitution of rational science for
blind faith.
�CHAPTER II
' The Struggle over our Genealogical Tree
OUR APE-RELATIVES AND THE VERTEBRATE-STEM
In the previous chapter I tried to give you a general idea of
the present state of the controversy in regard to evolution.
Comparing the various branches of thought we found that the
older mythological ideas of the creation of the world were
driven long ago out of the province of inorganic science, but
that they did not yield to the rational conception of natural
development until a much later date in the field of organic
nature. Here the idea of evolution did not prove completely
victorious until the beginning of the twentieth century, when
its most zealous and dangerous opponent, the Church, was
forced to admit it. Hence the open acknowledgment of the
Jesuit, Father Wasmann, deserves careful attention, and we
may look forward to a further development. If his force of
conviction and his moral courage are strong enough, he will
go on to draw the normal conclusions from his high scientific
attainments and leave the Catholic Church, as the prominent
Jesuits, Count Hoensbroech and the able geologist, Professor
Renard of Ghent, one of the workers on the deep-sea deposits
in the Challenger expedition, have lately done. But even if
this does not happen, his recognition of Darwinism, in the
name of Christian belief, will remain a landmark in the
history of evolution. His ingenious and very Jesuitical
attempt to bring together the opposite poles will have no very
mischievous effect; it will rather tend to hasten the victory
of the scientific conception of evolution over the mystic
beliefs of the Churches.
You will see this more clearly if we go on to consider the
27
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important special problem of the “descent of man from the
ape,” and its irreconcilability with the conventional belief
that God made man according to His own image. That this
ape or pithecoid theory is an irresistible deduction from the
general principle of evolution was clearly recognised fortyfive years ago, when Darwin’s work appeared, by the shrewd
and vigilant theologians; it was precisely in this fact that
they found their strongest motive for vigorous resistance.
It is quite clear. Either man was brought into existence,
like the other animals, by a special creative act, as Moses and
Linné taught (an “ émbodied idea of the Creator,” as the
famous Agassiz put it so late as 1858) ; or he has been
developed naturally from a series of mammal ancestors, as is
claimed by the systems of Lamarck and Darwin.
In view of the very great importance of this pithecoid
theory, we will first cast a brief glance at its founders and
then summarise the proofs in support of it. The famous
French biologist, Jean Lamarck, was the first scientist defin
itely to affirm the descent of man from the ape and seek to
give scientific proof of it. In his splendid work, fifty years in
advance of his time, the Philosophie Zoologique (1809), he
clearly traced the modifications and advances that must
have taken place in the transformation of the man-like
apes (the primate forms similar to the orang and the
chimpanzee) ; the adaptation to walking upright, the
consequent modification of the hands and feet, and
later, the formation of speech and the attainment of a higher
degree of intelligence. Lamarck’s remarkable theory, and
this important consequence of it, soon fell into oblivion.
When Darwin brought evolution to the front again fifty years
afterwards, he paid no attention to the special conclusion.
He was content to make the following brief prophetic observa
tion in his work “ Light will be thrown on the origin and the
history of man.” Even this innocent remark seemed so
momentous to the first German translator of the work, Bronn,
that he suppressed it. When Darwin was asked by Wallace
whether he would not go more fully into it, he replied : “ I
think of avoiding the whole subject, as it is so much involved
in prejudice ; though I quite admit that it is the highest and
most interesting problem for the thinker.”
The first thorough works of importance on the subject ap
peared in 1863. Thomas Huxley in England, and Carl Vogt
in Germany, endeavoured to show that the descent of man
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
from the ape was a necessary consequence of Darwinism, and
to provide an empirical base for the theory by every available
argument. Huxley’s work on Afcwi 5 Place in Nature was
particularly valuable. • He first gave convincingly, in three
lectures, the empirical evidence on the subject—the natural
history of the anthropoid apes, the anatomical and embryo
logical relations of man to the next lowest animals, and the
recently discovered fossil human remains. I then (1866)
made the first attempt to establish the theory of evolution
comprehensively by research in anatomy and embryology,
and to determine the chief stages in the natural classification
of the vertebrates that must have been passed through by our
earlier vertebrate ancestors. Anthropology thus becomes a
part of zoology. In my History of Creation I further
developed these early evolutionary sketches, and improve
ments were made in the successive editions.
In the meantime, the great master, Darwin, had decided to
deal with this chief evolutionary problem in a special work.
The two volumes of his Descent of Man appeared in 1871.
They contained an able discussion of sexual selection, or the
selective influence of sexual love and high psychic activities
connected therewith, and their significance in regard to the
origin of man. As this part of Darwin’s work was after
wards attacked with particular virulence, I will say that, in
my opinion, it is of the greatest importance, not only for the
general theory of evolution, but also for psychology, anthro
pology, and aesthetics.
My own feeble early efforts (1866), not only to establish the
descent of man from the nearest related apes, but also to
determine more precisely the long series of our earlier and
lower vertebrate ancestors, had not at all satisfied me. In
praticular, I had had to leave unanswered in my General
Morphology the very interesting question : from which in
vertebrate animals the vertebrate stem originally came. A
clear and unexpected light was thrown on it some time after
wards by the astounding discoveries of Kowalevsky, which
revealed an essential agreement in embryonic development
between the lowest vertebrate (Amphioxus) and a lowly
tunicate (Ascidia). In the succeeding years, the numerous
discoveries in connection with the formation of the germinal
layers in different animals so much enlarged our embryo
logical outlook that I was able to prove the complete homo
logy of the two-layered gastrula (a cup-shaped embryonic
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LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
form) in all the tissue-forming- animals (metazoa) in my
Monograph on the Sponges. From this I inferred, in virtue
of the biogenetic law, the common descent of all the metazoa
from one and the same gastrula-shaped stem-form, the
gastrcea. This hypothetical stem-form, to which man’s
earliest multicellular ancestors also belong, was afterwards
proved by Monticelli’s observations to be still in existence.
The evolution of these very simple tissue-forming animals
from still simpler unicellular forms (protozoa) is shown by the
corresponding processes that we witness in what is called
the segmentation of the ovum or gastrulation, in the develop
ment of the two-layered germ from the single cell of the ovum.
Encouraged by these great advances of modern phylogeny,
and with the support of many new discoveries in comparative
anatomy and embryology, in which a number of distinguished
observers were at work, I was able in 1874 to venture on the
first attempt to trace continuously the whole story of man’s
evolution. In doing so, I took my stand on the firm ground
of the biogenetic law, seeking to give a phylogenetic cause
for each fact of embryology. My Evolution of Man, which
made the first attempt to accomplish this difficult task, was
materially improved and enlarged as new and important dis
coveries were made. The latest edition (1903 [1904 in
English]) contains thirty chapters distributed in two
volumes, the first of which deals with embryology (or onto
geny), and the second with the development of species (or
phylogeny).
Though I was quite conscious that there were bound to be
gaps and weak points in these first attempts to frame a
natural anthropogeny I had hoped they would have some in
fluence on modern anthropology, and especially that the first
sketches of a genealogical tree of the animal world would
prove a stimulus to fresh research and improvement. In this
I was much mistaken. The dominant school of anthropology,
especially in Germany, declined to suffer the introduction of
the theory of evolution, declaring it to be an unfounded
hypothesis, and described our carefully prepared ancestral
trees as mere figments. This was due, in the first place, to
the great authority of the founder and president (for many
years) of the German Anthropological Society, Rudolf
Virchow, as I briefly pointed out in the previous chapter. In
view of the great regard that is felt for this distinguished
scientist, and the extent to which his powerful opposition pre-
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
31
vented the spread of the theory, it is necessary to deal more
fully with his position on the subject. I am still further con
strained to do this because of the erroneous views of it that
are circulating, and my own fifty years’ acquaintance with
my eminent teacher enables me to put them right.
Not one of Virchow’s numerous pupils and friends can
appreciate more than I do his real services to medical science.
His Cellular Pathology (1858), his thorough application of the
cell-theory to the science of disease, is, in my opinion, one
of the greatest advances made by modern medicine. I had
the good fortune to begin my medical studies at Würzburg in
1852, and to spend six valuable terms under the personal
guidance of four biologists of the first rank—Albert Kölliker,
Rudolf Virchow, Franz Leydig and Carl Gegenbaur. The
great stimulus that I received from these distinguished
masters in every branch of comparative and microscopic
biology was the starting-point of my whole training in that
science, and enabled me subsequently to follow with ease the
higher intellectual flight of Johannes Müller. From Virchow
especially I learned, not only the analytic art of careful
observation and judicious appreciation of the detailed facts of
anatomy, but also the synthetic conception of the whole
human frame, the profound conviction of the unity of our
nature, the inseparable connection of body and mind, to which
Virchow gave a fine expression in his classic essay on “The
Efforts to bring about Unity in Scientific Medicine ” (1849).
The leading articles which he wrote at that time for the
Journal of Pathological Anatomy and Physiology, which he
had founded, contain much new insight into the wonders of
life, and a number of excellent general reflections on their
significance—pregnant ideas that we can make direct use of
for Monistic purposes. In the controversy that broke out
between empirical rationalism and materialism and the older
vitalism and mysticism, he took the side of the former, and
fought together with Jacob Moleschott, Carl Vogt, and
Ludwig Büchner. I owe the firm conviction of the unity of
organic and inorganic nature, of the mechanical character of
all vital and psychic activity, which I have always held to be
the foundation of my Monistic system, in a great measure to
• Virchow’s teaching and the exhaustive conversations I had
with him when I was his assistant. The profound views of
the nature of the cell and the independent individuality of
these elementary organisms, which he advanced in his great
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LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
work Cellular Pathology, remained guiding principles for me
in the prolonged studies that I made thirty years afterwards
erf the organisation of the radiolaria and other unicellular
protists; and also in regard to the theory of the cell-soul,
which followed naturally from the psychological study of
it.
His life at Wurzburg was the most brilliant period of
Virchow’s indefatigable scientific labours. A change took
place when he removed to Berlin in 1856. He then occupied
himself chiefly with political and social and civic interests. In
the last respect he has done so much for Berlin and the
welfare of the German people that I need not enlarge on it.
Nor will I go into his self-sacrificing and often thankless
political work as leader of the progressive party; there are I
differences of opinion as to its value. But we must carefully
examine his peculiar attitude towards evolution, and especially
its chief application, the ape-theory. He was at first favour
able to it, then sceptical, and finally decidedly hostile.
I
When the Lamarckian theory was brought to light again ■
by Darwin in 1859, many thought that it was Virchow’s
vocation to take the lead in defending it. He had made a
thorough study of the problem of heredity; he had realised
the power of adaptation through his study of pathological
changes; and he had been directed to the great question of
the origin of man by his anthropological studies. He was at
that time regarded as a determined opponent of all dogmas;
he combated transcendentalism either in the form of eccle
siastical creeds or anthropomorphism. After 1862 he de
clared that “the possibility of a transition from species to
species was a necessity of science.” When I opened the first
public discussion of Darwinism at the Stettin Scientific Con
gress in 1863, Virchow and Alexander Braun were among the
few scientists who would admit the subject to be important
and deserving of the most careful study. When I sent to
him in 1865 two lectures that I had delivered at Jena on the
origin and genealogical tree of the human race, he willingly
received them amongst his Collection of Popular Scientific
Lectures. In the course of many long conversations I had
with him on the matter, he agreed with me in the main,
though with the prudent reserve and cool scepticism that •
characterised him. He adopts the same moderate attitude in
the lecture that he delivered to the Artisans’ Union at Berlin
in 1869 on “Human and Ape Skulls.”
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
33
His position definitely changed in regard to Darwinism
from 1877 onward. At the Scientific Congress that was then
held at Munich I had, at the pressing request of my Munich
friends, undertaken the first address (on 18th September) on
“Modern Evolution in Relation to the whole of Science.” In
this address I had substantially advanced the same general
views that I afterwards enlarged in my Monism, Riddle of
the Universe, and Wonders of Life. In the ultramontane •
capital of Bavaria, in sight of a great university which em
phatically describes itself as Catholic, it was somewhat bold
to make such a confession of faith. The deep impression
that it had made was indicated by the lively manifestations of
assent on the one hand, and displeasure on the other, that
were at once made in the Congress itself and in the Press.
On the following day I departed for Italy (according to an
arrangement made long before). Virchow did not come to
Munich until two days afterwards, when he delivered (on
22nd September, in response to entreaties from people of
position and influence) his famous antagonistic speech on
“The Freedom of Science in the Modern State.” The gist of
the speech was that this freedom ought to be restricted; that
evolution is an unproved hypothesis, and ought not to be
taught in the school because it is dangerous to the State:
“We must not teach,” he said, “that man descends from the
♦ ape or any other animal.” In 1849, the young Monist,
Virchow, had emphatically declared this conviction, “that he
would never be induced to deny the thesis of the unity of
human nature and its consequences ” ; now, . twenty-eight
years afterwards, the prudent Dualistic politician entirely
denied it. He had formerly taught that all the bodily and
mental processes in the human organism depend on the
mechanism of the cell-life; now he declared the soul to be a
special immaterial entity. But the crowning feature of this
reactionary speech was his compromise with the Church,
which he had fought so vigorously twenty years before.
The character of Virchow’s speech at Munich is best seen
in the delight with which it was at once received by the
reactionary and clerical papers, and the profound concern
of all Liberal journals, either in the political or the religious
sense. When Darwin read the English translation of the
speech he—generally so gentle in his judgments—wrote:
“Virchow’s conduct is shameful, and I hope he will some
day feel the shame.” In 1878, I made a full reply to it in my
>
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LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
Free Science and Free Teaching, in which I collected the
most important press opinions on the matter.1
From this very decided turn at Munich until‘his death
twenty-five years afterwards, Virchow was an indefatigable
and very influential opponent of evolution. In his annual
appearances at congresses he has always contested it, and
has obstinately clung to his statement that “it is quite cer
tain that man does not descend from the ape or any other
animal.” To the question : “Whence does he come, then? ”
he had no answer, and retired to the resigned position of the
Agnostic, which was common before Darwin’s time: “We
do not know how life arose, and how the various species came
into the world.” His son-in-law, Professor Rabi, has tried
to draw attention once more to his earlier conception, and has
declared that even in later years Virchow often recognised
the truth of evolution in private conversation. This only
makes it the more regrettable that he always said the con
trary in public. The fact remains that ever since the oppo-'
nents of evolution, especially the reactionaries and clericals
have appealed to the authority of Virchow.
’
The wholly reactionary system that this led to has been well
described by Robert Drill, (1902) in his Virchow as a Reac
tionary. How little qualified the great pathologist was to
appreciate the scientific bases of the pithecoid theory is clear
from the absurd statement he made, in the opening speech of
the Vienna Congress of Anthropologists, in 1894, that man
might just as well be claimed to descend from a sheep or an
elephant as from an ape. Any competent zoologist can see
from this the little knowledge Virchow had of systematic
zoology and comparative anatomy. However, he retained
his authority as president of the German Anthropological
Society, which remained impervious to Darwinian ideas.
Even such, vigorous controversialists as Carl Vogt, and
such scientific partisans of the ape-man of Neanderthal as
Schaafhausen, could make no impression. Virchow’s
authority was equally great for twenty years in the Berlin
Press, both Liberal and Conservative. The Kreutzzeitung
and the Ewangelische Kirchenzeitung were delighted that
•
. The manuscript letter in which the gentle Darwin expresses so severe
a judgment on Virchow is printed in my Cambridge lecture, The Last
Link. My answer to Virchow’s speech is contained in the second volume
of my Popular Lectures, and has latelv appeared in the Freie Wort
(April, 1905).
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
35
“the learned progressist was conservative in the best sense
of the word as regards evolution.” The ultramontane Ger
mania rejoiced that the powerful representative of pure science
had, “with a few strokes of his cudgel, reduced to impo
tence ” the absurd ape-theory and its chief protagonist, Ernst
Haeckel. The National-Zeitung could not sufficiently thank
the free-thinking, popular leader for having lifted from us for
ever the oppressive mountain of the theory of simian descent.
The editor of the Volks-Zeitung, Bernstein, who has done so
much for the spread of knowledge in his excellent popular
manuals of science, obstinately refused to admit articles that
ventured to support the erroneous ape-theory “refuted by
Virchow.
It would take up too much space to attempt to give even a
general survey of the remarkable and enormous literature of
the subject that has accumulated in the last three decades in
the shape of thousands of learned treatises and popular
articles. The greater part of these works have been written
under the influence of conventional religious prejudice, and
without the necessary acquaintance with the subject, that can
only be obtained by a thorough training in biology. The
most curious feature of them is that most of the. authors
restrict their genealogical interests to the most manlike apes,
and do not deal with their origin, or with the deeper roots of
our common ancestral tree. They do not see the wood for
the trees. Yet it is far easier and safer to penetrate the great
mysteries of our animal origin, if we look at the subject from
the higher standpoint of vertebrate phylogeny and go deeper
into the earlier records of the evolutionary history of the
vertebrates.
...
Since the great Lamarck established the idea of the verte
brate at the beginning of the nineteenth century (1801), and
his Parisian colleague, Cuvier, shortly afterwards recognised
the vertebrates as one of his four chief animal groups, the
natural unity of this advanced section of the animal world has
not been contested. In all the vertebrates, from the lowest
fishes and amphibians up to the apes and man,_ we have the
same type of structure, the same characteristic disposition
and relations of the chief organs; and they differ materially
from the corresponding features in all other animals. The
mysterious affinities of the vertebrates induced Goethe, 140
years ago, long before Cuvier, to make prolonged and labori
ous studies in their comparative anatomy at Jena and
�36
LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION '
Weimar. Just as he had, in his Metamorphosis of Plants
established the unity of organisation by means of the leaf as
the common primitive organ, he, in the metamorphosis of the
vertebrates, found this common eleipent in the vertebral
theory of the skull. And when Cuvier established compara
tive anatomy as an independent science, this branch of
biology was developed to such an extent by the classic re
search of Johannes Müller, Carl Gegenbaur, Richard Owen,
Thomas Huxley, and many other morphologists, that Dar
winism found its most powerful weapons in this arsenal. The
striking differences of external form and internal structure
that we find in the fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and
mammals, are due to adaptation to the various uses of their
organs and their environments. On the other hand, the
4 astonishing agreement in their typical character, that persists
gj in spite of their differences, is due to inheritance from
4 common ancestors.
The evidence thus afforded by comparative anatomy is so
cogent that anyone who goes impartially and attentively
through a collection of skeletons can convince himself at
once of the morphological unity of the vertebrate stem. The
evolutionary evidence of comparative ontogeny, or embryor
,
*s fess easy to grasp and less accessible, but not less
important. It came to light at a much later date, and its
extreme value was only made clear, by means of the biogenetic law, some forty years ago. It shows that every verte
brate, like every other animal, develops from a single cell,
but that the course of its embryonic development is peculiar,
and characterised by embryonic forms that are not found in
the invertebrates. We find in them especially the chordula,
or chorda-larva, a very simple worm-shaped embryonic form,
without limbs, head, or higher sense-organs; the body con
sists merely of six very simple primitive organs. From these
are developed steadily the hundreds of different bones,
muscles, and other organs that we afterwards distinguish in
the mature vertebrate. The remarkable and very complex
course of this embryonic development is essentially the same
in man and the ape, and in the amphibians and fishes. We
see in it, in accordance with the biogenetic law, a new and
important witness to the common descent of all vertebrates
from a single primitive form, the chordcea.
But, important as these arguments of comparative embryo
logy are, one needs many years’ study in the unfamiliar and
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
37
difficult province of embryology before one can realise their
evolutionary force. There are, in fact, not a few embryo
logists (especially of the modern school of experimental em
bryology) who do not succeed in doing so. It is otherwise
with the palpable proofs that we take from a remote science,
paleontology. The remarkable fossil remains and impressions
of extinct animals and plants give us directly the historical
evidence we need to understand the successive appearance
and disappearance of the various species and groups.
Geology has firmly established the chronological order of the
sedimentary rocks, which have been successively formed of
mud at the floor of the ocean, and has deduced their age from
the thickness of the strata, and determined the relative date
of their formation. The vast period during which organic
life has been developing on the earth runs to many million
years. The number is variously estimated at less than a
hundred or at several hundred million years. If we take the
smaller number of 200 million years, we find them distributed
amongst the five chief periods of the earth’s organic develop
ment in such a way that the earlier or archeozoic period
absorbs nearly one half. As the sedimentary rocks of this
period, chiefly gneisses and crystalline schists, are in a meta
morphosed condition, the fossil remains in them are unrecog
nisable. In the next succeeding strata of the paleozoic period
we find the earliest remains of fossilised vertebrates, Silurian
primitive fishes (selachii) and ganoids. These are followed,
in the Devonian system, by the first dipneust fishes (a transi
tional form from the fishes to the amphibia). In the next,
the Carboniferous system, we find the first terrestrial or fourfooted vertebrates—amphibians of the order of the stegocephala. A little later, in the Permian rocks, the earliest amniotes, lowly, lizard-like reptiles (tocosauria), make their ap
pearance ; the warm-blooded birds and mammals are still
wanting. We have the first traces of the mammals in the
Triassic, the earliest sedimentary rocks of the mesozoic age;
these are of the monotreme sub-class (pantotheria and allotheria). They are succeeded by the first marsupials (prodidelphia) in the Jurassic, the ancestral forms of the placentals
(mallotheria), in the Cretaceous.
But the richest development of’ the mammal class takes
place in the next or Tertiary age. In the course of its four
periods—the eocene, oligocene, miocene, and pliocene—the
mammal species increase steadily in number, variety, and
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last words on evolution
complexity, down tq? the present time. From the lowest
common ancestral group of the placentals proceed four
djvergent branches, the legions of the carnassia, rodents,
th? rlTS’ Tanl-Pr^at?’i The Primate le£ion surpasses all
the rest. In this Linné long ago included the lemurs, apes
and man. The historical order in which the various staged
of vertebrate development make their successive appearance
corresponds entirely . to the morphological order of their
advance in organisation, as we have learned it from the
study of comparative anatomy and embryology.
These paleontological facts are among the most important
proofs of the descent of man from a long series of higher and
lower vertebrates. There is no other explanation possible
except evolution or the chronological succession of these
classes, which is in perfect harmony with, the morphological
and systematic distribution. The anti-èvolutionists have not
even attempted to give any other explanation. The fishes
dipneusts, amphibians, reptiles, monotremes, marsupials-’
placentals lemurs, apes, anthropoid apes, and ape-men
(pithecanthropi), are inseparable links of a long ancestral
chain, of which the last and most perfect link is man.
One of the paleontological facts I have quoted, namely, the
late appearance of the mammal class in geology—is particu
larly important. This most advanced group of the verte
brates comes on the stage in the Triassic period, in the
second and shorter half of the organic history of the earth.
It is represented only by low and small forms in the whole
of the mesozoic age, during the domination of the reptiles.
Throughout this long period, which is estimated by some
geologists at 8-11, by others at 20 or more, million years,
the.dominant reptile class developed its many remarkable and
curious forms; there were swimming marine reptiles (halisauria), flying reptiles (pterosauria), and colossal land reptiles
(dinosauria). It was much later, in the Tertiary period, that
the mammal class attained the wealth of larg and advanced
e
*
placental forms that secured its predominance over this more
recent period.
The many and thorough investigations made during the last
few decades into the ancestral history of the mammals have
convinced all zoologists who were engaged in them that they
may be traced to a common root. All the mammals, from
the lowest monotremes and marsupials to the ape and man,
have a large number of striking characteristics in common,
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
39
and these distinguish them from all oMer vertebrates : the
hair and glands of the skin, the feeding of the young with the
mother’s milk, the peculiar formation of the lower jaw and
the ear-bones connected therewith, and other features in the
structure of the skull; also, the possession of a knee-cap
(patelhW and the loss of the nucleus m the red blood-cells,
further, the complete diaphragm, which entirely separates
the pectoral cavity from the abdominal, is only found m the
mammals; in all the other vertebrates there is still an open
communication between the two cavities. The monophyletic
(or single) origin of the whole mammalian class is therefore
’now regarded by all competent experts as an established fact.
In the face of this important fact, what is called the ape
question ” loses a good deal of the importance that was for
merly ascribed to it. All the momentous consequences that
follow from it in regard to our human nature, our past and
future, and our bodily and psychic life, remain undisturbed
whether we derive man directly from one of the primates, an
ape or lemur, or from some other branch, some unknown
lower form, of the mammalian stem. It is important to point
this out, because certain dangerous attempts have been made
lately by Jesuitical zoologists and zoological Jesuits to cause
fresh confusion on the matter.
In a richly illustrated and widely read work that Hans
Kraemer published a few years ago, under the title, The
Universe and Man, an able and learned anthropologist, Pro
fessor Klaatsch of Heidelberg, deals with the origin and
development of the human race,” and admirably describes the
primitive history of man and his civilisation. However, he
denounces the idea of man’s descent from the ape as
“ irrational, narrow-minded, and false ”; he grounds this
severe censure on the fact that none of the living apes can be
the ancestor of humanity. But no competent scientist had
ever said anything so foolish. If we look closer inti) this
fight with windmills, we find that Klaatsch holds substantially
the same view of the pithecoid theory as I have done since
1866. He says expressly : “The three anthropoid apes, the
gorilla, chimpanzee, and orang, seem to diverge from a com
mon root, which was near to that of the gibbon and man.” I
had long ago given the name of archiprimas to this single
hypothetical root-form of the primates, which he calls the
“primatoid.” It lived in the earliest part of the Tertiary
period, and had probably been developed in the Cretaceous
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from older mammals. The very forced and unnatural hypo
thesis by means of which Klaatsch goes pn to make the
primates depart very widely from the other mammals seems
to me to be quite untenable, like the similar hypothesis that
Alsberg, Wilser, and other anthropologists who deny our
pithecoid descent, have lately advanced.
All these attempts have a common object—to save’s man’s
privileged position in Nature, to widen as much as possible
the gulf between him and the rest of the mammals, and to
. conceal his real origin. It is the familiar tendency of the
■parvenu, which we so often notice in the aristocratic sons of
energetic men who have won a high position by their own ’
exertions. This sort of vanity is acceptable enough to the
ruling powers and the Churches, because it tends to support
their own fossilised pretensions to a “Divine image ” in man
and a special “ Divine grace ” in princes. The zoologist or
anthropologist who studies our genealogy in a strictly scien
tific spirit takes no more notice of these tendencies than of thè
Almanack de Gotha. He seeks to discover the naked truth,
as /t ls yielded by the great results of modern science, in
which there is no longer any doubt that man is really a de
scendant of the ape that is to say, of a long extinct anthro
poid ape. As has been pointed out over and over again by
distinguished supporters of this opinion, the proofs of it are
exceptionally clear and simple—much clearer and simpler
than they are in regard to many other mammals. Thus, for
instance, the origin of the elephants, the armadilloes, the
sirena, or the whales, is a much more difficult problem than
the origin of man.
When Huxley published his powerful essay on “Man’s
Place in Nature ” in 1863, he gave it a frontispiece showing
the skeletons of man and the four living anthropoid apes, the
Asiatic orang and gibbon, and the African chimpanzee and
gorilla. . Plate II. in the first edition of this work differs from
this in giving two young specimens of the orang and the chim
panzee, and raising their size to correspond with the other three
skeletons. Candid comparison of these five skeletons shows
that {hey. are not only very like each other generally, but are
identical in the structure, arrangement, and connection of all
the parts. The same 200 bones compose the skeleton in man
and in the four tailless anthropoid apes, our nearest relatives.
The same 300 muscles serve to move the various parts of the
skeleton. The same hair covers the skin; the same mam-
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
4P
mary glands provide food for the young. The same fourchambered heart acts as central pump of the circulation; the
same 32 teeth are found in our jaws; the same reproductive
organs maintain the species; the same groups of neurona or
ganglionic cells compose the wondrous structure of the brain,
and accomplish that highest function of the plasm which we
call the soul, and many still believe to be an immortal entity.
Huxley has thoroughly established this profound truth, and by
further comparison with the lower apes and lemurs he came to
formulate his important pithecometra principle : Whatever
organ we take, the differences between man and the anthro
poid apes are slighter than the corresponding differences
between the latter and the lower apes.” If we make a super
ficial comparison of our skeletons of the anthropomorpha, we
certainly notice a few salient differences in the size of the
various parts; but these are purely quantitative, and are due
to differences in growth, which in turn are caused by adapta
tion to different environments. There are, as is well known,
similar differences between human beings; their arms are
sometimes long, sometimes short; the forehead may be high
or low, the hair thick or thin, and so on.
These anatomic proofs of the pithecoid theory are most
happily supplemented and confirmed by certain recent brilliant
discoveries in physiology. Chief amongst these are the
famous experiments of Dr. Hans Friedenthal at Berlin. He
showed that the human blood acts poisonously on and decom
poses the blood of the lower apes and other mammals, but has
not that effect on the blood of the anthropoid apes.1
From previous transfusion experiments it had been learned
that the affinity of mammals is connected to a certain extent
with their chemical blood-relationship. If the living blood of
two nearly related animals of the same family, such as the
dog and the fox, or the rabbit and the hare, is mixed together,
the living blood-cells of each species remain uninfluenced. But
if we mix the blood of the dog and the rabbit, or the fox and
the hare, a struggle for life immediately takes place between
the two kinds of blood-cells. The watery fluid of serum
destroys the blood-cells of the rodent, and m’ce-'nersd.. It is
the same with specimens of the blood of the various primates.
The blood of the lower apes and lemurs, which are. close to
the common root of the primate stem, has a destructive effect
1 See account of similar experiments in the Lancet, 18th January,
1902. [Trans.]
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on the blooiof the anthropoid apes and man, and mce
On the other hand, the human blood has no injurious effect
when it is mixed with that of the anthropoid apes.
In recent years these interesting experiments have been
continued by other physiologists and physicians, such as Pro
fessor Uhienhuth at Greifswald and Nuttall at London, and
they have proved directly the blood-relationship of various
mammals. Nuttall studied them carefully in 900 different
kinds of blood, which he tested by 16,000 reactions. He
the £r£“Jati°n of affinity to the lowest apes of the New
World ; and Uhienhuth continued as far as the lemurs. By
these results the affinity of man and the anthropoid apes, long
established by anatomy, has now been proved physiologically
to be in real “blood-relationship. ”1
*
?
Not less important are the embryological discoveries
of the deceased zoologist, Emil Selenka.
He made two
long journeys to the East Indies, in order to study on
the spot the embryology, of the Asiatic anthropoid apes
the orang and gibbon.
By means of a number of
embryos that he collected he showed that certain
remarkable peculiarities in the formation of the placenta, that
had up to that time been considered as exclusively human
and regarded as a special distinction of our species, were
found in just the same way in the closely related anthropoid
apes, though not in the rest of the apes. On the ground of
these and other facts, I maintain that the descent of man from
extinct Tertiary anthropoid apes is proved just as plainly as• the descent of birds from reptiles, or the descent of reptiles
from amphibians, which no zoologist hesitates to admit toThe relationship is as close as was claimed by my
former fellow-student, the Berlin anatomist, Robert Hartmann
(with whom I sat at the feet of Johannes Müller fifty years
ago), in his admirable work on the anthropoid apes (1883).
He proposed to divide the order of primates into two families
the primarii (man and the anthropoid apes), and simians (thè
real apes, the catarrhine or eastern, and the platyrrhine or
western apes).
Since? the Dutch physician, Eugen Dubois, discovered the '
famous remains of the fossil ape-man (pithecanthropus
1 Wasmann meets these convincing experiments with mere Jesuitical
sophistry. Of the same character is his attack on my Evolution of Man
an„,°n the instructive work of Robert Wiedersheim, Man’s Structure as
<a Witness to his Past.
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43
erectus) eleven years ago in Java, and thus brought to light
“the missing link,” a large number of works have been pub
lished on this very interesting group of the primates. In this
connection we may particularly note the demonstration by the
Strassburg anatomist, Gustav Schwalbe, that the previously
discovered Neanderthal skull belongs to an extinct species of
man, which was midway between the pithecanthropus and the
true human being—the homo primigenus. After a very
careful examination, Schwalbe at the same time refuted all
the biassed objections that Virchow had made to these and
other fossil discoveries, trying to represent them as patho
logical abnormalities. In all the important relics of fossil
men that prove our descent from anthropoid apes Virchow
saw pathological modifications, due to unsound habits, gout,
rickets, or other diseases of the dwellers in the diluvial caves.
He tried in every way to impair the force of the arguments
for our primate affinity. So in the controversy over the pithe
canthropus he raised the most improbable conjectures, merely
for the purpose of destroying its significance as a real link
between the anthropoid apes and man.
Even now, in the controversy over this important ape
question, amateurs and biassed anthropologists often repeat
the false statement that the gap between man and the anthro
poid ape is not yet filled up and the “ missing link ” not yet
discovered. This is a most perverse statement, and can only
arise either from ignorance of the anatomical, embryological,
and paleontological facts, or incompetence to interpret them
aright.
As a fact, the morphological chain that stretches
from the lemurs to the earlier western apes, from these to the
eastern tailed apes, and to the tailless anthropoid apes, and
from these direct to man, is now uninterrupted and clear. It
would be more plausible to speak of missing links between the
earliest lemurs and their marsupial ancestors, or between the
latter and their monotreme ancestors. But even these gaps
are unimportant, because comparative anatomy and embryo
logy, with the support of paleontology, have dissipated all
doubt as to the unity of the mammalian stem. It is ridiculous
to expect paleontology to furnish an unbroken series of
positive data, when we remember how scanty and imperfect
its material is.
I cannot go further here into the interesting recent research
in regard to special aspects of our simian descent; nor would
it greatly advance our object, because all the general con-
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elusions as to man’s primate descent remain intact, which
ever way we construct hypothetically the special lines of
simian evolution. On the other hand, it is interesting- for us
to see how the most recent form of Darwinism, so happily
described by Escherich as “ecclesiastical evolution,” stands
in regard to these great questions. What does its astutest
representative, Father Erich Wasmann, say about them? The
tenth chapter of his work, in which he deals at length with
‘the application of the theory of evolution to man,” is a
masterpiece of Jesuitical science, calculated to throw the
clearest truths into such confusion and so to misrepresent all
discoveries as to prevent any reader from forming a clear idea
of them. When we compare this tenth chapter with the ninth,
in which Wasmann represents the theory of evolution as an
irresistible truth on the strength of his own able studies, we
can hardly believe that they both came from the same pen—
or, rather, we can only understand when we recollect the rule
of the Jesuit Congregation : “The end justifies the means.”
Untruth is permitted and meritorious in the service of God
and his Church.
The Jesuitical sophistry that Wasmann employs in order
to save man’s unique position in Nature, and to prove that he
was immediately created by God, culminates in the antithesis
of his two natures. The “ purely zoological conception of
man,” which has been established beyond question by the
anatomical and embryological comparison with the ape, is
said to fail because it does not take into account the chief
feature, his “mental life.” It is “psychology that is best
fitted to deal with the nature and origin of man.” All the
facts of anatomy and embryology that I have gathered to
gether in my Evolution of Man in proof of the series of his
ancestors are either ignored or misconstrued and made ridicu
lous by Wasmann. The same is done with the instructive
facts of anthropology, especially the rudimentary organs,
which Robert. Wiederscheim has quoted in his Man’s Struc
ture as a Witness to his Past. It is clear that the Jesuit
writer lacks competence in this department; that he has only
a superficial and inadequate acquaintance with comparative
anatomy and embryology.
If Wasmann had studied the
morphology and physiology of the mammals as thoroughly
as those of the ants, he would have concluded, if he were
impartial, that it is just as necessary to admit a monophyletic
(or single) origin for the former as for the latter.
If, in
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
45
Wasmann’s opinion, the 4,000 species of ants form a single
“ natural system ”—that is to say, descend from one original
species—it is just as necessary to admit the same hypothesis
for the 6,000 (2,400 living and 3,600 fossil) species of
mammals, including the human species.
The severe strictures that I have passed on the sophisms
and trickery of this “ ecclesiastical evolution ” are not directed
against the person and the character of Father Wasmann,
but the Jesuitical system which he represents. I do not doubt
that this able naturalist (who is personally unknown to me)
has written his book in good faith, and has an honourable
ambition to reconcile the irreconcilable contradictions between
natural evolution and the story of supernatural creation. But
this reconciliation of reason and superstition is only possible
at the price of a sacrifice of the reason itself. We find this
in the case of all the other Jesuits—Fathers Cathrein, Braun,
y Besmer, Cornet, Linsmeier, and Muckermann—whose am
biguous “Jesuitical science” is aptly dealt with in the article
of R. H. France that I mentioned before (No. 22 of the Freie
Wort, 16th February, 1904, Frankfort).
This interesting attempt of Father Wasmann’s does not .
stand alone. Signs are multiplying that the Church militant
is about to enter on a systematic campaign. I heard from
Vienna on the 17th of February, that on the previous day
(which happened to be my birthday), a Jesuit, Father Giese,
had, in a well-received address, admitted not only evolution
in general, but even its application to man, and declared it
to be reconcilable with Catholic dogmas—and this at a
crowded meeting of “catechists”! It is important to note
that in a new Catholic cyclopaedia, Benziger’s Library of
Science, the first three volumes (issued at Einsiedeln and
Cologne, 1904) deal very fully and ably with the chief problems
of evolution : the first with the formation of the earth, the
second with spontaneous generation, the third with the theory
of descent. The author- of them, Father M. Gander, makes
most remarkable concessions to our theory, and endeavours
to show that they are not inconsistent with the Bible or the
dogmatic treatises of the chief fathers and schoolmen. But,
though there is a profuse expenditure of sophistical logic in
these Jesuitical efforts, Gander will hardly succeed in mis
leading thoughtful people. One of his characteristic positions
is that spontaneous generation (as the development of organ
ised living things by purely material processes) is inconceiv
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LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
able, but that it might be made possible “ by a special Divine
arrangement.” In regard to the descent of man from other
animals (which he grants), he makes the reserve that the
soul must in any case have been produced by a special creative
act.
It would be useless to go through the innumerable fallacies
and untruths of these modern Jesuits in detail, and point out
the rational and scientific'reply. The vast power of this most
dangerous religious congregation consists precisely in its
device of accepting one part of science in order to destroy the
other part more effectively with it. Their masterly act of
sophistry, their equivocal “ probabilism,” their mendacious
“reservado mentalis,” the principle that the higher aim sancti
fies the worst means, the pernicious casuistry of Liguori and
Gury, the cynicism with which they turn the holiest principles
to the gratification of their ambition, have impressed on the
Jesuits that black character that Carl Hoensbroech has so well
exposed recently.
The great dangers that menace real science, owing to
this smuggling into it of the Jesuitical spirit, must not be
undervalued. They have been well pointed out by Francé,
Escherich, and others. They are all the greater in Germany
at the present time, as the Government and the Reichstag are
working together to prepare the way for the Jesuits, and to
yield a most pernicious influence on the school to these deadly
enemies of the free spirit of the country. However, we will
hope that this clerical reaction represents only a passing
episode in modern history. We trust that one permanent result
of it will be the recognition, in principle, even by the Jesuits,
of the great idea of evolution. We may then rest assured
that its most important consequence, the descent of man from
other primate forms, will press on victoriously, and soon be
recognised as a beneficent and helpful truth.
�CHAPTER III
The Controversy
over
the
Soul.
THE IDEAS OF IMMORTALITY AND GOD
Though it was my original intention to deliver only two
lectures, I have been moved by several reasons to add a
supplementary one. In the first place, I notice with regret
that I have been compelled by pressure of time to leave un
touched in my earlier lectures, or to treat very inadequately,
several important points in my theme; there is, in particular,
the very important question of the nature of the soul. In the
second place, I have been convinced by the many contradictory
press-notices during the last few days that many of my in
complete observations have been misunderstood or misinter
preted. And, thirdly, it seemed advisable to give a brief and
clear summary of the whole subject in this farewell lecture,
to take a short survey of the past, present, and future of the
theory of evolution, and especially its relation to the three
great questions of personal immortality, the freedom of the
will, and the personality of God.
I must claim the reader’s patience and indulgence even to
a greater extent than in the previous chapters, as the subject
is one of the most difficult and obscure that the human mind
approaches.
I have dealt at length in my recent works,
The Riddle of the Universe and The Wonders of Life, with
the controversial questions of biology that I treat cursorily
here. But I would like to put before you now, in a general
survey, the powerful arguments that modern science employs
against the prevailing superstition in regard to evolution, and
to show that the Monistic system throws a clear light on the
great questions of God and the world, the soul and life.
In the previous chapters I have tried to give a general idea
•
47
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LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
of the present state of the theory of evolution and its victorious
struggle with the older legend of creation. We have seen
that even the most advanced organism, man, was not brought
into being by a creative act, but gradually developed from a
long series of mammal ancestors. We also saw that the most
man-like mammals, the anthropoid apes, have substantially
the same structure as man, and that the evolution of the
latter from the former can now be regarded as a fully estab
lished hypothesis, or, rather, an historical fact. But in this
study we had in view mainly the structure of the body and
its various organs. We touched very briefly on the evolution
of the human mind, or the immaterial soul that dwells in the
body for a time, according to a venerable tradition. To-day
we turn chiefly to the development of the soul, and consider
whether man’s mental development is controlled by the same
natural laws as that of his body, and whether it also is
inseparably bound up with that of the rest of the mammals.
At the very threshold of this difficult province we encounter
the curious fact that there are two radically distinct tendencies
in psychology at our universities to-day. On one side we
have the metaphysical and professional psychologists. They
still cling to the older view that man’s soul is a special entity,
a unique independent individuality, which dwells for a time
only in the mortal frame, leaving it and living on as an
immortal spirit after death. This dualistic theory is connected
with the doctrine of most religions, and owes its high
authority to the fact that it is associated with the most
important ethical, social, and practical interests. Plato gave
prominence to the idea of the immortality of the soul in
philosophy long ago. Descartes at a later date gave emphasis
to it by ascribing a true soul to man alone and refusing it to
the animals.
This metaphysical psychology, which ruled alone for a
considerable period, began to be opposed in the eighteenth,
and still more in the nineteenth, century by comparative
psychology. An impartial comparison of the psychic processes
in the higher and lower animals proved that there were numer
ous transitions and gradations. A long series of intermediate
stages connects the psychic life of the higher animals with
that of man on the one side, and that of the lower animals
on the other. There was no such thing as a sharp dividing
line, as Descartes supposed.
But the greatest blow was dealt at the predominant meta
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
49
physical conception of the life of the soul thirty years ago
by the new methods of psychophysics. By means of a series
of able experiments the physiologists, Theodor Fechner and
Ernst Heinrich Weber, of Leipsic, showed that an important
part of the mental activity can be measured and expressed in
mathematical formulae just as well as other physiological pro
cesses, such as muscular contractions.
Thus the laws of
physics control a part of the life of the soul just as absolutely
as they do the phenomena of inorganic nature. It is true that
psychophysics has only partially realised the very high ex
pectations that were entertained in regard to its Monistic
significance; but the fact remains that a part of the mental
life is just as unconditionally ruled by physical laws as any
other natural phenomena.
Thus physiological psychology was raised by psychophysics
to the rank of a physical and, in principle, exact science. But
it had already obtained solid foundations in other provinces
of biology. Comparative psychology had traced connectedly
the long gradation from man to the higher animals, from these
to the lower, and so on down to the very lowest. At the
lowest stage it found those remarkable beings, invisible with
the naked eye, that were discovered in stagnant water every
where after the invention of the microscope (in the second half
of the seventeenth century) and called “infusoria.”
They
were first accurately described and classified by Gottfried
Ehrenberg, the famous Berlin microscopist. In 1838 he
published a large and beautiful work, illustrating on 64 folio
pages the whole realm of microscopic life; and this is still
the base of all studies of the protists.
Ehrenberg was a
very ardent and imaginative observer, and succeeded in com
municating his zeal for the study of microscopic organisms
to his pupils. I still recall with pleasure the stimulating ex
cursions that I made fifty years ago (in the summer of 1854)
with my teacher, Ehrenberg, and a few other pupils—
including my student-friend, Ferdinand von Richthofen, the
famous geographer—to the Zoological Gardens at Berlin.
Equipped with fine nets and small glasses, we fished in the
ponds of the Zoological Gardens and in the Spree, and caught
thousands of invisible micro-organisms, which then richly
rewarded our curiosity by the beautiful forms and mysterious
movements they disclosed under the microscope.
The way in which Ehrenberg explained to us the structure
and the vital movements of his infusoria was very curious.
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Misled by the'comparison of the real infusoria with the micro-scopic but highly organised rotifers, he had formed the idea
that all animals are alike advanced in organisation, and had
indicated this erroneous theory in the very title of his work :
The Infusoria as Perfect Organisms: a Glance at the Deeper
Life of Organic Nature. He thought he could detect in the
simplest infusoria the same distinct organs as in the higher
animals—stomach, heart, ovaries, kidneys, muscles, and
nerves—and he interpreted their psychic life on the same
peculiar principle of equally advanced organisation.
Ehrenberg’s theory of life was entirely wrong, and was
radically destroyed in the hour of its birth (1838) by the cell
theory which was then formulated, and to which he never
became reconciled. Once Matthias Schleiden had shown the
composition of all the plants, tissues, and organs from micro
scopic cells, the last structural elements of the living organ
ism, and Theodor Schwann had done the same for the animal
.body, the theory attained such an importance that Kolliker
and Leydig based on it the modern science of tissues, or his
tology, and Virchow constructed his cellular pathology by
applying it to diseased human beings. These are the most
important advances of theoretical medicine. But it was still
a long time before the difficult question of the relation of these
microscopic beings to the cell was answered. Carl Theodor
von Siebold had already maintained (in 1845) that) the real
infusoria and the closely related rhizopods were unicellular
organisms, and had distinguished these protozoa from the
rest of the animals. At the same time, Carl Naegeli had de
scribed the lowest algae as “unicellular plants.” But this
important conception was not generally admitted until some
time afterwards, especially after I brought all the unicellular
organisms under the head of “protists” (1872), and defined
their psychic functions as the “cell-soul.”
I was led to make a very close study of these unicellular
protists and their primtive cell-soul through my research on
the radiolaria, a very remarkable class of microscopic organ
isms that float in the sea. I was engaged most of my time
for more than thirty of the best years of my life (1856-87) in
studying them in every aspect, and if I came eventually to
adopt a strictly Monistic attitude on all the great questions of
biology, I owe it for the most part to my innumerable ob
servations and uninterrupted reflections on the wonderful vita!
movements that are disclosed by these smallest and frailest,
.
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
51
and at the same time most beautiful and varied, of living
things.
I had undertaken the study of the radiolaria as a kind of
souvenir of my great master, Johannes Muller. He had loved
| to study these animals (of which only a few species were
discovered for the first time in the year of my birth, 1834) in
the last years of his life, and had in 1855 set up the special
group of the rhizopods (protozoa). His last work, which
appeared shortly after his death (1858), and contained a
description of 50 species of radiolaria, went with me to the
I Mediterranean when I made my first long voyage in the
summer of 1859. I was so fortunate as to discover about
150 new species of radiolaria at Messina, and based on these
my first monograph of this very instructive class of protists
(1862). I had no suspicion at that time that fifteen years
afterwards the deep-sea finds of the famous Challenger
expedition would bring to light an incalculable wealth of
these remarkable animals. In my second monograph on them
(1887), I was able to describe more than 4,000 different
species of radiolaria, and illustrate most of them on 140 plates.
I have given a selection of the prettiest forms on ten plates of
If- my Art-forms in Nature.
I have not space here to go into the forms and vital movei ments of the radiolaria, of the general import of which my
t friend, Wilhelm Bolsche, has given a very attractive account
! in his various popular works. I must restrict myself to
pointing out the general phenomena that bear upon our
| particular subject, the question of the mind. The pretty
; flinty skeletons of the radiolaria, which enclose and protect
I the soft unicellular body, are remarkable, not only for their
I extraordinary gracefulness and beauty, but also for the geo
metrical regularity and relative constancy of their forms. The
■ '4,000 species of radiolaria are just as constant as the 4,000
[’■ known species of ants; and, as the Darwinian Jesuit, Father
I Wasmann, has convinced himself that the latter have all
| descended by transformation from a common stem-form, I
s have concluded on the same principles that the 4,000 species
■ of radiolaria have developed from a primitive form in virtue
■ of adaptation and heredity. This primitive form, the stem[ radiolarian (Actissa) is a simple round cell, the soft living
protoplasmic body of which is divided into two different parts,
an inner central capsule (in the middle of which is the solid
■ round nucleus) and an outer gelatinous envelope (calymma).
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From the outer surface of the latter hundreds and thousands
of fine plasmic threads radiate; these are mobile and sensitive
processes of the living internal substance, the plasm (or proto
plasm). 1 hese delicate microscopic threads, or pseudopodia,
are the curious organs that effect the sensations (of touch), the
locomotion (by pushing), and the orderly construction of the
flinty house; at the same time, they maintain the nourishment
of the unicellular body, by seizing infusoria, diatoms, and
other protists, and drawing them within the plasmic body,
where they are digested and assimilated.
The radiolaria
generally reproduce by the formation of spores. The nucleus
within the protoplasmic globule divides into two small nuclei,
each of which surrounds itself with a quantity of plasm, and
forms a new cell.
What is this plasm ? What is this mysterious “ living sub
stance ” that we find everywhere as the material foundation of
the “ wonders of life ” ? Plasm, or protoplasm, is, as Huxley
rightly said thirty years ago, “the physical basis of organic
life ”; to speak more precisely, it is a chemical compound of
carbon that alone accomplishes the various processes of life.
In its simplest form the living cell is merely a soft globule of
plasm, containing a firmer nucleus. The inner nuclear matter
(called caryoplasm) differs somewhat in chemical composition
from the outer cellular matter (or cytoplasm); but both sub
stances are composed of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen,
and sulphur; both belong to the remarkable group of the
albuminates, the nitrogenous carbonates that are distin
guished for the extraordinary size of their molecules and the
unstable arrangement of the numerous atoms (more than a
thousand) that compose them.
There are, however, still simpler organisms in which the
nucleus and the body of the cell have not yet been differentiated. These are the monera, the whole living body of
which is merely a homogeneous particle of plasm (the chromacea and bacteria). The well-known bacteria which now play
so important a part as the causes of most dangerous infectious
diseases, and the agents of putrefaction, fermentation, etc.,
show very clearly that organic life is only a chemical and
physical process, and not the outcome of a mysterious “ vital
force.”
We see this still more clearly in our radiolaria, and at the
same time they show us unmistakably that even the psychic
activity is such a physico-chemical process. All the different
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�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
53
functions of their cell-soul, the sense-perception of stimuli,
the movement of their plasm, their nutrition, growth, and
reproduction are determined by the particular chemical com
position of each of the 4,000 species; and they have all
descended, in virtue of adaptation and heredity, from the
common stem-form of the naked, round parent-radiolarian
(Actissa).
We may instance, as a peculiarly interesting fact in the
psychic life of the unicellular radiolaria, the extraordinary
power of memory in them. The relative constancy with which
the 4,000 species transmit the orderly and often very complex
form of their protective flinty structure from generation to
generation can only be explained by admitting in the builders,
the invisible plasma-molecules of the pseudopodia, a fine
“plastic sense of distance,” and a tenacious recollection of
• the architectural power of their fathers. The fine, formless
plasma-threads are always building afresh the same delicate
flinty shells with an artistic trellis-work, and with protective
radiating needles and supports always at the same points of
their surface. The physiologist, Ewald Hering (of Leipsic),
had spoken in 1870 of memory as “a general function of
organised matter.” I myself had tried to explain the mole
cular features of heredity by the memory of the plasma-mole
cules, in my essay on “ The Perigenesis of the Plastidules ”
(1875). Recently one of the ablest of my pupils, Professor
Richard Semon (of Munich, 1904), made a profound study of
“Mneme as the principle of constancy in the changes of
organic phenomena,” and reduced the mechanical process of
reproduction to a purely physiological base.
From the cell-soul and its memory in the radiolaria and
other unicellular protists, we pass directly to the similar
phenomenon in the ovum, the unicellular starting-point of the
individual life, from which the complex multicellular frame of
all the histona, or tissue-forming animals and plants, is deve
loped. Even the human organism is at first a simple nucleated
globule of plasm, about-ji^-inch in diameter, barely visible
to the naked eye as a tiny point. This stem-cell (cytula) is
formed at the moment when the ovum is fertilised, or mingled
with the small male spermatozoon. The ovum transmits to
the child by heredity the personal traits of the mother, the
sperm-cell those of the father; and this hereditary trans
mission extends to the finest characteristics of the soul as well
as of the body. The modern research as to heredity, which
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occupies so much space now in biological literature, but was
only started by . Darwin in 1859, is directed immediately to
the visible material processes of impregnation.
The very interesting and important phenomena of impregna
tion have only been known to us in detail for thirty years.
It has been shown conclusively, after a number of delicate
investigations, that the individual development of the embryo
from the stem-cell or fertilised ovum is controlled by the same
laws in . all cases.
The stem-cell divides and subdivides
rapidly into a number of simple cells. From these a few
simple organs, the germinal layers, are formed at first; later
on the various organs, of which there is no trace in the early
embryo, are built up out of these. The biogenetic law teaches
us how, in this development, the original features of the
ancestral history are reproduced or recapitulated in the em
bryonic processes; and these facts in turn can only be
explained by the unconscious memory of the plasm, the
“ mneme of the living substance ” in the germ-cells and
especially in their nuclei.
One important result of these modern discoveries was the
prominence given to the fact that the personal soul has a
beginning of existence, and that we can determine the precise
moment in which this takes place; it is when the parent cells,
the ovum and spermatozoon, coalesce. Hence what we call
the soul of man or the animal has not pre-existed, but begins
its career at the moment of impregnation ; it is bound up with
the chemical constitution of the plasm, which is the material
vehicle of heredity in the nucleus of the maternal ovum and
the paternal spermatozoon. One cannot see how a being
that thus has a beginning of existence can afterwards prove
to be “immortal.”
Further, a candid examination of the simple cell-soul in the
unicellular infusoria, and of the dawn of the individual soul
in the unicellular germ of man and the higher animals, proves
at once that psychic action does not necessarily postulate a
fully formed nervous system, as was previously believed.
There is no such system in many of the lower animals, or any
of the plants, yet we find psychic activities, especially sensa
tion, irritability, and reflex action everywhere. All living
plasm has a psychic life, and in this sense the psyche is a
partial function of organic life generally. But the higher
psychic functions, particularly the phenomena of conscious
ness, only appear gradually in the higher animals, in which
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
55
(in consequence of a division of labour among the organs) the
nervous system has assumed these functions.
It is particularly interesting to glance at the central nervous
system of the vertebrates, the great stem of which we regard
ourselves as the crowning point. Here again the anatomical
and embryological facts speak a clear and unambiguous
language. In all vertebrates, from the lowest fishes up to
man, the psychic organ makes its appearance in the embryo, in
the same form—a simple cylindrical tube on the dorsal side t
of the embryonic body, in the middle line.
The anterior
section of this “ medullary tube ” expands into a club-shaped
vesicle, which is the beginning of the brain ; the posterior and
thinner section becomes the spinal cord. The cerebral vesicle
divides, by transverse constrictions, into three, then four, and
eventually five vesicles. The most important of .these is the
first, the cerebrum, the organ of the highest psychic functions.
The more the intelligence develops in the higher vertebrates,
the larger, more voluminous, and more specialised does the
cerebrum become. In particular, the grey mantle or cortex
of the cerebrum, its most important part, only attains in the
higher mammals the degree of quantitative and qualitative
.development that qualifies it to be the “organ of mind” in the
narrower sense. Through the famous discoveries, of Paul
Flechsig eleven years ago we were enabled to distinguish
eight fields in the cortex, four of which serve as the internal
centres of sense-perception, and the four that lie between these
are the thought-centres (or association-centres) of the higher
psychic faculties—the association’ of impressions, the forma
tion of ideas and concepts, induction and deduction. This
real organ of mind, the phronema, is not yet developed in
the lower mammals. It is only gradually built up in the more
advanced, exactly in proportion as their intelligence increases.
It is only in the most intelligent forms of the placentals, the
higher ungulates (horse, elephant), the carnivores (fox, dog),
and especially the primates, that the phronema attains the
high grade of development that leads us from the anthropoid
apes direct to the savage, and from him to civilised man.
We have learned a good deal about the special significance
of the various parts of the brain, as organs of specific
functions, by the progress of the modern science of experi
mental physiology. Careful experiments by Goltz, Munk,
Bernard, and many other physiologists, have shown that the
normal consciousness, speech, and the internal sense-percep
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tions, are connected with definite areas of the cortex, and that
these various parts of the soul are destroyed when the organic
areas connected with them are injured. But in this respect
Nature has unconsciously given us the most instructive
experiments. Diseases in these various areas show how their
functions are partially or totally extinguished when the cere
bral cells that compose them (the neurona or ganglionic cells)
are partially or entirely destroyed. Here again Virchow,
who was the first to make a careful microscopic study of the
finest changes in the diseased cells, and so explain the nature
of the disease, did pioneer work. I still remember very well
a spectacle of this kind (in the summer of 1855, at Wurz
burg), which made a deep impression on me.
Virchow’s
sharp eye had detected a small suspicious spot in the cerebrum
of a lunatic, though there seemed to be nothing remarkable
about it on superficial examination. He handed it to me for
microscopic examination, and I found that a large number of
the ganglionic cells were affected, partly by fatty degenera
tion and partly by calcification. The luminous remarks that
my great teacher made on these and similar finds in other
cases of mental disorder, confirmed my conviction of the unity
of the human organism and the inseparable connection of
mind and body, which he himself at that time expressly shared.
When he abandoned this Monistic conception of the psychic
life for Dualism and Mysticism twenty years afterwards
(especially after his Munich speech in 1877), we must attri
bute this partly to his psychological metamorphosis, and
partly to the political motives of which I spoke in the last
chapter.
We find another series of strong arguments in favour of
our Monistic psychology in the individual development of the
soul in the child and the young animal. We know that the
new-born child has as yet no consciousness, no intelligence,
no independent judgment and thought. We follow the gradual
development of these higher faculties step by step in the
first years of life, in strict proportion to the anatomical
development of the cortex with which they are bound up.
The inquiries into the child-soul which Wilhelm Preyer began
in Jena twenty-five years ago, his careful “observations of
the mental development of man in his early years,” and the
supplementary research of several more recent physiologists,
have shown, from the ontogenetic side, that the soul is not
a special immaterial entity, but the sum-total of a number of
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
57
connected functions of the brain. When the brain dies, the
soul comes to an end.
We have further proof in the .stem-history of the soul,
which we gather from the comparative psychology of the lower
and higher mammals, and of savage and civilised rapes.
Modern ethnography shows us in actual existence the various
stages through which the mind rose to its present height.
The most primitive races, such as the Veddahs of Ceylon, or
the Australian natives, are very little above the mental life
of the anthropoid apes. From the higher savages we pass by
a complete gradation of stages to the most civilised races.
But what a gulf there is, even here, between the genius of a
Goethe, a Darwin, or a Lamarck, and an ordinary philistine
or third-rate official. All these facts point to one conclusion :
the human soul has only reached its present height by a long
period of gradual evolution; it differs in degree, not in kind,
from the soul of the higher mammals; and thus it cannot in
any case be immortal.
That a large number of educated people still cling to the
dogma of personal immortality in spite of these luminous
proofs, is owing to the great power of conservative tradition
and the evil methods of instruction that stamp these untenable
dogmas deep on the growing mind in early years. It is for
that very reason that the Churches strive to keep the schools
under their power at any cost; they can control and exploit
the adults at will, if independent thought and judgment have
been stifled in the earlier years.
This brings us to the interesting question : What is the
position of the “ecclesiastical evolution” of the Jesuits (the
“latest course of Darwinism ”), as regards this great question
of the soul? Man is, according to Wasmann, the image of
God and a unique, immaterial being, differing from all other
animals in the possession of an immortal soul, and therefore
having a totally different origin from them. Man’s immortal
soql is, according to this Jesuit sophistry, “spiritual and
sensitive,” while the animal soul is sensitive only. God has
implanted his own spirit in man, and associated it with an
animal soul for the period of life. It is true that Wasmann
believes even man’s body to have been created directly by
God; but, in view of the overwhelming proofs of our animal
descent, he leaves open the possibility of a development from
a series of other animals, in which case the Divine spirit
would be breathed into him in the end. The Christian Fathers,
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who were much occupied with the introduction of the soul into
the human embryo, tell us that the immortal soul enters the
soulless embryo on the fortieth day after conception in the
case of the boy, and on the eightieth day in the case of the
girl. If Wasmann . supposes that there was a similar intro
duction of the soul in the development of the race, he must
postulate a moment in the history of the anthropoid apes
when God sent his spirit into the hitherto unspiritual soul of
the ape.
When we look at the matter impartially in the light of
pure reason, the belief in immortality is wholly inconsistent
with the facts of evolution and of physiology. The onto
genetic dogma of the older Church, that the soul is introduced
into the soulless body at a particular moment of its embryonic
development, is just as absurd as the phylogenetic dogma of
the most modern Jesuits, that the Divine spirit was breathed
into the frame of an anthropoid ape at a certain period (in
the Tertiary period), and so converted it into an immortal
soul. We may examine and test this belief as we will, we
can find in it nothing but a piece of mystic superstition. It is
maintained solely by the great power of tradition and the
support of Conservative governments, the leaders of which
have no personal belief in these “revelations,” but cling to
the practical conviction that throne and altar must support
each other. They unfortunately overlook the circumstance
that the throne is apt to become merely the footstool to the
altar, and that the Church exploits the State for its own, not
the State’s, good.
We learn further, from the history of this dogma, that
the belief in immortality did not find its way into science until
a comparatively late date. It is not found in the great
Monistic natural philosophers who, six centuries before the
time of Christ, evinced a profound insight into the real nature
of the world. It is not found in Democritus and Empedocles,
in Seneca and Lucretius Carus. It is not found in the older
Oriental religions, Buddhism, the ancient religion of the,
Chinese, or Confucianism; in fact, there is no question of
individual persistence after death in the Pentateuch or the
earlier books of the Old Testament (which were written before
the Babylonian Exile). It wras Plato and his pupil, Aristotle,
that found a place for it in their dualistic metaphysics; and
its agreement with the Christian and Mohammedan teaching
secured for it a very widespread acceptance.
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
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Another psychological dogma, the belief in man’s free-will,
is equally inconsistent with the truth of evolution. Modern
physiology shows clearly that the will is never really free in
man or in the animal, but determined by the organisation of
the brain ; this in turn is determined in its individual character
by the laws of heredity and the influence of the environment.
It is only because the apparent freedom of the will has such
a great practical significance in the province of religion,
morality, sociology, and law, that it still forms the subject
of the most contradictory claims. Theoretically, determinism,
or the doctrine of the necessary character of our volitions,
was established long ago.
With the belief in the absolute freedom of the will and the
personal immortality of the soul is associated, in the minds of
many highly educated people, a third article of faith, the
belief in a personal God. It is well known that this belief,
often wrongly represented as an indispensable foundation of
religion, assumes the most widely varied shapes. As a rule,
however, it is an open or covert anthropomorphism. God is
conceived as the “Supreme Being,” but turns out, on closer
examination, to be an idealised man.
According to the
Mosaic narrative, “God made man to his own image and
likeness,” but it is usually the reverse; “Man made God
according to his own image and likeness.” This idealised
man becomes creator and architect and produces the world,
forming the various species of plants and animals like a
modeller, governing the world like a wise and all-powerful
monarch, and, at the “Last Judgment,” rewarding the good
and punishing the wicked like a rigorous jud^e. The childish
conceptions of this extramundane God, who is set over against
the world as an independent being, the personal creator,
maintainer, and ruler of all things, are quite incompatible
with the advanced science of the nineteenth century, especially
with its two greatest triumphs, the law of substance and the
law of Monistic evolution.
Critical philosophy, moreover, long ago pronounced its
doom. In the first place, the most famous critical thinker,
Immanuel Kant, proved in his Critique of Pure Reason that
absolute science affords no support to the three central dogmas
of metaphysics, the personal God, the immortality of the soul,
and the freedom of the will. It is true that he afterwards
(in the course of his dualistic and dogmatic metamorphosis)
taught that we must believe these three great mystic forces,
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and that they are indispensable postulates of practical reason ;
and that the latter must take precedence over pure reason.
Modern German philosophy, which clamours for a “ return to
Kant,” sees his chief distinction in this impossible reconcilia
tion of polar contradictions. The Churches, and the ruling
powers in alliance with them, accord a welcome to this
diametrical contradiction, recognised by all candid readers of
the Königsberg philosopher, between the two reasons. They
use the confusion that results for the purpose of putting the
light of the creeds in the darkness of doubting reason, and
imagine that they save religion in this way.
Whilst we are engaged with the important subject of
religion, we must refute the charge, often made, and renewed
of recent years, that our Monistic philosophy and the theory
of evolution that forms its chief foundation destroy religion.
It is only opposed to those lower forms of religion that are
based on superstition and ignorance, and would hold man’s
reason in bondage by empty formalism and belief in' the
miraculous, in order to control it for political purposes. This
is chiefly the case with Romanism or Ultramontanism, that
pitiful caricature of pure Christianity that still plays so im
portant a part in the world. Luther would turn in his grave
if he could see the predominance of the Roman Centre party
in the German Empire to-day. We find the papacy, thé deadly
enemy of Protestant Germany, controlling its destiny, and
the Reichstag submitting willingly to be led by the Jesuits.
Not a voice do we hear raised in it against the three most
dangerous and mischievous institutions of Romanism—the
obligatory celibacy of the clergy, the confessional, and in
dulgences. Though these later institutions of the Roman
Church have nothing to do with the original teaching of the
Church and pure Christianity ; though their immoral conse
quences, so prejudicial to the life of the family and the State,
are known to all, they exist just as they did before the
Reformation. Unfortunately, many German princes foster
the ambition of the Roman clergy, making their “Canossajourney ” to Rome, and bending the knee to the great
charlatan at the Vatican.
It is also very regrettable that the increasing tendency to
external show and festive parade at what is called “the new
court ” does grave injury to real and inner religion. We have
a striking instance of this external religion in the^ new
cathedral at Berlin, which many would have us regard as
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
6r
“ Catholic,” not Protestant and Evangelical. I often met in
India priests and pilgrims who believed they were pleasing
their God by turning prayer-wheels, or setting up prayer-mills
that were set in motion by the wind. One might utilise the
modern invention of automatic machines for the same pur
poses, and set up praying automata in the new cathedral, or
indulgence-machines that would give relief from lighter sins
for one mark [shilling], and from graver sins for twenty
marks. It would prove a great source of revenue to the
Church, especially if similar machines were set up in the
other churches that have lately been erected in Berlin at a
cost of millions of marks. It would have been better to have
spent the money on schools.
These observations on the more repellent characters of
modern orthodoxy and piety may be taken as some reply to
the sharp attacks to which I have been exposed for forty years,
and which have lately been renewed with great violence. The
spokesmen of Catholic and Evangelical beliefs, especially the
Romanist Germania and the Lutheran Reichsbote, have vied
with each other in deploring my lectures as “a desecration
of this venerable hall,” and in damning my theory of evolu-»
tion—without, of course, making any attempt to refute its
scientific truth. They have, in their Christian charity, thought
fit to put sandwich-men at the doors of this room, to dis
tribute scurrilous attacks on my person and my teaching to
those who enter. They have made a generous use of the
fanatical calumnies that the court chaplain, Stocker, the
theologian, Loofs, the philologist, Dennert, and other opponents of my Riddle of the Universe, have disseminated, and to
which I make a brief reply at the end of that work. I pass
by the many untruths of these zealous protagonists of
theology. We men of science have a different conception of
truth from that which prevails in ecclesiastical circles.1
1 I may remind those who think that the hall of the Musical Academy
is “desecrated” by my lectures, that it was in the very same place that
Alexander von Humboldt delivered, seventy-seven years ago (1.828), the
remarkable lectures that afterwards made up his Cosmos. The great
traveller, whose clear mind had recognised the unity of Nature, and had,
with Goethe, discovered therein the real knowledge of God, endeavoured
to convey his thoughts in popular form to the educated Berlin public,
and to establish the universality of natural law. It was my aim to
establish, as regards the organic world, precisely what Humboldt had
proved to exist in inorganic nature. I wanted to show how the great
advance of modern biology (since Darwin’s, time) enables us to solve
I the most difficult of all problems, the historical development of plants
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As regards the relation of science to Christianity, I will only
point out that it is quite irreconcilable with the mystic and
supernatural Christian beliefs, but that it fully recognises
the high ethical value of Christian morality. It is true that
the highest commands of the Christian religion, especially
those of sympathy and brotherly love, are not discoveries of
its own ; the golden rule was taught and practised centuries
before the time of Christ. However, Christianity has the dis
tinction of. preaching and developing it with a fresh force.
In its time it has had a beneficial influence on the development
of civilisation,, though in the Middle Ages the Roman Church
became, with its Inquisition, its witch-drowning, its burning
of heretics, and its religious wars, the bloodiest caricature of
the gentle religion of love. Orthodox historical Christianity
is not directly destroyed by modern science, but by its own
learned and zealous theologians. The enlightened Protestant
ism that was so effectively advocated by Schleiermacher in
Berlin eighty years ago, the later works of Feuerbach, the
inquiries into the lif-e of Jesus of David Strauss and Ernest
Renan, the lectures recently delivered here by Delitzsch and
aHarnack, have left very little of what strict orthodoxy regards
as the indispensable foundations of historical Christianity.
Kalthoff, of Bremen, goes so far as to declare that all Christian
traditions are myths, and that the development of Christianity
is a necessary outcome of the civilisation of the time.
In view of this broadening tendency in theology and philo
sophy at the beginning of the twentieth century, it is an
unfortunate anachronism that the Ministers of Public Instruct
tion of Prussia and Bavaria sail in the wake of the Catholic
Church, and seek to instil the spirit of the Jesuits in both
lower and higher education. It is only a few weeks since thé
Prussian Minister of Worship made a dangerous attempt to
suppress academic freedom, the palladium of mental life in
Germany. This increasing réaction recalls the sad days of
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when thousands of
the finest citizens of Germany migrated to North America,
in order to develop their mental powers in a free atmosphere.
This selective process formed a blessing to the United States,
but it was certainly very injurious to Germany. Large
and animals in humanity. Humboldt in his day earned the most lively
approval and gratitude of all free-thinking and truth-seeking men, and
the displeasure and suspicion of the orthodox and conservative courtiers
at Berlin.
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63
numbers of weak and servile characters and sycophants were
thus favoured. The fossilised ideas of many of our leading
jurists seem to take us back sometimes to the Cretaceous and
Jurassic periods, while the palaeozoic rhetoric of our theo
logians and synods even goes back to the Permian and
Carboniferous epochs.
However, we must not take too seriously the anxiety that
this increasing political and clerical reaction causes us. We
must remember the vast resources of civilisation that are seen
to-day in our enormous international intercourse, and must
have confidence in the helpful exchange of ideas between East
and West that is being effected daily by our means of transit.
Even in Germany the darkness that now prevails will at
length give place to the dazzling light of the sun. Nothing,
in my opinion, will contribute more to that end than the
unconditional victory of the idea of evolution.
Beside the law of evolution, and closely connected with
it, we have that great triumph of modern science, the law of
substance—the law of the conservation of matter (Lavoisier,
1789), and of the conservation of energy (Robert Mayer, 1842).
These two laws are irreconcilable with the three central
dogmas of metaphysics, which so -many educated people still
regard as the most precious treasures of their spiritual life—
the belief in a personal God, the personal immortality of the
soul, and the liberty of the human will. But these great
objects of belief, so intimately bound up with numbers of our
treasured achievements and institutions, are not on that
account driven out of the world. They merely cease to pose
as truths in the realm of pure science. As imaginative
creations, they retain a certain value in the world of poetry.
Here they will not only, as they have done hitherto, furnish
’thousands of the finest and most lofty motives for every
branch of art—sculpture, painting, or music—but they will
still have a high ethical and social value in the education
of the young and in the organisation of society. Just as we
derive artistic and ethical inspiration from the legends of
classical antiquity (such as the Hercules myth, the Odyssey
and the Iliad) and the story of William Tell, so we shall con
tinue to do in regard to the stories of the Christian mythology.
But we must do the same with the poetical conceptions of
other religions, which have given the most varied forms to
the transcendental ideas of God, freedom, and immortality.
Thus the noble warmth of art will remain, together with—
||
?
;
;
�LAST WORDS ON EVOLUTION
64
not in opposition to, but in harmony with-—the splendid light
of science, one of the most precious possessions of the human
mind. As Goethe said : “ He who has science and art has
religion ; he who has not these two had better have religion.”
Our Monistic system, the “connecting link between religion
and science,” brings God and the world into unity in the
sense that Goethe willed, the sense that Spinoza clearly ex
pressed long ago and Giordano Bruno had sealed with his
martyrdom. It has been said repeatedly of late that Goethe
was an orthodox Christian. A few years ago a young orator
quoted him in support of the wonderful dogmas of the
Christian religion. We may point out that Goethe himself
expressly said he was “a decided non-Christian.”
The
“great heathen of Weimar ” has given the clearest expression
. to his Pantheistic views in his noblest poems, Faust, Prome
theus, and God and the World. How could so vig'orous a
thinker, in whose mind the evolution of organic life ran
through millions of years, have shared the narrow belief of
a Jewish prophet and enthusiast who sought to give up his
life for humanity 1,900 years ago?
,
Our Monistic god, the all-embracing essence of the world,
the Nature-god of Spinoza and Goethe, is identical with the
1 eternal, all-inspiring energy, and is one, in eternal and infinite
£ substance, with space-filling matter. It “lives and moves in
| all things,” as the Gospel says. And as we see that the law
of substance is universal, that the conservation of matter and
of energy is inseparably connected, and that the ceaseless
development of this substance follows the same “eternal iron
| laws,” we find God in natural law itself. The will of God
is at work in every falling drop of rain and every growing
crystal, in the scent of the rose and the spirit of man.
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^morality
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OODERN W
Toleration
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■■
ZA(,’S
BY
.
.’3 ’k''
•M.«-
E. S. P. HAYNES
Author of “Religious Persecution,” ete.
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17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C„
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||
�Ml e\
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
MODERN MORALITY AND
MODERN TOLERATION
BY
E. S. P. HAYNES
Author of "Religious Persecution,” etc.
[issued
for the rationalist press association, limited]
London :
WATTS & CO.,
17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.
�HJeOicateò
WITH AFFECTIONATE REGARD
TO
Mrs. THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY
�INTRODUCTION
The two essays here published are, so to speak, pendants to
my book on Religious Persecution, which was published when
I was only twenty-seven years of age. The subject might
well occupy a lifetime, and it is scarcely surprising that I
should continue to meditate upon it in such moments of
leisure as I enjoy. The first essay was read to ten male
undergraduates at Oxford, and to about fifty male and
female undergraduates at Cambridge.
Both audiences
belonged to the flourishing society of “ Heretics.”
It is,
perhaps, not odd that Oxford should still continue her tradi
tion of discouraging heretics until they are senile or dead,
but one very trenchant Oxford critic helped me to define and
distinguish points which I had not sufficiently elaborated.
At Cambridge I was told that the example of Jesus Christ’s
life was a potent force in contemporary morality ; and I
could only reply that the example of men and women whom
we have actually known and admired in youth, and even in
later life, ought to be equally potent. Personally, I should
consider it more potent ; but it is impossible to see quite
inside the minds of others.
As each year passes it seems to me more and more
impossible to take any abstract system of thought seriously
unless it intimately affects the practical problems of every
day life ; and I have known many excellent Freethinkers in
the older generation who made a point of attending church
because they thought that the decline of churchgoing would
entail a moral cataclysm. If such admirable people as these
can be induced to think otherwise, our Association will
prosper even more than it has done hitherto.
3
�INTROD UCTION
4
I have to thank my friend Mr. Belloc for kindiv allowing’
me to reprint my second essay from the columns of the
Eye- Witness. It is at least consoling' to reflect that we shall
never relapse into complete “quietism” while Mr. Belta©
lives ; and the cordial admission of a Rationalist to th®
columns of his brilliant review shows that militant Catholicism
is by no means incompatible with certain qualities of intel
lectual curiosity and comprehensive vision which Rationalists
would always desire to see associated with their own cause.
I have used the personal pronoun without regard to the
snobbish and vulgar prejudice against it. The fear of this
prejudice often forces some writers into ponderous peri
phrases which no less often suggest that the writer’s personal
opinions are those of an influential majority. It is at once
humbler and more courageous to avoid pretending that
individual opinions have more than an individual value ;
and, in the matter of style, Cardinal Newman’s example is
good enough for me.
E. S. P. H.
SA John's Wood.
January, igis.
�I.
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AND
MODERN MORALITY
Among Agnostics of the nineteenth century, and to
some extent to-day, it was, and is, largely held that the
disappearance of Christian, or even theistic, belief
involves not only no relaxation, but also no change, of
ethical sanctions or conduct. The latter view is, to my
mind, a perilous fallacy. Clearly, the Agnostic sanc
tions must be different; and if this be true, it follows
that conduct will also be different. Unless our society
is prepared to face this fact, and also to impart to the
rising generation some solid principles of ethical
training, it must, as Goldwin Smith long ago pre
dicted, be prepared to face a “ very bad quarter of an
hour.”
In a book which I wrote some years ago on Religious
Persecution I distinguished what I call “ civic morality ”
from what I call “ individual morality.” I defined “ civic
morality as that part of conduct which relates to other
citizens, and is regulated by the appointment of State
penalties for the enforcement of it. I defined “ individual
morality ” as conduct which is only regulated by social,
not legal, agencies, and is therefore more spontaneous.
Broadly speaking, civic morality depends less on senti
ment than on utilitarian common sense, though, of
course, legislation is adapted to changing views of
individual morality. Civic morality is, therefore, so
much the less likely to be moulded by religious
emotions or sanctions, except where the State is theo
cratic, as in the case of medieval Europe or modern.
Islam.
5
�6
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
Let us now analyse the Christian or theistic concep*
tion of morality. Christian morality is essentially a
matter' of duty towards God and a Creator. God is.
assumed by the Catholic Church and many other
Christian bodies to forbid, among other things, suicide,
divorce, limitation of the family, or the sacrifice of the
infant’s life to the mother’s life in childbirth without any
saving clause whatsoever. The use of anaesthetics and
cremation is still viewed with suspicion even where
allowed. God is understood to have made certain
definite arrangements for the life of each human being
and the propagation of the species, which must on no
account be interfered with. Imbued with some such
belief, the early Christians declined to shave their
beards, as they would not blasphemously attempt to
improve upon the handiwork of their Creator.
Moreover, the Church declares that Socialism is
sinful. To quote an excellent pamphlet of Ernest R.
Hull, S.J.: “The right of private property is a divine
ordinance....... the state of probation does not suppose
equality in the present lot of men....... There is to come
a final reckoning day in which all inequalities will be
levelled up and compensated for.”1 Men, therefore,
must not try to improve upon the social structure set
up by their Creator as exemplified in the Christian
world.
A different set of considerations emerges in regard to
the nature of the ethical sanction. Morality, according
to the theologian, is primarily concerned with God, who
rewards and punishes men exclusively in relation to
their obedience or disobedience to his commands. An
old man, alone in the world, without ties or obligations,
may prefer euthanasia to a slow and painful death by
cancer. This man is (theologically) quite as inexcusable
in the eyes of God as the man who by his suicide leaves
a wife and family to starve. God has ordered all men to
1 Why Should I be Moral? y. 95.
(Sands & Co.)
�AND MODERN MORALITY
I
live until the unavoidable moment of death. God has
also commanded all men and women to increase and
multiply, subject to the conditions laid down by the
Church. The Catholic Church has always told the wife
to comply with the husband’s demands for conjugal
rights in case he should be tempted to offend God by
committing adultery. Consequently, many a man has
forced his wife to have children every year till she died.
He has then married another wife and continued the
same course of conduct till the second wife died, and so
forth. This is a perfectly true picture, not only of
medieval Christendom, but also of Victorian England.
“ Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die ”
sums up the situation. “ Reasoning why ” may fre
quently lead to eternal damnation.
Starting with these ideas of duty to God, religious
thinkers quite logically proceed to indicate certain
changes in modern morality as the direct result of
religious unbelief, such as, for example, a greater
tolerance of suicide, divorce, and limitation of the
family, as well as a tendency to try and improve human
society from a purely terrestrial point of view. I
cordially agree with them, and am sorry to see so many
Agnostics attempting to deny the fact. I cannot see
the use of attacking the Christian religion except with
a view to substituting a rational morality for Christian
or theistic morality.
Theologians can no longer
interfere with modern science, but they can and do still
block the progress of modern morality.
The theologians defend their position by suggesting
that even on utilitarian grounds modern morality is
dangerous. “ Once admit euthanasia,” they argue,
“and suicide will become epidemic.
Once admit
divorce, and society will become promiscuous.” Again
I cordially agree with them. All moral changes are, in
the last degree, perilous, unless men know clearly what
they want and define clearly the sanctions on which they
rely. It is, therefore, all the more important not to
�THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
continue pretending1 that Christian morality is inde
pendent of the Christian religion.
It would be idle to deny that Christian morality
connotes a great deal of morality that is common to all
human societies, and it is of course largely based on
the Stoic and humanitarian ideas which filled the
atmosphere in which Christianity was born. That is
why it is so necessary to determine exactly how much
of our morality to-day is traceable to distinctly Christian
influences. I have tried up to now to define the
Christian basis of morality ; but it is equally incumbent
on me to try and indicate what I consider to be the
basis of modern, as distinct from Christian, morality.
A friend of mine once remarked that society was only
respectable because we did not all want to commit the
seven deadly sins at one and the same moment. The
reason why we do not want to commit them is because
we are for the most part the slaves of moral habits
inculcated in early youth. Our moral habits and
faculties have been hammered into us by a long process
of evolution. I cannot do better than quote again a
passage from Father Hull’s dialogue, in which he is
putting certain arguments for the Agnostic view into
the mouth of one of the many speakers whom he
subsequently refutes :—
We have no evidence to show how ethical ideas first came
into the human mind—whether they formed part of it from
the very first origin of the race, or were gradually evolved as
time went on. It is notorious that the “ moral sense ’’ flourishes
best in a moral environment—that is to say, in a circle where
both public and private opinion stand on the side of morality,
and the supremacy of the moral code is accepted by all without
question, and taught to and enforced on the young from their
very birth. Among the savage races and the criminal classes
it hardly appears at all ;T and experiments seem to show that
children separated from all moral influence irom birth grow up
apparently quite destitute of the ethical sense, and show little
or no capacity for imbibing it later on. May it not therefoie
x This is clearly untrue of savage races.
works passim.
See Dr. Westermarck’»
�AND MODERN MORALITY
9
be that evolution is right in explaining that the whole cluster
of moral ideas is the outcome of a gradual process of develop
ment, which, starting from practical experience and the clash
of interests, gradually gave rise to social conventions and tribal
laws, thus creating a habit of thinking in a groove which in
course of time became a sort of a second nature, indistinguish
able from nature itself? My contention in this case would be
that the ideas of right and wrong and the categorical form of
the dictate of conscience are indeed facts of consciousness ;
not, however, pertaining to our nature as such, but artificially
induced by the habit of generations—by perpetually drumming
into the minds of the young, as absolute truths, the ideals
which are already stereotyped in the minds of the old. A
similar example occurs in the department of manners. The
European and the Hindu are both so imbued with their
ancestral customs of eating and the rest, that so long as they
remain apart each takes for granted that his is the only feasible
way of going on. And even when they come together this
conviction remains so immovably fixed in the mind that they
detest each other’s ways heartily, and simply cannot tolerate
them. May it not be the same with the ethical ideas of the
■ intuitional theory—that they are so ingrained by tradition in
the mind as to become inseparable from it, and are thus taken
as part of the intrinsic constitution of human nature ; whereas
in fact they are merely an adventitious accretion, the inherit
ance of countless ages !
To this Father Hull adds, on his own side :—
So long as this view seems possible, so long does an air of
uncertainty pervade the whole sphere of ethics ; and so long
does it remain possible to doubt the absolute validity of its
principles and its dictates.1
Father Hull, of course, lays down the Christian
principle that all morality, being a divine command, is
comprehensive in every detail, and does not vary from
age to age. He deduces a great deal from the operation
of “Conscience,” and seems to forget Montaigne’s
apophthegm “Conscience is custom.” This view is
clearly repugnant to the modern Agnostic. Perhaps
the best statement of what ought to be an Agnostic’s
point of view is set forth in Sir Leslie Stephen’s Science
of Ethics. Stephen reconciles the utilitarian and evolu1 Op. cit.,
p. 77.
�IO
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
tionary theories, and points out that the aim and object
of every society is to achieve a certain kind of social
hygiene which will probably produce a social, though
not necessarily an individual, happiness. He points
out, for example, how a man who is too morally
sensitive for his generation, is liable to suffer just
because of this very fact.1 Shortly, however, the
ordinary modern test of our morality is its social value.
This view has been violently contested by writers like
the late Mr. Lecky. Mr. Lecky satirically commented
on the social position of the prostitute, in spite of her
seemingly obvious claim to honour on the utilitarian
ground of her existence being essential to the chastity of
other women.1 I do not see how Lecky’s contention can
2
be denied so long as we are content to admit that the
supposed chastity of all other women justifies the social
evil of prostitution ; nor must we forget that both in
ancient Greece and modern Japan (as opposed to Chris
tian countries) the prostitute enjoyed, and still enjoys,
the social esteem and recognition accorded to the ordinary
self-supporting citizen. The whole tendency, however,
of modern England is to rely less on prostitution as an
instrument of social welfare, and to attach a less super
stitious value to female chastity. Advanced thinkers—
like Mr. Wells and Mr. Bernard Shaw—attach more
importance to the economic independence than to the
chastity of women ; and in many cases, of course, female
chastity needs the security of economic independence.
I have chosen this particular example because Mr.
Lecky made his most effective point by means of it.
But in every region of morality we are to-day measuring
acts exclusively by their social consequences. Had a
strike, for example, occurred in the Middle Ages, the
population would at once have asked each other whether
1 A perfect example of this would be Sir Samuel Romilly, the sensitive
humanitarian, whose contemporaries thwarted almost every effort h©
made to remedy the barbarous cruelty of his age.
2 In his Introduction to the History of European Morals.
�AND MODERN MORALITY
11
the strike pleased or displeased God, and would have
supported or opposed the strike according to what they
imagined to be God’s will. Had the strike coincided
with a pestilence breaking out among the strikers, this
would have meant that God did not intend the strike
to continue, and the State would have taken measures
accordingly. The modern man discusses such a pheno
menon simply from the social point of view. He asks
himself whether the strike is or is not likely to promote
the ultimate welfare of society. For that reason a great
deal of modern morality is made up of compromises
between conflicting claims. In short, social harmony is
preferred to the development of particular virtues as ends
in themselves. Many thinkers vastly prefer the doctrine
of civic order and efficiency to the workings of Christian
charity. Again we subordinate so-called moral principles
to social convenience. It is to-day frankly acknowledged
that society would be instantly dissolved by any serious
adoption in practice of the Sermon on the Mount. It,
therefore, seems odd that medieval morality was in some
respects more inconsistent with Christian morality than
our own. Crimes of lust and hatred were far more
common in the Middle Ages than they are to-day. The
uncertainty of marriage was a perfect scandal, in spite
of the unquestioned dogma that the marriage was indis
soluble except by death. Private warfare was rampant
throughout medieval Europe, though it was quite unsafe
to challenge the inspired word of the Prince of Peace.
It must, however, be remembered that moral trans
gressions could be easily remedied by indulgences and
death-bed repentance. The more mundane process of
terrestrial cause and effect was obscured from view by
the supernatural machinery.
The improved and more stable morality of our civilisa
tion is of itself an argument in favour of what I call
modern morality. If theological conceptions produce
no better results than they did in the Middle Ages,
when they were far more literally accepted than they are
�12
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
now, they clearly cannot command as much confidence
as the appeal to reason. Moreover, the historian would
probably admit that the humanitarian movement of
to-day is rooted in the new doctrines of society that
came to birth at the end of the eighteenth century, and
in these doctrines religion is undoubtedly postponed to
human welfare.
It may be specially remarked that
Christian morality, as such, exercises very little influence
on the modern world. Such influence as it has can only
be observed in certain departments of human life where
old traditions have survived and escaped analysis.
I may perhaps take as an example the law of marriage
■and divorce in England. Whatever the merits of dis
cussion may be on social grounds, it is perfectly
ludicrous that the matter should be discussed with refer
ence to the textual condition of an old manuscript, or
that any intellectual body of persons in our generation
should concern themselves with a controversy conducted
on those lines; yet in 1910 we had the astonishing
spectacle of bishops appearing before the Royal Com
mission on Divorce, and solemnly arguing this grave
and weighty matter as if the solution of the problem
depended upon the doctrine of verbal inspiration.
It may be argued that modern Churchmen are more in
line with other humanitarian movements of to-day, and
the social , reforms of the nineteenth century are often
attributed to religious influences such as the influence of
the Wesleyan and Evangelical movements. Men like
Lord Shaftesbury are frequently cited in this connection.
It is difficult to prove anything strictly in discussing so
large a question ; but the study of history disposes many
people to believe that religion follows morality rather
than morality religion, and that both are deeply influ
enced by economic changes. It seems odd that Chris
tianity should have continued for 1,800 years without
producing the enormous humanitarian and ethical
changes which occurred in the first fifty years of th©
nineteenth century, and that these changes should then
�AND MODERN MORALITY
E3
be ascribed to a “revival ” of Christianity.1 Undoubtedly,
• writers like Voltaire and Rousseau and Fielding had
produced an enormous effect, and the new wealth of the
industrial revolution became widely diffused. The rail
way, the novel, the newspaper, and scientific discoveries
enormously enlarged the sympathies of the average man.
Nor did the “ revival ” of Christianity continue. The
whole forward movement here referred to became asso
ciated with the most formidable spread of sceptical ideas
known to European history. A curious sidelight on the
connection of religion with moral progress is thrown by
Mr. Joseph Clayton’s book on the Bishops as Legislators.
Why should the bishops have so sturdily and consis
tently declined to abolish a barbarously varied system of
capital punishment for small thefts if the Church was
really achieving the moral improvement of England
during this period, or if the bishops themselves had an
atom of real confidence in the moral influences of the
religion which they professed ?
The fact remains that men are not moral without some
sort of reason for being so, or without growing up in
moral habits ; but the time is long past when the young
could safely associate moral truths with the truths of
orthodox Christianity. Yet the advocates of secular
education for the most part tend to forget the need for
f As a specimen of Christian morality in eighteenth-century England
the following extract from Lecky’s History of England in the Eighteenth
Century deserves quotation (Vol. III., p. 537, Library Edition). It relates
to a case mentioned in Parliament in 1777 of a sailor taken by the press
gang from a wife not yet nineteen years of age, with two infant children.
“The breadwinner being gone, his goods were seized for an old debt,
and his wife was driven into the streets to beg. At last, in despair, she
stole a piece of coarse linen from a linen-draper’s shop. Her defence,
which was fully corroborated, was : ‘ She had lived in credit and wanted
for nothing till a press-gang came and stole her husband from her ; but
since then she had no bed to lie on and nothing to give her children to
eat, and they were almost naked. She might have done something
wrong, for she hardly knew what she did.’ The lawyers declared that,
shoplifting being a common offence, she must be executed ; and she was
driven to Tyburn with a child still suckling at her breast.” What were the
Christians doing at this date? Little, it is to be feared, but enjoying
rather gross pleasures and discussing how to make the best of both
worlds.
�14
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
some kind of moral training, and that if we are to give
the young moral training we must clearly give them
cogent reasons for moral conduct. It is worse than
useless to attach importance to religious sanctions of
morality unless we are prepared to justify the truth of
those sanctions up to the hilt. Are we to tell our
children that they must not lie or steal because God will
send them to Hell if they do, or because lying and
stealing are injurious to society and incidentally to
themselves? That is the question which modern society
shirks answering.
Modern society tries to meet the difficulty by a com
promise, which consists in hiring teachers who frequently
do not believe in the Christian religion to pretend that
they do. Indirectly, of course, these teachers employ
other inducements to morality besides the sanctions of
the Christian religion ; but the whole system is so
chaotic that it frequently ends in producing moral
chaos.
For these reasons it seems to me that the modern
Agnostic must not be content with the mere avowal of
disbelief in the Christian religion. If he does not
believe in the Christian religion, he cannot possibly
believe in the Christian sanctions of morality. If he
does not believe in the Christian sanctions, he must
find other sanctions, as I have indicated. If these
sanctions hold good for him, he must admit that they
will hold good for other people who have lost faith in
the Christian religion, and he must be prepared to make
an open profession of these principles, in spite of the
fact that the moral reformer encounters worse prejudice
than the religious reformer.
Rightly or wrongly, Agnostics believe that the
Christian religion is declining, and will progressively
continue to decline. If this be true, it means that an
increasingly larger number of persons will reject the
sanctions of Christian morality, and must either find
other sanctions for themselves or else be taught on an
�AND MODERN MORALITY
i5
entirely new system in early youth. This seems to me
far the most important concern of the modern Agnostic,
more especially because it has been neglected by the
old-fashioned type of Agnostic who wished to vindicate
himself and his friends from the suggestions of immorality
that were at one time made by the less scrupulous kind
of Christian. We cannot, and must not, therefore, shirk
the obvious conclusion that the old morality based on
Christian sanctions must be largely modified in accord
ance with social sanctions. Society must not, for
example, enforce celibacy on a particular class of men
because they are devoted to the service of God, though
society may well be justified in enforcing celibacy or
sterilised marriage on those who are unfit to become
parents. The real danger to-day is our inclination to
put the wine of this new social morality into the old
bottles of the Christian religion.
It may be asked how anything so fluctuating as the
social sanction can serve as a standard. When, for
instance, Antigone buried her brother in defiance of the
State, was she obeying or disobeying a social sanction ?
Assuming that she disobeyed, are we to deny her the
right of appeal to the social sanction of a future genera
tion ? Are not all heretics constantly trying to modify
or even destroy the social sanctions of their own age?
Indeed, is any social sanction of any ethical value
unless it is the spontaneous agreement of individuals,
and not a compulsory code enforced by a bureaucratic
or social tyranny? No one can be more alive to these
difficulties than a strong Individualist like myself; but
I maintain that in any society most people are fairly
well agreed on a number of questions concerning the
moral hygiene of that society, such as the reprobation
of murder or theft. Society can at least agree that the
starting-point of all discussion must be the welfare of
society, and not the textual criticism of antiquated folk
lore.
I should compare the social sanction with a debenture
�16
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
—that is to say, a floating charge on the present and
future assets of a company.
The property affected
by it varies from year to year ; in ten years it may be
entirely different from what it was. The terms of the
debenture bond or stock may be changed from time to
time ; but no variation of the terms of the loan or of the
assets makes the debenture less real or legally enforce
able. The debenture perishes only on redemption ; and
the social sanction will perish only with the abolition of
the criminal law. When every individual ungrudgingly
and spontaneously fulfils his social obligations, the
social sanction will become superfluous ; at present it
represents the claim of society to enforce such actions
on the individual as are determined for the moment to
be his duties to society.
In this connection it may be useful to illustrate my
meaning by applying the principles I have formulated
to modern Socialism. I should say at once that I am
no Socialist. Most of the Socialist writers I have read
seem to me to ignore either economic truths or the
truths of human psychology. They seem to me to
assume a state of society in which no one has an axe to
grind, and to draw too large cheques on public spirit
and altruism ; but their power and influence are largely
due to the omission of those who are not Socialists to
preach and to practise a social code of morals. Even
bishops hesitate nowadays to console a starving man by
telling him that he will be better off in the next world
than the rich man. They do not usually exhort him to
take no thought for the morrow, and to live like the
lilies of the field.1 Society must be prepared to justify
itself on a rational basis ; to convince the labourer that
he is receiving his proper hire, and to give him a
reasonable opportunity of earning what is due to him.
Society must also tackle the whole sex problem on rational
1 Except, perhaps, in regard to the irresponsible propagation of large
families.
�AND MODERN MORALITY
i7
lines. Marriage must be rational ; men must share
equitably with women the responsibilities for children
born out of wedlock; female labour must not be sweated;
and the whole question of venereal disease must be
scientifically handled.
The word “sin” must be
eliminated from the discussion of social or medical
remedies, for it has invariably been used as an excuse
for shirking social or medical remedies—as, for example,
when we are told that a certain venereal disease is the
“ finger of God.”1
The Socialists are bound to win all along the line
unless their opponents are prepared to face the question
of sanctions fairly and squarely, because in the meantime
Socialists are allowed by others to arrogate to them
selves the profession of public service and of working
exclusively for the public good. Christianity, however
one may twist its doctrines, is concerned with the end of
an old world. The business of the Agnostic is to share
in the beginnings of a new world.
1 An edifying remark frequently made by a deceased English officer
who was once Governor of Gibraltar.
c
�II.
THE EXPERIMENT OF MODERN
TOLERATION
The word “ toleration ” has been used so constantly in
a theological sense, while theology has become so much
less prominent in our thoughts than it used to be, that
the word sounds almost obsolete, except perhaps in con
nection with the position of religious orders in countries
like France and Portugal. About ten years ago I wrote
a book to demonstrate that nearly all that we understand
by the name of Toleration was necessarily associated in
its religious sense with an undercurrent of scepticism,
either implicit or explicit, in regard to ultimate pro
blems, and that no really free discussion is allowed by
any human society concerning matters which they think
all-important. On the other hand, I was forced to
admit that our generation had more cosmopolitan
interests, more intellectual curiosity, and far more
novels and newspapers to read, all of which promoted
and necessitated a larger freedom of discussion.
During the last ten years I have constantly been
wondering how much toleration exists in regard to free
discussion of subjects outside religion, and especially of
what John Stuart Mill called “experiments in life.” On
the whole, I think that any contemporary observer is
bound to admit that the issues raised by the contro
versies of to-day are amazingly wide and deep as com
pared with those of the nineteenth century.
The two main obstacles to free discussion have at all
times been the conviction (i) that the principle “salus
populi, sziprema lex''1 must express the permanent
attitude of the State to public criticism ; and (2) that
18
�THE EXPERIMENT OF MODERN TOLERA TION 19
those fundamental principles of morality on which
human society is deemed to repose must never be
subjected to the test of reason or argument. Thus, for
instance, there could be no free discussion of religious
problems so long as (¿z) it was feared that such dis
cussion might bring down the wrath of the gods on the
State or community which permitted the discussion ; or
(¿) the identification, or close association, of morality
with religion compelled men to believe that reli
gious creeds and moral principles must stand or fall
together.
On either assumption the free discussion of religious
problems necessarily provokes a breach of the peace
and becomes a matter of police supervision, as we see
in modern Spain, where Rationalism becomes confused
with anarchy. The State may sometimes bridge over
difficulties by tolerating a sort of passive heresy in
religion or morality, as, for example, the Romans did
in the case of local or particular cults, or as our Indian
Penal Code of to-day tolerates obscene works of art
connected with purely religious representations ; but
such partial toleration as this is not extended to any
kind of missionary effort or proselytism.
Yet to-day we behold the astonishing spectacle of
entirely free discussion in regard to the most crucial
problems of State and society. I need only refer to
disarmament, socialism, anarchism, the endowment of
motherhood, and the treatment of crime as disease.
Nor is all this discussion without practical results.
Arbitration is now a real force in European politics, the
Socialists have found their ideas embodied in a so-called
Liberal Budget, discontented artisans and suffragettes
increasingly disregard the King’s Peace, unmarried
mothers are less harshly treated by society, and prisons
are seemingly more attractive than workhouses. All
these changes evoke deep disgust in a large number of
citizens ; but they take place in a piecemeal and tranquil
fashion which never gives an opportunity for real
�2o
THE EXPERIMENT OF MODERN TOLERATION
fighting-. Even modern revolutions come to pass with
out appreciable bloodshed.
So far from this result being anticipated, it may be
remembered that Mill dreaded the uniformity and
mediocrity of democracies as an engine of obscurantism.
But the democratic uniformity of to-day is principally
manifested in the cosmopolitan habits of modern Europe,
which make less for repression of the individual than
for international peace. We seem to be achieving a
sort of Chinese “harmony,” a spirit of pacific com
promise, in all departments of life. The only coercive
force appears in that bureaucratic tyranny which so
often distinguishes the more pacific types of society.
All these characteristics point either to an almost
universal confidence in the common sense of mankind,
and in the capacity of human nature to revolt effectively,
in the last resort, against intolerable abuses, or to a
prevalent conviction that nothing is much worth fighting
about. Some will be heard saying : “Magna est Veritas
et prcevalebit”; others that no principle on earth is
worth going to the stake for. The first attitude of mind
seems curiously associated with the second. Belief in
the ultimate victory of truth seems easily to breed indif
ference as regards the immediate prospects of truth.
All persecution, however, necessarily implies an attitude
of distrust towards those who would allow the collective
intelligence of mankind free play. The persecutor will
not accept the consolations that Newman found in
repeating the words “Securus judicat orbis terrarum.”
False theology must be suppressed as speedily as false
economics ; for men will either not distinguish the true
from the false, or else will resent the toil and incon
venience of always making the effort to do so. I choose
the analogy of economics because false economics are
likely to alarm the modern world more than false
theology, and we live in an atmosphere of Socialist and
anti-Socialist leagues, and of Free Trade and Tariff
Reform leagues. Indeed, all disputation about burning
�THE EXPERIMENT OF MODERN TOLERATION
21
questions, such as property, seems bound to entail a dis
turbance of civil order, even if men really care little about
distinctions between true and false theories, and rely on
the financial common sense of the community. Thus,
however strongly I may be convinced that socialistic
experimentswill never destroy the proprietary instincts of
humanity, yet I may violently resent the inconvenience
of temporarily losing my property while such experi
ments are going on. Nevertheless, in modern society
such questions rarely tend to reach a violent, or even
decisive, issue. Some sort of compromise is nearly
always practicable. Ina given year I may have to pay
to the State one-eighth of my income, instead of onetenth ; but, in the first place, there is always the hope
that the electorate may stand this no longer, and, in the
second place, it is clearly more enjoyable to spend seven
eighths of my income in freedom than to be imprisoned
for resisting even a tyrannical and unjust surveyor of
taxes. The instinct of the highly civilised man leads
him to avoid the employment of force even where he would
not be opposing the State. If an armed burglar comes
to my house, and I am insured against burglary, it may
save a great deal of trouble, not to mention my life, if I
request him merely not to abstract articles of sentimental
value, but otherwise to make a free choice. An increas
ing disrespect for the ideal of chastity may lead to men’s
marital or paternal rights over their wives and daughters
being less strictly regarded; but it is quite old-fashioned
for an injured father or husband to aggravatethe scandal
by assaulting the offender.
The spirit of compromise seems, in fact, to increase
with all civilisation, and it is especially characteristic of
the oldest civilisation we know—namely, the Chinese.
In the Independent Review for April, 1904, an acute
observer recorded the tendency in Chinese civilisation
to encourage only an “ irreducible minimum " of the
virtues.1 “ Man,” he wrote, in describing the Chinese
1 Mr. A. M. Latter.
�22
THE EXPERIMENT OF MODERN TOLERA TION
philosophy of life, “ is a difficult animal ; and human
intelligence must devise the best means of inducing hi®
to live in peace with his neighbours, to make the earth
yield to him its utmost, and to develop the most useful
part of him—-his intelligence. To this end certain moral
ideas are doubtless useful ; but the foundation of all such
ideals is harmony in society, and, in so far as any other
ideal appears to conflict with this, it must be checked.
Inasmuch as harmony is the end of all civilised beings,
with regard to other ideals the best thing to do in practice
is to use the irreducible minimum of them ; and it is in
the discovery of the irreducible minimum that the Mon
golian intellect has developed most completely its civilisa
tion.” As a concrete instance, the writer, who is and
was a practising barrister, cites “ the attainment of justice,
without either the discovery of truth or the employment
of dishonesty. The harmony of the people forbids the
decree of a gross injustice ; the harmony of the magis
trate and the yamen forbids the abstention from bribes ;
the actual circumstances of the case are impossible to
discover; while the fact that the litigants have, by mere
litigation, disturbed the general harmony” leads to a
decision whereby “ both sides are punished slightly, and
the side that recommends itself to the tribunal is also
rewarded.” This attitude is forcibly contrasted with the
old European ideal of seeking the highest development
of particular virtues as ends in themselves without
making social and political harmony the paramount
aim. Side by side with all this one remarks the pacific
character of Chinese civilisation, based not so much on
humanitarian feeling as on motives of general con
venience.
I have quoted all these observations on China because
they seem curiously applicable to the tendencies I have
before noted in modern Europe.
Such progressive
toleration as we see to-day seems to indicate a growing
subjection of the emotions to reason. Mr. Shaw has
been preaching this doctrine for years in regard to the
�THE EXPERIMENT OF MODERN TOLERA TION
23
military virtue of courage. Mr. Wells and other
Socialists prefer the doctrine of civil order and efficiency
to the spirit of Christian charity. Modern men and
women set a higher value in society, politics, and
business on tact than on veracity. Advanced thinkers
attach more importance to the economic independence
than to the chastity of women. We all demand an irre
ducible minimum of armaments. The criminal is no
longer to be a pariah ; he is to be adapted to the uses of
a society which he must be taught to love. We deplore
nothing so much as physical pain or violence. Fight
ing, whether on the hustings or the battlefield, is begin
ning to appear nothing but a futile waste of time.
In such a climate of opinion toleration is bound to
thrive; but this very climate of opinion impliesan almost
revolutionary transformation of European ideals and a
radical overthrow of our older traditions. Its existence
can scarcely be denied. It is what the journalist really
means when he writes about “ materialism ” or “lack of
public spirit.” This spirit of “peace at any price” or
“anything for a quiet life ” may or may not have set in
permanently. But the late Mr. Charles Pearson, who
called it “the decay of character,” thought that it had
set in permanently, and resigned himself to the prospect
with stoical calm. Indeed, a future generation may con
ceivably take the view that we have initiated a social
harmony which is the only real and substantial fruit of
human reason and progress.
Whatever the ultimate result may be, the fact remains
that our modern toleration is conditioned by, and points
to, either an absence of really strong convictions in the
mass of men, or a collective conviction that the peace of
invariable compromise must in all circumstances and at
all costs be maintained. This has visibly come to pass
in the sphere of theological controversy, and it is also
coming to pass in the sphere of all other controversy.
The duellist can only resort to the law courts, the fanatic
to the pulpit, the moralist to the newspapers, and the
�24
THE EXPERIMENT OF MODERN TOLERATION
politician to the hustings. We have abolished the pistol,
the rack, the pillory, and almost the gallows. We are
trying with some success to abolish war. It will be
interesting to see if we have set up a stable or unstable
equilibrium. The achievement of free debate concerning
all subjects, reposing on a foundation of internal and
external peace, has been the »goal of human effort for
centuries, and especially of liberal thinkers in the nine
teenth century. But the success of the achievement
would possibly be damping to men like John Bright or
John Stuart Mill, whose enthusiasms were not precisely
those of the quietist.
For the most salient object of human endeavour is a
“quiet life.” We seek for the community the same sort
of existence, free from accidents and disturbance, that
Metchnikoff prescribes for the individual man with aspira
tions to longevity. Our ideals have lost a certain belli
gerency, except in so far as they imply class-warfare; they
have become more terrestrial than celestial. The late
Mr. Charles Pearson so admirably sketched out the future
on these lines nearly twenty years ago that I need not
elaborate the theme. The accuracy of the prophecy
depends very much on the course of international politics.
The most civilised societies are constantly broken up by
more primitive foes, and the future historian may find
some analogy to the phagocytes of the human body in the
bureaucrats of the community. The bureaucrats begin
to wear out the community just as the phagocytes begin
to wear out the body, as each becomes old. Complete
freedom of discussion may be only a symptom of national
decline and individual degeneracy, due to an exaggerated
development of intelligence at the expense of more
primitive qualities. The next fifty years will at least be
of keen interest to all those who feel that our society is
passing through a phase of experiment.
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15. «An Agnostic’s Apology.
By Sir Leslie Stephen.
16. The Life of
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Modern morality and modern toleration
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Haynes, E.S.P. (Edmund Sidney Pollock) [1877-1949]
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Notes: Includes bibliographical references. The Christian religion and modern morality (p.5-17)--The experiment of modern toleration (p.18-24). Publisher's list (Works by Joseph MacCabe and J.M. Robertson) inside front and back covers respectively. R.P.A. Sixpenny reprints listed on back cover. Issued for the Rationalist Press Association. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Morality
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St&ies of feature Society.
NATURAL ETHICS
IN THEORY AND PRACTICE. J
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Ethics of Nature Society,
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BY
C. W. SALEEBY, M.D., F.R.S.E.
., WATTS & Co.,
17, Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, London.
1912.
>
PRICE 2d.
�the ethics of nature
SOCIETY is an Association for the
Harmonious Development of Life
through the practice of Ethics based
on the Laws of Nature, and for the
Propagation of the truth that the
history of Life in
its
evolution
provides a complete justification for
asserting that there is such a thing
as the Ethics of Nature.
Morality
therefore has natural sanction and
natural criteria.
�B.3II )
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
ETHICS OF NATURE SOCIETY.
Natural Ethics
IN THEORY AND
PRACTICE.
Extracts from Three Lectures given for the
ETHICS OF NATURE SOCIETY
BY
C. W. SALEEBY, M.D., F.R.S.E.
WATTS & Co.)
ty, Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, London
1912.
��THE
ORIGIN
OF
MORALITY.
[Reprinted from the Ethics of Nature Review.]
Before turning to- his subject for the evening, Dr. Saleeby
spoke of the three delusions which are prevalent as to the
origin of Morality—delusions which arise in part from a mis
understanding of the word Morality.
Of these three, the first and oldest is that Morality finds its
basis either in some kind of authoritative power or definite
law from on High (the Mosaic laws, the Koran, etc.), or in
persons representative of someone to whom that power was
given (the “divine right of Kings,” the clergy, etc.). Accord
ing to this delusion, Morality has no natural criterion, and
cannot be judged by its effects, but by an authorised code of
conduct only.
The second delusion is that Morality has
arisen without any definite cause or purpose, through Cus
tom; and the third and most important, which is
the common assertion of ecclesiasticism, is that there
is no natural, spontaneous, inherent Morality in Man.
Even John Stuart Mill, in his “Utilitarianism,” lays
it down that morals are not born in a man,
but
are acquired characteristics imposed on the individual by his
surroundings, and having no root in his own nature—that
man’s is a purely selfish nature, acting by means of external
pressure. It may be taken as an indication of the progress
of the last five and twenty years, that this delusion is so
rapidly dying out.
In turning to the true conception of the Origin of Morality,
Dr. Saleeby gave a definition of the term which coincides en
tirely (as did indeed his lecture from first to last) with the
views of the Ethics of Nature Society, not only in senti
ment, but in actual expression.
“Morality is that which
makes for more life as against less, and for higher life as
against lower.” The definition grows clearest- when we under
stand what Nature means by “higher” life.
Having definitely defined Morality in terms of life, we must
turn for its history to the History of Life, which is purely
�4
evolutionary.
Past historians, past the history of churches,
past human dogmas, we come down to the beginnings of Life
as it must somehow have arisen on our planet. Already in
the vegetable world, the; marvellous structures devisied by
Nature for the nurture of the young plant, point to- Morality,
according to our definition, since they make for life. Pass
ing to the animal world, as Herbert Spencer once said, in
discussing the subject, even when the first single cell divided
itself into two, there was the rude foreshadowing of Moral
action—here was a being not wholly selfish.
Morality has thus its origin of origins in that great necessity
of Life to reproduce itself—a necessity which arose in the
presence and irrevocability of Death. The arrangements
made in Nature for reproduction are connected from the' first
with Morality, and the sacrifices involved in the process- in
crease steadily as the scale of life ascends.
Through the animal world, past the invertebrates-, past the
lower forms of vertebrates (fish-, amphibia-, birds) to the- mam
malia, from the duckmole and the kangaroo up to- the remark
able monkey tribes, a-nd thence to Human-kind, the scale of
progress may be said to be uninterrupted. In due sequence
with the general trend, the amount of care, labour, and life
devoted by the parents (and especially by the mother) to
the young, grows ever greater.
More and more stress is
laid on Morality, because there is more and more, need for it.
From the historical level, we come to the level of positive
interpretations, being confronted at the first with the query
whether this Mora-lit-y, which is an ever increasing thing in
the history of Evolution, has arisen through a particular in
clination of nature in that- direction; and we conclude that
this is undoubtedly not the case, since the na-t-ural law isi uni
versally the Darwinian law of the survival of the- fittest—of
those best suited to their particular time, environment, and
circumstances.
Yet, though we see that Nature is strictly impartial, a-nd
will indifferently choose teeth and claws with murderous in
tent, or the most delicate o-f reproductive organs imposing
absolute self-abnegation and personal risk, it is always in
so far as one or other makes for Life and Higher Life.
Nature’s bias is vital, and Morality has consequently den
�5
veloped in Nature because of its superior survival value. Not
withstanding that Morality was handicapped from the first,
it has won through by that value alone.
In order to appreciate what Morality has done for man, let
us consider by what means a man survives in the world; not
indeed by means of a defensive armour, nor by any offensive
weapons, nor by reason of his strength or of his fleetness, but
because of his Intellect, that great instrument of adaptabilityAnd this instrument comes to him through Morality, since
an intelligent being can only develop, under maternal care,
and will develop only as Morality continues to increase.
Morality is no invention of men, or of priests, or of amiable
enthusiasts; it is the maker of man, and is as necessary to
all further development as it has been necessary from the
first to natural Evolution.
Having existed from all time,
being far older than mankind, and older in consequence than
all churches and dogmas and creeds-—Morality will doubtless
survive1 them all.
�G
NATURE
AND
ETHICS.
The subject is too large to be dealt with at all completely,
and I propose expressing only my own attitude as a student
of Nature, from the standpoint of the biologist. The subject,
taken more narrowly, lies between Ethics and Biology, the
Science of Life.
The biologist finds more particularly in the history of life, in
its evolution, complete justification for asserting that there is
such a thing asi an Ethics of Nature; that Morality has
natural sanction and natural criteria.
For Moral Education we generally have recourse to the
method of former generations ; we refer thei questioning child,
not to any ultimate sanction, but to1 an all-seeing and all
judging power; and in order to make our own commands
complied with, we offer the old alternative of punishment and
reward.
So long as the right people are ruling, and so long
as there isi sufficient faith in the authoritative source which
they plead, the problem is simple enough.
But at such a
time as this, when doubt is expressed not only as to what
is right and what wrong, but even as to the actual existence
of Right and Wrong at all, the matter of Moral Education
and the moral basis is entirely changed, and become extremely
complicated.
We no longer believe in the Fall of Man; we are beginning
to understand the Ascent of Man. The fact isi, we are clearly
living in a moral interregnum; the original and older sano
tions of morality have broken down; those who still profess
them will be found to be acting in accordance with what we
call “right," simply through their own nature, or custom
and public opinion, and not by a real belief in the sanction
which they assert.
We all know that there is a distinction between Right and
Wrong; there are certain sentiments or instincts which do
tell us, in crucial instances, how we should act, irrespective
of rewards, irrespective of any sanction, irrespective
of any thing outside ourselves.
But this is not sufficient
for all needs; we ask what moral anchorage there can be—•
not only what is right, but why it is right.
�7
It is to meet this demand, to which Herbert Spencer gave
expression in his “Data of Ethics,” that some come forward
to-day with what may be termed. “Ethics of Life”-—with what
Ellen Key calls the Religion of Life.
Her books are well
worth reading; for hers is no mystic confession or creed, she
simply lays down certain ideas, certain plans, for personal
and universal conduct; which she refers to> as the Religion
of Life. She believes, as the Ethics of Nature Society does,
that in Life and its laws are detailed information and direc
tion as to what is right and wrong.
Professor Bergson’s Philosophy of Life strengthens this
theory immeasurably.
He has, from his standpoint asi a
student of Biology, a clear feeling that in the very facts of Life
are to be found certain data on which to build a moral code.
It is extremely difficult to refer to facts of Nature without
seeming to give implication of design, purpose, or intent.
Looking at the facts of the living world (in both low and high
forms of life), there is distinctly a “thrust” or impetus (as
Bergson has it, an “elan vital”} which seeks to achieve more
life. This seems to me a perfectly just statement. Whether
Life is to be considered as an almost conscious Entity, striving
to realise its o-wn partly idealised purposes, as our individual
lives do, we can hardly say.
But it certainly does appear
so. Life is, above all, says Prof. Bergson, “ a tendency to act
cn inert matter”—reminding one of certain biologists who
have argued that life looks as if it were seeking to turn as
much lifeless matter as possible into living matter.
This
argument of Bergson reminds one also- of two passages in
Shelley,s “Adonais”:
“Through wood. and. stream and field and hill and ocean
A quickening life from the Earth’s heart has bursit.”
. . . “the one Spirit’s plastic stress
Sweeps through the dull dense world, compelling there
All new successions to the forms they wear.”
It is as though Life were something behind Matter, striving
to express itself; it isi as if that plan which Tennyson sums
up aS “More Life and fuller” were the purpose of living
Nature.
Above all, this may be seen in contemplating the
history of Life.
First of all we see no life at all, then we
find traces of very simple life; and finally life as we know it
to-day; through all the process there seems an almost irresist
�8
ible desire of Life to multiply, to magnify, to intensify itself.
This is shown not only in the life of the individual, but in
those ulterior purposes for which more and more the individ
ual appears' to be designed, and to which more, and more he is
devoted.
We are- all acquainted with the great paradox of Weismann
ism, that the individual exists only for the race, to be the
host of the immortal germ-plasm, so- that all bodies are simply
designed for the making of more life in the future, for parent
hood, for the enhancement of life, and, above all, for its in
tensive culture—the making of forms- less numerous, but with
greater intensity of what may be called the living flame.
This view, which is more and more justified, is the biological
statement of the functions of the individual a® designed (if
1 may use the word) throughout all the process' of evolution
less for its own life’s sake than for the making of more- life,
widespread.
Of that age-long process we; are the1 product.
What, then, of that aspect of living Nature which has
been regarded as nearly murderous, not only a-s non-moral,
but actually as anti-moral?
John Stuart Mill spoke of living Nature- as a- “slaughter
house”; Tennyson pictured Nature “red in tooth and claw”
We are all a-ware of the destruction of life, full-grown or
immature, in the processes of Nature; many forms of life are
designed to- do murder, are ruthless1 instruments for death.
Can the proposition of Nature’s desire for Life and Morality
be compatible with the enormous- amount of futile death we
see on all hands, and with the construction of creatures de
signed to give death ? Certainly it can !
In the first place, when we point to the destruction and
worse than wast-e- amongst the immature (animals, fish, seeds,
etc.), we forget that- those who are destroyed serve for the
food and life of other—largely of higher—formsThe waste
is only apparent.
We should first- have looked to the causes
of death before we- called it so.
If a fish produces- one- mil
lion eggs yearly, and perhaps only two reach maturity to
replace their parents, it- does not follow that there has- been
meaningless, fut-ile murders of the others; for they have- gone
to serve Nature in another way, by giving food to other
species.
�9
Nature sets out to make more life and fuller; not to de
stroy. Animals that hunt and kill for their food possess teeth
and claws which, though instruments of murder on the one
hand, on closer inspection prove' to be instruments1 for life,
since by them life is sustained. This comment may to some
extent remove the existing doubt whether Nature affords a
sanction for moral conduct.
Moral conduct is that which makes for more life; and since
Life is to be measured in terms of quality as well as in terms
of quantity, we must make the further proviso' that Nature
works for intenser (we may safely say for higher) forms;
that is, for more life confined in a. narrower space. The ten
dency to subsist for that belief, to evolve, from that, and to
move upon that, forms the basis of the. Ethics of Nature
Society.
Moral conduct on these' lines will be either that
which makes for more life as against less, or that which makes
for higher life as against lower1.
Lack of time prevents, me from attempting, this evening,
to meet, or even to name, all the, difficulties which the subject
brings up; they will be dealt, with at, future lectures; but, I
do want to repeat that if any of you think this is; a thing
to look into, you should read Bergson’s “Creative Evolution,”
and Ellen Key’s “Love- and Marriage” (the book has an un
fortunate title, but the moral and social conduct, which she
derives from that theory which it is difficult to avoid calling
the Purpose of Life,, isi extremely valuable). These books' I
recommend to be read in association with M. Deshumbert’s
“The Ethics of Nature,” which is entirely devoted to the
statement of our present thesis.
The, new theory of Morality, and of the nature of Morality,
is based more and more on Biology, relying greatly upon the
facts of our natural instincts, especially the parental instinct,
and their function. Thus Dr- Mercier, of the Charing Cross
Hospital, in his new book, “Conduct and its Disorders,” has
come to look at conduct from, the, point of view of Biology,
and to controvert the old, wildly delusive doctrine that in
man the instincts' have disappeared, and that in place of
instincts he has intelligence.
Intelligence is not a motor,
it is a pilot, and if we really had lost our instincts we should
sit like Job motionlessly contemplating life, instead of which
�10
we move and do1. The springs of our conduct are those, very
instincts which a few years ago, we were said not to possess.
On all this subject, Dr. McDougall is the master and pioneer,
in his “Social Psychology.”
We possess just such instincts as animals in their essential
nature, and they underlie all our emotions. Thus the emotion
of wonder is the subjective side of what we call the instinct
of curiosity. The parental instinct is correlative in us, with
“tender emotion.” The more you examine the parental in
stinct, whether it be exhibited in actual, or foster, or non
parents, tire more you see that it is the source of all the actions
which, consciously or unconsciously, you and I call moral, or
good, or right. You find it in the mother who lives, and if
need be dies, for her child; you find it in the old maid with
her cats; you find it in the doctor with his patient.
Psy
chologists have argued that parental instinct is what I may
call anticipatory gratitude; it is nothing of the kind.
It
is an instinctive feeling for life which is young' or is in need,
and which we can help; and it is by no means confined to
our own species (where reward in some form might be antici
pated), but is shown in other species, not self-conscious, which
cannot anticipate future repayment.
There is good, reason
to suppose that if you fuse this instinct, with, others; in o-ur
nature; you will produce those qualities which we call moral.
The ultimate justification for believing that these acts are
moral, is that somehow or other they serve (or will, or can
serve) the general life; we recognise in them, at least, an ele
ment of life-saving. It may be only serving an idea, it may
be serving only one particular class.
My particular cause
for existence is to serve Eugenics, on the theory that we can
do most for the general life by devoting our energies to the
life that is still unborn.
A final question arises if one, desires to make converts
either for Eugenics or for the Ethics of Nature Society: the
old question of “What has posterity done for me?” or, in the
words of Shylock: “On what compulsion must I; tell me
that.” There is, of course, no obvious profit, and no obvious
reason, but what does the astronomer ask, who, spends his
life in amassing stellar data which, in perhaps five hundred
years or so; but not, till then, will be of immense cosmological
value ?
�11
We cannot promise on this theory any direct reward to< be
gained, but it will, nevertheless, be involved in the truth that
virtue is its own reward. That is to say, if there be in any
one of us a native, ineradicable instinct which is essentially
parental, a vital instinct, a desire to serve life, we will get out
of it just that same satisfaction which follows when we yield
to the prompting of any other instincts, whose satisfaction
satisfies themJust as in the1 case1 of the astronomer, the
labour given and the knowledge one day to be gained—so
here, the life one day to be made or saved—these are the in
volved reward. Beyond such reward as this, the Religion of
Life or the Ethics of Nature has none to, offer. But has any
ci her Religion or Creed the warrant to offer more; and is not
this enou.Q'h ?
�12
NATURAL
ETHICS
AND
EUGENICS.
Reprinted from the Ethics of Nature Review.]
The object of this lecture was to show that the* practical
principles of Eugenics are* not only compatible with, but are
the actual outcome of the moral evolution described in the
first lecture, and to explain the theory and practice of
Eugenics in their relation to human life.
“By Eugenics I understaind the project of making the
highest human beings possible.”
The chief factors in this
process, as especially named by Sir Francis Galton are
“Nature and Nurture.” The Eugenics which concerns itself
with the natural or hereditary causes, is called by Dr. Saleeby
the primary factor- The nurtural or environmental takes the
place of secondary factor.
This is inverting the* customary
order, where environment is generally represented as answer
ing most, if not the whole of the question.
But although
neither of the factors could stand without the other, Eugenists
on biological grounds insist that environment is distinctly
secondary.
Primary Eugenics must again be separately defined and sub
divided.
From the point of view of heredity it is evident
that'—assuming the existence of this fact—parenthood must
be encouraged on the part of the worthy. This is the first aim
of the Eugenist, and goes by the name of Positive Eugenics.
Secondly, it is quite evident that the converse of Positive
Eugenics must be to discourage' parenthood on the part of the
unworthy. This is known as Negative Eugenics. And
thirdly, the Eugenics which stands between healthy stocks*
and those prime causes of degeneration generally understood
to-day under the name of racial poisons, the Eugenics, in
short, which strives to keep the worthy worthy, is termed
Preventive Eugenics.
Now as regards the relation of Eugenics to the theory and
practice of Natural Ethics, Positive Eugenics, in the first
place, is a process evidently approved by Nature, being simply
the process of natural selection by which those beings who
�are capable of reproducing their species survive and multiply.
Only one point arises here, which has to be met: there are
some Eugenists (and Mr. Bernard Shaw is amongst the num
ber) who propose that this business of encouraging parent
hood oni the part of the1 worthy should be- carried out by the
abolition of marriage.
Marriage—and more especially
monogamous marriagei—is strictly in keeping with the prin
ciples of the Ethics of Nature Society, being conducive, not
to most life as concerns a high birth-rate, but certainly to
most life as concerns a low death-rate. Also', marriage makes
the father responsible psychologically and socially for his chil
dren; this aspect of monogamy has to be considered. Posi
tive Eugenics will endeavour to work through marriage, which
is a natural institution far older than any decree^ or church,
and to improve it for the Eugenic purpose. The chief method
of Positive Eugenics to-day, is education for parenthood. The
education of the young should be from the very start a pre
paration for parenthood, and should not cease, as it now
most commonly does, at that time when it is most needed;
namely, at the age of adolescence.
Negative Eugenics certainly has a natural sanction.
Natural selection might with equal truth be called. Natural
rejection. Now the question arises, are we to apply the- prin
ciple of Natural Rejection to mankind, with the object of
preventing the parenthood of the unworthy ? It would cer
tainly appear to be a natural proceeding.
But here- the
Ethics of Nature Society says: We are not to kill, on the
contrary, we are to fight for those who- cannot fight1 for them
selves; whereas Nature says these' are- to be exterminated.
This apparent opposition between the natural and the moral
course of action was dwelt upon at some length by Huxley,
in his Romanes Lecture, on “Evolution and Ethics.
In
this lecture he describes cosmic evolution as being a ruthless
process where life advances by means of a general slaughter,
and where it is merely a case of “each for himself and the devil
take the hindmost,.” Moral evolution, hei said, is the, absolute
antithesis to the natural; Moral evolution is the care of the
hindmost, and necessitates at all times a course- exactly o-ppo
site to the model we have in Nature.
There are different
opinions as to- Huxley’s reasons for expressing himself in this
�14
unjustifiable manner on a subject which he was obviously
viewing at the time in a totally false light. And perhaps the
simplest and clearest of all explanations is that this very Leer
ture was written at a period of unfortunate estrangement
between Herbert Spencer and Huxley, and may have been
meant deliberately to set at defiance the principles and tenets
of Herbert Spencer, who maintained that “ there is a natural
evolutionary basis for Ethics?’
Darwin, in his Origin of Species, confesses that we keep
alive numbers of persons who, by natural selection, would
certainly have been exterminated; but, he adds, in, this case
we cannot follow the natural model. And there Darwin left
it; there was this antinomy between the “natural” course
and man s higher nature, and although it was obviously a
wrong thing to let the degenerate multiply, Darwin felt that
we must be content to let him multiply, because we are under
a. moral obligation to keep him alive.
There are Eugenists when want us to, throw moral evolution
overboard, as being mere sentimentalism, and to go straight
for the destruction of the unfit by means of exposing degen
erate babies, as the Spartans did, by means of lethal chambers,
and by reverting to all the horrors, of our grandfathers’ time,
the gallows, chains, and death by starvation for the feeble
minded- These are: the Eugenistsi who take the sacred name
of Eugenics in vain. Eugenics has nothing to do with kill
ing anybody at any stage of life whatever.
Human life,
such as it may be, is a, sacred thing, and cannot, be1 treated
with contempt at any stage whatever of its development.
What the Eugenist may do; however, is> this; he, may distin
guish between the right to live and the right to become a
parent. And this is the simple solution which both Huxley
and Darwin missedIn this simple solution the antinomy
which both Huxley and Darwin saw between cosmic and
moral evolution disappears.
Negative Eugenics is going to proceed, first of all, along
the lines of killing nobody, and secondly, of taking' care of the
unfit under the best possible conditions.
The distinction
between the process of natural selection and the process advo
cated by Eugenists, might bei put thus: Eugenics replaces
a selective death-rate by a selective birth-rate.
Erom the
�15
point of view of philosophy and the Ethics of Nature Society,
this course of action furnishes thei solution of the apparent
antinomy between cosmic and natural evolution.
Passing to the third division of Eugenics, it seems that
whilst we try to encourage parenthood on the part of the
worthy, and to discourage it on the part of the unworthy,
we must be prepared also to oppose the degradation of healthy
stocks through contact with, or as a result of, racial poisons.
Of these poisonous agencies, there are some which we are
certain of; how many there may be that are yet unknown
remains to be proved.
Alcohol, lead, arsenic, phosphorus,
and one or two diseases are decidedly transmissible to the
future, commonly by direct transference from parent to off
spring.
These are the poisons which Eugenists must fight
against, and they are false to their creed and to' their great
mission, if they fail to do all they can to root them out. The
chief, most urgent, most important task seems to be to inter
fere with maternal alcoholism.
Eugenics has nothing to do with decrying attempts to im
prove environment. But unfortunately many Eugenists have
merely taken it up as an alternative programme to social re
form; also, in. these same hands, it has become a new instru
ment for the resurrection of snobbery, on the totally unwar
ranted view that certain classes, sections, or sets of society
are biologically or innately superior to others. No one has
yet adduced evidence to prove that what we call the “better”
classes are naturally better, though they certainly are better
looking, better fed, better rested. Nor has it yet been ascer
tained what would be the results of giving the food and
sleep of the better, to the lower class children.
Nurtural
advantages are responsible for most of, if not all, the
physical superiority of the upper as against the lower classes.
As to psychological superiority, evidence is absolutely nil.
It is said that a man’s way of spending his leisure gives the
man in his true light; and judging by the way in which the
“upper” classes spend their spare time, there is certainly no
indication of superiority.
Eugenics must not be taken as an alternative' to providing
the needful factors for a child, bom or unborn.
Only that
society is truly moral and well organised which makes
�16
provision for every child.
Adequate provision and
adequate nurture for every child, would be no great
tax on our purses, for it would bring as a natural
consequence the abolition of many prisons, hospitals,
and asylums.
It is curious that, whilst it is not Socialism
to spend money on hospitals for the care of tuberculous,
rickety, or otherwise diseased children, it is Socialism to spend
a fraction of this money on those children at an earlier stage
of their lives; though it is obviously much cleaner, cheaper,
and pleasanter to follow this method, than to continue in
cur present method of vainly attempting to1 cure what might
and should have been prevented.
In closing, Dr. Saleeby added that he considered the
Eugenic programme to consort completely with the canons' of
the Ethics of Nature Society.
Printed at tlie “Croydon Guardian11 Offices 145 and 147, North End Croyddii;
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Natural ethics in theory and practice : extracts from three lectures given for the Ethics of Nature Society
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Saleeby, Caleb Williams
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 22 cm.
Notes: Reprinted in part from Ethics of Nature Review. "The Ethics of Nature Society is an association for the harmonious development of life through the practice of ethics based on the laws of nature..." -- Inside front cover. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Please note that this pamphlet contains language and ideas that may be upsetting to readers. These reflect the time in which the pamphlet was written and the ideologies of the author.
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Watts & Co.
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1912
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N602
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Ethics
Eugenics
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Natural ethics in theory and practice : extracts from three lectures given for the Ethics of Nature Society), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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Ethics
Eugenics
NSS
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2e0cf778681d127791492ec18247b996
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Architecture and Place
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Humanist Library and Archives
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2016
Description
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A collection of digitised items from the Humanist Library and Archives telling the story of buildings and spaces occupied by the Conway Hall Ethical Society (formerly the South Place Ethical Society). Also includes several born digital items.
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Architecture
Conway Hall (London, England)
South Place Chapel, Finsbury
Mansford, Frederick Herbert (1871-1946)
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English
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Surrender of lease of 17, 18, 19 and 20 Lambs Conduit Passage, 10 July 1912
Description
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<p>Surrender of lease of 17,18,19,20 Lambs Conduit Passage, (10 July 1912).</p>
<ul><li>(1) Robert Howe of 7 Finsbury Square, London, gent</li>
<li>(2) John Savill Vaizey of Woodfield, Stansted, Essex, barrister, and Thomas Smith Curtis and Charles Frederick Booth, both of 4 Bedford Row, London, solicitors (mortgagees)</li>
<li>(3) Algernon Augustus de Lille Strickland of Apperley Court, Deerhurst, Glos, esq</li>
</ul><p>Pursuant to agreement to demolish and demolition, and to extinguish leasehold terms under lease of 26 Nov 1908, (1) surrenders site and all interests to (2)-(3).</p>
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Unknown
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SPES/3/1/1/25
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image/jpeg
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Text
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English
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<p>Licenced for digitisation by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/copyright-orphan-works" target="_blank">Intellectual Property Office</a> under Orphan Works Licence <a href="https://www.orphanworkslicensing.service.gov.uk/view-register/details?owlsNumber=OWLS000075-26" target="_blank">OWLS000075-26</a>.</p>
Lamb's Conduit Passage, Holborn
Strickland, Algernon Augustus de Lille
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de621c6568f29486d49b68e983d9adc2
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Architecture and Place
Creator
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Humanist Library and Archives
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2016
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised items from the Humanist Library and Archives telling the story of buildings and spaces occupied by the Conway Hall Ethical Society (formerly the South Place Ethical Society). Also includes several born digital items.
Publisher
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Subject
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Architecture
Conway Hall (London, England)
South Place Chapel, Finsbury
Mansford, Frederick Herbert (1871-1946)
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English
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
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Surrender of leasehold premises 14, 15, 16 and 17 Lambs Conduit Passage, 10 July 1912
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Surrender of leasehold premises 14, 15, 16 and 17 Lambs Conduit Passage, (10 July 1912).</p>
<ul><li>(1) Thomas George Smith of 7 Finsbury Square, son and heir of James Smith, as (2) above, and Emma his wife, both deceased</li>
<li>(2) John Savill Vaizey of Woodfield, Stansted, Essex, barrister, and Thomas Smith Curtis and Charles Frederick Booth, both of 4 Bedford Row, London, solicitors (mortgagees)</li>
<li>(3), Algernon Augustus de Lille Strickland of Apperley Court, Deerhurst, Glos, esq</li>
</ul><p>Pursuant to an agreement by all parties that (1) clear site of 14, 15, 16 and 17 Lambs Conduit Passage, which has been done, and to extinguish leasehold terms and covenants, (1) surrenders site and all interests to (2) and (3).</p>
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Unknown
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1912
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SPES/3/1/1/22
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image/jpeg
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Text
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English
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<p>Licenced for digitisation by the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/copyright-orphan-works" target="_blank">Intellectual Property Office</a> under Orphan Works Licence <a href="https://www.orphanworkslicensing.service.gov.uk/view-register/details?owlsNumber=OWLS000075-9" target="_blank">OWLS000075-9</a>.</p>
Lamb's Conduit Passage, Holborn
Strickland, Algernon Augustus de Lille
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PDF Text
Text
I&jl.
£2-35 7
N'73
November, 1912
THE BLASPHEMY LAWS:
What they are, and why they should be
abolished.
“ Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to
argue freely according to conscience, above all
other liberties.”—Milton.
There have been more prosecutions for blasphemy during the
PAST YEAR than during the previous FIFTY YEARS. There
have been more prosecutions for SPOKEN blasphemy during the
past FIVE YEARS than during the previous HUNDRED
YEARS. What has become of our boasted freedom of speech?
What are the blasphemy laws; and why should they be per
mitted to continue?
During the first five centuries of Christianity in
England the legal prohibitions of heresy were few and
unimportant. The Church relied upon its terrible power
of excommunication to punish the man who dared to
exercise the right of private judgment. But when the
authority of the Pope was rejected by a large and
increasing number of persons, excommunication lost its
power, and in the fourteenth century it was complained
that there were “evil persons” who “expressly
despised ” the censures of the Church, and refused to
submit to its condemnation. At this period the aid of the
law was called in and there commenced a series ol
enactments for the extirpation of heresy by burning,
imprisoning, and fining the heretic. In addition to the
statute law, heresy also became a criminal offence under
what is known as common law, the law, i.e., which
has its origin in custom and acquires legal force through
the repeated decisions of more or less famous judges;
or which expresses the views of the judges without
warrant of legislature or custom. The statutes for the
�punishment of “offences against religion’’ still in force
are :—
I. Depraving, despising, or reviling the Sacrament of the
Lord’s Supper, (i Ed. VI, c. i.)
II. To speak in derogation, depraving, or despising of
the Book of Common Prayer, (i Eliz., c. 2, s. 3.)
III. An Act for |he more effectual suppression of blas
phemy and profaneness. (9 Wm. Ill, c. 35.)
IV. An Act to prevent certain abuses and profanations on
the Lord’s Day. (21 Geo. III. c. 49.)
V. An Act for the punishment of blasphemy in Scotland.
(6 Geo. IV, c. 47.)
To these must now be added Section 54 of the Metro
politan Police Act, 1839, and Section 28 of the Town
Police Clauses Act, 1847, which give the police power to
take persons into custody for using profane language
in public places. In the cases of Mr. Jackson at Leeds
in April, 1912, and Messrs. Chasty and Muirhead at
Ilkeston in the following month, the magistrates held
that profanity is indistinguishable from blasphemy.
The common law as to blasphemy was settled in 1676
by Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale. The learned
judge then laid down that “ Christianity, being parcel
of the laws of England, therefore to speak in reproach
of the Christian religion is to speak in subversion of the
law.” This was the accepted reading of the law for
two centuries. So late as March, 1883, Mr. Justice
North, in trying Messrs. Foote, Ramsey, and Kemp,
said that it was blasphemy to deny the existence or
providence of God ; or to ridicule the persons of the
Trinity, or the Cnristian religion, or the Holy Scriptures
in any way. In April of the same year, however, Lord
Coleridge, in his celebrated summing up, gave what was
virtually a new reading of the law. Specifically
contradicting former rulings, he said that it was no
longer true that Christianity was part of the law of the
land, but that “ if the decencies of controversy are
observed, even the fundamentals of religion may be
attacked without the person being guilty of blasphemy.”
This ruling in effect put the law upon an entirely new
footing. It was traversed at the time by several learned
lawyers, and in 1886, in the case of Dr. Pankhurst v.
Thompson, Baron Huddleston and Mr. Justice Manisty
both expressed their disagreement with Lord Coleridge’s
�ruling, but it has recently been reiterated and confirmed
by Mr. Justice Phillimore and Mr. Justice Darling in
Mr. Boulter’s case, 1908-9, Mr. Justice Horridge in the
cases of Messrs. Stewart and Gott, 1911, and by Mr.
Justice Eldon Bankes in Mr. Bullock’s case, 1912.
All laws against heresy or blasphemy are laws for the
repression of opinion, and Lord Coleridge’s reading of
the law does not alter that fact or remove the danger of
prosecutions. Who is to decide what are the “ decen
cies of controversy ” ?
Are twelve antagonistic
jurymen to be the censors? What would be the
decision of twelve Belfast Orangemen who had
to try a Catholic speaker, or twelve Catholics
who were trying a bitter Protestant lecturer? Is
it reasonable to expect a more impartial verdict from
twelve Christians in trying a Secularist for an attack
upon their faith? The Secularist is, in effect, tried by a
packed jury. At its best, Lord Coleridge’s law as to
spoken or written blasphemy is a law which gives im
munity to “the scholar and the gentleman’’ whilst
denying it to the poor and unlearned. Can anyone de
fend the retention of a law which discriminates between
two classes of the community in this way?
Moreover, experience shows that these police prose
cutions are a complete failure even from the point of
view of the prosecution. So far from promoting
moderation of speech, by rousing resentment they
actually lead to the use of violent language. Free
thinkers to whom coarseness in controversy is extremely
repugnant are placed in a very awkward position.
There is something invidious in trying to moderate the
violence of those who are open to prosecution. It is
impossible to remonstrate with such a speaker publicly,
since the remonstrance might set the law on his track
and be used against him on his trial. It is equally diffi
cult to remonstrate privately with those embittered by
the imprisonment of their friends. The law, as it is
administered to-day, is an engine for silencing, not the
advocates of scurrility, but the advocates of moderation.
Further, even if Lord Coleridge’s law has superseded
that of the previous 200 years in regard to spoken or
written heresy., the old reading still obtains in regard
to legacies, contracts, and the guardianship of children.
A legacy bequeathed for the purpose of propagating
�opinions subversive of the Christian religion was held
to be contrary to the law so recently as 1903. The
question as to the “ decencies of controversy ” or the
place in which the opinions were to be propagated did
not arise. The legacy was invalid simply because it
was inconsistent with Christianity.
If a parent
publishes his or her Atheistical opinions, the
Court may hold (and has held) that as a reason for
depriving such parent of the custody or guardianship
of the children. Contracts for purposes involving the
publication of heretical opinion can be (and have been)
broken with impunity. It has even been held that
there is no copyright in heretical books.
It is argued that these laws are obsolete. If they
are obsolete, then nothing could be more simple or more
straightforward than to abolish them. The proof that
they are not obsolete is, first, that they are enforced;
second, that their abolition is resisted. So long as there
are people who oppose the abolition of the blasphemy
laws, so long may we be quite sure that there are people
who desire to see them enforced. The only way to ensure
that no one shall be imprisoned or otherwise punished
for his opinions is to take away the power to punish.
Public opinion ought to be the one and only censor of
the “ decencies of controversy.”
Freedom to criticise, freedom to express opinion, is
one of the most valuable rights a man can possess, and
should belong to the uncultured quite as much as to the
cultured. We therefore plead for the entire abolition
of the power to prosecute for the expression of opinion
in matters of religion.
Those who value the right to speak freely, according
to conscience, above all other liberties, are urgently
requested to join the Committee for the Repeal of the
Blasphemy Laws, and should send in their names at
once to the Secretary.
The following Societies are already represented on
the Executive Committee :—The British and Foreign
Unitarian. Association, the National Secular Society,
the Positivist Society, the Rationalist Press Associa
tion., the South Place Ethical Society, and the Union of
Ethical Societies.
Issued by the Commit'ee for the Repeal of the Blasphemy Laws,
South Place Institute, Finsbury, E.C.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The blasphemy laws : what they are, and why they should be abolished
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Committee for the Repeal of the Blasphemy Laws
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Place of publication: [London]
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Notes: The Committee was constituted in 1912 by the NSS, RPA, Union of Ethical Societies and the British and Foreign Unitarian Society. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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1912
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N173
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Blasphemy
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Blasphemy
NSS
South Place Ethical Society
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32
Pa m p h Iets for the Million—No» 10
THE GHOSTS
By R. G. INGERSOLL
London:
WATTS & CO.,
17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.
�THE
RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION,
LIMITED.
Chairman :
Edward Clodd
Honorary Associates :
Alfred William Benn
Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner
Sir Edward Brabrook, C.B.
George Brandes
Dr. Charles Callaway
Dr. Paul Carus
Prof. B. H. Chamberlain
Dr. Stanton Coit
W. W. Collins
F. J. Gould
Prof. Ernst Haeckel
Leonard Huxley
'Joseph McCabe
Eden Phillpotts
John M. Robertson
Dr. W. R. Washington Sullivan
Prof. Lester F. Ward
Prof. Ed. A. Westermarck
Secretary and Registered Offices:
Charles E. Hooper, Nos. 5 & 6 Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.
How to Join and Help the R.P. A.
The minimum subscription to constitute Membership is 5s., renewable in January of
each year.
A form of application for Membership, with full particulars, including latest Annual
Report and specimen copy of the Literary Guide (the unofficial organ of the Associa
tion), can be obtained gratis on application to the Secretary.
Copies of new publications are forwarded regularly on account of Members’sub
scriptions, or a Member can arrange to make his own selection from the lists of
new books which are issued from time to time.
To join the Association is to help on its work, but to subscribe liberally is of course
to help more effectually. As Subscribers of from 5s. to 10s. and more are entitled to
receive back the whole value of their subscriptions in books, on which there is little
if any profit made, the Association is dependent, for the capital required to carryout
its objects, upon subscriptions of a larger amount and upon donations and bequests.
Ube Xiterar^ Guide
(the unofficial organ of the' R. P. A.)
is published on the 1st of each month, price 2d., by post 2W. Annual subscrip
tion : 2S. 6d. post paid.
The contributors comprise the leading writers in the Rationalist Movement,
including Mr. Joseph McCabe, Mrs. H. Bradlaugh Bonner, Mr. F. J. Gould
Mr. Charles T. Gorham, Dr. C. Callaway, Mr. A. W. Benn, and “ Mimnermus
SPECIMEN COPY POST FREE.
London : Watts & Co., 17 Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, E.C.
�'B U <
Pamphletsfor the Million.—No. io
national secular society
R. G. INGERSOLL
THE GHOSTS
ISSUED FOR THE RATIONALIST
PRESS
ASSOCIATION,
LIMITED
WATTS & CO., 17 JOHNSON’S COURT,
FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C. — 1912
�PUBLISHERS ’ NOTE
This famous Lecture of Colonel Ingersoll is taken from the
Dresden edition of his works (12 vols.; £6 net), which was
published in America shortly after his death. In this country
nearly all his principal lectures and essays, apart from his
legal addresses, are included in the series of Lectures and
Essays issued in three parts at 6d. each (by post 8d.; the
three parts is. iod.), or in one handsome cloth volume at
2s. 6d. net (by post 2s. nd.).
PAMPHLETS FOR THE MILLION
ALREADY ISSUED
1. Why I Left the Church.
6. Liberty of Man, Woman,
By Joseph McCabe.
48
and Child.
By Colonel
PP-; id.
R. G. Ingersoll. 48 pp.; id.
2. Why Am I An Agnostic?
7. The Age of Reason. By
By Colonel R. G. Ingersoll.
Thomas Paine. 124 pp. ; 2d.
24 PP-; id.
8. Last Words on Evolu
3. Christianity’s Debt to
TO
tion. By Prof. Haeckel.
Earlier Religions.
By
64 pp.; id.
P. Vivian. (A Chapter from
9. Science and the Purpose
The Churches and Modern
OB' Life.
By Fridtjof
Thought.} 64 pp.; id.
Nansen. 16 pp.; £d.
4. How to Reform Mankind. 10. The Ghosts. By Colonel
By Colonel R. G. Ingersoll.
R. G. Ingersoll. 32 pp.; id.
24 pp.; ¿d.
11. The Passing of Histo
5. Myth or History in the
rical Christianity.
By
■Old Testament? By S.
Rev. R. Roberts. 16 pp.;
Laing. 48 pp.; id.
id.
�THE GHOSTS
let them cover their eyeless sockets with their flesh
less HANDS AND FADE FOREVER FROM THE IMAGINATION OF MEN.
HERE are three theories by which men account for all
phenomena, for everything that happens: first, the
supernatural; second, the supernatural and natural; third, the
natural. Between these theories there has been, from the
dawn of civilisation, a continual conflict. In this great war
nearly all the soldiers have been in the ranks of the super
natural. The believers in the supernatural insist that matter
is controlled and directed entirely by powers from without;
while naturalists maintain that nature acts from within;
that nature is not acted upon; that the universe is all there
is * that nature with infinite arms embraces everything that
exists, and that all supposed powers beyond the limits of
the material are simply ghosts.
You say,
Oh, this is
materialism 1 ” What is matter? I take in my hand some
earth—in this dust put seeds. Let the arrows of light from
the quiver of the sun smite upon it; let the rain fall upon it.
The seeds will grow, and a plant will bud and blossom.
Do you understand this? Can you explain it better than
you can the production of thought? Have you the slightest
conception of what it really is?
And yet you speak of
matter as though acquainted with its origin, as though you
had torn from the clenched hands of the rocks the secrets
of material existence. Do you know what force is? Can
you account for molecular action? Are you really familiar
with chemistry, and can you account for the loves and hatre s
of the atoms? Is there not something in matter that forever
-eludes?
After all, can you get beyond, above, or below
appearances? Before you cry “Materialism! ” had you not
better ascertain what matter really is? Can you think even
of anything without a material basis? Is it possible to
imagine annihilation of a single atom? Is it possible for you
to conceive of the creation of an atom? Can you have a
thought that was not suggested to you by what you call
matter ?
T
�4
THE GHOSTS
Our fathers denounced materialism, and accounted for all
phenomena by the caprice of gods and devils.
For thousands of years it was believed that ghosts, good
and bad, benevolent and malignant, weak and powerful
in some mysterious way, produced all phenomena: that
disease and health, happiness and misery, fortune and misortune, peace and war, life and death, success and failure
were but arrows from the quivers of these ghosts; that
shadowy phantoms rewarded and punished mankind; that
they were pleased and displeased by the actions of men;
that they sent and withheld the snow, the light, and the
rain ; that they blessed the earth with harvests or cursed
it with famine; that they fed or starved the children of men;
that they crowned and uncrowned kings; that they took
sides in war; that they controlled the winds; that they
gave prosperous voyages, allowing the brave mariner to
meet his wife and child inside the harbour bar, or sent
the storms, strewing the sad shores with wrecks of ships
and the bodies of men.
Formerly these ghosts were believed to be almost innumer
able. Earth, air, and water were filled with these phantom
hosts.
In modern times they have greatly decreased in
number, because the second theory—a mingling of the super
natural and natural—has generally been adopted.
The
remaining ghosts, however, are supposed to perform the same
offices as the hosts of yore.
It has always been believed that these ghosts could in
some way be appeased ; that they could be flattered by
sacrifices, by prayer, by fasting, by the building of temples
and cathedrals, by the blood of men and beasts, by forms
and ceremonies, by chants, by kneelings and prostrations,
by flagellations and maimings, by renouncing the joys of
home, by living alone in the wide desert, by the practice of
celibacy, by inventing instruments of torture, by destroying
men, women, and children, by covering the earth with
ungeons, by burning unbelievers, by putting chains upon the
thoughts and manacles upon the limbs of men, by believing
things without evidence and against evidence, by disbelieving
and denying demonstration, by despising facts, by hating
reason,, by denouncing liberty, by maligning heretics, by
slandering the dead, by subscribing to senseless and cruel
creeds, by discouraging investigation, by worshipping a book,
by the cultivation of credulity, by observing certain times
�THE GHOSTS
F
5
and days, by counting beads, by gazing at crosses, by hiring
others, to repeat verses and prayers, by burning candles and
ringing bells, by enslaving each other and putting out the
eyes of the soul. All this has been done to appease and
flatter these monsters of the air.
In the history of our poor world, no horror has been omitted,
no infamy has been left undone, by the believers in ghosts
by the worshippers of these fleshless phantoms.. And yet
these shadows were born of cowardice and malignity. They
were painted by the pencil of fear upon the canvas of ignorance
by that artist called superstition.
.
From these ghosts our fathers received information. They
were the schoolmasters of our ancestors.. They were the
scientists and philosophers, the geologists, legislators,
astronomers, physicians, metaphysicians, and historians of
the past. For ages these ghosts were supposed to be the
only source of real knowledge. They inspired men to write
books, and the books were considered sacred. If facts were
found to be inconsistent with these books, so much the
worse tor the facts, and especially for their discoverers. It
was then, and still is, believed that these books are the
basis of the idea of immortality; that to give up these volumes,
or, rather, the idea that they are inspired, is to renounce
the idea of immortality. This I deny.
The idea of immortality, that like a sea has ebbed and
flowed in the human heart, with its countless waves of hope
and fear beating against the shores and rocks of time and
fate, was not born of any book, nor of any creed, nor of any
religion.
It was born of human affection, and it will
continue to ebb and flow beneath the mists and clouds of
doubt and darkness as long as love kisses the lips of death.
It is the rainbow—Hope shining upon the tears of grief.
From the books written by the ghosts we have at last
ascertained that they knew nothing about the world in which
we live. Did they know anything about the next? Upon
every point where contradiction is possible they have been
contradicted.
By these ghosts, by these citizens of the air, the affairs
of government were administered; all authority to govern
came from them. The emperors, kings, and potentates all
had commissions from these phantoms.
Man was not
considered as the source of any power whatever. T<? rebel
against the king was to rebel against the ghosts, and nothing
�6
THE GHOSTS
less than the blood of the offender could appease the invisible
phantom or the visible tyrant. Kneeling was the proper
position to ,be assumed by the multitude. The prostrate
were thé good. Those who stood erect were infidels and
traitors. In the name and by the authority of the ghosts,
man was enslaved, crushed, and plundered. The many toiled
wearily in the storm and sun that the few favourites of the
ghosts might live in idleness. The many lived in huts, and
caves, and dens, that the few might dwell in palaces. The
many covered themselves with rags, that the few might
robe themselves in purple and in gold. The many crept, and
cringed, and crawled, that the few might tread upon their
flesh with iron feet.
From the ghosts men received, not only authority, but
information of every kind. They told us the form of this
earth. They informed us that eclipses were caused by the
sins of man ; that the universe was made in six days ; that
astronomy and geology were devices of wicked men,
instigated by wicked ghosts ; that gazing at the sky with a
telescope was a dangerous thing ; that digging into the earth
was sinful curiosity ; that trying to be wise above what they
had written was born of a rebellious and irreverent spirit.
They told us there was no virtue like belief, and no crime
like doubt ; that investigation was pure impudence, and the
punishment therefor eternal torment. They not only told
us all about this world, but about two others ; and, if their
statements about the other worlds are as true as about this,
no one can estimate the value of their information.
For counless ages the world was governed by ghosts, and
they spared no pains to change the eagle of the human
intellect into a bat of darkness. To accomplish this infamous
purpose ; to drive the love of truth from the human heart ;
to prevent the advancement of mankind ; to shut out from
the world every ray of intellectual light ; to pollute every
mind with superstition, the power of kings, the cunning and
cruelty of priests, and the wealth of nations were exhausted.
During these years of persecution, ignorance, superstition,
and slavery, nearly all the people, the kings, lawyers, doctors,
the learned and the unlearned, believed in that frightful
production of ignorance, fear, and faith, called witchcraft.
They believed that man was the sport and prey of devils.
They really thought that the very air was thick with these
enemies of man.
With few exceptions, this hideous and
�i
/
/
THE GHOSTS
7{
infamous belief was universal.
Under these conditions
progress was almost impossible.
Fear paralyses the brain. Progress is born of courage.
Fear_ believes courage doubts. Fear falls upon the earth
and prays—courage stands erect and thinks. Fear retreats__
courage advances. Fear is barbarism—courage is civilisa
tion. _ Fear believes in witchcraft, in devils, and in ghosts.
Fear is religion—courage is science.
The facts upon which this terrible belief rested were proved
over and over again in every court of Europe. Thousands
confessed themselves guilty—admitted that they had sold
themselves to the devil. They gave the particulars of the
sale; told what they said and what the devil replied. They
confessed this, when they knew that confession was death;
their property would be confiscated, and their
children left to beg their bread. This is one of the miracles
of history—one of the strangest contradictions of the human
mind Without doubt, they really believed themselves guilty.
In the first place they believed in witchcraft as a fact, and
when charged with it they probably became insane. In their
insanity they confessed their guilt. They found themselves
abhorred and deserted—charged with a crime that they could
not disprove. Like a man in quicksand, every effort only
sank them deeper.
Caught in this frightful web, at the
mercy of the spiders of superstition, hope fled, and nothing
remained but the insanity of confession. The whole world
appeared to be insane.
In the time of James the First a man was executed for
causing a storm at sea with the intention of drowning one
of the royal family. How could he disprove it? How could he
snow that he did not cause the storm? All storms were at
that time generally supposed to be caused by the devil—the
prince of the power of the air—and by those whom he assisted.
. 1 implore you to remember that the believers in such
impossible things were the authors of our creeds and
confessions of faith.
A woman was tried and convicted before Sir Matthew Hale
one of the great judges and lawyers of England, for having
caused children to vomit crooked pins. She was also charged
with having nursed devils. The learned judge charged the
intelligent jury that there was no doubt as to the existence
teujht by the’ Kfe’ eStabHshed by a11 llis,or-v- “d exPr“sl>-
�THE GHOSTS
The woman was hanged and her body burned.
Sir Thomas More declared that to give up witchcraft was to
throwaway the sacred Scriptures. In my judgment, he was right.
John Wesley was a firm believer in ghosts and witches,
and insisted upon it, years after all laws upon the subject had
been repealed in England. I beg of you to remember that
John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist Church..
In New England a woman was charged with being a. witch,and with having changed herself into a fox. While in that
condition she was attacked and bitten by some dogs. A
committee of three men, by order of the court, examined this
woman. They removed her clothing and searched for witch
spots.” That is to say, spots into which needles could be
thrust without giving her pain. They, reported to the court
that such spots were found. She denied, however, that she
ever had changed herself into a fox. Upon the report of the
committee she was found guilty and actually executed. 1 his
was done by our Puritan fathers, by the gentlemen who
braved the dangers of the deep for the sake of worshipping
God and persecuting their fellow-men.
In those days people believed in what was known as
lycanthrophy—that is, that persons, with the assistance of. the
devil, could assume the form of wolves. An instance is. given
where a man was attacked by a wolf. He defended himself,
and succeeded in cutting off one of the animal’s paws. . lne
wolf ran away. The man picked up the paw, put it in his
pocket, and carried it home. There he found his wife with one '
of her hands gone. He took the paw from his pocket. It had
changed to a human hand. He charged his wife with being a
witch. She was tried. She confessed her guilt, and was burned.
People were burned for causing frosts in summer-tor
destroying crops with hail—for causing storms for making
cows go dry, and even for souring beer. There was no
impossibility for which someone was not tried and convicted.
The life of no one was secure. To be charged was to be
convicted. Every man was at the mercy of every, other
This infamous belief was so firmly seated in the minds ot
the people that to express a doubt as to its truth, was to be
suspected. Whoever denied the existence of witches and
devils was denounced as an infidel.
.
They believed that animals were often taken possession ot by
devils, and that the killing of the animal would destroy the
devil. They absolutely tried, convicted, and executed dumb beasts.
�THE GHOSTS
9
At Basle, in 1470, a rooster was tried upon the charge
of having laid an egg. Rooster eggs were used only in
making witch ointment—this everybody knew. The rooster
was convicted, and with all due solemnity was burned in the
public square. So a hog and six pigs were tried for having
killed and partially eaten a child. The hog was convicted,
but the pigs, on account probably of their extreme youth,
were acquitted. As late as 1740 a cow was tried and
convicted of being possessed by a devil.
They used to exorcise rats, locusts, snakes, and vermin.
They used to go through the alleys, streets, and fields, and
warn them to leave within a certain number of days. In case
they disobeyed, they were threatened with pains and penalties.
But let us be careful how we laugh at these things. Let
us not pride ourselves too much on the progress of our age.
We must not forget that some of our people are yet in the
same intelligent business.
Only a little while ago the
Governor of Minnesota appointed a day of fasting and prayer,
to see if some power could not be induced to kill the grass
hoppers, or send them into some other State.
About the close of the fifteenth century, so great was the
excitement with regard to the existence of witchcraft that
Pope Innocent VIII. issued a bull directing the inquisitors
to be vigilant in searching out and punishing all guilty of
this crime. Forms for the trial were regularly laid down in
a book or pamphlet called the Malleus Maleficorum (Hammer
of Witches), which was issued by the Roman See. Popes
Alexander, Leo, and Adrian issued like bulls.
For two
hundred and fifty years the Church was busy in punishing
the impossible crime of witchcraft; in burning, hanging, and
torturing men, women, and children. Protestants were as
active as Catholics, and in Geneva five hundred witches were
burned at the stake in a period of three months. About one
thousand were executed in one year in the diocese of Como.
At least one hundred thousand victims suffered in Germany
alone, the last execution (in Wurzburg) taking place as late
as 1739. Witches were burned in Switzerland as late as 1780.
In England the same frightful scenes were enacted.
Statutes were passed from Henry VI. to James I. defining
the crime and its punishment. The last Act passed by the
British Parliament was when Lord Bacon was a member of
theHouseof Commons; and this Act was not repealed until 1736*
Sir William Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws
�IO
THE GHOSTS
of England, says: “ To deny the possibility, nay, actual
existence, of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to
contradict the word of God in various passages both of the
Old and New Testament; and the thing itself is a truth to
which every nation in the world hath in its turn borne testi
mony, either by examples seemingly well attested or by
prohibitory laws, which at least suppose the possibility of a
commerce with evil spirits.”
In Brown’s Dictionary of the Bible, published at
Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1807, it is said that “A witch is a
woman that has dealings with Satan. That such persons
are among men is abundantly plain fr.om Scripture, and that
they ought to be put to death.”
This work was' republished in Albany, New York, in 1816.
No wonder the clergy of that city are ignorant and bigoted
even unto this day.
In 1716 Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, nine years of age,
were hanged for selling their souls to the devil, and raising
a storm by pulling off their stockings and making a lather
of soap.
In England it has been estimated that at least thirty
thousand were hanged and burned. The last victim executed
in Scotland perished in 1722. “She was an innocent old
woman, who had so little idea of her situation as to rejoice
at the sight of the fire which was destined to consume her.
She had a daughter, lame of both hands and of feet—a
circumstance attributed to the witch having been used to
transform her daughter into a pony and getting her shod
by the devil.”
In 1692 nineteen persons were executed and one pressed
to death in Salem, Massachusetts, for the crime of witchcraft.
It was thought in those days that men and women made
compacts with the devil, orally and in writing; that they
abjured God and Jesus Christ, and dedicated themselves
wholly to the devil.
The contracts were confirmed at a
general meeting of witches and ghosts, over which the
devil himself presided; and the persons generally signed the
articles of agreement with their own blood. These contracts
were, in some instances, for a few years; in others, for life.
General assemblies of the witches were held at least once a
year, at which they appeared entirely naked, besmeared with
an ointment made from the bodies of unbaptised infants. “To
these meetings they rode from great distances on broomsticks,
�THE GHOSTS
ii
pokers, goats, hogs, and dogs. Here they did homage to the
prince of hell, and offered him sacrifices of young children,
and practised all sorts of license until the break of day.”
“As late as 1815 Belgium was disgraced by a witch trial;
and guilt was established by the water ordeal.” “ In 1836
the populace of Hela, near Dantzic, twice plunged into the
sea a woman reputed to be a sorceress; and as the miserable
creature persisted in rising to the surface, she was
pronounced guilty and beaten to death.”
“ It was believed that the bodies of devils are not, like those
of men and animals, cast in an unchangeable mould. It
\Vas thought they were like clouds, refined and subtle matter,
capable of assuming any form and penetrating into any
orifice. The horrible tortures they endured in their place
of punishment rendered them extremely sensitive to suffering,
and they continually sought a temperate and somewhat moist
warmth in order to allay their pangs. It was for this reason
they so frequently entered into men and women.”
The devil could transport men, at his will, through the
air. He could beget children; and Martin Luther himself
had come into contact with one of these children. He
recommended the mother to throw the child into the river,
in order to free their house from the presence of the devil.
It was believed that the devil could transform people into
any shape he pleased.
Whoever denied these things was denounced as an infidel.
All the believers in witchcraft confidently appealed to the
Bible. Their mouths were filled with passages demonstra
ting the existence of witches and their power over human
beings. By the Bible they proved that innumerable evil
spirits were ranging over the world endeavouring to ruin
mankind; that these spirits possessed a power and wisdom
far. transcending the limits of human faculties; that they
delighted in every misfortune that could befall the world;
that their malice was superhuman.
That they caused
tempests was proved by the action of the devil towards Job;
by the passage in the' book of Revelation describing the four
angels who held the four winds, and to whom it was given
to afflict the earth. They believed the devil could carry
persons hundreds of miles, in a few seconds, through the
air. They believed this, because they knew that Christ had
been carried by the devil in the same manner and placed on
a pinnacle of the temple. “The prophet Habakkuk had been
�12
THE GHOSTS
transported by a spirit from Judea to Babylon; and Philip,
the evangelist, had been the object of a similar miracle;
and in the same way St. Paul had been carried in the body
into the third heaven.”
“ In those pious days they believed that Incubi and Succubi
were forever wandering among mankind, alluring, by more
than human charms, the unwary to their destruction, and
laying plots, which were too often successful, against the
virtue of the saints. Sometimes the witches kindled in the
monastic priest a more terrestrial fire. People told, with
bated breath, how, under the spell of a vindictive woman,
four successive abbots in a Germian monastery had been
wasted away by an unholy flame.”
An instance is given in which the devil not only assumed
the appearance of a holy man, in order to pay his addresses
to a lady, but, when discovered, crept under the bed, suffered
himself to be dragged out, and was impudent enough to
declare that he was the veritable bishop. So perfectly had
he assumed the form and features of the prelate that those
who knew the bishop best were deceived.
One can hardly imagine the frightful state of the human
mind during these long centuries of darkness and super
stition.
To them these things were awful and frightful
realities. Hovering above them in the air, in their houses,
in the bosoms of friends, in their very bodies, in all the
darkness of night, everywhere, around, above, and below,
were innumerable hosts of unclean and malignant devils.
From the malice of those leering and vindictive vampires
of the air the Church pretended to defend mankind. Pursuedby these phantoms, the frightened multitudes fell upon their
faces and implored the aid of robed hypocrisy and sceptred
theft.
Take from the orthodox Church of to-day the threat and
fear of hell, and it becomes an extinct volcano.
Take from the Church the miraculous, the supernatural,
the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the un
knowable, and the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains.
Notwithstanding all the infamous things justly laid to
the charge of the Church, we are told that the civilisation of
to-day is the child of what we are pleased to call the super
stition of the past.
Religion has not civilised man—man has civilised religion.
God improves as man advances.
�THE GHOSTS
13
Let me call your attention to what we have received from
the followers of the ghosts. Let me give you an outline of
the sciences as taught by these philosophers of the clouds.
All diseases were produced either as a punishment by the
good ghosts or out of pure malignity by the bad ones. There
were, properly speaking, no diseases. The sick were
possessed by ghosts. The science of medicine consisted in
knowing how to persuade these ghosts to vacate the premises.
For thousands of years the diseased were treated with
incantations, with hideous noises, with drums and gongs.
Everything was done to make the visit of the ghost as
unpleasant as possible, and they generally succeeded in
making things so disagreeable that, if the ghost did not leave,
the patient did. These ghosts were supposed to be of different
rank, power, and dignity. Now and then a man pretended
to have won the favour of some powerful ghost, and that
gave him power over the little ones. Such a man became
an eminent physician.
It was found that certain kinds of smoke, such as that
produced by burning the liver of a fish, the dried skin of a
serpent, the eyes of a toad, or the tongue of an adder, were
exceedingly offensive to the nostrils of an ordinary ghost.
With this smoke the sick room would be filled until the ghost
had vanished or the patient died.
It was also believed that certain words—the names of the
most powerful ghosts—when properly pronounced, were very
effective weapons. It was for a long time thought that
Latin words were .the best, Latin being a dead language,
and known by the clergy. , Others thought that two sticks
laid across each other and held before thé wicked ghost
would cause it instantly to flee in dread away.
For thousands of years ,the practice of medicine consisted
in driving these evil spirits out of the bodies of men.
In some instances bargains and compromises were made
with the ghosts. One case is given where a multitude of
devils traded a man for a herd of swine. In this transaction
the devils were the losers, as the swine immediately drowned
themselves in the sea. This idea of disease appears to have
been almost universal, and is by no means yet extinct.
The contortions of the epileptic, the strange twitchings
of those afflicted with chorea, the shakings of palsy, dreams,
trances, and the numberless frightful phenomena produced
by diseases of the nerves, were all seized upon as so many
\
.
�14
THE GHOSTS
proofs that the bodies of men were filled with unclean and
malignant g*hosts.
Whoever endeavoured to account for these things by
natural causes, whoever attempted to cure diseases by
natural means, was denounced by the Church as an infidel.
To explain anything was a crime. It was to the interest of
the priest that all phenomena should be accounted for by the
will and power of gods and devils.
The moment it is
admitted that all phenomena are within the domain of the
natural, the necessity for a priest has disappeared. Religion
breathes the air of the supernatural. Take from the mind of
man the idea of the supernatural, and religion ceases to exist.
For this reason, the Church has always despised the man who
explained the wonderful. Upon this principle, nothing was
left undone to stay the science of medicine. As long as
plagues and pestilences could be stopped by prayer, the priest
was useful. The moment the physician found a cure, the
priest became an extravagance. The moment it began to
be apparent that prayer could do nothing for the body, the
priest shifted his ground and began praying for the soul.
Long after the devil idea was substantially abandoned in
the practice of medicine, and when it was admitted that
God had nothing to do with ordinary coughs and colds, it
was still believed that all the frightful diseases were sent
by him as punishments for the wickedness of the people. It
was thought to be a kind of blasphemy to even try, by any
natural means,.to stay the ravages of pestilence. Formerly,
during the prevalence of plague and epidemics, the arrogance
of the priest was boundless. He told the people that they
had slighted the clergy, that they had refused to pay tithes,
that they had doubted some of the doctrines of the Church,
and that God was now taking his revenge. The people,
for the most part, believed this infamous tissue of priest
craft. They hastened to fall upon their knees; they poured
out their wealth upon the altars of hypocrisy; they abased
and debased themselves; from their minds they banished all
doubts, and made haste to crawl in the very dust of humility.
The Church never wanted disease to be under the control
of man.
Timothy Dwight, President of Yale College,
preached a sermon against vaccination. His idea was that,
if God had decreed from all eternity that a certain man should
die with the small-pox, it was a frightful sin to avoid and
annul that decree by the trick of vaccination. Small-pox
�THE GHOSTS
ij
being regarded as one of the heaviest guns in the arsenal of
heaven, to spike it was the height of presumption. Plagues
and pestilences were instrumentalities' in the hands of God
with which to gain the love arid worship of mankind. To
find a cure for disease was to take a weapon from the Church.
No one tries to cure the ague with prayer. Quinine has
been found altogether more reliable.
Just as soon as a
specific is found for a disease, that disease will be left out
of the list of prayer. The number of diseases with which
God from time to time afflicts mankind is continually decreas
ing. In a few years all of them will be under the control
of& man, the gods will be left unarmed, and the threats of
their priests will excite only a smile.
The science of medicine has had but one enemy—religion.
Man was afraid to save his body for fear he might lose his soul.
Is it any wonder that the people in those days believed in
and taught the infamous doctrine of eternal punishment—
a doctrine that makes God a heartless monster and man a
slimy hypocrite and slave?
The ghosts were historians, and their histories were the
grossest absurdities. “Tales told by idiots, full of sound
and fury, signifying nothing.” In those days the histories
were written by the monks, who, as a rule, were almost as
superstitious as they were dishonest. They wrote as though
they had been witnesses of every occurrence they related.
They wrote the history of every country of importance. They
told all the past, and predicted all the future with an impu
dence that amounted to sublimity. “ They traced the order of
St. Michael, in France, to the archangel himself, and alleged
that he was the founder of a chivalric order in heaven itself.
They said that Tartars originally came from hell, and that
they were called Tartars because Tartarus was one of the
names of perdition. They declared that Scotland was so
named after Scota, a daughter of Pharaoh, who landed in
Ireland, invaded Scotland, and took it by force of arms.
This statement was made in a letter addressed to the Pope
in the fourteenth century, and was alluded to as a well-known
fact. The letter was written by some of the highest digni
taries, and by the direction of the King himself.
These gentlemen accounted for the red on the breasts of
robins from the fact that these birds carried water to
unbaptised infants in hell.
�16
THE GHOSTS
Matthew, of Paris, an eminent historian of the fourteenth
century, gaye the world the following piece of information :
It is well known that Mohammed was once a cardinal, and
became a heretic because he failed in his effort to be elected
Pope ; and that, haying drank to excess, he fell by the road
side, and in this condition was killed by swine. “And for that
reason his followers abhor pork even unto this day.”
Another eminent historian informs us that Nero was in
the habit of vomiting frogs. When I read this I said to
myself : Some of the croakers of the present day against
progress would be the better for such a vomit.
The history of Charlemagne was written by Turpin, of
Rheims. He was a bishop. He assures us that the walls
of a city fell down in answer to prayer; that there were
giants in those days who could take fifty ordinary men under
their arms and walk away with them. “ With the greatest
of these, a direct descendant of Goliath, one Orlando, had a
theological discussion; and in the heat of the debate, when
the giant was overwhelmed with the argument, Orlando
rushed forward and inflicted a fatal stab.”
The history of Britain, written by the archdeacons of
Monmouth and Oxford, was wonderfully popular. According
to them, Brutus conquered England and built the city of
London. During his time it rained pure blood for three days.
At another time a monster came from the sea, and, after
having devoured great multitudes of people, swallowed the
king and disappeared. They tell us that King Arthur was
not born like other mortals, but was the result of a magical
Contrivance; that he had great luck in killing giants; that
he killed one in France that had the cheerful habit of eating
some thirty men a day; that this giant had clothes woven
of the beards of the kings he had devoured. To cap the
climax, one of the authors of this book was promoted for
having written the only reliable history of his country.
In all the histories of those days there is hardly a single
truth.
Facts were considered unworthy of preservation.
Anything that really happened was not of sufficient interest
or importance to be recorded. The great religious historian,
Eusebius, ingenuously remarks that in his history he carefully
omitted whatever tended to discredit the Church, and that
he piously magnified all that conduced to her glory.
The same glorious principle was scrupulously adhered to
by all the historians of that time.
�THE GHOSTS
• i7
They wrote, and the people believed, that .the tracks of
Pharaoh’s chariots were still visible on the sands of the Red
Sea, and that they had been miraculously preserved from the
winds and waves as perpetual witnesses of the great miracle
there performed.
It is safe to say that every truth in the histories of those
times is the result of accident or mistake.
They accounted for everything as the work of good and
evil spirits. With cause and effect they had nothing to do.
Facts were in no way related to each other. God, governed
by infinite caprice, filled the world with miracles and dis
connected events. From the quiver of his hatred came the
arrows of famine, pestilence, and death.
The moment the idea is abandoned that all is natural, that
all phenomena are the necessary links in the endless chain
of being, the conception of history becomes impossible. With
the ghosts, the present is not the child of the past, nor the
mother of the future. In the domain of religion all is chance,
accident, and caprice.
Do not forget, I pray you, that our creeds were written
by the contemporaries of these historians.
The same idea was applied to law. It was believed by
our intelligent ancestors that all law derived its sacredness
and its binding force from the fact that it had been com
municated to man by the ghosts.
Of course it was not
pretended that the ghosts told everybody the law; but they
told it to a few, and the few told it to the people, and the
people, as a rule, paid them exceedingly well for their trouble.
It was thousands of ages before the people commenced
making laws for themselves, and, strange as it may appear,
most of these laws were vastly superior to the ghost article.
Through the web and woof of human legislation began to
run and shine and glitter the golden thread of justice.
During these years of darkness it was believed that rather
than see an act of injustice done, rather than see the
innocent suffer, rather than see the guilty triumph, some
ghost would interfere. This belief, as a rule, gave great
satisfaction to the victorious party, and, as the other man
was dead, no complaint was heard from him.
This doctrine was the sanctification of brute force and
chance. They had trials by battle, by fire, by water, and by
lot. Persons were made to grasp hot iron, and if it burned
them their guilt was established. Others, with tied hands
�THE GHOSTS
and feet, were cast into the sea, and if they sank the verdict
of guilty was unanimous; if they did not sink, they were in
league with devils.
So, in England, persons charged with crime could appeal
to the corsned. The corsned was a piece of the sacramental
bread. If the defendant could swallow this piece, he went
acquit. Godwin, Earl of Kent, in the time of Edward the
Confessor, appealed to the corsned. He failed to swallow it,
and was choked to death.
. The ghosts and their followers always took delight in
torture, in cruel and unusual punishments. For the infrac
tion of most of their laws death was the penalty—death
produced by stoning and by fire.
Sometimes, when man
committed only murder, he was allowed to flee to some city
of refuge. Murder was a 'crime against man. But for
saying certain words, or denying certain doctrines, or for
picking up sticks on certain days, or for worshipping the
wrong ghost, or for failing to pray to the right
one, or for laughing at a priest, or for saying that
wine was not blood, or that bread was not flesh, or for
failing to regard rams’ horns as artillery, or for insisting
that a dry bone was scarcely sufficient to take the place
of water works, or that a raven, as a rule, made a poor
landlord—death, produced by all the ways that the ingenuity
of hatred could devise, was the penalty.
Law is a growth—it is a science. Right and wrong exist
in the nature of things. Things are not right because they
are commanded, nor wrong because they are prohibited.
There are real crimes enough without creating artificial ones.
All progress in legislation has for centuries consisted in
repealing the laws of the ghosts.
The idea of right and wrong is born of man’s capacity
to enjoy and suffer. If man could not suffer, if he could not
inflict injury upon his fellow, if he could neither feel nor
inflict pain, the idea of right and wrong never would have
entered his brain.
But for this, the word “conscience”
never would have passed the lips of man. *
There is one good—happiness. There is but one sin—
selfishness.
All law should be for the preservation of
the one and the destruction of the other.
Under the regime of the ghosts, laws were not supposed
to exist in the nature of things. They were supposed to be
simply the irresponsible command of a ghost. These com-
�THE GHOSTS
19
mands were not supposed to rest upon reason ; they were
the product of arbitrary will.
The penalties for the violation of these laws were as cruel as
the laws were senseless and absurd. Working on the Sabbath
and murder were both punished with death. The tendency of
such laws is to blot from the human heart the sense of justice.
To show you how perfectly every department of knowledge,
or ignorance rather, was saturated with superstition, I will
for a moment refer to the science of language.
It was thought by our fathers that Hebrew was the original
language ; that it was taught to Adam in the Garden of Eden
by the Almighty, and that consequently all languages came
from, and could be traced to, the Hebrew. Every fact incon
sistent with that idea was discarded.
According to the
ghosts, the trouble at the tower of Babel accounted for the
fact that all people did not speak Hebrew.
The Babel
business settled all questions in the science of language.
After a time, so many facts were found to be inconsistent
with the Hebrew idea that it began to fall into disrepute, and
other languages began to compete for the honour of being
the original.
André Kempe, in 1569, published a work on the language
of Paradise, in which he maintained that God spoke to Adam
in Swedish ; that Adam answered in Danish ; and that the
serpent—which appears to me quite probable—spoke to Eve
in French. Erro, in a work published at Madrid, took the
ground that Basque was the language spoken in the Garden
of Eden; but in 1580 Goropius published his celebrated work
at Antwerp, in which he put the whole matter at rest by
showing, beyond all doubt, that the language spoken in
Paradise was neither more nor less than plain Holland Dutch.
The real founder of the science of language was Leibnitz,
, a contemporary of Sir Isaac Newton. He discarded the idea
that all languages could be traced to one language.
He
maintained that language was a natural growth. Experience
teaches us that this must be so. Words are continually dying
and continually being born.
Words are naturally and
necessarily produced.. Words are the garments of thought,
the robes of ideas. Some are as rude as the skins of wild
beasts, and others glisten and glitter like silk and gold.
They have been born of hatred and revenge ; of love and
self-sacrifice ; of hope and fear ; of agony and joy. These
�20
THE GHOSTS
words are born of the terror and beauty of nature.
The
stars have fashioned them. In them mingle the darkness
and the dawn. From everything they have taken something.
Words are the crystallisations of human history, of all that
man has enjoyed and suffered—his victories and defeats—all
that he has lost and won. Words are the shadows of all
that has been—the mirrors of all that is.
The ghosts also enlightened our fathers in astronomy and
geology. According to them, the earth was made out of
nothing, and, a little more nothing having been taken than
was used in the construction of the world, the stars were
made out of what was left over.'- Cosmos, in the sixth
century, taught that the stars were impelled by angels, who
either carried them on their shoulders, rolled them in front
of them, or drew them after. He also taught that each angel
that pushed a star took great pains to observe what the other
angels were doing, so that the relative distances between the
stars might always remain the same. He also gave his idea
as to the form of the world.
He stated that the world was a vast parallelogram ; that
on the outside was a strip of land, like the frame of a common
slate; that then there was a strip of water, and in the middle
a great piece of land; that Adam and Eve lived on the
outer strip; that their descendants, with the exception of the
Noah family, were drowned by a flood on this outer strip;
that the ark finally rested on the middle piece of land where
we now are. He accounted for night and day by saying that
on the outside strip of land there was a high mountain around
which the sun and moon revolved, and that when the sun
was on the other side of the mountain it was night, and when
on this side it was day.
He also declared that the earth was flat. This he proved
by many passages from the Bible.
Among other reasons
for believing the earth to be flat, he brought forward the
following : We are told in the New Testament that Christ
shall come again in glory and power, and all the world shall
see him. Now, if the world is round, how are the people
on the other side going to see Christ if he comes? That
settled the question, and the Church not only endorsed he
book, but declared that whoever believed less or more than
stated by Cosmos was a heretic.
In those blessed days Ignorance was a king and Science an
outcast.
�THE GHOSTS
21
They knew the moment this earth ceased to.be the centre
of the universe, and became a mere speck in the starry
heaven of existence, that their religion would become a child
ish fable of the past.
In the name and by the authority of the ghosts men enslaved
their fellow-men; they trampled upon the rights of women
and children. In the name and by the authority of the ghosts
they bought and sold and destroyed each other; they filled
heaven with tyrants and earth with slaves, the present with
despair and the future with horror. In the name and by the
authority of the ghosts they imprisoned the human, mind,
polluted the conscience, hardened the heart, subverted justice,
crowned robbery, sainted hypocrisy, and extinguished for a
thousand years the torch of reason.
I have endeavoured, in some faint degree, to show you
what has happened, and what always will happen when men
are governed by superstition and fear; when they desert the
sublime standard of reason; when they take the words of
others and do not investigate for themselves.
Even the great men of those days were nearly as weak
in this matter as the most ignorant.
Kepler, one of the
greatest men of the world, an astronomer second to none,
although he plucked from the stars the secrets of the universe,
was an astrologer, and really believed that he could predict the
career of a man by finding what star was in the ascendant at
his birth. This great man breathed, so to speak, the atmos
phere of his time. He believed in the music of the spheres,
and assigned alto, bass, tenor, and treble to certain stars.
Tycho Brahe, another astronomer, kept an idiot, whose
disconnected and meaningless words he carefully set down,
and then put them together in such manner as to make
prophecies, and waited patiently to see them fulfilled. . Luther
believed that he had actually seen the devil, and had discussed
points of theology with him. The human mind was in chains.
Every idea almost was a monster. Thought was deformed.
Facts were looked upon as worthless. Only the wonderful
was worth preserving. Things that actually happened were
not considered worth recording—real occurrences were too
common. Everybody expected the miraculous.
I'he ghosts were supposed to be busy ; devils were thought
to be the most industrious things in the universe, and with
these imps every occurrence of an unusual character was in
some way connected. There was no order, no serenity, no
/
�-
the ghosts
certainty in anything.
Everything depended upon ghosts
and phantoms. Man. was, for the most part, at the mercy
of maleyoient ^Pints. He protected himself as best he could
with holy water and tapers and wafers and cathedrals He
made noises and rung bells to frighten the ghosts, and he
made music to charm them. He used smoke to choke them
and incense to please them. He wore beads and crosses.
He said prayers, and hired others to say them. He fasted
when he was hungry, and feasted when he was not
He
believed everything that seemed unreasonable, just to appease
the ghosts. He humbled himself. He crawled in the dust.
He shut the doors and windows, and excluded every ray of
light from the temple of the soul. He debauched and polluted
his own mind, and toiled night and day to repair the walls
of his own prison. From the garden of his heart he plucked
and trampled upon the holy flowers of pity.
The priests reveiiea in horrible descriptions of hell
revelled
hell. Con
xue
cerning the wrath of God they grew eloquent. They
HPnniinf'Pri
x
J
denounced mor* oo 4-^4-nllr, depraved. mt
man as totally J;____________ 1
They made reason
blasphemy and pity a crime. Nothing so delighted them as
painting the torments and sufferings of the. lost. Over the
,never dies they grew poetic; and the second
death filled them with a kind of holy delight. According to
them, the smoke and cries ascending from hell were the
perfume and music of heaven.
At the risk of being tiresome, I have said what I have
to show you the productions of the human mind, when
enslaved; the effects of widespread ignorance—the results
of fear. I want to convince you that every form of slavery
is a viper that, sooner or later, will strike its poison fang's
into the bosoms of men.
The first great step towards progress is for man to cease
to be the slave of man ; the second, to cease to be the slave of
the monsters of his own creation—of the ghosts and phantoms
of the air.
For ages the human race was imprisoned. Through the
bars and grates came a few struggling rays of light. Against
these grates and bars Science pressed its pale and thoughtful
face, wooed by the holy dawn of human advancement.
Men found that the real was the useful; that what a man
knows is better than what a ghost says; that an event is
more valuable than a prophecy.
They found that diseases
were not produced by spirits, and could not be cured by
�THE GHOSTS
23
frightening them away. They found that death was as natural
as life. They began to study the anatomy and chemistry of
the human body, and found that all was natural and within the
domain of law.
The conjurer and sorceror were discarded, and the physician
and surgeon employed. They found that the earth was not
flat; that the stars were not mere specks. They found that
being born under a particular planet had nothing to do with
the fortunes of men.
The astrologer was discharged, and the astronomer took
his place.
They found that the earth had swept through the constella
tions for millions of ages. They found that good and evil
were produced by natural causes, and not by ghosts; that
man could not be good or bad enough to stop or cause a rain ;
that diseases were produced as naturally as grass, and were
not sent as punishments upon man for failing to believe a
certain creed. They found that man, through intelligence,
could take advantage of the forces of Nature—that he could
make the waves, the winds, the flames, and the lightnings
of heaven do his bidding and minister to his wants. They
found that the ghosts knew nothing of benefit to man; that
they were utterly ignorant of geology, of astronomy, of geo
graphy ; that they knew nothing of history; that they were
poor doctors and worse surgeons; that they knew nothing of
’law and less of justice ; that they were without brains,, and
utterly destitute of hearts ; that they knew nothing of the rights
of men; that they were despisers of women, the haters of
progress, the enemies of science, and the destroyers of liberty.
The condition of the world during the Dark Ages shows
exactly the result of enslaving the bodies and souls of men.
In those days there was no freedom. Labour was despised,
and a labourer was considered but little above a beast.
Ignorance, like a vast cowl, covered the brain of the world,
¿ind superstition ran riot with the imagination of man. The air
was filled with angels, with demons and monsters. Credulity
sat upon the throne of the soul, and Reason was an exiled
king. A man to be distinguished must be a soldier or a monk.
War and theology—that is to say, murder and hypocrisy—
were the principal employments of man. Industry was a slave,
theft was commerce ; murder was war, hypocrisy was religion.
Every Christian country maintained that it was no robbery
�24
THE GHOSTS
to take the property of Mohammedans by force, and no
murder to kill the owners. Lord Bacon was the first man
of note who maintained that a Christian country was bound
to keep its plighted faith with an infidel nation. Reading
and writing were considered dangerous arts. Every layman
who could read and write was suspected of being a heretic.
All thought was discouraged. They forged chains of super
stition for the minds and manacles of iron for the bodies of
men. The earth was ruled by the cowl and sword, by the
mitre and sceptre, by the altar and throne, by Fear and Force,
by Ignorance and Faith, by ghouls and ghosts.
In the fifteenth century the following law was in force in
England :—
“ That whosoever reads the Scriptures in the mother tongue
shall forfeit land, cattle, life, and goods from their heirs for
ever, and so be condemned for heretics to God, enemies to
the Crown, and most arrant traitors to the land.”
During the first year this law was in force thirty-nine were
hanged for its violation and their bodies burned.
In the sixteenth century men were burned because they
failed to kneel to a procession of monks.
The slightest word uttered against the superstition of the
time was published with death.
Even the reformers, so-called, of those days had no idea
of intellectual liberty—no idea even of toleration. Luther,
Knox, Calvin, believed in religious liberty only when they*
were in the minority. The moment they were clothed with
power they began to exterminate with fire and sword.
Castellio was the first minister who advocated the liberty
of the soul. He was regarded by the reformers as a criminal,
and treated as though he had committed the crime of crimes.
Bodinus, a lawyer of France, about the same time, wrote a
few words in favour of the freedom of conscience, but public
opinion was overwhelmingly against him. The people were
ready, anxious, and willing with whip and chain and fire to
drive from the mind of man the heresy that he had a right,
to think.
Montaigne, a man blessed with so much common sense that
he was the most uncommon man of his time, was the first
to raise a voice against torture in France. But what was
the voice of one man against the terrible cry of ignorant,
infatuated, superstitious, and malevolent millions? It was
the cry of a drowning man in the wild roar of the cruel sea.
�THE GHOSTS
25
In spite of the efforts of the brave few, the infamous war
against the freedom of the soul was waged until at least one
hundred millions of human beings—fathers, mothers, brothers,
sisters—with hopes, loves, and aspirations like ourselves,
were sacrificed upon the cruel altar of an ignorant faith.
They perished in every way by which death can be produced.
Every nerve of pain was sought out and touched by the
believers in ghosts.
.
. ,
For my part, I glory in the fact that here in the new world —in the United States—liberty of conscience was first
guaranteed to man, and that the Constitution of the United
States was the first great decree entered in the high court of
human equity forever divorcing Church and State—the first
injunction granted against the interference of the ghosts.
This was one of the grandest steps ever taken by the human
race in the direction of progress.
.
You will ask what has caused this wonderful change in
three hundred years. And I answer—the inventions and
discoveries of the few; the brave thoughts, the heroic utter
ances of the few; the acquisition of a few facts.
Besides, you must remember that every wrong in some
way tends to abolish itself. It is hard to make a he stand
always. A lie will not fit a fact. It will only fit another
lie made for the purpose. The life of a lie is simply a question
of time. Nothing but truth is immortal. The nobles and
kings quarrelled; the priests began to dispute; the ideas of
government began to change.
,
In 1441 printing was discovered. At that time the past
was a vast cemetery, with hardly an epitaph. The ideas of
men had mostly perished in the brain that produced them.
The lips of the human race had been sealed. Printing gave
”• pinions to thought. It preserved ideas. It made it possible
for man to bequeath to the future the riches of his brain,
the wealth of his soul. At first it was used to flood the world
with the mistakes of the ancients, but since that time it has
been flooding the world with light.
When people read they begin to reason, and when they
reason they progress. This was another grand step in the
direction of progress.
The discovery of gunpowder, that put the peasant almos
upon a par with the prince; that put an end to the so-called
age of chivalry ; that released a vast number of men from the
armies ; that gave pluck and nerve a chance with brute strength.
�26
THE GHOSTS
resdessdi«7ofradvLtori“ha7broe it“'68 T? ‘r°d by the
°f -> * • <tt
• iSr
o build a school-house is to construct a fort
livery library is an arsenal filled with the weanons and
~Z ix»
is a ™“b
niTui fndK^er“6 ^eIlan
^ank Gahleo^^
nicus, and Kepler, and Descartes, and Newton, and Lanlace
I thank Locke and Hume, and Bacon, and Shakespearfind
IndW^ts andVnknd
Goetbe' 1 thank Fu’lton’
wt>r>
a’ vt. °.ta’ an^ Galvani, and Franklin, and Morse
^ho made lightning- the messenger of man
r think
Humboldt, the Shakespeare of science. I thank Crompton
and Arkwright, from whose brains leaped the looms find
spindles that clothe the world. I thank Luther for protesting
S ' „ ‘ Je abuses of tht Church, and I denounce him becausf
he was the enemy of liberty. I thank Calvin for wridnTa
book m favour of religious freedom, and I abhor him because
pLtecX XVh / XX
resistin“opal
persecution, and I hate him because he persecuted in his
is obed efcT M C 7’’f°r SaTying’ “ Resistance to tyrants
is obedience to God, and yet I am compelled to say that
they were tyrants themselves. I thank Thomas Paine because
he was a believer in liberty, and because he did as much to
vfuG.my c°untry free as any other human being. I thank
A oltaire, that great man who, for half a century, was the
�THE GHOSTS
intellectual emperor of Europe, and who, from his throne at
the foot of the Alps, pointed the finger of scorn at every
hypocrite in Christendom. I thank Darwin, • Haeckel, and
Buchner, Spencer, Tyndall, and Huxley, Draper, Lecky, and
Buckle.
I thank the inventors, the discoverers, the thinkers, the
scientists, the explorers. I thank the honest millions who
have toiled.
I thank the brave men with brave thoughts. They are
the Atlases upon whose broad and mighty shoulders rests
the grand fabric of civilisation. They are the men who have
broken, and are still breaking, the chains of Superstition.
They are the Titans who carried Olympus by assault, and
who will soon stand victors upon’s Sinai’s crags.
We are beginning to learn that to exchange a mistake
for the truth—a superstition for a fact—to ascertain the
real—is to progress.
Happiness is the only possible good, and all that tends
to the happiness of man is right, and is of value. All that
tends to develop the bodies and minds of men; all that gives
us better houses, better clothes, better food, better pictures,
grander music, better heads, better hearts; all that renders
us more intellectual and more loving, nearer just; that makes
us better husbands and wives, better children, better citizens
—all these things combined produce what I call Progress.
Man advances only as he overcomes the obstructions of
Nature, and this can be done only by labour and by thought.
Labour is the foundation of all. Without labour, and without
great labour, progress is impossible. The progress of the
world depends upon the men who walk in the fresh furrows
and through the rustling corn ; upon those who sow and reap ;
upon those whose faces are radiant with the glare of furnace
fires; upon the delvers in the mines, and the workers in
shops; upon those who give to the winter air the ringing
music of the axe; upon those who battle with the boisterous
billows of the sea; upon the inventors and discoverers; upon
the brave thinkers.
From the surplus produced by labour schools and
universities are built and fostered. From this surplus the
painter is paid for the productions of the pencil; the sculptor
for chiselling shapeless rock into forms divinely beautiful, and
the poet for singing the hopes, the loves, the memories, and
�28
•
THE GHOSTS
the aspirations of the world. This surplus has given us the
books in which we converse with the dead and living kings
of the human race. It has given us all there is of beauty,
of elegance, and of refined happiness.
I am aware that there is a vast difference of opinion as to
what progress really is; that many denounce the ideas of
to-day as destructive of all happiness—of all good. I know
that there are many worshippers of the past. They venerate
the ancient because it is ancient. They see no beauty in
anything from which they do not blow the dust of ages with
the breath of praise. They say, no masters like the old;
no religion, no governments, like the ancient; no orators,
no poets, no statesmen, like those who have been dust for
two thousand years. Others love the modern simply because
it is modern.
We should have gratitude enough to acknowledge the
obligations we are under to the great and heroic of antiquity,
and independence enough not to believe what they said simply
because they said it.
With the idea that labour is the basis of progress goes the
truth that labour must be free. The labourer must be a free man.
The free man, working for wife and child, gets his head
and hands in partnership.
To do the greatest amount of work in the shortest space of
time is the problem of free labour.
Slavery does the least work in the longest space of time.
Free labour will give us wealth. Free thought will give
us truth.
Slowly but surely man is freeing his imagination of these
sexless phantoms, of these cruel ghosts. Slowly but surely
he is rising above the superstitions of the past. He is learning
to rely upon himself. He is beginning to find that labour
is the only prayer that ought to be answered, and that hoping,
toiling, aspiring, suffering men and women are of more
importance than all the ghosts that ever wandered through
the fenceless fields of space.
The believers in ghosts claim still that they are the only
wise and virtuous people upon the earth ; claim still that there
is a difference between them and unbelievers so vast that they
will be infinitely rewarded and the others infinitely punished.
I ask you to-night, do the theories and doctrines of the
theologians satisfy the heart or brain of the nineteenth century ?
Have the Churches the confidence of mankind?
�THE GHOSTS
29
Does the merchant give credit to a man because he belongs
to a Church?
Does the banker loan money to a man because he is
Methodist or Baptist?
Will a certificate of good standing in any Church be taken
as collateral security for one dollar?
Will you take the word of a Church member, or his note,
or his oath, simply because he is a Church member?
Are the clergy, as a class, better, kinder, and more generous
to their families—to their fellow-men—than doctors, lawyers,
merchants, and farmers?
Does a belief in ghosts and unreasonable things necessarily
make people honest?
When a man loses confidence in Moses, must the people
lose confidence in him?
Does not the credit system in morals breed extravagance
L
in sin ?
Why send missionaries to other lands while every peniten
tiary in ours is filled with criminals?
Is it philosophical to say that they who do right carry a cross ?
Is it a source of joy to think that perdition is the destina
tion of nearly all of the children of men ?
Is it worth while to quarrel about original sin—when there
is so much copy?
Does it pay to dispute about baptism, and the Trinity,
and predestination, and Apostolic succession, and the infalli|. bility of Churches, of Popes, and of books? Does all this
do any good?
Are the theologians welcomers of new truths? Are they
noted for their candour? Do they treat an opponent with
common fairness ?
Are they investigators ?
Do they pull
forward, or do they hold back? s
Is science indebted to the Church for a solitary fact?
'
What Church is an asylum for a persecuted truth?
What great reform has been inaugurated by the Church?
Did the Church abolish slavery?
Has the Church raised its voice against war?
I * I used to think that there was in religion no real restrainf ing force. Upon this point my mind has changed. Religion
I will prevent man from committing artificial crimes and offences.
■*
A man committed murder. The evidence was so conclusive
i
that he confessed his guilt.
He was asked why he killed his fellow-man.
�3°
THE GHOSTS
He replied: “For money.”
“ Did you get any? ”
“Yes.”
“ How much? ”
“Fifteen cents.”
“What did you do with the money?”
“ Spent it.”
“What for?”
“ Liquor.”
“What else did you find upon the dead man? ”
“He had his dinner in a bucket—some meat and bread.”
“What did you do with that?”
“ I ate the bread.”
“What did you do with the meat? ”
“I threw it away.”
“Why? ”
“ It was Friday.”
Just to the extent that man has freed himself from the
dominion of ghosts he has advanced. Just to the extent that
he has freed himself from the tyrants of his own creation he
has progressed. Just to the extent that he has investigated
for himself he has lost confidence in superstition.
With knowledge, obedience becomes intelligent acqui
escence—it is no longer degrading. Acquiescence in the
understood—in the known-—is the act of a sovereign, not
of a slave. It ennobles, it does not degrade.
Man has found that he must give liberty to others in order
to have it himself. He has found that a master is also a
slave; that a tyrant is himself a serf. He has found that
Governments should be founded and administered by man
and for man ; that the rights of all are equal; that the powers
that be are not ordained by God; that woman is at least
the equal of man; that men existed before books; that
religion is one of the phases of thought through which the
world is passing; that all creeds were made by man; that
everything is natural; that a miracle is an impossibility;
that we know nothing of origin and destiny; that concern
ing the unknown we are all equally ignorant; that the pew
has the right to contradict what the pulpit asserts; that man
is responsible only to himself and those he injures, and that
all have a right to think.
True religion must be free. Without perfect liberty of the
�THE GHOSTS
3i
mind there can be no true religion. Without liberty the brain
is a dungeon—the mind a convict. The slave may bow and
cringe and crawl, but he cannot adore—he cannot love.
True religion is the perfume of a free and grateful heart.
True religion is a subordination of the passions to the percep
tions of the intellect. True religion is not a theory—it is
a practice. It is not a creed—it is a life.
A theory that is afraid of investigation is undeserving a
place in the human mind.
I do not pretend to tell what all the truth is. I do not
pretend to have fathomed the abyss, nor to have floated on
outstretched wings level with the dim heights of thought.
I simply plead for freedom.
I denounce the cruelties and
horrors of slavery. I ask for light and air for the souls
of men. I say, Take off those chains—break those manacles
—free those limbs—release that brain ! I plead for the right
to think—to reason—to investigate. I ask that the future
may be enriched with the honest thoughts of men. I implore
every human being to be a soldier in the army of progress.
I will not invade the rights of others. You have no right
to erect your toll-gate upon the highways of thought. You
have no right to leap from the hedges of superstition and
strike down the pioneers of the human race. You have no
right to sacrifice the liberties of man upon the altars of
ghosts. Believe what you may; preach what you desire;
have all the forms and ceremonies you please; exercise your
liberty in your own way, but extend to all others the same right.
I will not attack your doctrines nor your creeds if they
accord liberty to me. If they hold thought to be dangerous
—if they aver that doubt is a crime, then I attack them one
and all, because they enslave the minds of men.
I attack the monsters, the phantoms of imagination that
have ruled the world. I attack slavery. I ask for room—
room for the human mind.
Why should we sacrifice a real world that we have for one
we know not of? Why should we enslave ourselves?
Why should we forge fetters for our own hands?
Why
should we be the slaves of phantoms? The darkness of
barbarism was the womb of these shadows. In the light
of science they cannot cloud the sky forever. They have
reddened the hands of man with innocent blood. They made
the cradle a curse, and the grave a place of torment.
�32
THE GHOSTS
They blinded the eyes and stopped the ears of the human
race. They subverted all ideas of justice by promising infinite
rewards for finite virtues, and threatening infinite punish
ment for finite offences.
They filled the future with heavens and with hells, with
the shining peaks of selfish joy and the lurid abysses of
flame. For ages they kept the world in ignorance and awe,
in want and misery, in fear and chains.
I plead for light, for air, for opportunity.
I plead for
individual independence. I plead for the rights of labour
and of thought. I plead for a chainless future. Let the
ghosts go—justice remains. Let them disappear—men and
women and children are left. Let the monsters fade away—
the world is here with its hills and seas and plains, with its
seasons of smiles and frowns; its spring of leaf and bud;
its summer of shade and flower and murmuring stream;
its autumn with the laden boughs, when the withered
banners of the corn are stilly and gathered fields are growing
strangely wan; while death, poetic death, with hands that
colour what they touch, weaves in the autumn wood her
tapestries of gold and brown.
The world remains, with its winters and homes and fire
sides, where grow and bloom the virtues of our race. All
these are left; and music, with its sad and thrilling voice,
and all there is of art and song and hope and love and
aspiration high. All these remain. Let the ghosts go—we
will worship them no more.
Man i's greater than these phantoms.
Humanity is
grander than all the creeds, than all the books. Humanity
is the great sea, and these creeds, and books, and religions
are but the waves of a day. Humanity is the sky, and these
religions and dogmas and theories are but the mists and
clouds changing continually, destined finally to melt away.
That which is founded upon slavery, and fear, and ignor
ance cannot endure. In the religion of the future there will
be men and women and children, all the aspirations of the
soul, and all the tender humanities of the heart.
Let the ghosts go. We will worship them no more. Let
them cover their eyeless sockets with their fleshless hands,
and fade forever from the imaginations of men.
PRINTED BY WATTS AND CO., JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.
�VARIOUS 6d. BOOKS
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Man. By Ernst Haeckel.
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Cotter Morrison.
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By C. Darwin.
12. Emerson’s Addresses &
Essays.
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standing. II.— An Inquiry Con
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says. (A Selection.)
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lution. By Dennis Hird, M.A.
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By T. H. Huxley.
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Lang.
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The ghosts
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
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An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 32 p. : ill. (front. port) ; 19 cm.
Series title: Pamphlets for the Millions
Series number: No. 10
Notes: Issued for the Rationalist Press Association. RPA "Sixpenny books" listed inside and on back cover. No. 26h in Stein checklist. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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1912
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G1062
RA1765
N351
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Spiritualism
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Ghosts
Materialism
NSS
Supernatural
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Text
No. 50.—R.P.A. CHEAP REPRINTS
With 56 Illustrations
k
.
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|
6
g 1 DEC ^18
I
........... -!
THE KINGDOM
OF MAN
'»a^i
BY SIR RAY LANKESTER
•
NEW AND REVISED EDITION
WATTS & CO.,
17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.
.......................
ALSO IN CLOTH, ONE SHILLING NET
i
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�Cranial Dome of Pitheoanthr opus erectus from river gravel in Java.
Skull of a Greek from an ancient cemetery.
�THE
KINGDOM OF MAN
BY
E. RAY LANKESTEB, K.G.B., M.A., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S.
HONORARY FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE AND HONORARY STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH,
OXFORD; MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE ; EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON J LATE PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH
ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE J LATE
DIRECTOR OF THE NATURAL HISTORY DEPARTMENTS
OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM
[issued
for the rationalist press association, limited]
London:
WATTS & CO.,
17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.O.
1912
�SIR RAY LANKESTER’S POPULAR
BOOKS ON SCIENCE.
EXTINCT ANIMALS.
With a portrait of the author and 218 illustrations. New
Edition, 1909 ; price 2s. 6d. (Constable and Co.)
The Times says: “There has been published no book on this
subject combining so successfully the virtues of accuracy and
' attractiveness.”
The Athenceum says: “Described with a masterly hand.”
SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR.
Fifth Edition, 1911; price 6s.
(Methuen and Co.)
A series of chapters selected from the well-known weekly articles
by the author originally published in the Daily Telegraph, revised
and illustrated by numerous drawings. The subjects treated
include Darwin’s Theory, the Story of the Common Eel, the
Dragon, Oysters, Sleep, Comets, Tadpoles, Gossamer, Hop-blight,
the Most Ancient Men, and many others.
THE EASY CHAIR SERIES.
By
SIR RAY LANKESTER, K.C.B., F.R.S.
Annual volumes similar in origin and character to the preceding
are in preparation. The first, now ready for press, illustrated with
numerous plates and text-figures, is entitled
DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST,
Price 6s., and will be published by Simpkin and Marshall,
Paternoster Row, London, in July, 1912.
A few copies of the First (Library) Edi
tion of “The Kingdom of Man” may
still be procured, price 2s. 6d. net
(inland postage 5d.).
(Watts & Co.)
�DESCRIPTION OE THE FRONTISPIECE.
The upper figure is from a cast of the celebrated specimen found in a river gravel in Java, probably
of as great age as the palaeolithic gravels of Europe. Though rightly to be regarded as a “ man,” the
creature which possessed this skull has been given the n&me Pithecanthropus. The shape of the cranial
dome differs from that of a well-developed European human skull (shown in the lower photograph, that
of a Greek skull) in the same features as do the very ancient prehistoric skulls from the Belgian caves
of Spey, and from the Neanderthal of the Rhineland. These differences are, however, measurably
greater in the Javanese skull.
The three great features of difference are: (1) the great size of the eyebrow ridges (the part below
and in front of A in the figures) in the Java skull; (2) the much greater relative height of the middle and
back part of the cranial dome (lines e and/) in the Greek skull; (3) the much greater prominence in the
Greek skull of the front part of the cranial dome—the prefrontal area or frontal “ boss ” (the part in
front of the line A C, the depth of which is shown by the line d).
The parts of the cranial cavity thus obviously more capacious in the Greek skull are precisely those
which are small in the Apes, and overlie those convolutions of the brain which have been specially
developed in Man as compared with the highest Apes.
The line A B in both the figures is the ophryo-tentorial line. It is drawn from the ophryon (the
mid-joint in the line drawn across the narrowest part of the frontal bone just above the eyebrow ridges),
.Which corresponds externally to the most anterior limit of the brain, to the extra-tentorial point
(between the occipital ridges), and is practically the base line of the cerebrum. The lines e and / are
perpendiculars on this base line, the first half-way between A and B, the second half-way between the
first and the extra-tentorial point.
C is the point known to craniologists as “ bregma,” the meeting point of the frontal and the two
parietal bones. .
The line A C is drawn as a straight line joining A and C; but if the skull is accurately posed it
corresponds to the edge of the plane at right angles to the sagittal plane of the skull—which traverses
both bregma (C) and ophryon (A)—and where it “cuts” the skull marks off the prefrontal area or boss,
(See for the full-face view of this area in the two skulls Figs. 1 and 2.) The line d is a perpendicular let
fall from the point of greatest prominence of the prefrontal area on to the prefrontal plane. It indicates
the depth of the prefrontal cerebral region. Drawn on both sides on the surface of the bone and looked
at from the front (the white dotted line in Figs. 1 and 2), it gives the maximum breadth of the prefrontal
area.
By dividing the ophryo-tentorial line into 100 units, and using those units as measures, the depths of
the brain cavity in the regions plumbed by the lines d, e, and/ can be expressed numerically and their
differences in a series of skulls stated in percentage of the ophryo-tentorial length.
�WONDERS are many ! And none is there greater than Man, who
Steers his ship over the sea driven on by the south wind,
Cleaving the threatening swell of the waters around him,
Wears away year after year with deeply-cut furrows,
Wears as he drags the sharp plough to and fro with his horses,
Th’ Earth-mother, eldest of Gods, inexhaustible, ceaseless.
He captures the gay-hearted birds ; he entangles adroitly
Creatures that live on the land and the brood of the ocean,
Spreading his well-woven nets. Man full of devices !
The beasts of the forest, the cattle that roam on the moorland
Artfully hath he subdued, and the shaggy-maned horses;
Yokes grip the necks of the masterful bulls of the mountain.
Speech and swift thought free as wind, the building of cities,
Shelters to ward off the arrows of rain and to temper
Sharp-biting frost—all these hath he taught himself. Surely
Stratagem hath he for all that comes 1 Never the future
Finds him resourceless ! Deftly he combats grievous diseases,
Oft from their grip doth he free himself. Death alone vainly—
Vainly he seeks to escape; ’gainst Death he is helpless.
Man with his skill past belief and his endless invention
Oft reaches happiness ; oft stumbles on to disaster.
Chorus from the “Antigone" of Sophocles.
�Contents
PAGE
Chapter
I—NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
1
Chapter II.—THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE (1881-1906)
.
.
.
CHAPTER III.—NATURE’S REVENGES: THE SLEEPING SICKNESS'
.
37
.
95
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Frontispiece
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
Profile views of the
Cranial Dome of Pithe
canthropus erectus, the
ape-like man from an
ancient river gravel in
Java, and of a Greek
skull
1.—-Frontal view of the Cranial
Dome of Pithecanthropus
2.—Frontal view of the same
Greek skull as that shown in
the frontispiece
3.—-Eoliths, of “ borer ” shape,
from Ightham, Kent .
4.—Eoliths of trinacrial shape,
from Ightham, Kent .
5.—Brain casts of four large
Mammals ....
6.—Spironema pallidum, the
microbe of syphilis dis
covered by Fritz Schaudinn .
7.—The Canals in Mars
8.—The Canals in Mars
9.—Becquerel's shadow - print
obtained by rays from
Uranium Salt
10.—Diagrams of the visible lines
of the Spectrum given by
incandescent Helium and
Radium
....
11.—The transformation of Ra
dium Emanation into Helium
(spectra)
....
Fig. 12. —Dry-plate photograph of a
Nebula and surrounding stars
Jelly-fish
Limnocodium
14. —Polyp of Limnocodium
15. —Sense-organ of Limnocodium
16. —The Freshwater Jelly-fish of
Lake Tanganyika
17. —Sir Harry Johnston’s speci
men of the Okapi
18. —Bandoliers cut from the
striped skin of the Okapi
19. —Skull of the horned male of
the Okapi ....
20. —The metamorphosis of the
young of the common Eel .
21. —A unicellular parasite of the
common Octopus, producing
spermatozoa
22. —The Coccidium, a microscopic
parasite of the Rabbit, pro
ducing spermatozoa
23. —Spermatozoa of a unicellular
parasite inhabiting a Centi
pede .....
24. —The motile fertilising ele
ments (antherozoids or sper
matozoa) of a peculiar cone
bearing tree, the Gycas revoluta .....
25. —The gigantic extinct Reptile
Triceratops ....
26. —A large carnivorous Reptile
PAGE
51
Fig. 13. —The Freshwater
Fig.
Fig.
Fig.
9
Fig.
Fig.
9
Fig.
10
Fig.
11
Fig.
13
Fig.
21
24
25
Fig.
41
Fig.
43
Fig.
47
Fig.
vii
54
54
54
54
56
56
56
57
59
59
59
59
60
�viii
CONTENTS
PAGE
from the Triassic rocks of
North Russia
...
FIG. 27.—The curious &sh Drepanaspis,
from the Old Red Sandstone
of Germany ....
FIG. 28.—The oldest Fossil Fish known
FIG. 29.—The skull and lower jaw of
the ancestral Elephant,
Palceomastodon, from Egypt
FIG. 30.—The latest discovered skull of
Palaiomastodon ...
FIG. 31.—Skulls of Meritherium, an
Elephant ancestor, from the
Upper Eocene of Egypt
.
FIG. 32.—The nodules on the roots of
bean-plants and the nitrogen
fixing microbe, Bacillus
radicola, which produces
them .....
FIG. 33.—The continuity of the proto
plasm of vegetable cells
.
FIG. 34.—Diagram of the structures
present in a typical organic
“cell”
....
FIG. 35.—The number of the Chromo
somes .....
FIG. 36.—The number of the Chromo
somes .....
FIGS. 37-42.—Phagocytes engulfing
disease germs — drawn by
Metschnikoff
...
PAGE
FIG. 43.—A Phagocyte containing three
61
Spirilla, the germs of relaps
ing fever, which it has en
gulfed
.... 81
61 FIG. 44.—The life-history of the Malaria
61
Parasite
.... 84
FIG. 45.—The first blood-cell parasite
described, the Lankesterella
62
of Frog’s blood ... 86
FIG. 46.—Various kinds of Trypano
63
somes .......................................... 87
FIG. 47.—The Laboratory of the Marine
Biological Association on the
64
Citadel Hill, Plymouth
. 93
FIG. 48.—The Tsetze fly, Glossina
morsitans .... 103
FIG. 49.—The Trypanosome of Frog’s
blood ..... 104
66 FIG. 50.—’The Trypanosome which
causes the Sleeping Sickness 105
67 FIG. 51.—The Trypanosome of the
disease called “ Dourine ” . 106
FIGS. 52-56.—Stages in the growth and
68
multiplication of a Trypano
some which lives for part of
69
its life in the blood of the
little owl Athene noctua,
76
and for the other part in the
gut of the common gnat
(Gulex)
.
.
.
107-10
81
�PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
This little volume is founded on three discourses which I have slightly
modified for the pfesent purpose, and have endeavoured to render
interesting by the introduction of illustrative process blocks, which are
described sufficiently fully to form a large extension of the original text.
The first, entitled “ Nature’s Insurgent Son,” formed, under another
title, the Romanes lecture at Oxford in 1905. Its object is to exhibit
in brief the “Kingdom of Man,” to show that there is undue neglect in
the taking over of that possession by mankind, and to urge upon our
Universities the duty of acting the leading part in removing that
neglect.
The second is an account, which served as the presidential address
to the British Association at York in 1906, of the progress made in the
last quarter of a century towards the assumption of his kingship by
slowly-moving Man.
The third, reprinted from the Quarterly Review, is a more detailed
account of recent attempts to deal with a terrible disease—the Sleeping
Sickness of tropical Africa—and furnishes an example of one of the
innumerable directions in which Man brings down disaster on his head
by resisting the old rule of selection of the fit and destruction of the
unfit, so that he is painfully forced to the conclusion that knowledge of
Nature must be sought and control of her processes eventually obtained.
I am glad to be able to state that as a result of the representations of the
Tropical Diseases Committee of the Royal Society, and, as I am told,
in some measure in consequence of the explanation of the state of
things given in this essay, funds have been provided by the Colonial
Office for the support of a professorship of Protozoology in the University
of London, to which Mr. E. A. Minchin has been appointed. It is
recognised that the only way in which we can hope to deal effectually
with such diseases as the Sleeping Sickness is by a greatly increased
knowledge of the nature and life-history of the parasitic Protozoa which
produce those diseases.
I have to thank Mr. John Murray for permission to reprint the
article on Sleeping Sickness, and I am also greatly indebted to scientific
ix
�X
PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION
colleagues for assistance in the survey of progress given in the second
discourse. Among these I desire especially to mention Mr. Frederick
Soddy, F.B.S., Professor H. H. Turner, F.B.S., Professor Sydney
Vines, F.B.S., Mr. MacDougal of Oxford, and Professor Sherrington,
F.B.S. To Mr. Perceval Lowell I owe my thanks for permission to
copy two of his drawings of Mars, and to the Boyal Astronomical
Society for the loan of the star-picture on p. 51.
E. Bay Lankester,
•
January, 1907,
PBEFACE TO THE PBESENT EDITION
The publication of a cheap edition of the Kingdom of Man has made
it necessary for me to revise the text so far as to alter here and there
the terms of reference to events and discoveries which are now six
years older than they were when the book was first printed. I have
made some of these corrections in the text and inserted others as
footnotes enclosed in square brackets, and have also drawn attention to
some newly ascertained facts, and to recent events which bear upon
statements made in the earlier edition. An improved figure showing
the relative size of the cerebral hemispheres in the extinct mammal
Dinoceras and large mammals now living has been substituted for that
previously published.
I have willingly agreed to the proposal of the Bationalist Press
Association to issue this book in a form and at a price which render it
readily accessible to a large body of readers, since, next to the search for
new knowledge, there is no enterprise in which I so gladly take part as
that of endeavouring to assist others to gain an acquaintance with the
results of the investigation of Nature and an understanding of the
supreme importance of that investigation to mankind.
E. Bay Lankester,
Boiirnemouth, February, 1912.
�THE KINGDOM OF MAN
Chapter I.
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
same at the present day as it has been
in the past: as commonly used, it is a
word of varied meanings and limita
tions, so that misconception and con
fusion is liable to be associated with
it. By the professed student of modern
sciences it is usually understood as a
name for the entire mechanism of the
universe, the kosmos in all its parts;
and it is in this sense that I use it.
But many still identify “ Nature ” with
a limited portion of that great system,
and even retain for it a special appli
cation to the animals and plants of
this earth and their immediate sur
roundings. Thus we have the term
“natural history,” and the French
term les sciences naturelies, limited to
the study of the more immediate and
concrete forms of animals, plants, and
crystals. There is some justification
for separating the conception of Nature
as specially concerned in the produc
tion and maintenance of living things
from that larger Nature which em
braces, together with this small but
deeply significant area, the whole ex
panse of the heavens in the one direc
tion, and Man himself in the other.
2.—The Word “Nature.”
Giordano Bruno, who a little more
The signification attached to the than three hundred years ago visited
word “Nature” is by no means the Oxford and expounded his views, was
1.—The Outlook.
It has become more and more a
matter of conviction to me—and I
believe that I share that conviction
with a large body of fellow students
both in this country and other civilised
States—that the time has arrived when
the true relation of Nature to Man
has been so clearly ascertained that it
should be more generally known than
is at present the case, and that this
knowledge should form far more largely
than it does at this moment the object
of human activity and endeavour—that
it should be, in fact, the guide of State
government, the trusted basis of the
development of human communities.
That it is not so already, that men
should still allow their energies to run
in other directions, appears to some of
us a thing so monstrous, so injurious
to the prosperity of our fellow men,
that we must do what lies within our
power to draw attention to the con
ditions and circumstances which attend
this neglect, the evils arising from it,
and the benefits which must follow
from its abatement.
�2
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON '
perhaps the first to perceive and teach
the unity of this greater Nature, anti
cipating thus, in his prophetic vision,
the conclusion which we now accept
as the result of an accumulated mass
of evidence. Shakespeare came into
touch with Bruno’s conception, and
has contrasted the more limited and a
larger (though not the largest) view of
Nature in the words of Perdita and
Polyxenes. Says Perdita:—
.......the fairest flowers o’ the season
Are our carnations, and streak’d gillyvors,
Which some call Nature’s bastards; of that
kind
Our rustic garden’s barren ; and I care not
To get slips of them.......For I have heard it
said,
There is an art which, in their piedness,
shares
With great creating nature.
To which Polyxenes replies :—
Say there be—
Yet nature is made better by no mean,
But nature makes that mean; so, over that
art,
Which, you say, adds to nature, is an art
That nature makes. You see, sweet maid,
we marry
A gentle scion to the wildest stock ;
And make conceive a bark of baser kind
By bud of nobler race ; this is an art
Which does mend nature—change it, rather :
but
The art itself is nature.
The larger proportion of so-called
educated people even at the present
day have not got beyond Perdita’s
view of Nature. They regard the
territory of Nature as a limited one,
the playground or sport of all sorts of
non-natural demons and fairies, spirits
and occult agencies. Apart from any
definite scheme or conception of these
operations, they personify Nature, and
attribute a variety of virtues and ten
dencies to her for which there is no
justification. We are told, according
to the fancy of the speaker, that such
a course is in accordance with Nature;
that another course is contrary to
Nature; we are urged to return to
Nature, and we are also urged to resist
Nature. We hear that Nature will
find a remedy for every ill, that Nature
is just, that Nature is cruel, that
Nature is sweet and our loving mother.
On the one hand, Man is regarded as
outside of and opposed to Nature, and
his dealings are contrasted favourably
or unfavourably with those of Nature.
On the other hand, we are informed
that Man must, after all, submit to
Nature, and that it is useless to oppose
her. These contradictory views are,
in fact, fragments of various systems
of philosophy of various ages, in which
the word “ Nature ” has been assigned
equally various limitations and exten
sions. Without attempting to discuss
the history and justification of these
different uses of the word “ Nature,”
I think that I may here use the word
“ Nature ” as indicating the entire
kosmos of which this cooling globe,
with all upon it, is a portion.
3.—Na trnre-S earc hers.
The discovery of regular processes,
of expected effects following upon
specified antecedents, of constant pro
perties and qualities in the material
around him, has from the earliest
recorded times been a chief occupation
of Man, and has led to the attainment
by Man of an extraordinarily complex
control of the conditions in which his
life is carried on. But it was not until
Bruno’s conception of the unity of
terrestrial nature with that of the
kosmos had commended itself that a
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
3
knowledge of Greek grammar is the
traditional and immemorial occupation
of Oxford students, that until the
modern days of the eighteenth century
(“ modern ” in the history of Oxford)
Greek was less known in Oxford than
Hebrew is at present, and that the
study of Nature—Nature-knowledge
and Nature-control—was the appro
priate occupation of her learned men.
It is, indeed, a fact that the very
peculiar classical education at present
insisted on in Oxford, and imposed by
her on the public schools of .the
country, is a modern innovation, an
unintentional and, in a biological
sense, “morbid” outgrowth of that
“ Humanism ” to which a familiarity
with the dead languages was, but is no
1 The foundation, of the Royal Society, of
London is most intimately connected with longer, the pathway.
deliberate and determined investigation
of natural processes, with a view to
tfteir more complete apprehension, was
Instituted. One of the earliest and most
active steps in this direction was the
foundation, less than 250 years ago,
of the Royal Society of London for
the Promotion of Natural Knowledge,
by a body of students who had organ
ised their conferences and inquiries
whilst resident in Oxford.1
All over Western Europe such asso
ciations or academies for the building
up of the New Philosophy (as it was
called here) came into existence. It is
a fact which is strangely overlooked at
the present day, when the assumption
is made that the acquirement of a
the University of Oxford. Dr. Wallis, an
original member, writes :—“ I take its first
ground and foundation to have been in
London about the year 1645, when Dr.
Wilkins and others met weekly at a certain
day and hour........About the year 1648-9
some of our company were removed to Oxford;
first Dr. Wilkins, then I, and soon after Dr.
Goddard. Those in London continued to
meet there as before (and we with them, when
we had occasion to be there), and those of us
at Oxford; with Dr. Ward (since Bishop of
Salisbury), Dr. Ralph Bathurst (now Presi
dent of Trinity College in Oxford), Dr. Petty
(since Sir William Petty), Dr. Willis (then
an eminent physician in Oxford), and divers
others, continued such meetings in Oxford
and brought those studies into fashion there ;
meetings first at Dr. Petty’s lodgings (in an
apothecarie’s house) because of the con
venience of inspecting drugs and the like, as
there was occasion; and after his remove to
Ireland (though not so constantly) at the
lodgings of Dr. Wilkins, then Warden of
Wadham College, and after his removal to
Trinity College in Cambridge, at the lodg
ings of the Honourable Mr. Robert Boyle,
then resident for divers years in Oxford........
In the meanwhile our company at Gresham
College being much again increased by the
accession of divers eminent and noble persons,
I Upon His Majesty’s return we were (about the
beginning of the year 1662) by His Majesty’s
I grace and favour incorporated by the name
of the Royal Society.”
4.—The Doctrine of Evolution.
What is sometimes called the scien
tific movement, but may be more
appropriately described as the Nature
searching movement, rapidly attained
an immense development. In the
latter half of the last century this
culminated in so complete a know
ledge of the movements of the heavenly
bodies, their chemical nature and phy
sical condition—so detailed a determi
nation of the history of the crust of this
earth and of the living things upon it,
of the chemical and physical processes
which go on in Man and other living
things, and of the structure of Man as
compared with the animals most like
him, and of the enormous length of
time during which Man has existed on
the earth—that it became possible to
establish a general doctrine of the
evolution of the kosmos, with more
special detail in regard to the history
�4
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
of this earth and the development of
Man from a lower animal ancestry.
Animals were, in their turn, shown to
have developed from simplest living
matter, and this from less highly
elaborated compounds of chemical
‘elements” differentiated at a still
earlier stage of evolution. There is,
it may be said without exaggeration,
no school or body of thinkers at the
present day who are acquainted with
the facts now ascertained which denies
the orderly evolution of the kosmos by
the* regular operation of a more or less
completely ascertained series of proper
ties resident in the material of which
it consists.1 The process of evolution
—the interaction of these ascertainable,
if not fully ascertained properties—has
led (it is held), in the case of the cool
ing cinder which we call the earth, by
an inevitable and predestined course,
to the formation of that which we call
living matter, and eventually of Man
himself. From this process all dis
orderly or arbitrary interferences must,
it seems, be excluded. The old fancies
as to presiding demons or fairies—
which, it was imagined, had for their
business to interrupt the supposed
feeble and limited efforts of Nature,
as yet unexplored and unappreciated
—have passed out of mind. The con
sensus is complete: Man is held to be
a part of Nature, a product of the
definite and orderly evolution which
is universal; a being resulting from
and driven by the one great nexus of
mechanism which we call Nature.
He stands alone, face to face with
that relentless mechanism. It is his
destiny to understand and to control it.
5.— Unwarranted Inferences from
the Evolution of Man.
There are not wanting those who,
accepting this conclusion, seek to
belittle Man and endeavour to repre
sent that the veil is lifted, that all is
explained,” obvious, commonplace,
and mean in regard to the significance
of life and of Man, because it has
become clear that the kosmic process
has brought them forth in due order.
There are others who rightly perceive
that life is no common property of our
cooling matter, but unique and excep
tional, and that Man stands apart from
and above all natural products, whether
animate or inanimate. Some of these
thinkers appear to accept the conclu
sion that if life and Man are regarded
as products of the kosmic process—
that is, of Nature—“ life ” and “ Man ”
lose so much in importance and signi
ficance that dire consequences must
follow to Man’s conception of his
dignity and to the essential features
of his systems of conduct and social
organisation. Accordingly, they cling
to the belief that living matter and
Man have not proceeded from an
orderly evolution of Nature, but are
“ super ’’-natural. It is found, on the
other hand, by many who have con
sidered these speculations, and hold no
less explicitly than do the super
naturalists ” that life is a momentou s
and peculiar feature of our earth s
surface, and Man the isolated and
unparalleled piece of work,
the
beauty of the world,” “the paragon
of animals”—it is found by many
such, I say, that nothing is gained in
regard to our conception of Man’s
1 See, however, the letter from the Times,
nobility and significance by supposing
reprinted on p. 34.
�NATUBE’S INSUBGENT SON
fchat he and the living matter which
has given rise to him are not the
outcome of that system of orderly
process which we call Nature.
There is one consideration in regard
to this matter which, it seems, is often
overlooked and should be emphasised.
It is sometimes—and perhaps with a
sufficient excuse in a want of acquaint
ance with Nature—held by those who
oppose the conclusion that Man has
been evolved by natural processes that
the products of Nature are arbitrary,
haphazard, and due to chance, and
that Man cannot be conceived of as
originating by chance. This notion of
“ chance ” is a misleading figment
inherited by the modern world from
days of blank ignorance. The “ Nature
searchers” of to-day admit no such
possibility as “ chance.” It will be in
the recollection of many of my readers
that a leading writer and investigator
of the Victorian Era—the physicist
John Tyndall—pointed out in a cele
brated address delivered at Belfast
that, according to the conceptions of
the mechanism of Nature arrived at
by modern science, • the structure of
that mechanism is such that it would
have been possible for a being of
adequate intelligence inspecting the
gaseous nebula from which our plane
tary system has evolved to have fore
seen in that luminous vapour the
Belfast audience and the professor
addressing it I
The fallacy that in given but un
known circumstances anything what
ever may occur in spite of the fact
that some one thing has been irrevo
cably arranged to occur is a common
one.1 It is correct to assume in the
5
absence of any pertinent knowledge
(if we are compelled to estimate the
probabilities) that one event is as
likely as another to occur; but never
theless there is no “ chance ” in the
matter since the event has been already
determined, and might be predicted by
those possessing the knowledge which
we lack. Thus, then, it appears that
the conclusion that man is a part of
nature is by no means equivalent to
asserting that he has originated by
“ blind chance it is, in fact, a specific
assertion that he is the predestined
outcome of an orderly—and to a large
extent “ perceptible ”—mechanism.2
6.—Nature’s Mode of Producing
Organic Forms.
The general process by which the
Variation, as affording the opportunity for the
operation of Natural Selection, to assume
that the variations presented by organisms
are minute variations in every direction around
a central point. Those observers who have
done useful work in showing the definite and
limited character of organic variations have
very generally assumed that they are opposing
a commonly held opinion that variation is of
this equally distributed character. I cannot
find that Mr. Darwin made any such assump
tion ; and it is certain, and must on reflection
have been recognised by all naturalists, that
the variations by the selection and intensifi
cation of which natural selection has produced
distinct forms or species, and in the course of
time altogether new groups of plants and
animals, are strictly limited to definite lines
rendered possible, and alone possible, by the
constitution of the living matter of the
parental organism. We have no reason to
suppose that the offspring of a beetle could in
the course of any number of generations
present variations on which selection could
operate so as to eventually produce a mam
malian vertebrate; or that, in fact, the
general result of the process of selection of
favourable variations in the past has not been
ab initio limited by the definite and restricted
possibilities characteristic of the living sub
stance of the parental organisms of each
divergent line or branch of the pedigree.
1 There is a tendency among writers on
2 See p. 34,
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NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
higher and more elaborate forms of
life, and eventually man himself, have
been produced has been shown by
Darwin to depend upon two important
properties of living matter manifested
in connection with the multiplication
of individuals. Living matter has a
special property of adding to its bulk
by taking up the chemical elements
which it requires and building up the
food so taken as additional living
matter. It further has the power of
separating from itself minute particles
or germs which feed and grow inde
pendently, and thus multiply their
kind. It is a fundamental character
of this process of reproduction that
the detached or pullulated germ in
herits or carries with it from its parents
the peculiarities of form and structure
of its parent. This is the property
known as Heredity. It is most essen
tially modified by another property—
namely, that though eventually grow
ing to be closely like the parent, the
germ (especially when it is formed, as
is usual, by the fusion of two germs
from two separate parents) is never
identical in all respects with the parent.
It shows Variation. In virtue of
heredity the new congenital variations
shown by a new generation are trans
mitted to their offspring when in due
time they pullulate or produce germs.
Man has long been aware of this; and,
by selecting variations of beasts, birds,
or plants agreeable or useful to him,
has intensified such variations and
produced animals and plants in many
features very unlike those with which
he started.
It was Darwin’s merit to show that
a process of selection which he called
“ Natural Selection ” must take place
in the free untouched conditions under
which animals and plants exist, and
have existed for ages, on this globe.
Both animals and plants produce
germs, or young, in excess—usually in
vast excess. The world, the earth’s
surface, is practically full—that is to
say, fully occupied. Only one pair of
young can grow up to take the place
of the pair—male and female—which
have launched a dozen, or it may be
as many as a hundred thousand, young
individuals on the world.1 The pro
perty of variation ensures that amongst
this excess of young there are many
differences. Eventually those survive
which are most fitted to the special
conditions under which this particular
organism has to live. The conditions
may, and indeed in long lapses of time
must, change, and thus some variation
not previously favoured will gain the
day and survive. The “ struggle for
existence ” of Darwin is the struggle
amongst all the superabundant young
of a given species, in a given area, to
gain the necessary food, to escape
voracious enemies, and gain protection
from excesses of* heat, cold, moisture,
and dryness. One pair in the new
generation—only one pair—survive for
every parental pair. Animal popula
tion does not increase. “ Increase and
multiply ” has never been said by
Nature to her lower creatures. Locally,
and from time to time, owing to excep
tional changes, a species may multiply
here and decrease there; but it is im
portant to realise that the “ struggle
for existence ” in Nature—that is to
say, among the animals and plants of
this earth untouched by man—is a
1 A single pair of American oysters produce
on an average .twenty million fertilised eggs I
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
desperate OB©, however tranquil and
peaceful the battlefield may appear to
us. The struggle for existence takes
jjace, not as a clever French writer1
1 M, Paul Bourget, of the Academic Franeaise, is not only a charming writer of modern
“novels,” but claims to be a “psychologist,”
a title which perhaps may be conceded to
every author who writes of human character.
His works are so deservedly esteemed, and his
erudition is as a rule so unassailable, that in
selecting him as an example of the frequent
aaisrepresentation among literary men of
Darwin’s doctrine, I trust that my choice
may be regarded as a testimony of my admira
tion for his art. In his novel Un Divorce,
published in 1904, M. Bourget says: “La
lutte entre les especos, cette inflexible loi de
1’univers animal, a sa correspondence exacte
dans le monde des idees. Certaines men
tality constituent de vdritables especes* intellectuelles qui ne peuvent pas durer d cotd les
unes des autres” (Edition Pion, p. 317). This
inflexible law of the animal universe, the
Struggle between species, is one which is quite
unknown to zoologists. The “ struggle for
existence,” to which Darwin assigned im
portance, is not a struggle between different
species, but one between closely similar
members of the same species. The struggle
between species is by no means universal, but
in fact very rare. The preying of one species
on another is a moderated affair of balance
and adjustment which may be described rather
as an accommodation than as a struggle.
A more objectionable misinterpretation of
the naturalists’ doctrine of the survival of the
fittest in the struggle for existence is that
made by journalists and literary politicians,
who declare, according to their political bias,
either that science rightly teaches that the
gross quality measured by wealth and strength
alone can survive, and should therefore alone
be cultivated, or that science (and especially
Darwinism) has done serious injury to the
progress of mankind by authorising this
teaching. Both are wrong, and owe their
error to self-satisfied flippancy and traditional
ignorance in regard to Nature-knowledge and
the teaching of Darwin. The “ fittest ” does
not mean the “strongest.” The causes of
survival under Natural Selection are very far
indeed from being rightly described as mere
strength, nor are they baldly similar to the
power of accumulating wealth. Frequently
in Nature the more obscure and feeble survive
in the struggle because of their modesty and
L suitability to given conditions, whilst the rich
K are sent empty away and the mighty perish
by hunger.
1
glibly informs his readers, between
different species, but between indi
viduals of the same species, brothers
and sisters and cousins. The struggle
between a beast of prey which seeks
to nourish itself and the buffalo which
defends its life with its horns is not
“ the struggle for existence ” so named
by Darwin. Moreover, the struggle
among the members of a species in
natural conditions differs totally from
the mere struggle for advancement or
wealth with which uneducated writers
so frequently compare it. It differs
essentially in this—that in Nature s
struggle for existence, death, immediate
obliteration, is the fate of the van
quished, whilst the only reward to the
victors—few, very few, but rare and
beautiful in the fitness which has
carried them to victory—is the per
mission to reproduce their kind—to
carry on by heredity to another genera
tion the specific qualities by which
they triumphed.
It is not generally realised how
severe is the pressure and competition
in Nature, not between different species,
but between the immature members of
the population of one and the same
species, precisely because they are of
the same species and have exactly the
same needs. From a human point of
view, the pressure under which many
wild things live is awful in its severity
and relentless tenacity. Not only are
new forms established by natural
selection, but the old forms, when
they exactly fit the mould presented,
as it were, for competitive filling, are
maintained by the same unremitting
process. A distinctive quality in the
beauty of natural productions (in which
man delights) is due to the unobtrusive
�8
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
yet tremendous slaughter of the unfit
8.—The Emergence of Man.
which is incessantly going on and the
absolute restriction of the privilege of
As to how and when Man emerged
parentage to the happy few who attain from the terrestrial animal population
to the standard described as "the so strictly controlled and moulded by
fittest.”
natural selection is a matter upon
which we gain further information
7-. The Limited Variety of Nature’s year by year. There must be many
Products.
readers who remember, as I do, the
The process of development of an astounding and almost sudden dis
immense variety of animal and vege covery some forty-five years ago of
table forms has proceeded in this way abundant and overwhelming evidence
through countless ages of geologic that man had existed in Western
time, but it must not be supposed Europe as a contemporary of the
that any and every conceivable form mammoth and rhinoceros, the hyaena
and variety has been produced. There and the lion, which also existed there.
are only two great diverging lines of The dispute over the facts submitted
descent from original living matter- to the scientific world by Boucher de
only the animals and the plants. And Perthes was violent and of short
in each of these there are and have duration. The immense antiquity of
been only a limited number of branches Man was established and accepted on
to the pedigree, some coming off at a all sides just before Mr. Darwin pub
lower level, others at higher points lished his book on The Origin of Species.
when more elaborate structure has The palaeolithic implements of the river
been attained. It is easy to imagine gravels, though probably made much
groups of both plants and animals more than 150,000 years ago, do not,
with characters and structures which any more than do the imperfect skulls
have never existed and never will exist. occasionally found in association with
The limitation of the whole process, in them, indicate a condition of the
spite of its enormous duration in time, human race greatly more monkey-like
its gigantic output and variety, is a than is presented by existing savage
striking and important fact. Linnaeus races (see Pigs. 1 and 2 and Frontis
said : There are just as many species piece, and their explanations). The
as in the beginning the Infinite Being implements themselves are manufac
created”; and the modern naturalist tured with great skill and artistic
can go no further than the paraphrase feeling. Within the last ten years
of this, and must say : “ There are and much rougher flint implements, of
have been just so many and just so few peculiar types, have been discovered
varieties of animal and vegetable struc in gravels which are 500 feet above
ture on this earth as it was possible for the level of the existing rivers (see
the physical and chemical contents of Figs. 3 and 4).1 These Eoliths of the
the still molten globe to form up to the
1 [In 1909 large, skilfully worked flint
hour now reached.”
implements called “ rostro - carinate,” or
“eagles’ beaks,” were discovered in the bone-
�\T A'TTTT^Ti1’Si
T NTSi TTP. ft 7<! NT SION
9
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NATURE'S INSURGENT SON
Fig. 3.
Photographs of eight Eoliths of one and the same shape, namely, with a chipped or worked tooth
like prominence, rendering the flint fit for use as a "borer”—photographed half the actual size
(linear measurement) from specimens found near Ightham, Kent, in the high-level gravel—which
form part of the Prestwieh collection in the Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London. Many
others of the same shape have been found in the same locality. These and the trinacrial implements
photographed in Fig. 4 are far older than the oval and leaf-shaped Palaeoliths of the low-lying gravels
oi the valleys of the Thames, Somme, and other rivers. (Original.)
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
1]
Fig. 4.
Photographs of six Eoliths of the “shoulder of mutton” or "trinacrial” type—from the same locality
and collection as those shown in Fig. 3. The photographs are of half the length of the actual specimens.
A considerable number of worked flints of this peculiar shape have been found in the same locality.
Possibly their shape enabled the primitive men who “ chipped ” and used them to attach them by thongs
to a stick or club. The descriptive term “ trinacrial” is suggested by me for these flints in allusion to
the form of the island of Sicily, which they resemble. (Original.) [An important fact tending to prove
the human authorship of these “ trinacrial implements ” is the discovery by Dr. Blackmore of one in a
gravel near Salisbury, together with a large Quantity of hollow-faced “ scrapers.” The specimen is in
the Jfetural History Museum, Cromwell Road.]
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NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
South of England indicate a race of
men of less developed skill than the
makers of the Palaaoliths, and carry
the antiquity of man at least as far
back beyond the Palaeoliths as these
are from the present day. We have
as yet found no remains giving the
direct basis for conclusions on the sub
ject ; but, judging by the analogy (not
by any means a conclusive method)
furnished by the history of other large
animals now living alongside of man—
such as the horse, the rhinoceros, the
tapir, the wolf, the hyaena, and the
bear—it is not improbable that it was
in the remote period known as the
lower Miocene—remote even as com
pared with the gravels in which
Eoliths occur—that Natural Selection
began to favour that increase in the
size of the brain of a large and not
very powerful semi-erect ape which
eventuated, after some hundreds of
thousands of years, in the breeding
out of a being with a relatively
enormous brain-case, a skilful hand,
and an inveterate tendency to throw
stones, flourish sticks, protect himself
in caves, and in general to defeat
aggression and satisfy his natural
appetites by the use of his wits rather
than by strength alone, in which, how
ever, he was not deficient. Probably
this creature had nearly the full size
of brain and every other physical
character of modern man, although
he had not as yet stumbled upon the
art of making fire by friction, nor
converted his conventional grunts and
groans, his screams, laughter, and
bed at the base of the Red Crag of Suffolk
by Mr. Reid Moir, of Ipswich, and establish
the existence of man in the Pliocene period.
See Lankester, Proc. Royal Society, Novem
ber, 1911.]
interjections, into a language corre
sponding to (and thenceforth develop
ing) his power of thought.
9.—The Enlarged Brain.
The leading feature in the develop
ment and separation of Man from
amongst other animals is undoubtedly
the relatively enormous size of the
brain in man, and the corresponding
increase in its activities and capacity.
It is a very striking fact that it was
not in the ancestors of man alone that
this increase in the size of the brain
took place at this same period—viz.,
the Miocene. The great mammals such
as the titanotherium, which represented
the rhinoceros in early Tertiary times,
had a brain which was, in proportion to
the bulk of the body, not more than oneeighth the volume of the brain of the
modern rhinoceros (see Fig. 5). Other
great mammals of the earlier Tertiary
period were in the same case; and the
ancestors of the horse, which are better
known than those of any other modern
animal, certainly had very much smaller
brains, in proportion to the size of their
bodies, than has their descendant.
We may well ask to what this
sudden and marked increase in the size
of the brain in several lines of the
animal pedigree is due. It seems that
the inborn hereditary nervous mechan
ism by which many simple and neces
sary movements of the body are con
trolled and brought into relation with
the outer world, acting upon the sense
organs, can be carried in a relatively
small bulk of brain-substance. Fish,
lizards, and crocodiles, with their small
brains, carry on a complex and effec
tive life of relation with their sur
roundings.
It appears that the
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
increased bulk of cerebral substance
rnp.g.ns increased educability
an
increased power of storing up individual experience—which tends to take
the place of the inherited mechanism,
with which it is often in antagonism.
The power of profiting by individual
experience—in fact, educability must,
in conditions of close competition, be,
When other conditions are equal, an
immense advantage to its possessor.
It seems that we have to imagine that
the adaptation of mammalian form to
the various conditions of life had, in
Miocene times, reached a point when
13
reward, the triumph, the survival,
would fall to those who possessed most
skill in the use of the instrument.
And in successive generations the bigger
and more educable brains would sur
vive and mate, and thus bigger and
bigger brains be produced.
It would not be difficult (though
not, perhaps, profitable) to imagine
the conditions which have favoured
the continuation of this process to a
far greater length in the Simian line
of the pedigree than in other mam
malian groups. The result is that the
creature called Man emerged with an
Fig. 5.
Four casts of the cavity of the skull lodging the brain of a series of large Ungulate Mammals in order to
show the relatively small size of the cerebral hemispheres of the extinct creature>fromi whichi A is taken.
A is that of Dinoceras, a huge extinct Eocene mammal which was as large as a Rhmoceios , B is that
of Hippopotamus? C of Horse ; and D of Rhinoceros. In each figure O points to the olfactory lobes of
the brain, C to the cerebrum, CL to the cerebellum, and M to the medulla oblongata.
further alteration and elaboration of
the various types which we know then
existed could lead to no advantage.
The variations presented for selection
in the struggle for existence presented
no advantage—the “ fittest” had prac
tically been reached, and was destined
to survive with little change. Assum
ing such a relative lull in the develop
ment of mere mechanical form, it is
obvious that the opportunity for those
individuals with the most “ educable ”
brains to defeat their competitors
Would arise. No marked improvement
in the instrument being possible, the
educable brain of some five or six times
the bulk (in proportion to his size and
weight) of that of any other surviving
Simian. Great as is this difference, it
is one of the most curious facts in the
history of man’s development that the
bulk of his brain does not appear to
have continued to increase in any very
marked degree since early Palaeolithic
times. The cranial capacity of many
savage races and of some of the
most ancient human skulls is not
less than that of the average man of
highly-civilised race. The value of
the mental activities in which primitive
�14
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
man differs from the highest apes
may be measured in some degree by
the difference in the size of the man’s
and the ape’s brain ; but the difference
in the size of the brain of Isaac Newton
and an Australian black-fellow is not
in the remotest degree proportionate
to the difference in their mental quali
ties. Man, it would seem, at a very
remote period, attained the extra
ordinary development of brain which
marked him off from the rest of the
animal world, but has ever since been
developing the powers and qualities of
this organ without increasing its size,
or materially altering in other bodily
features.1
10.—The Progress of Man.
The origin of Man by the process
of Natural Selection is one chapter
in Man’s history; another one begins
with the consideration of his further
development and his diffusion over the
surface of the globe.
The mental qualities which have
developed in Man, though traceable in
a vague and rudimentary condition in
some of his animal associates, are of
such an unprecedented power, and so
far dominate everything else in his
activities as a living organism, that
they have to a very large extent, if not
1 A short discussion of this subject and the
introduction of the term “educability” was
published in a paper by me, entitled “The
Significance of the Increased Size of the
Cerebrum in Recent as Compared with Extinct
Mammalia,” Cinquantenaire de la Societi de
Biologie, Paris, 1899, pp. 48-51.
It has been pointed out to me by my friend
Dr. Andrews, of the Geological Department
of the British Museum, that the brain cavity
of the elephants was already of relatively
large size in the Eocene members of that
group, which may be connected with the per
sistence of these animals through subsequent
geological periods.
entirely, cut him off from the general
operation of that process of Natural
Selection and survival of the fittest
which, up to their appearance, had
been the law of the living world. They
justify the view that Man forms a new
departure in the gradual unfolding of
Nature’s predestined scheme. Know
ledge, reason, self-consciousness, will,
are the attributes of Man. It is not
my purpose to attempt to trace their
development from lower phases of
mental activity in Man’s animal ances
tors, nor even to suggest the steps by
which that development has proceeded.
What we call the will or volition of
Man—a discussion of the nature and
limitation of which would be impos
sible in these pages, and is happily
not necessary for my present purpose
—has become a power in Nature, an
imperium in imperio, which has pro
foundly modified not only Man’s own
history, but that of the whole living
world and the face of the planet on
which he exists. Nature’s inexorable
discipline of death to those who do
not rise to her standard—survival and
parentage for those alone who do—has
been from the earliest times more and
more definitely resisted by the will of
Man. If we may, for the purpose of
analysis, as it were, extract Man from
the rest of Nature, of which he is truly
a product and part, then we may say
that Man is Nature’s rebel. Where
Nature says “Die!” Man says “I
will live.” According to the law pre
viously in universal operation, Man
should have been limited in geo
graphical area, killed by extremes of
cold or of heat, subject to starvation if
one kind of diet were unobtainable,
and should have been unable to
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
15
increase and multiply, just as are his on failure. The stronger, the more
animal relatives, without losing his cunning, the better armed, the more
specific structure and acquiring new courageous tribe or family group, ex
physical characters according to the terminated by actual slaughter or
requirements of the new conditions starvation the neighbouring tribes less
into which he strayed—should have gifted in one or all of these qualities.
perished except on the condition of be But from what we know of the history
coming a new morphological species.” of warlike exterminating savage tribes
ButMan’swits and his will have enabled at the present day—as, for instance,
him to cross rivers and oceans by rafts the Masai of East Africa—it seems
and boats, to clothe himself against unlikely that the method of exter
cold, to shelter himself from heat and mination—that is, of true natural
rain, to prepare an endless variety of selection—had much effect in man s
food by fire, and to “ increase and development after the very earliest
multiply ” as no other animal, without period. Union and absorption were
change of form, without submitting to more usual results of the contact of
the terrible axe of selection wielded by primitive tribes than struggles to the
ruthless Nature over all other living death. The expulsion of one group
things on this globe. And as he has by another from a desired territory
more and more obtained this control was more usual than the destruction
over his surroundings, he has expanded of the conquered. In spite of the
that unconscious protective attitude frequent assertions to the contrary, it
towards his immature offspring which seems that neither the more ancient
N atural Selection had already favoured wars of mankind for conquest and
and established in the animal race migration, nor the present and future
into a conscious and larger love for wars for commercial privilege, have
his tribe, his race, his nationality, and any real equivalence to the simple
his kind. He has developed speech, removal by death of the unfit and the
the power of communicating, and, survival and reproduction of the fit,
above all, of recording and handing which we know as Natural Selection.
on from generation to generation his
1 It would be an error to maintain that the
thought and knowledge.
He has process of Natural Selection is entirely in
regard Man. In
formed communities, built cities, and abeyance in PresenttoEvolution an interesting
book, The
of Man, Dr.
set up empires. At every step of his Archdall Reid has shown that in regard to
progress Man has receded further and zymotic diseases, and also in regard to the
use of dangerous drugs such as alcohol and
further from the ancient rule exercised opium, there is first of all the acquirement of
by Nature. He has advanced so far, immunity by powerful races of men through
among them of those strains
and become so unfitted to the earlier the survivalthe disease or of the drug, and,
tolerant of
rule, that to suppose that Man can secondly, the introduction of those diseases
drugs by
powerful immune race, in
“return to Nature” is as unreason andmigrations, theraces not previously exposed
its
to
able as to suppose that an adult animal either to the diseases or the drugs, and a con
sequent destruction of the invaded race. The
can return to its mother’s womb.
survival of the fittest is, in these cases, a
In early tribal times Natural Selec survival of the tolerant, and eventually of the
tion still imposed the death penalty immune.
�16
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
The standard raised by the rebel
man is not that of “ fitness ” to the
conditions proffered by extra-human
nature, but is one of an ideal comfort,
prosperity, and conscious joy in life—
imposed by the will of man, and in
volving a control, and in important
respects a subversion, of what were
Nature’s methods of dealing with life
before she had produced her insurgent
son. The progress of man in the
acquirement of this control of Nature
has been one of enormous rapidity
within the historical period, and within
the last two centuries has led, on the
one hand, to immensely increased
facilities in the application of mechan
ical power, in locomotion, in agricul
ture, and in endless arts and indus
tries ; and, on the other hand, to the
mitigation of disease and pain. The
men whom we may designate as “ the
Nature- searchers ”—those who founded
the New Philosophy of the so-called
“ Invisible College ” at Oxford and the
Royal Society in London—have placed
boundless power in the hands of man
kind.
11.—-The Attainment by Man of the
Knowledge of his Relations to Nature.
But to many the greatest result
achieved by the progress of Natural
Knowledge seems not to have been so
much in its practical applications and
its material gifts to humanity as in
the fact that Man has arrived through
it at spiritual emancipation and free
dom of thought.
In the latter part of the last century
Man’s place in Nature became clearly
marked out by the accumulation of
definite evidence. The significance
and the immeasurable importance of
the knowledge of Nature to philosophy
and the highest regions of speculative
thought are expressed in the lines of
one who most truly and with keenest
insight embodied in his imperishable
verse the wisdom and the aspirations
of the Victorian age:—
Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies ;
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower ; but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.
To many the nearer approach to
that “ understanding ” has seemed the
greatest and a sufficient result of
scientific researches. The recognition
that such an understanding leads to
such vast knowledge would seem to
ensure further and combined effort to
bring it nearer and nearer to the
complete form, even if the perfect
understanding of the “ all in all ” be
for ever unattainable. Nevertheless,
the clearer apprehension, so recently
attained, of Man’s origin and destiny,
and of the enormous powers of which
he has actually the control, has not
led to any very obvious change in the
attitude of responsible leaders of human
activity in the great civilised communi
ties of the world. They still attach
little or no importance to the acquire
ment of a knowledge of Nature; they
remain fixed in the old ruts of tradi
tional ignorance, and obstinately turn
their faces towards the past, still
believing that the teachings and say
ings of antiquity and the contempla
tion—not to say the detailed enumera
tion—of the blunders and crimes of its
ancestors can furnish mankind with
the knowledge necessary for its future
progress. The comparative failure of
what may be called the speculative
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
triumph of the New Philosophy to
produce immediate practical conse
quences has even led some among
those prejudiced by custom and educa
tion in favour of the exclusive employ
ment of man’s thought and ingenuity
in the delineation and imaginative
resurrection of the youthful follies and
excesses of his race, to declare that
the knowledge of Nature is a failure,
the New Philosophy of the Nature
searchers a fraud. Thus the wellknown French publicist M. Brunetidre
has taken upon himself to declare what
he calls the Bankruptcy of Science.
37
13.—Man's Destiny.
Within the last few years an attempt
to spur the will of Englishmen in this
direction has been made by some who
have represented that this way lie
great fortunes, national ascendancy,
imperial domination. The effort has
not met with much success. On the
other hand, I speak for those who
would urge the conscious and deli
berate assumption of his kingdom by
Man, not as a matter of markets and
of increased opportunity for the cos
mopolitan dealers in finance, but as
an absolute duty, the fulfilment of
Man’s destiny,1 a necessity the inci
dence of which can only be deferred
and not avoided.
This is, indeed, the definite purpose
of my discourse: to point out that
civilised man has proceeded so far in
his interference with extra-human
Nature, has produced for himself and
the living organisms associated with
bim such a special state of things by
his rebellion against Natural Selection
and his defiance of Nature’s pre-human
dispositions, that he must either go on
and acquire firmer control of the con
ditions or perish miserably by the
vengeance certain to fall on the half
hearted meddler in great affairs. We
may, indeed, compare civilised man to
a successful rebel against Nature, who
by every step forward renders himself
liable to greater and greater penalties,
and so cannot afford to pause or fail
in one single step. Or, again, we may
think of him as the heir to a vast and
12.—The Regnum Hominis.
As a matter of fact, the new know
ledge of Nature—the newly-ascertained
capacity of Man for a control of Nature
so thorough as to be almost unlimited
—has not as yet had an opportunity
for showing what it can do. A lull
after victory, a lethargic contentment,
has to some extent followed on the
crowning triumphs of the great
Nature-searchers whose days were
numbered with the closing years of
that nineteenth century which through
them marks an epoch. No power
has called on Man to arise and enter
upon the possession of his kingdom—
the Regnum Hominis foreseen by
Francis Bacon and pictured by him
to an admiring but incredulous age
with all the fervour and picturesque
detail of which he was capable. And
yet at this moment the mechanical
difficulties, the want of assurance and
of exact knowledge, which necessarily
prevented Bacon’s schemes from taking
1 “ Religion means the knowledge of our
practical shape, have been removed.
destiny and of the means of fulfilling it.” The will to possess and administer Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton, some
time Bishop of London, Vol. II., p. 195.
this vast territory alone is wanting.
�18
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
magnificent kingdom who has been
finally educated so as to fit him to
take possession of his property, and is
at length left alone to do his best; he
has wilfully abrogated in many impor
tant respects the laws of his mother
Nature, by which the kingdom was
hitherto governed; be has gained some
power and advantage by so doing, but
is threatened on every hand by dangers
and disasters hitherto restrained. No
retreat is possible; his only hope is to
control, as he knows that he can, the
sources of these dangers and disasters.
They already make him wince. How
long-will he sit listening to the fairy
tales of his boyhood and shrink from
manhood’s task ?
A brief consideration of well-ascer
tained facts is sufficient to show that
Man, whilst emancipating himself from
the destructive methods of Natural
Selection, has accumulated a new
series of dangers and difficulties with
which he must incessantly contend.
14.—Man and Disease.
In the extra-human system of
Nature there is no disease and there
is no conjunction of incompatible
forms of life, such as Man has brought
about on the surface of the globe. In
extra-human Nature the selection of
the fittest necessarily eliminates those
diseased or liable to disease. Disease
both of parasitic and congenital origin
occurs as a minor phenomenon. The
congenitally diseased are destroyed
before they can reproduce; the attacks
of parasites great and small either
serve only to carry off the congenitally
weak, and thus strengthen the race, or
become harmless by the survival of
those individuals which, owing to
peculiar qualities in their tissues, can
tolerate such attacks without injury,
resulting in the establishment of
immune races. It is a remarkable
thing—which possibly may be less
generally true than our present know
ledge seems to suggest—that the
adjustment of organisms to their
surroundings is so severely complete
in Nature apart from Man that dis
eases are unknown as constant and
normal phenomena under those condi
tions. It is no doubt difficult to
investigate this matter, since the
presence of Man as an observer itself
implies human intervention. But it
seems to be a legitimate view that
every disease to which animals (and
probably plants also) are liable,
excepting as a transient and very
exceptional occurrence, is due to
Man’s interference. The diseases of
cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses are not
known except in domesticated herds
and those wild creatures to which
Man’s domesticated productions have
communicated them. The trypano
some lives in the blood of wild game
and of rats without producing mis
chief. The hosts have become tolerant
of the parasite. It is only when Man
brings his unselected, humanly nur
tured races of cattle and horses into
contact with the parasite that it is
found to have deadly properties.1 The
1 This has been established in the case of
the Trypanosoma Brucei, a minute parasite
living in the blood of big game in South-East
Africa, amongst which it is disseminated by
a bloodsucking fly, the Glossina morsitans
or Tsetze fly. The parasite appears to do
little or no harm to the native big game, but
causes a deadly disease both in tbe horses and
cattle introduced by Europeans and in the
more anciently introduced native cattle (of
Indian origin). Similar cases are found where
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
19
various cattle-diseases which in Africa
have done so much harm to native
cattle, and have in some regions
exterminated big game, have per contra
been introduced by Man through his
importation of diseased animals of his
own breeding from Europe. Most, if
not all, animals in extra-human condi
tions, including the minuter things such
as insects, shell-fish, and invisible
aquatic organisms, have been brought
into a condition of “ adjustment ” to
their parasites as well as to the other
conditions in which they live; it is
this most delicate and efficient balance
of Nature which Man everywhere
upsets. A solitary case of a ravaging
epidemic constantly recurring amongst
animals living in extra-human condi
tions, one of a strangely interesting
character,is the phosphorescent disease
of the sand-shrimps or sand-hoppers.
This is due to a microscopic parasite, a
bacterium, which infests the blood, and
is phosphorescent, so that the infected
sand-hopper has at night the br'Uiancy
of a glow-worm. The disease is deadly,
and is common among the sand-hoppers
dwelling in the sandy flats of the north
coast of France, where it may readily
be studied.1 It has not been recorded
as occurring in this country. It is not
at all improbable that this disease is
also in truth one which only occurs in
the trail of Man. It is quite likely
that the artificial conditions of sewage
and garbage set up by man on the sea
coast are responsible for the prevalence
of this parasite and the weakly recep
tivity of the too numerous sand
hoppers.
It is probable enough that, from
time to time, under the influence of
certain changes of climate and asso
ciated fauna and flora—due to meteoric
or geologic movements — parasitic
a disease germ (such as that of measles) pro
duces but a small degree of sickness and
mortality in a pppulation long associated with
it, but is deadly to a human community to
which it is a new-comer. Thus, Europeans
have introduced measles with deadly results
in the South Sea Islands. A similar kind of
difficulty, of whioh many might be cited, is
brought about by Man’s importations and
exportations of useful plants. He thus
brought the Phylloxera to Europe, not
realising beforehand that this little parasitic
bug, though harmless to the American vine,
which puts out new shoots on its roots when
the insect injures the old ones, is absolutely
deadly to the European vine, which has not
acquired the simple but all-important mode
of growth by which the American vine is
rendered safe. Thus, too, he took the cofieeplant to Ceylon, and found his plantations
suddenly devastated by a minute mould, the
Hemileia vastatrix, which had lived very
innocently before that in the Cingalese
forests, but was ready to burst into rapacious
and destructive activity when the new un
adjusted coflee-trees were imported by man
tod presented in carefully crowded planta
tions to its unrestrained infeotion.
1 The phosphorescent disease of the sand
hopper (Talitrus) is described by Giard and
Billet in a paper entitled “ Observations sur la
maladie phosphorescente des Talitres et autres
Crustaces,” in the Memoirs of the Society de
Biologie, Oct. 19, 1889. Billet subsequently
gave a further account of this organism, and
named it Bacillus Qiardi—after Professor
Giard of Paris. (Bulletins sdentifiques de la
France et de la Belgique, xxi, 1898, p. 144.)
It appears that the parasite is transmitted
from one individual to another in coition.
The specimens studied by Giard and Billet
were obtained at Wimereux, near Boulogne.
I found the disease very abundant at Ouistreham, near Caen, in the summer of 1900. I
have not observed it nor heard of its occur
rence on the English coast. Sea-water nommonly contains a free-living phosphorescent
bacterium which can be cultivated in flasks
of liquid food, and gives rich growths
which glow like a lamp when the flask is
agitated so as to expose the contents to
oxidation. This bacterium is not, however,
the cause of the “ phosphorescence ” of the
sea often seen on our coasts. That is due, in
most cases, to a much larger organism, as big
as a small pin’s head, and known as Noctiluca
miliaris,
�20
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
disease has for a time ravaged this or
that species newly exposed to it; but
the final result is one of the alterna
tives, extinction or adjustment, death
or toleration. The disease does not
establish itself as a scourge against
which the diseased organism inces
santly contends. It either obliterates
its victim or settles down with it into
relations of reciprocal toleration.
Man does not admit this alternative
either for himself or for the domesti
cated and cultivated organisms which
he protects. He “ treats ” disease, he
staves off “ the adjustment by death,”
and thus accumulates vast populations
of unadjusted human beings, animals,
and plants, which from time to time
are ravaged by disease—producing
uncertainty and dismay in human
society. Within the past few years
the knowledge of the causes of disease
has become so far advanced that it is
a matter of practical certainty that, by
the unstinted application of known
methods of investigation and conse
quent controlling action, all epidemic
disease could be abolished within a
period so short as fifty years. It is
merely a question of the employment
of the means at our command. Where
there is one man of first-rate intelli
gence employed in detecting the disease
producing parasites, their special con
ditions of life and the way to bring
them to an end, there should be a
thousand. It should be as much the
purpose of civilised governments to
protect their citizens in this respect
as it is to provide defence against
human aggression. Yet it is the fact
that this immensely important control
of a great and constant danger and
injury to mankind is left to the unor
ganised inquiries of a few enthusiasts.
So little is this matter understood or
appreciated that those who are respon
sible for the welfare of States, with
the rarest exceptions, do not even
know that such protection is possible,
and others again are so far from an
intelligent view as to its importance
that they actually entertain the opinion
that it would be a good thing were
there more disease in order to get rid
of the weakly surplus population I
In the spring of 1905 I was enabled
to examine in the Pasteur Institute in
Paris the minute spiral thread (see
Fig. 6) which had just been discovered
and shown to be the cause of the
most terrible and widely spread of
human diseases, destroying the health
and strength of those whom it does
not kill and damaging the lives of their
children, so that it has been justly
said that this malady and the use of
alcohol as a beverage are together
responsible for more than half the
disease and early death of the mature
population of Europe. For more than
thirty years a few workers here and
there have been searching for this
parasite, and the means of suppressing
the awful curse of which it is the
instrument. It would have been dis
covered many years ago had greater
value been set on the inquiries which
lead to such discoveries by those who
direct the public expenditure of civilised
States. And now the complete sup
pression of this dire enemy of humanity
is as plain and certain a piece of work
to be at once accomplished as is the
building of an ironclad. But it will
not be done for many years because of
the ignorance and unbelief of those
who alone can act for the community
�NATURE'S INSURGENT SON
in such matters. The discovery—the
presentation to the eye and to explor
ing manipulation—of that well-nigh
ultra-microscopic germ of death seemed
to me, as I gazed at its delicate shape,
a thing of greater significance to man
kind than the emendation of a Greek
text or the determination of the exact
degree of turpitude of a statesman of
a bygone age.
The knowledge of the causation of
disease by bacterial and protozoic
21
obtained has led to a control of the
attack or of the poisonous action of
the parasite. Antiseptic surgery, by
defeating the poisonous parasite, has
saved not only thousands upon thou
sands of lives, but has removed an
incalculable amount of pain. Control
is slowly being obtained in regard to
several others among these deadly
microbes in various ways, most wonder
ful of which is the development, under
Man’s control, of serums containing
Fig. 6.
The minute vibratile organism discovered by Fritz Schaudinn in 1905 in the eruptive formations and
other diseased growths of syphilis—and called by him Spirochaeta pallida (since altered to Spironema
pallidum): a common phase; b shortened and thickened form leading on to e the Trypanosoma-like
form; c, d stages of division by fission; / elongated multi-nuclear form;
segments into which it
breaks up ; h supposed conjugation of male and female units (after Krystallovitch and Siedlevski).
This organism, though resembling the spirillar forms of bacteria, is probably not one of that group
of vegetable parasites, but allied to the minute animal parasites known as Trypanosomes (see pp. 87
and 10S and figures). It is regarded as the “germ” or active cause of the terrible disease known as
syphilis.
parasites is a thing which has come
into existence, under our very eyes
and hands, within the last fifty years.
The parasite, and much of its nature
and history, has been discovered in the
case of splenic fever, leprosy, phthisis,
diphtheria, typhoid fever, glanders,
cholera, plague, lockjaw, gangrene,
septic poisoning (of wounds), puerperal
fever, malaria, sleeping sickness, and
some other diseases which are fatal to
man. In some cases the knowledge
anti-toxins appropriate to each disease,
which have to be injected into the
blood as the means of either cure or
protection. But why should we be
content to wait long years, even
centuries, for this control, when we
can have it in a few years ? If more
men and abler men were employed to
study and experiment on this matter,
we should soon make an end of all
infectious disease. Is there anyone,
man or woman, who would not wish
�22
HATUBE’S INSUBEENT SON_________________ .
to contribute to the removal from
human life of the suffering and un
certainty due to disease, the anguish
and misery caused by premature
death ? Yet nothing is done by those
who determine the expenditure of the
revenues of great States towards deal
ing adequately with this matter.
1 As little is the question of the use and
abuse of food and drink dealt with, as yet, by
civilised Man. As in many other matters
Man has carried into his later crowded,
artificial, Nature-controlling life habits and
tendencies derived from savage prehistoric
days, so has he perpetuated ways of feeding
which are mere traditions from his early
“ animal ” days, and have never been seriously
called in question and put to proof, The
persistence under new conditions of either
habit or structure which belonged to old con
ditions may be attended with great danger
and difficulty to an organism which changes,
as Man does, with great rapidity important
features in its general surroundings and mode
of life. This is in efiect MetschnikoS’s doc
trine of “ disharmonies.” It is probable that
in very early days, when a tribe of primitive
men killed a mammoth, they all rushed on
to the dead monster and gorged as much of
its flesh as they could swallow (cooked or
possibly uncooked). They had to take in
enough to last for another week or two—that
is to say, until another large animal should
be trapped and slain. Accordingly he who
could eat most would be strongest and best
able to seize a good share when the next
opportunity arrived, and it naturally became
considered an indication of strength, vigour,
and future prosperity to be capable of gorging
large quantities of food. By means of the
phrases “ enjoying a good appetite,” or a
good trencherman,” or other such approving
terms, civilised society still encourages the
heavy feeder. The poorer classes always con
sider a ravenous appetite to be an indication
of strength and future prosperity in a child.
Most healthy men, and even many women, m
Western Europe attack their food and swallow
it without sufficient mastication, and as
though they did not hope to get another
chance of feeding for a week or two to come.
Medical men have never ventured to inves
tigate seriously whether civilised man is
doing best for his health in behaving like a
• savage about his food. It is their business to
attend to the patient with a disordered diges
tion, but not to experiment upon the amount
of food of various kinds which the modern
man should swallow in order to avoid indiges-
15,—The Increase of Human
Population.
Whilst there is a certainty of Man’s
power to remove all disease from his
life, a difficulty which he has already
created for himself will be thereby in
creased. That difficulty is the increase
of human population beyond the
capacity of the earth’s surface to
provide food and the other necessities
of life. By rebelling against Nature’s
method Man has made himself the
tion and yet supply his alimentary needs.
No individual can possibly pay medical men
to make these observations. It is the business
of the State to do so, because such knowledge
is not only needed by the private citizen, but
is of enormous importance in the manage
ment of armies and navies, in the victualling
of hospitals, asylums, and prisons, lhousands of tons of preserved meat have been
wasted in recent wars because the reckless
and ignorant persons who purchased the pre
served meat to feed soldiers had never taken
the trouble to ascertain whether preserved
meat can be eaten by a body of men as a
regular and chief article of diet. It appears
that certain methods of preserving meat
render it innutritious and impossible as a
It is probable from recent experiment that
we all, except those unfortunate few who do
not get enough, eat about twice as much as
we require, and that the superfluous quantity
swallowed not only is wasted, but is actually
a cause of serious illness and suffering. 1
surely is an urgent matter that these questions
about food should be thoroughly investigated
and settled. In the opinion of the most
eminent physiologist of the United States
(Professor Bowditch), we shall never establish
a rational and healthy mode of feeding our
selves until we give up the barbarous but to
some persons pleasant custom of converting
the meal into a social function ; we are thus
tempted into excess. Only long and„extensive
experiment can provide us with definite an
conclusive information on this matter, whic
is far more important than at firs sg
seems to be. And similarly with rega^d ?2
the admittedly serious question of alcohol
only very extensive and authoritative exper
ment will suffice to show mankind whether 1
is a wise and healthy thing to take it in small
quantities, the exact limits of which must be
stated, or to reject it altogether.
.lUfi-
�NATURE'S INSURGENT SON
only animal which constantly increases
in numbers. Whenever disease is con
trolled his increase will be still more
rapid than at present. At the same
time, no attempt at present has been
made by the more advanced com
munities of civilised men to prevent
the multiplication of the weakly or
of those liable to congenital disease.
Already something like a panic on this
subject has appeared in this country.
Inquiries have been conducted by
public authorities. But the only pos
sible method of dealing with this
matter, and in the first place of
estimating its importance as imme
diate or remote, has not been applied.
Man can only deal with this difficulty,
created by his own departure from
Nature—to wrhich he can never return
—by thoroughly investigating the laws
of breeding and heredity, and pro
ceeding to apply a control to human
multiplication based upon certain and
indisputable knowledge.
It may be a century, or it may be
more than five centuries, before the
matter would, if let alone, force itself
upon a desperate humanity, brutalised
by overcrowding and the struggle for
food. A return to Nature’s terrible
selection of the fittest may, it is con
ceivable, be in this way in store for
us. But it is more probable that
humanity will submit, before that con
dition occurs, to a restriction by the
community in respect of the right to
multiply with as good a grace as it
has given up the right to murder and
to steal. In view of this, Man must,
in entering on his kingdom, at once
proceed to perfect those studies as
to the transmission of qualities by
heredity which have as yet been only
23
roughly carried out by breeders of
animals and horticulturists.
There is absolutely no provision for
this study in any civilised community,
and no conception among the people
or their leaders that it is a matter
which concerns anyone but farmers.1
16.—An Untouched Source of Energy.
The applications of steam and elec
tricity have so far astonished and
gratified the rebel Man that he is
sometimes disposed to conclude that
he has come to the end of his power
of relieving himself from the use of his
own muscles for anything but refined
movements and well-considered health
giving exercises. One of the greatest
of chemical discoverers, M. Berthelot
(who died in 1909), has, however,
recently pressed on our attention the
question of the possibility of tapping
the central heat of the earth, and
making use of it as a perennial source
of energy. Many competent physicists
have expressed the opinion that the
mechanical difficulties of such a boring
as would be necessary are insuperable.
No one, however, would venture to
prophesy, in such a matter as this,
that what is prevented by insuperable
obstacles to-day may not be within
our powers in the course of a few
years.
17 .—Spectilations as to the Martians.
Such audacious control of the re
sources of our planet is suggested as
a possibility, a legitimate hope and
1 [A few private organisations with this
object in view have come into existence
within the last five years, but their resources
are altogether inadequate. Results of value
cannot be obtained without the expenditure
of much money.]
�24
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
aim, by recent observations and specu
lations as to our neighbour, the planet
Mars. I do not venture to express
any opinion as to the interpretation of
the appearances revealed by the tele
scope on the surface of the planet
Mars, and, indeed, would take the
most sceptical attitude until further
information is obtained. But the in
fluence of these statements about Mars
on the imagination and hopes of Man
cally filled with water* which is derived
from the polar snow-caps of the planet
at the season of greatest polar heat.
It is suggested that Mars is inhabited
by an intelligent population, not neces
sarily closely similar to mankind, but,
on the contrary, unlike mankind in
proportion as the conditions of Mars
are unlike those of the Earth, and
that these inhabitants have con
structed, by their own efforts, the
enormous irrigation works
upon which the fertility and
habitability of their planet,
at the present time, depend.
These speculations lead M.
Faguet, of the French Aca
demy, to further reflections.
Not only must the Martians,
who have carried out this
vast manipulation of a
planet, be far in advance
of the inhabitants of the
Earth in intelligence and
mechanical power, as a re
sult of the greater age of
their planet and the longer
continuance there of the
evolution of an intelligent
Fig. 7.
race, but such a vast work
.Drawing of Mars in November with Long. 156° on the meri
dian, showing the “Mare Sirenum” (the shaded sickle-shaped
and its maintenance would
area), connected with a network of “canals” showing “spots”
or oases ” at the intersections of the canals and a system of
seem to imply a complete
spherical triangles as the form of the meshwork.—From
Mars,” by Perceval Lowell.
unanimity among the popu
lation—a world-wide peace
seems to me to possess considerable and common government. Since we
interest. The markings on the surface can imagine such a result of the
of the planet Mars, which have been prolonged play of forces in Mars
interpreted as a system of canals, have similar to those at work in our own
been known and discussed for many Earth, and even obtain some slight
years (see Bigs. 7 and 8). It has confirmation of the supposition, may
recently been observed that these we not indulge in the surmise
canals undergo a recurrent seasonal that some such future is in store
change of appearance consistent with for Man; that he may be able here
the hypothesis that they are periodi after to ' deal with great planetary
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
25
nings and its limitations, than it is
for him to know the minutest details
of the workings of Nature. Just as
much in the one case as in the other,
it is impossible for him to trust to the
imperfect analysis made by ancient
races of men, and the traditions and
fancies handed down in old writings—
produced by generations who had not
18.—The Investigation of the Human arrived at the method of investigation
Mind.
which we now can apply. Experiment
In such a desultory survey
as that on which I have ven
tured of Man’s kingdom and
its dangers, it occurs to me to
mention another area upon
which it seems urgent that the
activities of Nature-searchers
should be immediately turned
with increased power and num
ber. The experimental study
of his body and of that of ani
mals has been carried far, and
with valuable results, by in
quiring Man. But a singu
larly small amount of atten
tion has as yet been given to
the investigation of Man’s
mind as a natural phenome
Fig. 8.
non, and one which can be
Drawing
seen
better understood to the im 325° on the of Mars asby Mr. on November 18,1894 (Long.
meridian)
Perceval Lowell at the Flag
staff Observatory, Arizona, U.S.A., showing ‘ twin” or
mense advantage of the race.
“ double ” canals, connected northwards with the “ Mare
The mind of Man—it mat Icarium.” The two figures here reproduced give only a
small portion of the system of canals, oases, and seas of
ters not, for my immediate the planet Mars mapped by Mr. Lowell.
argument, whether it be re
garded as having arisen normally or upon the mental processes of animals
abnormally from the mind of animals and of Man is greatly needed. Only
—is obviously the one and all-powerful here and there has anything been done
instrument with which he has con in this direction. Most promising
tended, and is destined hereafter to results have been obtained by such
contend, against extra-human Nature. observations as those on hypnotism
It is no less important for him to know and on various diseased and abnormal
the quality, the capacity, the mode of states of the brain. But the subject
operation of this instrument, its begin is so little explored that wild and
factors to his own advantage, and not
only draw heat from the bowels of the
earth for such purposes as are at
present within his scope, but even so
as to regulate, at some distant day,
ths climates of the earth’s surface, and
the winds and the rain which seem
now for ever beyond his control ?
�26
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
untested assertions as to the powers of
the mind are current, and have given
rise to strange beliefs, accepted by
many seriously intentioned men and
women. We boldly operate upon the
minds of children in our systems of
education without really knowing what
we are doing. We blindly assume that
the owners of certain minds, tradi
tionally trained in amusing elegancies,
are fit to govern their fellow-men and
administer vast provinces ; we assume
that the discovery and comprehension
of Nature’s processes must be the
work of very few and peculiar minds ;
that if we take care of the body the
mind will take care of itself. We
know really nothing of the heredity of
mental qualities, nor how to estimate
their presence or absence in the young
so as to develop the mind to greatest
advantage. We know the pain and
the penalty of muscular fatigue, but
we play with the brains of young and
old as though they were indestructible
machinery. What is called experi
mental psychology is only in its in
fancy ; but it is of urgent necessity
that it should be systematically pur
sued by the application of public funds,
in order that Man may know how to
make the best use of his only weapon
in his struggle to control Nature.
19.—Man’s Delay: Its Cause and
Remedy.
Even the slight and rapid review
just given of Man’s position, face to
face with Nature, enables us to see
what a tremendous step he has taken,
what desperate conditions he has
created, by the wonderful exercise of
his will; how much he has done and
can do to control the order of Nature,
and how urgent it is, beyond all that
words can say, for him to apply his
whole strength and capacity to gaining
further control, so that he may accom
plish his destiny and escape from
misery.
It is obvious enough that Man is at
present doing very little in this direc
tion ; so little that one seeks for an
explanation of his apathy, his seeming
paralysis.
The explanation is that the masses
of the people, in civilised as well as
uncivilised countries, are not yet aware
of the situation. When knowledge on
this matter reaches, as it inevitably
will in time, to the general population,
it is certain that the democracy will
demand that those who expend the
resources of the community, and as
Government officials undertake the
organisation of the national defence
and other great public services for the
common good, shall put into practice
the power of Nature-control which
has been gained by mankind, and
shall exert every sinew to obtain
more. To effect this the democracy
will demand that those who carry on
public affairs shall not be persons
solely acquainted with the elegant
fancies and stories of past ages, but
shall be trained in the acquisition of
natural knowledge and keenly active
in the skilful application of Nature
control to the development of the well
being of the community.
It would not be necessary to wait
for this pressure from below were the
well-to-do class — which in most
modern States exercises so large an
influence both in the actual adminis
tration of Governments and by example
—so situated as to be in any way
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
aware of the responsibilities which
rest upon it. Traditional education
has, owing to causes which are not far
to seek, deprived the well-to-do class
of a knowledge of, and interest in,
Man’s relation to Nature, and of his
power to control natural processes.
During the whole period of the growth
of Man’s knowledge of Nature—that is
to say, ever since the days of Bruno—
the education of the well-to-do has
been directed to the acquirement of
entertaining information and elegant
accomplishments, whilst “useful know
ledge ” has been despised and obtained
when considered necessary from lowerclass “ workmen ” at workmen’s wages.
It is of course not to be overlooked
that there have been notable excep
tions to this, but they have been excep
tions. Even at the present day, in
some civilised States, a body of clerks,
without any pretence to an education
in the knowledge of Nature, headed by
gentlemen of title, equally ignorant,
are entrusted with, and handsomely
paid and rewarded for, the superinten
dence of the armies, the navies, the
agriculture, the public works, the
fisheries, and even the public educa
tion of the State. When compelled
to seek the assistance of those who
have been trained in the knowledge of
Nature (for even in these States there
are a few such eccentric persons to be
found), the officials demand that such
assistance shall be freely given to them
without pay, or else offer to buy the
knowledge required at the rate paid to
a copying clerk.
This state of things is not one for
which it is possible to blame those
who, in blissful ignorance, contentedly
perform what they consider to be their
27
duty to their country. There are,
however, in many States institutions,
of vast influence in the education of
the whole community, known as
Universities. In many countries they
as well as the schools are directly con
trolled by the State. In England,
however, we are happy in having free
Universities, the older of which, though
in some important respects tied down
by law, yet have the power to deter
mine almost absolutely, not only what
shall be studied within their own walls,
but what shall be studied in all the
schools of the country frequented by
the children of the well-to-do.
It is the pride of our ancient Univer
sities that they are largely, if not ex
clusively, frequented by young men of
the class who are going to take an
active part in the public affairs of the
country — either as politicians and
statesmen, as governors of remote
colonies, or as leaders of the great
professions of the Church, the Law,
and Medicine. It would seem, then,
that if these Universities attached a
greater, even a predominant, import
ance to the studies which lead to the
knowledge and control of Nature, the
schools would follow their example,
and that the governing class of the
country would become acquainted with
the urgent need for more knowledge of
the kind, and for the immediate appli
cation in public affairs of that know
ledge which exists.
It would seem that in Great Britain,
at any rate, it would not be necessary,
were the Universities alive to the situa
tion, to await the pressure of demo
cracy, but that a better and more
rapid mode of development would
obtain; the influential and trusted
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NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
leaders of the community would set
the example in seeking and using for
the good of the State the new know
ledge of Nature. The world has seen
with admiration and astonishment the
entire people of Japan follow the
example of its governing class in the
almost sudden adoption of the know
ledge and control of Nature as the
purpose of national education and the
guide of State administration. It is
possible that in a less rapid and
startling manner our old Universities
may, at no distant date, influence the
intellectual life of the more fortunate
of our fellow-citizens, and consequently
of the entire community. The weari
ness which is so largely expressed at
the present day in regard to human
effort—whether it be in the field of
politics, of literature, or of other art,
or in relation to the improvement of
social organisation and the individual
life—is possibly due to the fact that
we have exhausted the old sources of
inspiration, and have not yet learnt to
believe in the new. The “ return to
Nature,” which is sometimes vaguely
put forward as a cure for the all
pervading tcedium of this age, is
perhaps an imperfect expression of the
truth that it is time for civilized Man
not to return to the “ state of Nature,”
but to abandon his retrospective atti
tude and to take up whole-heartedly
the kingdom of Nature which it is his
destiny to rule. New hope, new life
will, when he does this, be infused
into every line of human activity:
Art will acquire a new impulse, and
politics become real and interesting.
To a community which believes in the
destiny of Man as the controller of
Nature, and has consciously entered
upon its fulfilment, there can be none
of the weariness and even despair
which comes from an exclusive wor
ship of the past. There can only be
encouragement in every victory gained,
hope and the realisation of hope.
Even in the face of the overwhelming
opposition and incredulity which now
unhappily have the upper hand, the
believer in the predestined triumph of
Man over Nature can exert himself to
place a contribution, however small,
in the great edifice of Nature-know
ledge, happy in the conviction that his
life has been worth living, has counted
to the good in the imperishable result.
20.—The Influence of Oxford.
If I venture now to consider more
specifically the influence exercised by
the University of Oxford upon the
welfare of the State and of the human
community in general, in view of the
conclusions which have been set forth
in what has preceded, I beg to say that
I do so with the greatest respect to the
opinions of others who differ from me.
When I say this I am not using an
empty formula. I mean that I believe
that there must be many University
men who are fair-minded and dis
interested, and have given special
attention to the matter of which I
wish to speak, and who are yet very
far from agreeing with me. I ask
them to consider what I have said,
and what I have further to say, in the
same spirit as that in which I approach
them.
It seems to me—and when I speak
of myself I would point out that I am
presenting the opinions of a large
number of educated men, and that
it will be better for me to avoid an
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
egotistical attitude-—it seems to us (I
prefer to say) that the University of
Oxford, by its present action in regard
to the choice and direction of subjects
of study, is exercising an injurious
influence upon the education of the
country, and especially upon the
education of those who will hereafter
occupy positions of influence, and will
largely determine both the action of
the State and the education and
opinions of those who will in turn
succeed them. The question has been
recently raised as to whether the
acquirement of a certain elementary
knowledge of the Greek language
should be required of all those who
desire to pursue their studies in this
University, and accordingly whether
the teaching of the elements of this
language should form a prominent
feature in the great schools of this
country. It seems to us that this is
only part of a much larger question—
namely, whether it is desirable to
continue to make the study of two
dead languages, and of the story of the
deeds of great men in the past, the
main, if not the exclusive, matter to
which the minds of the youth of the
well-to-do class are directed by our
schools and Universities. We have
come to the conclusion that this form
of education is a mistaken and injuri
ous one. We desire to make the chief
subject of education both in school
and in college a knowledge of Nature
as set forth in the sciences which are
spoken of as physics, chemistry, geo
logy, and biology. We think that all
education1 should consist, in the first
1 It is, perhaps, needful to point out that
what is aimed at is that the education of all
the youth of the country, both of pass-men
29
place, of this kind of knowledge, on
account of its commanding importance
both to the individual and to the
community. We think that every
man of even a moderate amount of
education should have acquired a
sufficient knowledge of these subjects
to enable him at any rate to appreciate
their value and to take an interest in
their progress and application to
human life. And we think further
that the ablest youths of the country
should be encouraged to proceed to
the extreme limit of present knowledge
in one or other branch of this know
ledge of Nature, so as to become
makers of new knowledge and the
possible discoverers of enduring im
provements in Man’s control of Nature.
No one should be educated so as to be
ignorant of the importance of these
things; and it should not be possible
for the greatest talent and mental
power to be diverted to other fields
of activity through the fact that the
necessary education and opportunity
in the pursuit of the knowledge of
Nature are withheld. The strongest
inducements in the way of reward
and consideration ought, we believe,
to be placed before a young man in the
direction of Nature-knowledge rather
than in the direction of other and far
less important subjects of study.
and of class-men, of girls as well as of boys,
of the rich as well as of the poor, should be
primarily directed to imparting an acquaint
ance with what we already possess in respect
of knowledge of Nature, and the training of
the pupil so as to enable him or her (a) to
make use of that knowledge, and (b) to take
part in gaining new knowledge of Nature, at
this moment needed but non-existent. This
does not involve the complete exclusion of
other subjects of instruction, to which about
one-third of the time and effort of school and
college life might be devoted.
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NATUBE’S INSUBGENT SON
In fact, we should wish to see the
classical and historical scheme of
education entirely abandoned, and its
place taken by a scheme of education
in the knowledge of Nature.
At the same time let me hasten to
say that few, if any, of us—and cer
tainly not he who writes these lines—
would wish to remove the acquirement
of the use of languages, the training in
the knowledge and perception of beauty
in literary art, and the feeding of the
mind with the great stories of the past
from a high and necessary position in
every grade of education.
It is a sad and apparently inevitable
accompaniment of all discussion of this
matter that those who advocate a great
and leading position for the knowledge
of Nature in education are accused of
desiring to abolish all study of litera
ture, history, and philosophy. This is,
in reality, so far from being the case
that we should most of us wish to see
a serviceable knowledge of foreign
languages, and a real acquaintance
with the beauties of English and
other literature, substituted for the
present unsuccessful efforts to teach
effectively either the language or
literature of the Greeks and Romans.
It should not be for one moment
supposed that those who attach the
vast importance which we do to the
knowledge of Nature imagine that
Man’s spirit can be satisfied by exclu
sive occupation with that knowledge.
We know as well as any that Man
does not live by bread alone. Though
the study of Nature is fitted to develop
great mental qualities—perseverance,
honesty, judgment, and initiative—we
do not suppose that it completes
Man’s mental equipment. Though
the knowledge of Nature calls upon,
excites, and gratifies the imagination
to a degree and in a way which is
peculiar to itself, we do not suppose
that it furnishes the opportunity for
all forms of mental activity. The
great joys of Art, the delights and
entertainment to be derived from the
romance and history of human char
acter, are not parts of it. They must
never be neglected. But are we not
justified in asserting that, for some
two hundred years or more, these
“ entertainments ” have been pursued
in the name of the highest education
and study to the exclusion of the far
weightier and more necessary know
ledge of Nature? “This should ye
have done, and yet not left the other
undone,” may justly be said to those
who have conducted the education of
our higher schools and Universities
along the pleasant lines of literature
and history, to the neglect of the
urgently needed “ improvement of
Natural Knowledge.” Nero was prob
ably a musician of taste and training,
and it was artistic and beautiful music
which he played while Rome was
burning; so, too, the studies of the
past carried on at Oxford have been
charming and full of beauty, whilst
England has lain, and lies, in mortal
peril for lack of knowledge of Nature.
It seems to be beyond dispute that
the studies, firstly of Latin, and much
more recently of Greek, were followed
in our Universities and in grammar
schools, not as educational exercises
in the use of language, but as keys to
unlock the storerooms—the books—in
which the knowledge of the ancients
was contained. So long as these keys
were needed, it was reasonable enough
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
that every well-educated man should
spend such time as was necessary in
providing himself with the key. But
now that the storerooms are empty,
now that their contents have been
appropriated and scattered far and
wide, in all languages of civilisation,
it seems to be merely an unreasoning
continuation of superannuated custom
to go on with the provision of these
keys. Such, however, is the force of
habit that it continues; new and
ingenious reasons for the practice are
put forward, whilst its original object
is entirely forgotten.
In the first place, it has come to be
regarded as a mark of good breeding,
and thus an end in itself, for a man to
have some first-hand acquaintance with
Latin and Greek authors, even when
he knows no other literature. It is a
fashion, like the wearing of a court
dress. This cannot be held to justify
the employment of most of the time
and energy of youth in its acquirement.
A second reason which is now put
forward for the practice is that the
effort and labour expended on the
provision of these keys—even though
it is admitted that they are useless—
are a wonderful and incomparably fine
exercise of the mind, fitting it for all
sorts of work. A theory of education
has been enunciated which fits in with
this defence of the continued attempt
to compel young men to acquire a
knowledge, however imperfect, of the
Latin and Greek languages. It is held
that what is called “ training the
mind ” is the chief, if not the only
proper, aim of education; and it is
declared that the continuation of the
study of those once useful, but now
useless, keys, Latin and Greek, is an
31
all-sufficient training. If this theory
were in accordance with the facts, the
conclusion in favour of giving a very
high place to the study so recom
mended would be inevitable. But the
facts do not support this theory.
Clever youths are taken and pressed
into the study of Greek and Latin,
and we are asked to conclude that
their cleverness is due to these studies.
On the other hand, we maintain that
though the study of grammar may be,
when properly carried out, a valuable
exercise, yet that it is easily converted
into a worthless one, and can never in
any case take the place of various other
forms of mental training, such as the
observation of natural objects, the
following out of experimental demon
stration of the qualities and relations
of natural bodies, and the devising and
execution of experiment as the test of
hypothesis. Apart from “ training,”
there is the need for providing the
mind with information as well as
method. The knowledge of Nature
is eagerly assimilated by young people,
and no training in mental gymnastics
can be a substitute for it or an excuse
for depriving the young of what is of
inestimable value and instinctively
desired.
The prominence which is assigned
to a familiarity with the details of
history, more especially of what may
be called biographical history, in the
educational system favoured by Oxford
seems to depend on the same causes
as those which have led to the main
tenance of the study of Greek and
Latin. To read history is a pleasant
occupation which has become a habit
and tradition. At one time men
believed that history repeats itself,
�32
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
.and it was thought to be a proper
and useful training for one who would
take part in public affairs to store his
mind with precedents and picturesque
narratives of prominent statesmen and
rulers in far-off days and distant lands.
As a matter of fact, it cannot be shown
that any statesman, or even the hum
blest politician, has ever been guided
to useful action by such knowledge.
History does not repeat itself, and the
man who thinks that it does will be
led by his fragmentary knowledge of
stories of the past into serious blun
ders. To the fashionable journalist
such biographical history furnishes
the seasoning for his essays on
political questions of the day. But
this does not seem to be a sufficient
reason for assigning so prominent a
place in University studies to this
kind of history as is at present the
case. The reason, perhaps, of the
favour which it receives is that it is
one of the few subjects which a man
of purely classical education can
pursue without commencing his edu
cation in elementary matters afresh.
It would be a serious mistake1 to
suppose that those who would give a
complete supremacy to the study of
Nature in our educational system do
not value and enjoy biographical
history for what it is worth as an
entertainment; or, further, that they
do not set great value upon the scien
tific study of the history of the struggles
of the races and nations of mankind, as
a portion of the knowledge of the
evolution of Man, capable of giving
conclusions of great value when it has
been further and more thoroughly
treated as a department of Anthro
pology. What seems to us undesirable
is that mere stories and bald records
of certain peoples should be put for
ward as matter with which the minds
of children.and young men are to be
occupied, to the exclusion of the allimportant matters comprised in the
knowledge of Nature.
There are, it is well known, not a
few who regard the present institution
of Latin and Greek and so-called
History, in the pre-eminent place
which they occupy in Oxford and the
great schools of the country, as some
thing of so ancient and fundamental a
character that to question the wisdom
of that institution seems an odious
proceeding, partaking of the nature of
blasphemy. This state of mind takes
its origin in a common error, due to
the fact that a straightforward account
of the studies pursued in the University
during the last five hundred years has
never been written. Our present cur
riculum is a mere mushroom growth
of the last century, and has no claim
whatever to veneration. Greek was
studied by but a dozen or two
specialists in Oxford two hundred
and fifty years ago. In those days,
in proportion to what had been ascer
tained in that subject and could be
taught, there was a great and general
interest in the University in the know
ledge of Nature, such as we should
gladly see revived at the present day.
As a matter of fact, it is only within
1 I desire especially to draw the attention the last hundred years that the dogma
of those who have misunderstood and mis of compulsory Greek, and the value of
represented my estimate of the importance
of the study of History to this paragraph. what is now called a classical educa
—E. B. L.
tion, has been promulgated. These
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
things are not historically of ancient
date ; they are not essentials of
Oxford. We are, therefore, well
within our right in questioning the
wisdom of their continuance in so
favoured a position, and we are war
ranted in expressing the hope that
those who can change the policy of
the University and Colleges in this
matter will, at no distant day, do so.1
It is sometimes urged that Oxford
should contentedly resign herself to
the overwhelming predominance given
to the study of ancient elegance and
historic wisdom within her walls. It
ip said that she may well be reserved
for these delightful pursuits, whilst
newer institutions should do the hard
work of aiding Man in his conquest of
Nature. At first sight, such a pro
posal has a tempting character: we
are charmed with the suggestion that
our beautiful Oxford should be en
closed by a ring fence, and cut off for
ever from the contamination of the
world. But a few moments’ reflection
must convince most of us that such a
treatment of Oxford is an insult to
her, and an impossibility. Oxford is
not dead. Only a few decades have
passed—a mere fraction of her life
time—since she was free from the
oppression of grammar-school studies,
and sent forth Robert Boyle and Chris
topher Wren to establish the New
Philosophy of the Invisible College in
London. She seems, to some of us,
to have been used not quite wisely,
1 [It is practically certain now, in 1912—
after the failure of the attempts of the last
five years at reform of the University initiated
by its own members—that the Oxford of to
day cannot, owing to its law-enforced system
of government, reform itself. A change in
that mode of government is inevitable.]
33
perhaps not quite fairly, in the brief
period which has elapsed since that
time. Why should she not shake her
self free again, and give, hereafter,
most, if not the whole, of her wealth
and strength to the urgent work which
is actually pursued in every other
University of the world as a chief aim
and duty ?
The fact that Oxford attracts the
youth of the country to her, and so
determines the education offered in
the great schools, is a sufficient answer
to those who wish to perpetuate the
present employment of her resources
in the subvention and encouragement
of comparatively unimportant, though
fascinating (even too fascinating),
studies, to the neglect of the pressing
necessary knowledge of'Nature. Those
who enjoy great influence in the affairs
of the University tell us with pride
that Oxford not only determines what
our best schools shall teach, but has,
as a main preoccupation, the education
of statesmen, pro-consuls, leaders of
the learned professions, and members
of Parliament! Undoubtedly this
claim is well founded; and its truth
is the reason why we cannot be con
tent with the maintenance by the
University of the compulsory study of
Greek and Latin, and the neglect to
make the study of Nature an integral
and predominant part of every man’s
education.
To return to my original contention
—the knowledge and control of Nature
is Man’s destiny and his greatest need.
To enable future leaders of the com
munity to comprehend this, to per
ceive what the knowledge and control
of Nature are, and what are the steps
by which they are gained and increased,
�34
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
is the duty of a great University. To
neglect this is to retard the approach
of well-being and happiness, and to
injure humanity.
I beg, finally, for toleration from
those who do not share my opinions.
I am well aware that they are open to
the objection that they partake more
of the nature of dreams of the future
than of practical proposals.1 That,
perhaps, may be accepted as my excuse
for indulging in them. There are, and
always have been, dreamers in Oxford;
and beautiful dreams they have
dreamed—some of the past, and some
of the future. The most fascinating
dreams are not, unfortunately, always
realised; but it is sometimes worth
while to tell one’s dream, for that may
bring it a step nearer to “ coming
true.”
1 The practical steps which would correspond
to the views enunciated in this discourse are
two. First, the formation of an educational
association to establish one or more schools
and colleges in which Nature-knowledge and
training in Nature-searching should be the
chief matters to which attention would be
given, whilst reasonable methods would also
be employed for implanting in the minds of
the students a love and understanding of
literature and other forms of art. Those who
desired such an education for their children
would support these schools and colleges, just
as, in the days of Anglican exclusiveness, the
Nonconformists and Roman Catholics sup
ported independent educational institutions.
The second practical step would be the forma
tion of a political union which would make
due respect to efficiency—that is to say, to a
knowledge of Nature—a test question in all
political contests. No candidate for Parlia
ment would receive the votes of the union
unless he were either himself educated in a
knowledge of Nature, or promised his support
exclusively to Ministers who would insist on
the utilisation of Nature-knowledge in the
administration of the great departments of
State, and would take active measures of a
financial character to develop, with far greater
rapidity and certainty than is at present the
case, that inquiry into and control of Nature
which is the indispensable factor in human
welfare and progress. Such a programme
will, I hope, at no distant date, obtain the
support of a sufficient number of Parlia
mentary voters to raise political questions of
a more genuine and interesting character than
those which many find so tedious at the
present moment.
[I have more than once been asked to write
on the question as to why, at the present
moment, there is so great a lack of “ efficient ”
men in all varieties and grades of occupation.
I venture to say that it is due to the mistaken
education administered in schools of all grades,
as well as in the Universities. A true and
skilfully graduated instruction in the facts
ascertained as to natural things, and m the
APPENDIX
I add here a brief statement published by me
in the “ Times,” May 17,1903, which touches
on the question of the origin of life and
certain theories of creation.
“ It seems to me that, were the dis
cussion excited by Lord Kelvin’s state
ments to the Christian Association at
University College allowed to close in
its present phase, the public would
be misled and injustice done both to
Lord Kelvin and his critics. I there
fore beg you to allow me to point out
what appear to me to be the signi
ficant features of the matter under
discussion.
“ Lord Kelvin, whose eminence as
a physicist gives a special interest to
his opinion upon any subject, made at
University College, or in his subse
quent letter to you, the following
statements:—“ 1. That ‘ fortuitous concourse of
atoms ’ is not an inappropriate des
cription of the formation of a crystal.
“ 2. That ‘ fortuitous concourse of
atoms ’ is utterly absurd in respect to
the coming into existence, or the
growth, or the continuation of the
methods by which they are ascertained, would
produce “ efficient ” men—men who can think
and act reasonably as the result of under
standing. But the teachers must first of all
be taught, and the teachers of the teachers !]
�NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
molecular combinations presented in
the bodies of living things.
“ 3. That, though inorganic pheno
mena do not do so, yet the phenomena
of such living things as a sprig of moss,
a microbe, a living animal—looked at
and considered as matters of scientific
investigation—compel us to conclude
that there is scientific reason for believ
ing in the existence of a creative and
directive purpose.
“ 4. That modern biologists are
coming once more to a firm accept
ance of something, and that is—a vital
principle.
“ In your article on the discussion
which has followed these statements
you declare that this (the opinions I
have quoted above) is ‘ a momentous
conclusion,’ and that it is a vital point
in the relation of science to religion.
“I do not agree with that view of
the matter, although I find Lord
Kelvin’s statements full of interest.
So far as I have been able to ascertain,
after many years in which these
matters have engaged my attention,
there is no relation, in the sense of
a connection or influence, between
science and religion. There is, it is
true, often an antagonistic relation
between exponents of science and ex
ponents of religion when the latter
illegitimately misrepresent or deny the
conclusions of scientific research or
try to prevent its being carried on, or,
again, when the former presume, by
magnifying the extremely limited con
clusions of science, to deal in a destruc
tive spirit with the very existence of
those beliefs and hopes which are
called ‘ religion.' Setting aside such
excusable and purely personal collisions
between rival claimants for authority
and power, it appears to me that
science proceeds on its path without
any contact with religion, and that
religion has not, in its essential quali
ties, anything to hope for, or to fear,
from science.
“ The whole order of nature, includ
35
ing living and lifeless matter—from
man to gas—is a network of mechanism
the main features and many details of
which have been made more or less
obvious to the wondering intelligence
of mankind by the labour and ingenuity
of scientific investigators. But no
sane man has ever pretended, since
science became a definite body of doc
trine, that we know, or ever can hope
to know or conceive of the possibility
of knowing, whence this mechanism
has come, why it is there, whither it
is going, and what there may or may
not be beyond and beside it which our
senses are incapable of appreciating.
These things are not ‘ explained ’ by
science, and never can be.
“ Lord Kelvin speaks of a ‘ fortuitous
concourse of atoms,’ but I must confess
that I am quite unable to apprehend
what he means by that phrase in the
connection in which he uses it. It
seems to me impossible that by for
tuitous ’ he can mean something which
is not determined by natural cause
and therefore is not part of the order
of nature. When an ordinary man
speaks of a concourse having arisen
‘ by chance ’ or ‘ fortuitously ’ he means
merely that the determining conditions
which have led by natural causation
to its occurrence were not known to
him beforehand; he does not mean to
assert that it has arisen without the
operation of such determining condi
tions and I am quite unable to under
stand how it can be maintained that
‘ the concourse of atoms ’ forming a
crystal, or even a lump of mud, is in
any philosophic sense more correctly
described as ‘ fortuitous ’ than is the
concourse of atoms which has given
rise to a sprig of moss or an animal.
It would be a matter of real interest
to many of your readers if Lord Kelvin
would explain more precisely what he
means by the distinction which he
has, somewhat dogmatically, laid down
I between the formation of a crystal as
' ‘ fortuitous ’ and the formation of an
�36
NATURE’S INSURGENT SON
organism as due to ‘ creative and
directive purpose.’
‘ I am not misrepresenting what
Lord Kelvin has said on this subject
when I say that he seems to have
formed the conception of a creator
who, first of all, without care or fore
sight, has produced what we call
matter,’ with its necessary properties,
and allowed it to aggregate and crystal
lise as a painter might allow his
pigments to run and intermingle on
his palette; and then, as a second
effort, has brought some of these
elements together with ‘ creative and
directive purpose,’ mixing them, as it
were, with ‘ a vital principle ’ so as to
form living things, just as the painter
might pick out certain colours from
his confused palette and paint a
picture.
This conception of the intermittent
action of creative power and purpose
does not, I confess, commend itself to
me. That, however, is not so surpris
ing as that it should be thought that
this curious conception of the action
of creative power is of value to religion.
Whether the intermittent theory is a
true or an erroneous conception seems
to me to have nothing to do with
‘ religion ’ in the large sense of that
word so often misused. It seems to
me to,be a kind of mythology, and I
should have thought could be of no
special assistance to teachers of Chris
tianity. Such theories of divided
creative operations are traceable his
torically to polytheism.
Lastly, with reference to Lord
Kelvin’s statement that * modern bio
logists are coming once more to a firm
acceptance of something—and that is
a vital principle.” ’ I will not venture
to doubt that Lord Kelvin has such
persons among his acquaintance. On
the other hand, I feel some confidence
in stating that a more extensive ac
quaintance with modern biologists
would have led Lord Kelvin to perceive
that those whom he cites are but a
trifling percentage of the whole. I do
not myself know of anyone of admitted
leadership among modern biologists
who is showing signs of ‘ coming to a
belief in the existence of a vital
principle.’
Biologists were, not many years
ago, so terribly hampered by these
hypothetical entities—‘ vitality,’ ‘ vital
spirits,’ ‘ anima animans,’ ‘ archetypes,’
vis medicatrix,’ ‘ providential artifice,’
and others which I cannot now
enumerate—that they are very shy of
setting any of them up again. Physi
cists, on the other hand, seem to have
got on very well with their proble
matic entities, their ‘ atoms ’ and
ether,’ and ‘the sorting demon of
Maxwell.’ Hence,perhaps, Lord Kelvin
offers to us, with a light heart, the
hypothesis of a ‘ vital principle ’ to
smooth over some of our admitted
difficulties. On the other hand, we
biologists, knowing the paralysing in
fluence of such hypotheses in the
past, are as unwilling to have any
thing to do with ‘ a vital principle,’
even though Lord Kelvin erroneously
thinks we are coming to it, as we are
to accept other strange ‘ entities ’
pressed upon us by other physicists of
a modern and singularly adventurous
type. Modern biologists (I am glad
to be able to affirm) do not accept the
hypothesis of ‘ telepathy ’ advocated
by Sir Oliver Lodge, nor that of the in
trusions of disembodied spirits pressed
upon them by others of the same
school.
“We biologists take no stock in
these mysterious entities. We think
it a more helpful method to be patient
and to seek by observation of, and
experiment with, the phenomena of
growth and development to trace the
evolution of life and of living things
without the facile and sterile hypo
thesis of ‘ a vital principle.’ Similarly,
we seek by the study of cerebral
disease to trace the genesis of the
phenomena which are supposed by
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
37
some physicists who have strayed into I announcing the ‘ discovery ’ of ‘ tele
biological fields to justify them in I pathy ’ and a belief m ghosts.
Chapter II.
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE, 1881-1906
I PROPOSE to give in the following
pages an outline of the advance of
science in the twenty-five years which
immediately preceded the writing of
them. It is necessary to distinguish
two main kinds of advancement, both of
which are important. Francis Bacon
gave the title Advancement of Learning
to that book in which he explained
not merely the methods by which the
increase of knowledge was possible,
but advocated the promotion of know
ledge to a new and influential position
in the organisation of human society.
His purpose, says Dean Church, was
“ to make knowledge really and intel
ligently the interest, not of the school
or the study or the laboratory only,
but of society at large.” So that in
surveying the advancement of science
in the past quarter of a century we
should ask not only what are the new
facts discovered, the new ideas and
conceptions which have come into
activity, but what progress has science
made in becoming really and intelli
gently the interest of society at large.
Is there evidence that there is an
increase in the influence of science on
the lives of our fellow-citizens and in
the great affairs of the State ? Is
there an increased provision for secur
ing the progress of scientific investiga
tion in proportion to the urgency of
its need or an increased disposition to
secure the employment of really com
petent men trained in scientific inves
tigation for the public service ?
1.—The Increase of Knowledge in the
Several Branches of Science.
The boundaries of my own under
standing and the practical considera
tion of what is appropriate to a brief
essay must limit my attempt to give to
the general reader some presentation
of what has been going on in the
workshops of science in this last
quarter of a century. My point of
view is essentially that of the
naturalist, and in my endeavour to
speak of some of the new things and
new properties of things discovered in
recent years I find it is impossible to
give any systematic or detailed account
of what has been done in each division
of science. All that I shall attempt is
to mention some of the discoveries
which have aroused my own interest
and admiration. I feel, indeed, that it
is necessary to ask forbearance for my
presumption in daring to treat of so
many subjects in which I cannot claim
to speak as an authority, but only as a
�38
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
younger brother full of fraternal pride
and sympathy in the glorious achieve
ments of the great experimentalists
and discoverers of our day.
As one might expect, the progress of
the Knowledge of Nature (for it is to
that rather than to the historical,
moral, and mental sciences that
English-speaking people refer when
they use the word “science”) has
consisted, in the last twenty-five years,
in the amplification and fuller verifica
tion of principles and theories already
accepted, and in the discovery of
hitherto unknown things which either
have fallen into place in the existing
scheme of each science or have neces
sitated new views, some not very
disturbing to existing general concep
tions, others of a more startling and,
at first sight, disconcerting character.
Nevertheless, I think I am justified in
saying that, exciting and of entrancing
interest as have been some of the
discoveries of the past few years, there
has been nothing to lead us to conclude
that we have been on the wrong path,
nothing which is really revolutionary
—that is to say, nothing which cannot
be accepted by an intelligible modifica
tion of previous conceptions. There
is, in fact, continuity and healthy
evolution in the realm of science.
Whilst some onlookers have declared
to the public that science is at an end,
its possibilities exhausted, and but little
of the hopes it raised realised, others
have asserted, on the contrary, that
the new discoveries—such as those
relating to the X-rays and to radium
—are so inconsistent with previous
knowledge as to shake the foundations
of science, and to justify a belief in
any and every absurdity of an un
restrained fancy. These two recipro
cally destructive accusations are due
to a class of persons who must be
described as the enemies of science.
Whether their attitude is due to
ignorance or traditions of self-interest,
such persons exist. It is one of the
objects of our scientific associations
and societies to combat those asser
tions, and to demonstrate, by the dis
coveries announced at their meetings
and the consequent orderly building up
of the great fabric of “natural know
ledge,” that Science has not come to
the end of her work—has, indeed, only
as yet given mankind a foretaste of
what she has in store for it—that her
methods and her accomplished results
are sound and trustworthy, serving
with perfect adaptability for the
increase of true discovery and the
expansion and development of those
general conceptions of the processes
of Nature at which she aims.
New Chemical, Elements.—There can
be no doubt that the past quarter of a
century will stand out for ever in
human history as that in which
new chemical elements, not of an
ordinary type, but possessed of truly
astounding properties, were made
known with extraordinary rapidity
and sureness of demonstration. In
teresting as the others are, it is the
discovery of radio-activity and of the
element radium which so far exceeds
all others in importance that we may
well account it a supreme privilege
that it has fallen to our lot to live in
the days of this discovery. No single
discovery ever made by the searchers
of Nature even approaches that of
radio-activity in respect of the novelty
of the properties of matter suddenly
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
revealed by it. A new conception of
the structure of matter is necessitated
and demonstrated by it; and yet, so
far from being destructive and discon
certing, thp new conception fits in
with, grows out of, and justifies the
older schemes which our previous
knowledge has formulated.
Before saying more of radio-activity,
which is apt to eclipse in interest every
other topic of discourse, I must recall
the discovery of the five inert gaseous
elements by Rayleigh and Ramsay,
which belongs to the period on which
we are looking back. It was found
that nitrogen obtained from the atmo
sphere invariably differed in weight
from nitrogen obtained from one of
its chemical combinations ; and thus
the conclusion was arrived at by
Rayleigh that a distinct gas is present
in the atmosphere, to the extent of 1
per cent., which had hitherto passed
for nitrogen. This gas was separated,
and to it the name argon (the lazy
one) was given, on account of its
incapacity to combine with any other
element. Subsequently this argon was
found by Ramsay to be itself impure,
and from it he obtained three other
gaseous elements equally inert—
namely, neon, krypton, and xenon.
These were all distinguished from one
another by the spectrum, the sign
manual of an element given by the
light emitted in each case by the gas
when in an incandescent condition. A
fifti. inert gaseous element was dis
covered by Ramsay as a constituent
of certain minerals which was proved
by its spectrum to be identical with
an element discovered thirty years
ago by Sir Norman Lockyer in the
atmosphere of the sun, where it exists
39
in enormous quantities. Lockyer had
given the name u helium ” to this new
solar element, and Ramsay thus found
it locked up in certain rare minerals in
the crust of the earth.
But by helium we are led back to
radium, for it was found by Sir
William Ramsay and Dr. Soddy in 1904
that helium is actually formed by a
gaseous emanation from radium. As
tounding as the statement seems, yet
that is one of the many unprecedented
facts which recent study has brought
to light. The alchemist’s dream is, if
not realised, at any rate justified. One
element is actually under our eyes con
verted into another; the element radium
decays into a gas which changes
into another element—namely, helium.
Radium, this wonder of wonders,
was discovered owing to the study of
the remarkable phosphorescence, as it
is called—the glowing without heat—
of glass vacuum-tubes through which
electric currents are made to pass.
Crookes, Lenard, and Rontgen each
played an important part in this
study, showing that peculiar rays or
linear streams of at least three distinct
kinds are set up in such tubes—rays
which are themselves invisible, but
have the property of making glass or
other bodies which they strike glow
with phosphorescent light. The cele
brated Rontgen-rays make ordinary
glass give out a bright green light;
but they pass through it, and cause
phosphorescence outside in various
substances, such as barium platinocyanide, calcium tungstate, and many
other such salts; they also act on a
photographic plate and “ discharge ”
an electrified body such as an electro
scope. But the most remarkable
�40
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
feature about them is their power
of penetrating substances opaque to
ordinary light. They will pass through
thin metal plates or black paper or
wood, but are stopped by more or less
dense material. Hence it has been
possible to obtain “ shadow pictures ”
or skiagraphs by allowing the invisible
Rontgen-rays to pass through a limb,
or even a whole animal, the denser
bone stopping the rays, whilst the
skin, flesh, and blood let them through.
They are allowed to fall (still invisible)
on to a photographic plate, when a
picture like an ordinary permanent
photograph is obtained by their
chemical action, or they may be
made to exert their phosphorescence
producing power on a glass plate
covered with a thin coating of a
phosphorescent salt such as barium
platino-cyanide, when a temporary
picture in light and shade is seen.
The rays discovered by Rontgen
were known as the X-rays, because
their exact nature was unknown. Other
rays studied in the electrified vacuum
tubes are known as cathode rays or
radiant corpuscles, and others, again,
as the Lenard rays.
It occurred to M. Henri Becquerel,
as he himself tells us, to inquire
whether other phosphorescent bodies
besides the glowing vacuum-tubes of
the electrician’s laboratory can emit
penetrating rays like the X-rays. I
say <! other phosphorescent bodies,”
for this power of glowing without heat
—of giving out, so to speak, cold light
—is known to be possessed by many
mineral substances. It has become
familiar to the public in the form of
“ phosphorescent paint,” which con
tains sulphide of calcium, a substance
which shines in the dark after expo
sure to sunlight—that is to say, is
phosphorescent. Other sulphides and
the minerals fluor-spar, apatite, some
gems, and, in fact, a whole list of sub
stances have, under different condi
tions of treatment, this power of
phosphorescence or shining in the
dark without combustion or chemical
change. All, however, require some
special treatment, such as exposure to
sunlight or heat or pressure, to elicit
the phosphorescence, which is of short
duration only. Many of the com
pounds of a somewhat uncommon
metallic element called uranium, used
for giving a fine green colour to glass,
are phosphorescent substances, and it
was, fortunately, one of them which
Henri Becquerel chose for experiment.
Henri Becquerel is professor in the
Jardin des Plantes of Paris ; his labora
tory is a delightful old-fashioned build
ing, which had for me a special interest
and sanctity when, a few years ago, I
visited him there, for, a hundred years
before, it was the dwelling-house of
the great Cuvier. Here Henri Bec
querel’s father and grandfather—men
renowned throughout the world for
their discoveries in mineralogy, elec
tricity, and light—had worked, and
here he had himself gone almost daily
from his earliest childhood. Many an
experiment bringing new knowledge
on the relations of light and electricity
had Henri Becquerel carried out in
that quiet old-world place before the
day on which, about eighteen years
ago,1 he made the experimental inquiry,
“ Does uranium give off penetrating
rays like Rontgen rays ? ” He wrapped
1 [ I have altered these numbers so as to
make them correct in 1912.]
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
a photographic plate in black paper,
and on it placed and left lying there
for twenty-four hours some uranium
salt. He had placed a cross, cut out
in thin metallic copper, under the
uranium powder, so as to give some
shape to the photographic print should
one be produced. It was produced.
Penetrating rays were given off by the
uranium: the black paper was pene
trated, and the form of the copper
cross was printed on a dark ground
(Fig. 9). The copper was also pene
trated to some extent by the rays from
the uranium, so that its image was
not left actually white. Only one
step more remained before Becquerel
made his great discovery. It was
known, as I stated just now, that
sulphide of calcium and similar sub
stances become, phosphorescent when
exposed to sunlight, and lose this
phosphorescence after a few hours.
Becquerel thought at first that perhaps
the uranium salt had acquired its
power similarly by exposure to light;
but very soon, by experimenting with
uranium salt long kept in the dark, he
found that the emission of penetrating
rays, giving photographic effects, was
produced spontaneously without any
immediately antecedent action of light,
heat, or pressure upon the salt. The
emission of rays by this particular
sample of uranium salt has shown no
sign of diminution since this discovery.
The emission of penetrating rays by
uranium was soon found to be inde
pendent of its phosphorescence. Phos
phorescent bodies, as such, do not
emit penetrating rays. Uranium com
pounds, wThether phosphorescent or
not, emit, and continue to emit, these
penetrating rays, capable of passing
41
through black paper and in a less
degree through metallic copper. They
do not derive this property from the
action of light or any other treatment.
The emission of these rays discovered
by Becquerel is a new property of
matter. It is called “ radio-activity,”
and the rays are called Becquerel rays.
From this discovery by Becquerel
to the detection and separation of the
new element radium is an easy step
in thought, though one of enormous
Fig. 9.—Henri Becquerel’s Discovery
Radio-Activity.
of
Photographic print or skiagraph of a copper
Maltese Cross produced by uranium, salt placed
as a heap of powder on the surface of black
paper wrapped round a sensitive plate. Between
the paper and the uranium powder the fiat copper
cross was interposed. The rays from the uranium
salt have penetrated the black paper, but have
been intercepted to a large extent by the copper
cross—so that the sensitive silver plate is darkened
all about the cross-over an area corresponding
to that of the heap of uranium salt, but is left
pale where the copper figure blocked the path of
the active rays given off by the uranium, partially
but not wholly. It was thus proved that the rays
from the uranium salt can pass through blackened
paper and also, though to a less extent, through
a plate of copper.
labour and difficulty in practice. Pro
fessor Pierre Curie (whose name I
cannot mention without expressing
the grief caused to all men of science
by the sad accident by which his life
was taken) and his wife, Madame
Sklodowska Curie, incited by Bec
querel’s discovery, examined the ore
called pitch-blende, which is worked in
mines in Bohemia and is found also
in Cornwall. It is the ore from which
�42
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
all commercial uranium is extracted.
The Curies found that pitch-blende
has a radio-activity four times more
powerful than that of metallic uranium
itself. They at once conceived the
idea that the radio-activity of the
uranium salts examined by Becquerel
is due not to the uranium itself, but
to another element present with it in
variable quantities. This proved to
be in part true. The refuse of the
first processes by which in the manu
facturer’s works the uranium is ex
tracted from its ore, pitch-blende, was
found to contain four times more of
the radio-active matter than does the
pure uranium. By a long series of
fusions, solutions, and crystallisations
the Curies succeeded in “ hunting
down,” as it were, the radio-active
element. The first step gave them a
powder mixed with barium chloride,
and having 2,000 times the activity of
the uranium in which Becquerel first
proved the existence of the new pro
perty—radio-activity. Then step by
step they purified it to a condition
10,000 times, then to 100,000 times,
and finally to the condition of a
crystalline salt having 1,800,000 times
the activity of Becquerel’s sample of
uranium. The purification could not
be carried further, but the extraor
dinary minuteness of the quantity of
the pure radio-active substance ob
tained and the amount of labour and
time expended in preparing it may be
judged of from the fact that of one ton
of the pitch-blende ore submitted to
the process of purification only the
hundredth of a gram—the one-seventh
of a grain—remained.
The amount of radium in pitch
blende is one ten-millionth per cent.—
rarer than gold in sea-water. The
marvel of this story and of all that
follows consists largely in the skill
and accuracy with which our chemists
and physicists have learnt to deal with
such infinitesimal quantities, and the
gigantic theoretical results which are
securely posed on this pin-point of
substantial matter.
The Curies at once determined that
the minute quantity of colourless
crystals they had obtained was the
chloride of a new metallic element
with the atomic weight 225, to which
they gave the name “radium.” The
proof that radium is an element is
given by its “ sign-manual ” — the
spectrum which it shows to the ob
server when in the incandescent state.
It consists of six bright lines and three
fainter lines in the visible part of the
spectrum, and of three very intense
lines in the ultra-violet (invisible) part
(Fig. 10). A very minute quantity is
enough for this observation ; the lines
given by radium are caused by no
other known element in heaven or
earth. They prove its title to be
entered on the roll-call of elements.
The atomic weight was determined
in the usual way by precipitating the
chlorine in a solution of radium chloride
by means of silver. None of the
precious element was lost in the pro
cess, but the Curies never had enough
of it to venture on any attempt to pre
pare pure metallic radium. This is a
piece of extravagance no one has yet
dared to undertake. Altogether the
Curies did not have more than some
four or five grains of chloride of radium
to experiment with, and the total
amount prepared and now in the hands
of scientific men in various parts of
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
the world probably does not amount
to more than an ounce or two at most.
When Professor Curie lectured on
radium nine years ago at the Royal
Institution in London, he made use
of a small tube, an inch long and of
one-eightii bore, containing nearly the
43
whole of his precious store, wrenched
by such determined labour and con
summate skill from tons of black,
shapeless pitch-blende. On his return
to Paris, he was one day demonstrat
ing in his lecture - room with this
precious tube the properties of radium,
�u
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
when it slipped from his hands, broke,
and scattered far and wide the most
precious and magical powder ever
dreamed of by alchemist or artist of
romance. Every scrap of dust was
immediately and carefully collected,
dissolved, and re-crystallised, and the
disaster averted with a loss of but a
minute fraction of the invaluable
product.
Thus, then, we have arrived at the
discovery of radium—the new element
endowed in an intense form with the
new property, “radio-activity,” dis
covered by Becquerel. The wonder
of this powder, incessantly and without
loss, under any and all conditions
pouring forth, by virtue of its own
intrinsic property, powerful rays cap
able of penetrating opaque bodies, and
of exciting phosphorescence and acting
on photographic plates, can perhaps
be realised when we reflect that it is
as marvellous as though we should
dig up a stone which, without external
influence or change, continually poured
forth light or heat, manufacturing both
in itself, and not only continuing to do
so without appreciable loss or change,
but necessarily having always done so
for countless ages whilst sunk beyond
the ken of man in the bowels of the
earth.
Wonderful as the story is, so far it
is really simple and commonplace com
pared with what yet remains to be
told. I will only barely and abruptly
state the fact that radio-activity has
been discovered in other elements,
some very rare, such as actinium and
polonium; others more abundant and
already known, such as thorium and
uranium, though their radio-activity
was not known until Becquerel’s
pioneer discovery. It is a little
strange, and no doubt significant,
that, after all, pure uranium is found
to have a radio-activity of its own, and
not to have been altogether usurping
the rights of its infinitesimal associate.
The wonders connected with radium
really begin when the experimental
examination of the properties of a few
grains is made. What I am saying
here is not a systematic, technical
account of radium ; so I shall venture
to relate some of the story as it im
presses me.
Leaving aside for a moment what
has been done in regard to the more
precise examination of the rays emitted
by radium, the following astonishing
facts have been found out in regard
to it: (1) If a glass tube containing
radium is much handled or kept in
the waistcoat pocket, it produces a
destruction of the skin and flesh over
a small area—in fact, a sore place.
(2) The smallest trace of radium
brought into a room where a charged
electroscope is present causes the dis
charge of the electroscope. So power
ful is this electrical action of radium
that a very sensitive electrometer can
detect the presence of a quantity of
radium five hundred thousand times
more minute than that which can be
detected by the spectroscope (that is
to say, by the spectroscopic examina
tion of a flame in which minute traces
of radium are present). (3) Badium
actually realises one of the properties
of the hypothetical stone to which I
compared it giving out light and heat.
For it does give out heat, which it
makes itself incessantly and without
appreciable loss of substance or energy
(“ appreciable ” is here an important
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
qualifying term). It is also faintly
self-luminous. Fairly sensitive ther
mometers show that a few granules
of radium salt have always a higher
temperature than that of surrounding
bodies. Eadium has been proved to
give out enough heat to melt rather
more than its own weight of ice every
hour; enough heat in one hour to
raise its own weight of water from
the freezing-point to the boiling-point.
After a year and six weeks a gram of
radium has emitted enough heat to
raise the temperature of a thousand
kilograms of water one degree. And
this is always going on. Even a small
quantity of radium diffused through
the earth will suffice to keep up its
temperature against all loss by radia
tion ! If the sun consists of a fraction
of one per cent, of radium, this will
account for and make good the heat
that is annually lost by it in its present
greatly cooled condition.
This is a tremendous fact, upsetting
all the calculations of physicists as to
the duration in past and future of the
sun’s heat and the temperature of the
earth’s surface. The geologists and
the biologists have long contended that
some thousand million years must
have passed during which the earth’s
surface has presented approximately
the same conditions of temperature as
at present, in order to allow time for
the evolution of living things and the
formation of the aqueous deposits of
the earth’s crust. The physicists,
notably Professor Tait and Lord Kel
vin, refused to allow more than ten
million years (which they subsequently
increased to a hundred million), basing
this estimate on the rate of cooling of
a sphere of the size and composition
45
of the earth. They have assumed
that its material is self-cooling. But,
as Huxley pointed out, mathematics
will not give a true result when ap
plied to erroneous data. It has now,
within these last five years, become
evident that the earth’s material is
not absolutely self-cooling, but, on the
contrary, to some extent, self-heating.
And away go the restrictions imposed
by physicists on geological time. They
now are willing to give us, not merely
a thousand million years, but as many
more as we want.
And now I have to mention the
strangest of all the proceedings of
radium—a proceeding in .which the
other radio-active bodies, actinium
and thorium, resemble it. This pro
ceeding has been entirely the discovery
of Eutherford [now, 1912, Professor
in Manchester], and his name must be
always associated with it. Eadium (he
discovered) is continually giving off,
apart from and in addition to the
rectilinear darting rays of Becquerel,
an “ emanation ”—a gaseous “ emana
tion.” This “ emanation ” is radio
active—that is, gives off Becquerel
rays—and deposits “ something ” upon
bodies brought near the radium, so
that they become radio-active, and
remain so for a time after the radium
is itself removed. This emanation is
always being formed by a radium salt,
and may be most easily collected by
dissolving the salt in water, when it
comes away with a rush, as a gas.
Sixty milligrams of bromide of radium
yielded to Eamsay and Soddy .124
(or about one-eighth) of a cubic milli
metre of this gaseous emanation.
What is it? It cannot be destroyed
or altered by heat or by chemical
�46
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
agents; it is a heavy gas, having a
molecular density of 100, and it can
be condensed to a liquid by exposing
it to the great cold of liquid air. It
gives a peculiar spectrum of its own,
and is probably a hitherto unknown
inert gas—a new element similar to
argon.1 But this by no means com
pletes its history, even so far as ex
periments have as yet gone.
The
radium emanation decays, changes its
character altogether, and loses half its
radio-activity every four days. Pre
cisely at the same rate as it decays
the specimen of radium salt from
which it was removed forms a new
quantity of emanation, having just the
amount of radio-activity which has
been lost by the old emanation. All
is not known about the decay of the
emanation; but one thing is abso
lutely certain, having first been dis
covered by Ramsay and Soddy, and
subsequently confirmed by independent
experiment by Madame Curie. It is
this: After being kept three or four
days, the emanation becomes, in part
at least, converted into helium—the
light gas (second only in the list of
elements to hydrogen) found thirty
years ago by Lockyer in the sun,
and since obtained in some quantities
from rare radio - active minerals by
Ramsay ! The proof of the formation
of helium from the radium emanation
is, of course, obtained by the spectro
scope, and its evidence is beyond assail
(see Pig. 11). Here, then, is the par
tial conversion or decay of one element,
radium, through an intermediate stage
into another. And not only that, but
if, as seems probable, the presence of
helium indicates the previous presence
of radium, we have the evidence of
enormous quantities of radium in the
sun, for we know helium is there in
vast quantity. Not only that, but, in
asmuch as helium has been discovered
in most hot springs and in various radio
active minerals in the earth, it may be
legitimately argued that no inconsider
able quantity of radium is present in
the earth. Indeed, it now seems
probable that there is enough radium
in the sun to keep up its present con
tinual output of heat, and enough in
the earth to make good its present
loss of heat by radiation into space,
for an almost indefinite period. Other
experiments of a similar kind have
rendered it practically certain that
radium itself is formed by a somewhat
similar transformation of uranium, so
that our ideas as to the permanence
and immutability on this globe of the
chemical elements are destroyed, and
must give place to new conceptions.
It seems not improbable that the final
product of the radium emanation, after
the helium is removed, is, or becomes,
the metal lead!
It must be obvious from all the
foregoing that radium is very slowly,
but none the less surely, destroying
itself. There is a definite loss of
particles, which, in the course of
time, must lead to the destruction of
the radium; and it would seem that
the large new credit on the bank of
time given to biologists in consequence
of its discovery has a definite, if remote,
limit. With the quantities of radium
at present available for experiment, the
1 [Sir William Ramsay has recently given
the name “Niton,” meaning “the shining amount of loss of particles is so small,
and the rate so slow, that it cannot be
one,” to this element.]
�47
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
weighed by the most delicate balance.
Nevertheless, it has been calculated
that a given quantity of radium will
transform half of itself in about fifteen
maintenance of the earth’s tempera
ture. As a reply to this depreciatory
statement, we have the discovery by
Rutherford and others that radium is
Tube containing
Helium gas de
rived from the
mineral Clevelandite.
A
B
Tube of Radium
emanation, a
year old.
C
Tube of Hydro
gen gas for
comparison.
Fig. 11.
Photographs of the “ spark” spectra of A, Helium as extracted from the mineral Clevelandite, of B,
the Radium “ emanation ” after a year’s enclosure in the tube used, and of C, of hydrogen gas : copied
from the paper by Mr. F. Giesel in the Berichte der Deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, Vol. XXXIX.,
part 10.
The three photos are accurately super-imposed so as to show the coincident lines.
.
The spectrum B of the tube containing radium emanation is the one which we are comparing with
the other two. When the radium emanation was first enclosed there was only a small quantity of
helium developed in it, but after keeping for a year the quantity has greatly increased. After five
minutes’ “sparking” (passage of the electric spark through the tube) the chief lines of. helium become
evident but faint in intensity. The present photograph B was obtained after forty minutes’ sparking,
and one result of that longer “sparking ” has been that a minute quantity of water vapour in the tube
has been broken up—so as to yield the hydrogen spectrum, which is accordingly seen accompanying the
now strong and. brightly developed helium spectrum.
The lines of the spectrum B which correspond with those of hydrogen are at once recognised by the
juxtaposition (below) of the pure Hydrogen spectrum from another tube, C : the lines in B belonging to
and indicating helium are also recognised by comparison with the pure helium spectrum of the tube A
juxtaposed above. A very few of the lines in B must be due to other minimal impurities, as they are
not present either in A or C.
Thirteen lines of the helium spectrum are thus photographed and recognised in the radium
emanation.
The following lines are present in the photographic but invisible spectrum of radium (not given in
Fig. 10), viz., at 381’47 /x/x (the strongest line in the radium spectrum) and at 364'96 (a strong line).
In the photographic but invisible spectrum of helium there are three very faint lines between wave
length 447'2 and 443'7 (appearing as two only in our photograph); a moderately strong one at 438'8;
others at 414'4, at 412'1, at 402‘6, and 396'5 ; a very strong one is present, at 388'9, and a very faint one at
381'9. All these are seen in the photograph A and also in B. Special treatment and spectroscopes
reveal four other very faint lines in the helium spectrum—the one furthest in the invisible direction
(that is, of highest refrangibility and lowest wave-length) being placed at 318'6 (Soddy).
hundred years, and unless it were
being produced in some way all the
radium now in existence would dis
appear much too soon to make it an
important geological factor in the
continually being formed afresh, and
from that particular element in con
nection with which it was discovered
—namely, uranium. Hypotheses and
experiments as to the details of this
�48
THE ADVANCE OE SCIENCE
process are at this moment in full
swing, and in this connection results
of a momentous kind are thought by
some physicists to be not improbable
in the immediate future.
The delicate electric test for radio
activity has been largely applied in the
last few years to all sorts and condi
tions of matter. As a result, it appears
that the radium emanation is always
present in our atmosphere ; that the
air in caves is especially rich in it, as
are underground waters and the soil.
Tin-foil, glass, silver, zinc, lead, copper,
platinum, and aluminium are all of
them slightly radio-active. The ques
tion has been raised whether this
widespread radio-activity is due to the
wide dissemination of infinitesimal
quantities of strong radio-active ele
ments, or whether it is the natural
intrinsic property of all matter to
emit Becquerel rays. This is the
immediate subject of research.
Over and above the more simply
appreciable facts which I have thus
narrated there comes the necessary
and difficult inquiry: What does it all
mean ? What are the Becquerel rays
of radio-activity? What must we
conceive to be the structure and
mechanism of the atoms of radium
and allied elements, which can not
only pour forth ceaseless streams of
intrinsic energy from their own
isolated substance, but are perpetu
ally, though in infinitesimal propor
tions, changing their elemental nature
spontaneously, so as to give rise to
other atoms which we recognise as
other elements ?
I cannot venture as an expositor
into this field. It belongs to that
wonderful group of men the modern |
physicists, who with an almost weird
power of visual imagination combine
the great instrument of exact state
ment and mental manipulation called
mathematics, and possess an ingenuity
and delicacy in appropriate experiment
which must fill all who even partially
follow their triumphant handling of
Nature with reverence and admiration.
Such men now or recently among us
are Kelvin, Clerk Maxwell, Crookes,
Rayleigh, and J. J. Thomson.
Becquerel showed early in his study
of the rays emitted by radium that
some of them could be bent out of
their straight path by making them
pass between the poles of a powerful
electro-magnet. In this way have
finally been distinguished three classes
of rays given off by radium: (1) the
alpha rays, which are only slightly
bent, and have little penetrative
power; (2) the beta rays, easily bent
in a direction opposite to that in
which the alpha rays bend, and of
considerable penetrative power; (3) the
gamma rays, which are absolutely un
bendable by the strongest magnetic
force, and have an extraordinary pene
trative power, producing a photographic
effect through a foot thickness of solid
iron.
The alpha rays are shown to be
streams of tiny bodies positively elec
trified, such as are given off by gas
flames and red-hot metals. The par
ticles have about twice the mass of a
hydrogen atom, and they fly off with
a velocity of 20,000 miles a second
—that is, 40,000 times greater than
that of a rifle-bullet. The heat pro
duced by radium is ascribed to the
impact of these particles of the alpha
rays.
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
The beta rays are streams of cor
puscles similar to those given off by
the cathode in a vacuum tube. They
are charged with negative electricity,
and travel at the velocity of 100,000
miles a second. They are far more
minute than the alpha particles. Their
mass is equal to the one-thousandth
of a hydrogen atom. They produce
the major part of the photographic
and phosphorescent effects of the
radium rays.
The gamma rays are apparently the
same, or nearly the same, thing as the
X-rays of Rontgen. They are probably
not particles at all, but pulses or waves
in the ether set up during the ejection
of the corpuscles which constitute the
beta rays. They produce the same
effects in a much smaller degree as do
the beta rays, but are more pene
trating.
The kind of conceptions to which
these and like discoveries have led the
modern physicist in regard to the
character of that supposed unbreakable
body the chemical atom—the simple
and unaffected friend of our youth—
are truly astounding. Nevertheless,
they are not destructive of our previous
conceptions, but rather elaborations
and developments of the simpler views,
introducing the notion of structure and
mechanism, agitated and whirling with
tremendous force, into what we for
merly conceived of as homogeneous or
simply built-up particles, the earlier
conception being not so much a posi
tive assertion of simplicity as a non
committal expectant formula awaiting
the progress of knowledge and the reve
lations which are now in our hands.
As I have already stated, the
attempt to show in detail how the
49
marvellous properties of radium and
radio-activity in general are thus
capable of a pictorial or structural
representation is beyond the limits of
the present essay ; but the fact that
such speculations furnish a scheme
into which the observed phenomena
can be fitted is what we may take on
the authority of the physicists and
chemists of our day.
Intimately connected with all the
work which has been done in the past
twenty-five years in the nature and
possible transformations of atoms is
the great series of investigations and
speculations on astral chemistry and
the development of the chemical
elements which we owe to the un
remitting labour during this period of
Sir Norman Lockyer.
Wireless Telegraphy.—Of great im
portance has been the whole progress
in the theory and practical handling
of electrical phenomena of late years.
The discovery of the Hertzian waves
and their application to wireless tele
graphy is a feature of this period,
though I may remind some of those
who have been impressed by these
discoveries that the mere fact of
electrical action at a distance is that
which hundreds of years ago gave to
electricity its name. The power which
we have gained of making an instru
ment oscillate in accordance with
a predetermined code of signalling,
although detached and a thousand
miles distant, does not really lend any
new support1 to the notion that the
1 It seems necessary to emphasise that I
here say merely that no “ new support ” is
given to the notion of so-called telepathy, a
support some persons have wrongly claimed.
I do not say that the notion is rendered less
likely to prove true than it was before. At
�50
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
old-time beliefs of thought-transference physical agents such as light and
and second sight are more than illu electricity for evidence as to the
sions based on incomplete observation arrangement of atoms in the molecules
and imperfect reasoning. For the im of the most diverse chemical com
portant factors in such human inter pounds. The study of “ valency ” and
course—namely, a signalling-instru its outcome, stereo-chemistry, have
ment and a code of signals—have not been the special lines in which ch emi sbeen discovered as yet in the structure try has advanced. As a matter of
of the human body, and have to be course hundreds, if not thousands, of
consciously devised and manufactured new chemical bodies have been pro
by man in the only examples of thought duced in the laboratory of greater or
transference over long distances at less theoretical interest. The discovery
present discovered or laid bare to of the greatest practical and industrial
experiment and observation.
importance in this connection is the
High and Low Temperatures.—The production of indigo by synthetical
past quarter of a century has witnessed processes, first by laboratory and then
a great development and application by factory methods, so as to compete
of the methods of producing both very successfully with the natural product.
low and very high temperatures. Sir Van Baeyer and Heumann are the
James Dewar, by improved apparatus, names associated with this remarkable
has produced liquid hydrogen and a achievement, which has necessarily
fall of temperature probably reaching dislocated a large industry which
to the absolute zero. A number of derived its raw material from British
applications of extremely low tem India.
Astronomy.—A biologist may well
peratures to research in various direc
tions has been rendered possible by refuse to offer any remarks on his
the facility with which they may now own authority in regard to this
be produced. Similarly high tempera earliest and grandest of all the
tures have been employed in continua sciences. I will, therefore, at once
tion of the earlier work of Deville and say that my friend the Savilian
others by Moissan, the distinguished Professor of Astronomy in Oxford
has turned my thoughts in the right
French chemist.
Progress in Chemistry.—In chemis direction in regard to this subject.
try generally the theoretical tendency There is no doubt that there has
guiding a great deal of work has been been an immense “revival” in astro
the completion and verification of the nomy since 1881; it has developed
“periodic law” of Mendeldeff; and, in every direction. The invention of
on the other hand, the search by the “ dry plate,” which has made it
possible to apply photography freely
the same time I have no hesitation in saying in all astronomical work, is the chief
that the “ stories ” related and regarded by cause of its great expansion. Photo
some persons as evidence of the existence of
telepathy are not to be accepted as free from graphy was applied to astronomical
the influence of illusion and erroneous obser work before 1881, but only with diffi
vation, even in those cases where the good
culty, and haltingly. It was the
faith of the narrator is admitted.
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
51
OS
T—1
6
Pm
This figure should be examined with a magnifying glass. It is a direct reproduction of a photograph
of a detached nebula and surrounding stars in Cygnus by Dr. Max Wolf of Heidelberg (reproduced bv
permission from the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. TjXIV, Plate 18, p. 839 q.v.).
rhe exposure was four hours on July 10,1901, with a camera the lenses of which have a diameter of
sixteen inches. The picture is enlarged so that the apparent diameter of the sun or moon would be
about is inch on the same scale (one minute, or sixtieth of a degree, equals one milimetre).
[ Continued on next page.
�52
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
dry-plate (see Fig. 12) which made long
exposures possible, and thus enabled
astronomers to obtain regular records
of faintly luminous objects such as
nebulae and star-spectra. Roughly
speaking, the number of stars visible
to the naked eye may be stated as
eight thousand; this is raised by the
use of our best telescopes to some
hundred million. But the number
which can be photographed is inde
finite, and depends on length of
exposure; some thousands of millions
can certainly be so recorded.
The serious practical proposal to
“ chart the sky ” by means of photo
graphy certainly dates from this side
of 1881. The Paris Conference of
1887, which made an international
scheme for sharing the sky among
eighteen observatories (still busy with
the work, and producing excellent
results), originated with photographs
of the comet of 1882, taken at the
Cape Observatory.
Professor Pickering, of Harvard, did
not join this co-operative scheme, but
has gradually devised methods of
charting the sky very rapidly, so
that he has at Harvard records of
the whole sky many times over; and
when new objects are discovered he.
can trace their history backwards for
more than a dozen years by reference
to his plates. This is a wonderful
new method, a mode of keeping record
of present movements and changes
which promises much for the future
of astronomy. By the photographic
method hundreds of new variable stars
and other interesting objects have
been discovered. New planets have
been detected by the hundred. Up
to 1881 two hundred and twenty were
known. In 1881 only one was found
—namely, Stephania, being No. 220,
discovered on May 19. Now a score
at least are discovered every year.
Over five hundred are now known.
One of these—-Eros (No. 433)—-is
particularly interesting, since it is
nearer to the sun than is Mars, and
gives a splendid opportunity for fixing
with increased accuracy the sun’s
distance from the earth. Two new
satellites to Saturn and two to Jupiter
have been discovered by photography
(besides one to Jupiter in 1892 by the
visual telescope of the Lick Observa
tory). One of the new satellites of
Saturn goes round that planet the
wrong way, thus calling for a funda
mental revision of our ideas of the
origin of the solar system.
The introduction of photography
has made an immense difference in
The “apparent diameter” of the sun or moon is about one in 115: that is to say, that a covering disc
of any size you like can be made exactly to coincide with and cover” the disc of the sun or moon
provided that you place it at a distance from the eye equal to 115 times its own diameter--thus a disc oi
an inch in diameter (say a halfpenny) will just “ cover ” the sun or moon if placed at a distance from tne
eye of a little less than ten feet, a threepenny piece will cover it at about six feet, and a disc of some
what less than half that size when held at arm’s length.
_ . .
The nebula (on the horizontal A A) is seen surrounded by a dark space—at the end of a lon& dark lane
or “ rift ” which reminds us of the track left by a snowball rolled along in the snow. Has the nebula in
some mysterious way swept up the stars in its journey through space? We cannot at present eitner
affirm or deny such interpretations.
.
,
,
o
One or two of the brightest of the surrounding stars might just be seen by an acute eye unaided oy a
telescope—but no more. The best existing telescopes would show only the large nebular body on tne
line A A, and the larger white spots; the finest dust-like particles are stars of which the existence is omy
demonstrated by prolonged photographic exposures such as this, with a lens which focuses its, image on
to the dry plate. The old “ wet-plate” would not remain wet sufficiently long to take the picture.
It should be borne in mind in looking at this picture that each of the minutest white spots is pro
bably of at least the same size as our 9VS sun; further, that each is probably surrounded by a planetary
system similar to our OW£P
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
spectroscopic work. The spectra of
the stars have been readily mapped
out and classified, and now the
motions in the line of sight of faint
stars
can
be
determined.
This
“motion in the line of sight,” which
was discernible but scarcely measur
able with accuracy before, now pro
vides one of the most refined methods
in astronomy for ascertaining the
dimensions and motions of the uni
verse. It gives us velocities in miles
per second instead of in an angular
unit to be interpreted by a very
imperfect knowledge of the star’s
distance. The method, initiated prac
tically by Huggins thirteen years
before, was in 1881 regarded by many
astronomers as a curiosity. Visual
observations were begun at Green
wich in 1875, but were found to be
affected by instrumental errors. The
introduction of dry plates, and their
application by Vogel in 1887, was the
beginning of general use of the method,
and line-of-sight work is now a vast
department of astronomical industry.
Among other by-products of the method
are the “ spectroscopic doubles,” stars
which we know to be double, and
of which we can determine the period of
revolution, though we cannot separate
them visually by the greatest telescope.
Work on the sun has been entirely
revolutionised by the use of photo
graphy. The last decade has seen the
invention of the spectro-heliograph—
which simply means that astronomers
can now study in detail portions of
the sun of which they could previously
only get a bare indication.
More of the same story could be
related, but enough has been said to
show how full of life and progress is
53
this most ancient and imposing of all
sciences.
A minor, though very important,
influence in the progress of astronomy
has been the provision, by the expendi
ture of great wealth in America, of
great telescopes and equipments.
In 1877 Sir George Darwin started
a line of mathematical research which
has been very fruitful and is of great
future promise for astronomy. As
recently as April, 1906, at the Royal
Astronomical Society, two important
papers were read—one by Mr. Cowell
and the other by Mr. Stratton—which
have their roots in Sir George Darwin’s
work. The former was led to suggest
that the day is lengthening ten times
as rapidly as had been supposed, and
the latter showed that in all probability
the planets had all turned upside down
since their birth.
And yet M. Brunetiere and his
friends wish us to believe that science
is bankrupt and has no new things in
store for humanity.
Geology.—In the field of geological
research the main feature in the past
twenty-five years has been the increas
ing acceptance of the evolutionary as
contrasted with the uniformitarian
view of geological phenomena. The
great work of Suess, Das Antlitz der
Erde, is undoubtedly the most import
ant contribution to physical geology
within the period. The first volume
appeared in 1885, and the impetus
which it has given to the science may
be judged of by the epithet applied to
the views for which Suess is respon
sible—“the New Geology.”
Suess
attempts to trace the orderly sequence
of the principal changes in the earth’s
crust since it first began to form. He
�Fig. 16.
Fig 13.—The Freshwater Jelly-fish of Regent’s Park (Lvmnocodium Sowerbu), magnified five times
linear It was discovered in the tropical lily tank of the Botanical Gardens in June, 1880, and swarmed
in great numbers year after year—then suddenly disappeared. It has since been found m similar tang
in Sheffield, Lyons, and Munich. Only male specimens were discovered, and the native home or tne
wonderful visitor is still unknown.
, ,
. .. . - ,
Big. 14.—The minute polyp attached to the rootlets of water plants—from which the jeiiy-nsn
Limnocodi/um was found to be “ budded off.”
.
,.
rn
Fig. 15.—One of the peculiar sense-organs from the edge of the swimming disc of Limnocodium. O,
cavity of capsule ; EC, ectoderm; EN, endoderm. Sense organs of identical structure are found m the
Freshwater Jelly-fish of Lake Tanganyika and in no other jelly-fish.
five
Fig. 16.—The Freshwater Jelly-fish of Lake Tanganyika (Lmnocmda Tangawyicae), magnified fa
times linear. Since its discovery in Tanganyika it has been found also in the Lake Victoria Nyanza and
pools in the Upper Niger basin.
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
Strongly opposes the old theory of
elevation, and accounts for the move
ments as due to differential collapse
of the crust, accompanied by folding
due to tangential stress. Among
special results gained by geologists in
the period we survey may be cited
new views as to the origin of the
crystalline schists, favouring a return
to something like the hypogene origin
advocated by Lyell; the facts as to
deep-sea deposits, now in course of
formation, embodied in the “ Challen
ger ” reports on that subject; the
increasing discrimination and tracking
of those minor divisions of strata
called “ zones the assignment of the
Olenellus fauna of Cambrian age to a
position earlier than that of the Paradoxides fauna ; the discovery of Eadiolaria in palaeozoic rocks by special
methods of examination, and the
recognition of Graptolites as indices
of geological horizons in lower palaeo
zoic beds. Glacially eroded rocks in
boulder-clays of permo-carboniferous
age have been recognised in many
parts of the world (e.g., Australia and
South Africa), and thus the view put
forward by W. T. Blanford as to the
occurrence of the same phenomena in
conglomerates of this age in India is
confirmed. Eozoon is finally aban
doned as owing its structure to an
organism. The oldest fossiliferous
beds known to us are still far from
the beginning of life. They contain a
highly developed and varied animal
fauna—and something like the whole
of the older moiety of rocks of aqueous
origin have failed as yet to present us
with any remains of the animals or
plants which must have inhabited the
seas which deposited them. The boring
55
of a coral reef initiated by Professor
Sollas at the Nottingham meeting of
the British Association in 1893 has
been successfully carried out, and a
depth of l,114i feet reached. Inform
ation of great value to geologists was
thus obtained.
Animal and Vegetable Morphography.
—Were I to attempt to give an account
of the new kinds of animals and plants
discovered since 1881, I should have
to offer a bare catalogue, for space
would not allow me to explain the
interest attaching to each. Explorers
have been busy in all parts of the
world — in Central Africa, in the
Antarctic, in remote parts of China,
in Patagonia and Australia, and on
the floor of the ocean, as well as in
caverns, on mountain tops, and in
great lakes and rivers. We have
learnt much that is new as to distri
bution ; countless new forms have
been discovered, and careful anatomical
and microscopical study conducted on
specimens sent home to our labora
tories. I cannot refrain from calling
to mind the discovery of the eggs of
the Australian duck-mole and spiny
ant-eater; the fresh-water jelly-fish
(Eigs. 13, 14, and 15) of Eegent’s
Park, the African lakes (Eig. 16), and
the Delaware Eiver; the marsupial
mole of Central Australia; the okapi
(Figs. 17, 18, and 19); the breeding
and transformations of the common
eel (Fig. 20); the young and adult of
the mud-fishes of Australia, Africa,
and South America ; the fishes of the
Nile and Congo ; the gill-bearing earth
worms and mud-worms; the various
forms of the caterpillar-like Peripatus ;
strange deep-sea fishes, polyps, and
sponges.
D
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
56
Fig. 17.
1’lG. 18.
Fig. 19.
Fig. 17. The giraffe-like animal called the Okapi, discovered by Sir Harry Johnston in the Congo
forest. Photograph of the skin of a female sent home by him in 1901, and now mounted and exhibited in
the Natural History Museum.
m
Fig. 18.—Two “ bandoliers " cut by the natives from the striped part of the skin (the haunches) and at
first supposed t(> be bits of the hide of a new kind of zebra. These were sent home by Sir Hk?ry Johnston
in iyuu.
.. FIG-19--Photograph of the skull of a male Okapi-showing the paired boney horn-cores-similar to
those of the giraffe, but connected with the frontal bones and not with the parietals as the horn-cores of
giraffes are.
°
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
57
The main result of a good deal of by very simple, remote, and not by
such investigation is measured by our proximate, ancestors with one another
increased knowledge of the pedigree of and with the ancestors of vertebrates.
The origin of the limbs of verte
organisms, in fact what used to be
called “ classification.” The anatomi brates is now generally agreed to be
cal study by the Australian professors correctly indicated in the ThatcherHill and Wilson of the
teeth and the foetus of the
Australian group of pouched
mammals—the marsupials
—has entirely upset pre
vious notions, to the effect
that these are a primitive
group, and has shown that
their possession of only one
replacing tooth is a reten
tion of one out of many
such teeth (the germs of
which are present), as in
placental mammals; and
further that many of these
marsupials have the nour
ishing outgrowth of the
foetus called the placenta
fairly well developed, so
that they must be regarded
as a degenerate side-branch
Fig. 20.
of the placental mammals,
Drawings
of the young of the
and not as primitive fore common Eelby Professor Grassi, of Rome, the natural size. The
and its metamorphosis. All of
transparent glass-like creature—
runners of that dominant uppermost figure represents a find” to marine naturalists, ana
which was known as a rare “
received the name Leptocephalus. Really it lives in vast
series.
numbers in great depths of the sea—five hundred fathoms ana
Speculations as to the more. It is hatched here from the eggs of the common eel
which descends from the ponds, lakes, and rivers of Europe in
ancestral connection of the order to breed in these great depths. The gradual change of the
Leptocephalus into a young eel or “ elver ” is shown, and was dis
great group of vertebrates covered by Grassi. The young eels leave the great depth of the
ocean and ascend the rivers in immense shoals of many hundred
with other great groups thousand individuals, and wriggle their way up banks and rocks
into the small streams and pools of the continent.
. ,
have been varied and in
The above figures were published by Professor Grassi in
November, 1896, in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science,
genious ; but most natura edited by E. Ray Lankester, and sold by Churchill and Sons.
lists are now inclined to
the view that it is a mistake to Mivart-Balfour theory, to the effect
assume any such connection in the that they are derived from a pair of
case of vertebrates of a more definite continuous lateral fins, in fish-like
character than we admit in the case of ancestors, similar in every way to the
starfishes, shell-fish, and insects. All continuous median dorsal fin of fishes.
The discovery of the formation of
these groups are ultimately connected
�58
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
true spermatozoa by simple unicellular
When we come to the results of the
animals of the group Protozoa is a digging out and study of extinct plants
startling thing, for it had always been and animals, the most remarkable
supposed that these peculiar repro results of all in regard to the affini
ductive elements were only formed by ties and pedigree of organisms have
multicellular organisms (Figs. 21, 22, been obtained. Among plants the
and 23). They have been discovered transition between cryptogams and
in some of the gregarina-like animal phanerogams has been practically
cules, the Coccidia, and also in the bridged over by the discovery that
blood-parasites.
certain fern-like plants of the Coal
Among plants one of the most im Measures — the Cycadofilices — sup
portant discoveries relates to these posed to be true ferns, are really seed
same reproductive elements, the sper bearing plants, and not ferns at all,
matozoa, which by botanists are called but phanerogams of a primitive type,
antherozoids. A great difference be allied to the cycads and gymnosperms.
tween the whole higher series of plants, They have been re-christened Pterithe flowering plants or phanerogams, dosperms by Scott, who, together with
and the cryptogams or lower plants, F. Oliver and Seward, has been the
including ferns, mosses, and algae, was chief discoverer in this most interesting
held to be that the latter produce field.
vibratile spermatozoa like those of
By their fossil remains whole series
animals, which swim in liquid and of new genera of extinct mammals
fertilise the motionless egg-cell of the have been traced through the tertiary
plant. Two Japanese botanists (and strata of North America, and their
the origin of this discovery from Japan, genetic connections established; and
from the University of Tokio, in itself from yet older strata of the same pro
marks an era in the history of science), lific source we have almost complete
Hirase and Ikeno, astonished the knowledge of several genera of huge
botanical world fifteen years ago by extinct Dinosauria of great variety of
showing that motile antherozoids or form and habit (Fig. 25).
spermatozoa are produced by two
The discoveries by Seeley at the
gymnosperms, the ging-ko tree (or Cape, and by Amalitzky in North
Salisburya) and the cycads (Fig. 24). Russia of identical genera of Triassic
The pollen-tube, which is the fertilis reptiles, which in many respects re
ing agent in all other phanerogams, semble the Mammalia and constitute
develops, in these cone-bearing trees, the group Theromorpha, is also a
beautiful motile spermatozoa, which prominent feature in the palseontology
swim in a cup of liquid provided for of the past twenty-five years (Fig. 26).
them in connection with the ovules. Nor must we forget the extraordinary
Thus a great distinction between Devonian and Silurian fishes discovered
phanerogams and cryptogams was and described by Professor Traquair
broken down, and the actual nature (Figs. 27 and 28). The most im
of the pollen-tube as a potential parent portant discovery of the kind of late
of spermatozoids demonstrated.
| years has been that of the Upper
�Fig.
21.
Fig.
23.
Fig. 24.
the normal male Sd;T»nd I fhX stages ^“the^^
Pt°Ulp Or °ctopus‘
is
UdFmg224-Pr^ 6t-b0Wfa female parasite with dermatozoa SroachingT
°a °U ltS SUrfaCe by
from the Lbtat^s
°n the SUrfaCe °f the unicellular parasite Coceidium oviforme,
in
°f the ™ice11^ Parasite EcMnospora found
Fig. 24. Spermatozoa (antlierozoicls) of Cvccls TcvolutcL qaah frnm fha
-p
.PermataPo« I.sph,ri„i.c™g.spl„l tocd
�60
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
Eocene and Miocene mammals of the
Egyptian Eayum, excavated by the
Egyptian Geological Survey and by
Dr. Andrews, of the Natural History
Museum, who has described and figured
which was abundant in Miocene and
Pliocene times in Europe and Asia,
and in still later times in America,
and survives at the present day in its
representatives the African and Indian
the remains. They include a huge
four-horned animal, as big as a rhino
ceros, but quite peculiar in its char
acters—the Arisinoitherium—and the
ancestors of the elephants, a group
elephant. One of the European ex
tinct elephants—the Tetrabelodon—
had, we have long known, an im
mensely long lower jaw with large
chisel-shaped terminal teeth. It had
�THE ADVANCE OE SCIENCE
61
Fig. 26.
Fig. 27.
Fig. 26.—Photograph of the skeleton of a large carnivorous Reptile from Triassic strata in North
Russia, discovered by Prof. Amalitzky and named by him Inostransevia. The head alone is two feet in
length.
Fig, 27.—Photographs of completed models of the Devonian fish Drepanaspis, from Devonian slates
of North Germany, worked out by Professor Traquair. The models are in the Natural History Museum,
London.
Fig. 28.—The oldest fossil fish known—discovered in the Upper Silurian strata of Scotland, and
named BirJcenia by Professor Traquair.
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THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
been suggested by me that the modern mastodon, in which there are a long,
elephant’s trunk must have been de powerful jaw, an elongated faceBand
rived from the soft upper jaw and an increased number of molar teeth
nasal area, which rested on this elon (see Figs. 29 and 30) ; the second,
gated lower jaw, by the shortening (in Meritlzerium (Fig. 31), an animal with
the course of natural selection and a rhinoceros-like head, comparatively
modification by descent) of this long minute tusks, and a well-developed
lower jaw, to the present small dimen- complement of incisor, canine, and
Fig.
29.
Photograph of a complete model of the skull and lower jaw of the ancestral elephant, PaUzomastodon, discovered by Dr. Andrews in the Upper Eocene of the Fayum Desert, Egypt, and modelled
and restored under his direction in the Natural History Museum, London. The. comparatively short
trunk or snout rested on the broad front teeth of the long lower jaw. The face is elongated, and the
cheek-teeth are numerous.
sions of the elephant’s lower jaw, and
the consequent down-dropping of the
unshortened upper jaw and lips, which
thus became the proboscis.
Dr.
Andrews has described from Egypt
and placed in the Museum in London
specimens of the two new genera of
elephant-like animals — one Palao-
molar teeth, like a typical ungulate
mammal.
Undoubtedly we have in
these two forms the indications of
the steps by which the elephants b*fe
been evolved from ordinary-looking pig
like creatures of moderate size, devoid
of trunk or tusks. Other remains
belonging to this great mid-African
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
63
Eocene fauna indicate that not and many other new mammals and
only the elephants, but the Sirenia reptiles.
Another great area of exploration
(the dugong and manatee), took
Fig. 30.
Photograph of the lower face of the skull of a specimen of Palaomastoclon brought fr°m Egn>t in
April, 1906, by Dr. Andrews, and now in the Natural History Museum, London. The six charactenst 0
cheek-teeth on each side, and the pair of sabre-like tusks in front, are well seen.
their origin in this area. Amongst
them are also gigantic forms of
Hyrax, like the little Syrian coney
and source of new things has been the
southern part of Argentina and Pata
gonia, where Ameghino, Moreno, and
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THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
Scott of Princeton have brought to
light a wonderful series of extinct ant
eaters, armadilloes, huge sloths, and
strange ungulates, reaching back into
early Tertiary times. But most re
Cruz strata, considered to be of early
Tertiary date, of remains of a huge
horned tortoise which is generically
identical with one found fossil in the
Australian area of later date, and
known as Miolania. In
the same wonderful area
we have the discovery in
a cave of the fresh bones,
hairy skin, and dung of
animals supposed to be
extinct—viz., the giant
sloth, Mylodon, and the
peculiar horse, Onohi/ppidium.
These remains
seem to belong to survivors from the last sub
mergence of this strangely
mobile land-surface, and
it is not improbable that
some individuals of this
“extinct” fauna are still
living in Patagonia. The
region is still unexplored,
and those who set out to
examine it have, by some
strange fatality, hitherto
failed to carry out the
professed purpose of their
expeditions.
I cannot quit this im
mense field of gathered
Fig. 31.
fact and growing generali
Drawing of the skull and lower jaw of the Meritherium, dissation without alluding to
cov eied by Dr. Andrews in the Upper Eocene of the Fayuni Desert,
lhe shape of the skull and propoi’tions of face and jaw are like
those of an ordinary hoofed mammal such as the pig; but the the study of animal em
cheek-teeth are similar to those of the Mastodon, and whilst the
bryology and the germfull complement of teeth is present in the front of the upper jaw
we can distinguish the big tusk-like incisor which alone survives on, layer theory, which has to
each side in Palazomastodon, Mastodon, and the elephants, as the
great pan* of tusks,
some extent been superseded by the study of em
markable has been the discovery in bryonic cell-lineage, so well pursued
this area of remains which indicate a by some American microscopists. The
former connection with the Australian great generalisation of the study of the
land surface. This connection is sug germ-layers and their formation seems
gested by the discovery in the Santa to be now firmly established—namely,
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
65
that the earliest multicellular animals morphology, I must apologise for my
were possessed of one structural cavity, inability to give space to a considera
the enteron, surrounded by a double tion of the growing and important
layer of cells, the ectoderm and endo science of anthropology, which ranges
derm. These Enteroccela or Ccelentera from the history of modern races and
gave rise to forms having a second of human institutions and language to
great body-cavity, the coelom, which the earliest prehistoric bones and im
originated not as a split between the plements. Let me therefore- note here
two layers, as was supposed twenty- the discovery of the cranial dome of
five years ago by Haeckel and Gegen- Pithecanthropus in a river gravel in
baur and their pupils, but by a pouch Java—undoubtedly the most ape-like
ing of the enteron to form one or more of human remains, and of great age
cavities in which the reproductive cells (see Bigs. 1 and 2); and, further, the
should develop—pouchings which be Eoliths of Prestwich (see Figs. 3 and
came nipped off from the cavity of 4), in the human authorship of which
their origin, and formed thus the inde I am inclined to believe, though I
pendent coelom. The animals so pro should be sorry to say the same of all
vided are the Ccelomoccela Us opposed the broken flints to which the name
to the Enterocoela), and comprise all “ Eolith ” has been applied. The sys
animals above the polyps, jelly-fish, tematic investigation and record of
corals, and sea-anemones. It has been savage races have taken on a new and
established in these twenty-five years scientific character. Such work as
that the coelom is a definite structural Baldwin Spencer’s and Haddon’s in
unit of the higher groups, and that Australasia furnishes examples of what
outgrowths from it to the exterior is being done in this way.
Physiology of Plants and Animals.
(coelomoducts) form the genital pas
—Since I have not space to do more
sages, and may become renal excretory
organs also. The vascular system has than pick out the most important
not, as it was formerly supposed to advances in each subject for brief
have, any derivative connection with mention, I must signalise, in regard
the coelom, but is independent of it, to the physiology of plants, the better
in origin and development, as also are understanding of the function of leaf
the primitive and superficial renal green or chlorophyll due to Pringsheim
tubes known as nephridia. These and to the Russian Timiriaseff, the
general statements seem to me to new facts as to the activity of stomata
cover the most important advance in in transpiration discovered by Horace
the general morphology of animals Brown, and the fixation of free nitrogen
which we owe to embryological re by living organisms in the soil and by
search in the past quarter of a cen organisms {Bacillus radicola) parasitic
in the rootlets of leguminous plants
tury.1
Before leaving the subject of animal (see Fig. 32), which thus benefit by a
supply of nitrogenous compounds which
1 See the Introduction to Part II. of A
Treatise on Zoology. Edited by E. Ray they can assimilate.
Great progress in the knowledge of
Lankester (London : A. & G. Black).
�66
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
the chemistry of the living cells or
protoplasm of both plants and animals
has been made by the discovery of the
fact that ferments or enzymes are not
only secreted externally by cells, but
exist active and preformed inside cells.
Buchner’s final conquest of the secret
Fig. 32.
Bacillus radicola, the parasite which infests the
roots of leguminous plants and causes the growth
of nodules whilst assisting the plant in the assimila
tion of nitrogen : a nodule of the roots of the com
mon Lupine, natural size; b longitudinal section
through a Lupine root and nodule ; c a single cell
from a Lupine nodule showing the bacteria or
bacilli as black particles in the protoplasm,
magnified 600 diameters; d bacilli from the root
nodule of the Lupine; e triangular forms of the
bacillus from the root nodules of the Vetch ; f oval
forms from the root nodules of the Lupine; def
are magnified 1,500 diameters.
of the yeast-cell by heroic mechanical
methods—the actual grinding to powder
of these already very minute bodies—
first established this, and now succes
sive discoveries of intracellular fer
ments have led to the conclusion that
it is probable that the cell respires by
means of a respiratory “ oxydase,”
builds up new compounds and destroys
existing ones, contracts and accom
plishes its own internal life by fer
ments. Life thus (from the chemical
point of view) becomes a chain of
ferment actions. Another most signi
ficant advance in animal physiology
has been the sequel (as it were) of
Bernard’s discovery of the formation
of glycogen in the liver, a substance
not to be excreted, but to be taken up
by the blood and lymph, and in many
ways more important than the more
obvious formation of bile, which is
thrown out of the gland into the
alimentary canal. It has been dis
covered that many glands, such as the
kidney and pancreas and the ductless
glands, the suprarenals, thyroid, and
others, secrete indispensable products
into the blood and lymph. Hence
myxoedema, exophthalmic goitre, Addi
son’s disease, and other disorders have
been traced to a deficiency or excess of
internal secretions from glands formerly
regarded as interesting but unimportant
vestigial structures. From these glands
have in consequence been extracted
remarkable substances on which their
peculiar activity depends. From the
suprarenals a substance has been
extracted which causes activity of all
those structures which the sympathetic
nerve-system can excite to action ; the
thyroid yields a substance which
influences the growth of the skin,
hair, bones, etc.; the pituitary gland,
an extract which is a specific urinary
stimulant. Quite lately the mam
malian ovary has been shown by
Starling to yield a secretion which
influences the'state of nutrition of the
uterus and mammae. A great deal
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
more might be said here on topics
such as these — topics of almost
infinite importance; but the fact is
that the mere enumeration of the
most important lines of progress in
any one science would occupy many
pages.
Nerve - physiology has made im
mensely important advances. There
is now good evidence that all excita
tion of one group of nerve-centres is
accompanied by the concurrent inhibi
tion of a whole series of groups of
other centres, whose activity might
interfere with that of the group excited
to action. In a simple reflex flexure
of the knee the motor-neurones to the
flexor muscles are excited; but con
currently the motor-neurones to the
extensor muscles are thrown into a
state of inhibition, and so equally with
all the varied excitations of the nervous
system controlling the movements and
activities of the entire body.
The discovery of the continuity of
the protoplasm through the walls of
the vegetable cells by means of con
necting canals and threads (see Pig. 33)
is one of the most startling facts dis
covered in connection with plant
structure, since it was held twenty
years ago that a fundamental distinc
tion between animal and vegetable
structure consisted in the boxing-up
or encasement of each vegetable cell
unit in a case of cellulose, whereas
animal cells were not so imprisoned,
but freely communicated with one
another. It perhaps is on this
account the less surprising that lately
something like sense-organs have been
discovered on the roots, stems, and
leaves of plants, which, like the
otocysts of some animals, appear to
67
be really “ statocytes,” and to exert a
varying pressure according to the
relations of these parts of the plant
to gravity. There is apparently some
thing resembling a perception of the
incidence of gravity in plants which
reacts on irritable tissues, and is the
explanation of the phenomena of
geotropism. These results have grown
out of the observations of Charles
Darwin, followed by those of F. Dar
win, Haberlandt, and Nemec.
A few words must be said here as
to the progress of our knowledge of
The continuity of the protoplasm of neighbour
ing vegetable cells, by means of threads 'which
perforate the cell-walls. Drawing (after Gardiner)
of cells from the pulvinus of Robinia.
cell-substance, and what used to be
called the protoplasm question. We
do not now regard protoplasm as a
chemical expression, but, in accordance
with von Mohl’s original use of the
word, as a structure which holds in its
meshes many and very varied chemical
bodies of great complexity. Within
these twenty-five years the “ centrosome” of the cell - protoplasm has
been discovered (see Fig. 34), and a
great deal has been learnt as to the
structure of the nucleus and its
remarkable stain-taking bands, the
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
68
chromosomes. We now know that
these bands are of definite fixed
number, varying in different species
of plants and animals, and that they
are halved in number in the repro
ductive elements—the spermatozoid
and the ovum—so that on union of
these two to form the fertilised ovum
(the parent cell of all the tissues), the
proper specific number is attained (see
new nucleus —in fact, can do very
little but exhibit irritability. I am
inclined to agree with those who hold
that there is not sufficient evidence
that any organism exists at the
present time which has not both
protoplasm and nucleus; in fact, that
the simplest form of life at present
existing is a highly complicated struc
ture—a nucleated cell. 'That does not
Attraction-sphere enclosing two centrosomes.
Plastids lying in the
cytoplasm.
rpiasmosome or
true nucleolus.
Chromatin
network.
Nucleus
Linin-network.
k
Karyosome or
net-knot.
Vacuole.
Lifeless bodies (meta
plasm) suspended in
the cytoplasmic reticu
lum.
Fig.
34.
Diagrammatic representation of the structures present in a typical cell (after Wilson). Note the two
centrosomes, sometimes single.
Figs. 35 and 36). It has been pretty
clearly made out by cutting up large
living cells—unicellular animals—that
the body of the cell alone, without the
nucleus, can do very little but move
and maintain for a time its chemical
status. But it is the nucleus which
directs and determines all definite
growth, movement, secretion, and
reproduction. The simple protoplasm,
deprived of its nucleus, cannot form a
imply that simpler forms of living
matter have not preceded those which
we know. We must assume that
something more simple and homo
geneous than the cell, with its
differentiated cell-body or protoplasm,
and its cell kernel or nucleus, has at
one time existed. But the various
supposed instances of the survival to
the present day of such simple living
things—described by Haeckel and
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
69
others—have one by one yielded to been seriously revived within these
improved methods of microscopic twenty-five years. Our greater know
examination and proved to be dif- ledge of minute forms of life, and the
c.
Fig.
35.—The
Number oe the Chromosomes.
a Cell of the asexual generation of the cryptogam Pellia epiphylla: the nucleus is about to divide
a polar ray-formation is present at each end of the spindle-shaped nucleus, the chromosomes have
divided into two horizontal groups each of sixteen pieces: sixteen is the number of the chromosomes of
the ordinary tissue cells of Pellia. b Cell of the sexual generation of the same plant (PeZZia) in the
same phase of division, but with the reduced number of chromosomes—namely, eight m each half of
the dividing nucleus. The completed cells of the sexual generation have only eight chromosomes, c,
Somatic or tissue-cell of Salamander showing twenty-four V-shaped chromosomes, each of which is
becoming longitudinally split as a preliminary to division, d Sperm-mother-cell from testis of Sala
mander showing the reduced number of chromosomes of the sexual cells—namely, twelve; each is split
longitudinally. (From original drawings by Professor Farmer and Mr. Moore.)
ferentiated into nuclear and extra- conditions under which they can sur
vive, as well as our improved micro
nuclear substance.
The question of “ spontaneous scopes and methods of experiment and
generation ” cannot be said to have observation, have made an end of the
�70
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
arguments and instances of supposed
abiogenesis. The accounts which have
been published of “ radiobes,” minute
bodies arising in fluids of organic
origin when radium salts have been
allowed to mix in quantities with such
fluids, are wanting in precision and
detail; but the microscopic particles
which appear in the circumstances
described seem to be of a nature
identical with the minute bodies well
known to microscopists and recognised
as crystals modified by a colloid
medium. They have been described
Further stage in the division of the sexual cell
drawn in Fig. 35 cl, showing the twelve chromo
somes of the two nuclei of the sperm-cells resulting
from the division (twelve instead of twenty-four).
by Rainey, Harting, and Ord, on
different occasions, many years ago.
They are not devoid of interest, but
cannot be considered as having any
new bearing on the origin of living
matter.
Psychology.—I have given a special
heading to this subject because its
emergence as a definite line of experi
mental research seems to me one of
the most important features in the
progress of science in the past quarter
of a century. Thirty-five years ago
we were all delighted by Fechner’s
psycho-physical law; and at Leipzig
I, with others of my day, studied it
experimentally in the physiological
laboratory of that great teacher Carl
Ludwig. The physiological methods
of measurement (which are the phy
sical ones) have been more and more
widely, and with guiding intelligence
and ingenuity, applied since those
days to the study of the 'activities of
the complex organs of the nervous
system which are concerned with
“mind,” or psychic phenomena.
Whilst some enthusiasts have been
eagerly collecting ghost-stories and
records of human illusion and fancy
the serious experimental investigation
of the human mind, and its forerunner
the animal mind, has been quietly but
steadily proceeding in truly scientific
channels. The science is still in an
early phase—that of the collection of
accurate observations and measure
ments—awaiting the development of
great guiding hypotheses and theories.
But much has been done ; and it is a
matter of gratification to Oxford men
that through the liberality of the dis
tinguished electrician Mr. Henry
Wilde, F.R.S., a lectureship of Ex
perimental Psychology has been
founded in the University of Oxford,
where the older studies of Mental and
Moral Philosophy, Logic, and Meta
physics have so strong a hold, and
have so well prepared the ground for
the new experimental development.
The German investigators W. Wundt,
G. E. Muller, C. Stumpf, Ebbinghaus,
and Munsterberg have been prominent
in introducing laboratory methods,
and have determined such matters as
the elementary laws of association
and memory, and the perceptions of
musical tones and their relations.
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
71
The work of Goldschneider on the mus- doubtedly furnish the necessary scien
'
cular sense, and that of von Frey on the tific basis of the art of education, and
cutaneous sensations, are further ex psychology will hold the same relation
to that art as physiology does to the
amples of what is being done.
The difficult and extremely im art of medicine and hygiene.
There can be little doubt, moreover,
portant line of investigation first
of the valuable interaction of the study
scientifically treated by Braid under
the name “ Hypnotism” has been of physical psychology and the theories
greatly developed by the French school, of the origin of structural character by
especially by Charcot. The experi natural selection. The relation of the
mental investigation of suggestion, human mind to the mind of animals,
and the pathology of dual conscious and the gradual development of both,
ness and such exceptional conditions form a subject full of rich stores of
of the mind, has been greatly advanced new material, yielding conclusions of
the highest importance, which has not
by French observers.
The older work of Ferrier and Hitzig yet been satisfactorily approached.
I am glad to be able to give wider
on the functions of the parts of the
publicity here to some conclusions
brain has been carried further by Goltz
and Munk in Germany, and by Schafer, which I communicated to the Jubilee
Horsley, and Sherrington in England. volume of the Soci6t& de Biologic
The most important general advance of Paris in 1899. I there discussed
seems to be the recognition that the the significance of the great increase
mind of the human adult is a social in the size of the cerebral hemispheres
product; that it can only be under in recent, as compared with Eocene,
stood in relation with the special en mammals (see Fig. 5), and in Man as
vironment in which it develops, and compared with apes, and came to the
with which it is in perpetual inter conclusion that “ the power of building
action. Professor Baldwin, of Prince up appropriate cerebral mechanism in
ton, has done important work on this response to individual experience,” or
subject. Closely allied is the study what may be called educability, is
of what is called “ the psychology of the quality which characterises the
groups,” the laws of mental action larger cerebrum, and is that which
of the individual as modified by his has led to its selection, survival, and
membership of some form of society. further increase in volume. The bear
French authors have done valuable ing of this conception upon questions
of fundamental importance in what
work here.
These two developments of psy has been called “ genetic psychology ”
chology are destined to provide the is sketched as follows :—
“ The character which we describe
indispensable psychological basis for
Social Science, and for the anthro as ‘educability’ can be transmitted;
pological investigation of mental it is a congenital character. But the
results of education can not be transphenomena.
, mitted. In each generation they have
Hereafter, the well-ascertained laws
of experimental psychology will un to be acquired afresh. With increased
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THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
educability ’ they are more readily
acquired, and a larger variety of them.
On the other hand, the nerve-mechan
isms of instinct are transmitted, and
owe their inferiority, as compared with
the results of education, to the very
fact that they are not acquired by the
individual in relation to his particular
needs, but have arisen by selection of
congenital variation in a long series of
preceding generations.”
To a large extent, the two series
of brain-mechanisms, the ‘ instinctive ’
and the ‘ individually acquired,’ are in
opposition to one another. Congenital
brain-mechanisms may prevent the
education of the brain and the develop
ment of new mechanisms specially
fitted to the special conditions of life.
To the educable animal the less there
is of specialised mechanism transmitted
by heredity the better. The loss of in
stinct is what permits and necessitates
the education of the receptive brain.”
We are thus led to the view that
it is hardly possible for a theory to be
further from the truth than that ex
pressed by George H. Lewes and
adopted by George Romanes—namely,
that instincts are due to ‘ lapsed ’ in
telligence. The fact is that there is
no community between the mechan
isms of instinct and the mechanisms
of intelligence, and that the latter are
later in the history of the development
of the brain than the former, and can
only develop in proportion as the former
become feeble and defective.”1
Darwinism.—Under the title “ Dar
winism ” it is convenient to designate
the various work of biologists tending
to establish, develop, or modify Mr.
Darwin’s great theory of the origin of
species. In looking back over twentyfive years, it seems to me that we
must say that the conclusions of
Darwin as to the origin of species by
the survival of selected races in the
struggle for existence are more firmly
established than ever — and this be
cause there have been many attempts
to gravely tamper with essential parts
of the fabric as he left it, and even to
substitute conceptions for those which
he endeavoured to establish, at vari
ance with his conclusions. These
attempts must, I think, be considered
as having failed. A great deal of
valuable work has been done in con
sequence ; for honest criticism, based
on observation and experiment, leads
to further investigation, and is the
legitimate and natural mode of in*
crease
of
scientific
knowledge.
Amongst the attempts to seriously
modify Darwin’s doctrine may be cited
that to assign a great and leading im
portance to Lamarck’s theory as to
the transmission by inheritance of
newly “acquired” characters, due
chiefly to American palaeontologists
and to the venerated defender of such
views, who has now closed his long
life of great work, Mr. Herbert Spencer;
that to attribute leading importance to
the action of physiological congruity
and incongruity in selective breeding,
which was put forward by another
able writer and naturalist who has
now passed from among us, Dr.
George Romanes; further, the views
of de Vries as to the discontinuity in
the origin of new species, supported
1 From the Jubilee volume of the Soc. de
by the valuable work of Mr. Bateson
Biol, of Paris, 1899. Reprinted in Nature,
Vol. LXI., 1900, pp. 624, 625.
on discontinuous variation ; and, lastly,
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73
the attempt to assign a great and convincing and valuable works on
general importance to the facts ascer Darwinism. He is still alive, and not
tained many years ago by the Abb6 merely well, but pursuing his work
Mendel as to the cross-breeding of with vigour and ability. It was chiefly
varieties and the frequent production through his researches on insects in
(in regard to certain characters in South America and the Malay Islands
certain cases) of pure strains rather that Mr. Wallace was led to the Dar
than of breeds combining the charac winian theory; and there is no doubt
ters of both parents. On the other that the study of insects, especially of
hand, we have the splendid series of butterflies, is still one of the most
observations and writings of August prolific fields in which new facts can
Weismann, who has, in the opinion of be gathered in support of Darwin and
the majority of those who study this new views on the subject tested.
subject, rendered the Lamarckian Prominent amongst naturalists in this
theory of the origin and transmission line of research has been and is Edward
of new characters altogether untenable, Poulton, of Oxford, who has handed
and has, besides, furnished a most on to the study of entomology through
instructive, if not finally conclusive, out the world the impetus of the Dar
theory or mechanical scheme of the winian theory. I must here also name
phenomena of Heredity in his book a writer who, though unknown in our
The Germ, - Plasm. Professor Karl laboratories and museums, seems to
Pearson and the late Professor Weldon me to have rendered very valuable
—the latter so early in life and so service in late years to the testing of
recently lost to us—have, with the Darwin’s doctrines and to the bringing
finest courage and enthusiasm in the of a great class of organic pheno
face of an enormous and difficult task, mena within the cognisance of those
determined to bring the facts of varia naturalists who are especially occupied
tion and heredity into the solid form with the problems of Variation and
of statistical statement, and have Heredity. I mean Dr. Archdall Reid,
organised, and largely advanced in, who has with keen logic made use of
this branch of investigation, which the immense accumulation of material
they have termed “ Biometrics.” which is in the hands of medical men,
Many naturalists throughout the and has pointed out the urgent im
world have made it the main object portance of increased use by Dar
of their collecting and breeding of in winian investigators of the facts as to
sects, birds, and plants to test Darwin’s the variation and heredity of that
generalisations and to expand the unique animal Man — unique in his
work of Wallace in the same direc abundance, his reproductive activity,
tion. A delightful fact in this survey and his power of assisting his investi
is that we find Mr. Alfred Russel gator by his own record. There are
Wallace (who fifty years ago con more observations about the variation
ceived the same theory as that more and heredity of man and the condi
fully stated by Darwin) actively work tions attendant upon individual in
ing and publishing some of the most stances than with regard to any other
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THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
animal. Medical men need only to
grasp clearly the questions at present
under discussion in order to be able
to furnish with ease data absolutely
invaluable in quantity and quality.
Dr. Archdall Reid has in two original
books full of insight and new sugges
tions, The Present Evolution of Man
and Principles of Heredity, shown a
new path for investigators to follow.
There are still some philosophers
and a few naturalists who accept
Lamarck’s theory of organic evolution
by the transmission of what he called
les changements acquis.” I use the
term “ acquired ” without prejudice in
the sense given to that word by
Lamarck himself. It is of primary
importance that those who follow this
controversy should clearly understand
what Lamarck pointed to by this word
u acquired.” Utter confusion and
absurdity have resulted from a mis
understanding on this subject by some
writers who deliberately call newly
appearing congenital characters “ ac
quired ” or “ acquisitions.”
[It is desirable, owing to the constant
misunderstandings on the subject, that
a word should be added here as to the
production of congenital variations by
changed or novel conditions which act
upon the parent’s body, and so upon the
germs within it. That such effects
are produced was one of Darwin’s
main contentions, in support of which
he produced important evidence. Yet
many persons plunge into the question
as to whether Lamarck’s theory of
the transmission of acquired characters,
or, on the other hand, Darwin’s theory
of the natural selection and transmis
sion of congenital variations, is true,
without knowing what has been sup
posed, proved, and published in these
matters.
No one when opposing
Lamarck ever denies that important,
even essential, effects are produced by
agencies which act upon the parental
body. Yet, every now and then, the
fact that they do—is triumphantly an
nounced as something new by persons
who imagine themselves to be believers
in Lamarck. "What!” they say, “you
declare that the effect of agencies acting
on the parent’s body cannot influence
the offspring ! Look here ! ” The state
of mind of these persons is a result
of superficial acquaintance with the
discussion and refusal to read the
actual statements made by Darwin
and by Lamarck.
Lamarck’s contention was that the
identical changes caused in the struc
ture of an individual animal or plant
by the action upon it of a novel
environment—such as increase of a
part by use or decrease by disuse, as
well as other responses of an adaptive
character—are transmitted by genera
tion to its offspring, and continue to
appear in successive generations derived
from that offspring, even when the
cause which set up the original modi
fication of structure has ceased to act.
The direct adaptation of the structure
of such individuals to new environ
ment was supposed by Lamarck to
become fixed, and thenceforth trans*
mitted by heredity. What may be
called a character superimposed on
individuals, during their individual life
as a direct reaction and adaptation to
a new external influence or agency,
was held by Lamarck to become
suddenly a thing of deeper quality, to
be passed on in all its details by the
germ to a new generation. On the
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
other hand, Darwin, whilst denying
that such inheritance of the adapta
tion of an organ, arising from the
action upon such organ of new condi
tions, was usual or capable of account
ing for the gradual development of
new specific forms, did categorically
state that he attributed the origin of
congenital variations (by the natural
selection or survival of which he
held that new species originate) to the
action or influence of changed condi
tions upon the parental body, and
through it upon the reproductive germs.
The great and fundamental differ
ence between the result of changed
conditions formulated by Darwin
and that formulated by Lamarck
is that Darwin showed that the
result of changed conditions is not
an adaptive change of the shape or
structure of the parental organism or
of its offspring—fitting it to meet the
particular change of conditions which
induced the change—but a disturbance,
an arbitrary alteration (often very
minute) in the germs within the body
of the affected organism. So that the
young which it produces show in
creased “ variation ” or departure from
the exact model of the parental form
in directions or ways having no signi
ficance so far as the nature of the
change of conditions is concerned.
Darwin’s statements on this matter
are often ignored, and it is erroneously
declared that he does not account for
the origin of variations. No doubt
there is more to be ascertained in the
direction which Darwin indicated. I
will quote here a passage taken from
Mr. Darwin’s eleventh edition of his
Origin of Species, 1872, pp. 7-8, which
presents his view on this matter. He
15
says : “ With respect to what I have
called the indirect action of changed
conditions—namely, through the repro
ductive system being affected—we may
infer that variability is thus induced
partly from the fact of this system
being extremely sensitive to any change
in the conditions, and partly from the
similarity (as Kolreuter and others
have remarked) between the varia
bility which follows from the crossing
of distinct species and that which
may be observed with plants and
animals when reared under new or
unnatural conditions. Many facts
clearly show how eminently suscep
tible the reproductive system is to
very slight changes in the surrounding
conditions.”
Darwin goes on to
summarise some of these facts, refer
ring for details to his book on The
Variation of Plants and Animals under
Domestication. He then proceeds:
“ Some naturalists have maintained
that all variations are connected with
the act of sexual reproduction; but
this is certainly an error, for I have
given in another work a long list of
‘ sporting plants,’ as they are called by
gardeners—that is, of plants which
have suddenly produced a single bud
with a new and sometimes widely
different character from that of the
other buds on the same plant.” He
concludes with reference to the relation
between the conditions which cause
variation and the particular result
ensuing that ‘ we clearly see that the
nature of the conditions is of subor
dinate importance, in comparison with
the nature of the organism, in deter
mining each particular form of varia
tion—perhaps not of more importance
than has the nature of the spark by
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TSE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
which a mass of combustible matter
is ignited in determining the nature of
the flames.” The effect of external
agencies in producing curiously definite
variations of buds or of offspring has
by other writers been compared (merely
in respect of their non-significance and
want of relation to the nature of the
condition which starts them) to the
production of a new pattern in a
kaleidoscope by the external agency
of a slight jar or tap on the apparatus.
Such variations are truly enough
responses to external changes, but
they have no qualitative or even
quantitative relation to the external
change.
They may therefore be
described as “ non-significant ” in re
lation to the external changes which
set them going, and are totally differ
ent from the adaptive changes of the
form or structure of a parental body
which have a direct correspondence with
the nature and amount of the novel
condition or stimulus, and were supposed
by Lamarck to be transmitted as such
from the parent to its offspring.]
The attempt to resuscitate Lamarck’s
views on the inheritance of acquired
characters has been met not only by
the demand for the production of
experimental proof that such inherit
ance takes place, which has never
been produced, but on Weismann’s
part by a demonstration that the
reproductive cells of organisms are, in
very many cases, developed and set
aside from the rest of the tissues at
so early a period that it is extremely
improbable that changes brought about
in those other tissues by unaccustomed
incident forces can be specifically com
municated to the germ-cells so as to
make their appearance in the offspring
by heredity. Apart from this, I have
drawn attention to the fact that
Lamarck’s first and second laws (as
he terms them) of heredity are con
tradictory the one of the other, and
therefore may be dismissed. In 1894
I wrote:—
Normal conditions of environment
have for many thousands of generations
moulded the individuals of a given
species of organism, and determined as
each individual developed and grew
‘responsive’ quantities in its parts
(characters); yet, as Lamarck tells us,
and as we know, there is in every
individual born a potentiality wThich
has not been extinguished. Change
the normal conditions of the species
in the case of a young individual taken
to-day from the site where for thou
sands of generations its ancestors have
responded in a perfectly defined way
to the normal and defined conditions
of environment; reduce the daily or
the seasonal amount of solar radiation
to which the individual is exposed; or
remove the aqueous vapour from the
atmosphere; or alter the chemical
composition of the pabulum accessible ;
or force the individual to previously
unaccustomed muscular effort, or to
new pressures and strains; and (as
Lamarck bids us observe), in spite of
all the long-continued response to the
earlier normal specific conditions, the
innate congenital potentiality shows
itself. The individual under the new
quantities of environing agencies shows
new responsive quantities in those
parts of its structure concerned, new
or acquired characters.
“ So far, so good. What Lamarck
next asks us to accept, as his ‘ second
law,’ seems not only to lack the
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
support of experimental proof, but to
be inconsistent with what has just
preceded it. The new character, which
is ex hypothesi, as was the old char
acter (length, breadth, weight of a
part) which it has replaced, a response
to environment, a particular moulding
or manipulation by incident forces of
the potential congenital quality of the
race, is, according to Lamarck, all of a
sudden raised to extraordinary powers.
The new or freshly acquired character
is declared by Lamarck and his adher
ents to be capable of transmission by
generation; that is to say, it alters
the potential character of the species.
It is no longer a merely responsive or
reactive character, determined quanti
tatively by quantitative conditions of
the environment, but becomes fixed
and incorporated in the potential of
the race, so as to persist when other
quantitative external conditions are
substituted for those which originally
determined it. In opposition to
Lamarck, one must urge, in the first
place, that this thing has never been
shown experimentally to occur; and,
in the second place, that there is no
ground for holding its occurrence to
be probable, but, on the contrary,
strong reason for holding it to be
improbable. Since the old character
(length, breadth, weight) had not
become fixed and congenital after
many thousands of successive genera
tions of individuals had developed it
in response to environment, but gave
place to a new character when new
conditions operated on an individual
(Lamarck’s first law), why should we
suppose that the new character is
likely to become fixed after a much
shorter time of responsive existence,
77
or to escape the operation of the first
law? Clearly there is no reason (so
far as Lamarck’s statement goes) for
any such supposition, and the two
so-called laws of Lamarck are at
variance with one another.”
In its most condensed form my
argument has been stated thus by
Professor Poulton: Lamarck’s “ first
law assumes that a past history of
indefinite duration is powerless to
create a bias by which the present
can be controlled; while the second
assumes that the brief history of the
present can readily raise a bias to
control the future.”1
An important light is thrown on
some facts which seem at first sight
to favour the Lamarckian hypothesis
by the consideration that, though an
“acquired” character is not trans
mitted to offspring as the consequence
of the action of external agencies
determining the “ acquirement,” yet
the tendency to react exhibited by the
parent is transmitted, and if the ten
dency is exceptionally great a false
suggestion of a Lamarckian inheri
tance can readily result. This inheri
tance of “ variation in tendencies to
react ” has a wide application, and has
led me to coin the word “ educability,”
as mentioned in my remarks on
Psychology (p. 71).
The principle of physiological selec
tion advocated by the late Dr. Romanes
does not seem to have caused much
discussion, and has been unduly
neglected by subsequent writers. It
was ingenious, and was based on some
interesting observations, but has failed
to gain support.
1 Nature, Vol. LI., 1894, p. 127.
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THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
The observations of de Vries— application of them to the explanation
showing that in cultivated varieties of many difficult cases of the structure
of plants a new form will sometimes and distribution of organisms.
assert itself suddenly and attain a
Two general principles which Mr.
certain period of dominance, though Darwin fully recognised appear to me
not having been gradually brought to deserve more consideration and
into existence by a slow process of more general application to the his
selection—-have been considered by tory of species than he had time to
him, and by a good many other give to them, or than his followers
naturalists, as indicating the way in have accorded to them. The first is
which new species arise in Nature. the great principle of “ correlation of
The suggestion is a valuable one, if variation,” from which it follows that,
not very novel; but a great deal of whilst natural selection may be
observation will have to be made favouring some small and obscure
before it can be admitted as really change in an unseen group of cells
having a wide bearing upon the origin —such as digestive, pigmentary, or
of species. The same is true of those nervous cells, and that change a
interesting observations which were change of selective value—there may
first made by Mendel, and have been be, indeed often is, as we know, a
resuscitated and extended with great correlated or accompanying change in
labour and ingenuity by recent workers, a physiologically related part of far
especially in this country by Bateson greater magnitude and prominence to
and his pupils. If it should prove to the eye of the human onlooker. This
be true that varieties when crossed do accompanying or correlated character
not, in the course of eventual inter has no selective value, is not an
breeding, produce intermediate forms adaptation—is, in fact, a necessary
as hybrids, but that characters are but useless by-product. A list of a
either dominant or recessive, and that few cases of this kind was given by
breeds result having pure unmixed Darwin, but it is most desirable that
characters, we should, in proportion more should be established. For they
as the Mendelian law is shown to enable us to understand how it is that
apply to all tissues and organs and to specific characters, those seen and
a majority of organisms, have before noted on the surface by systematists,
us a very important and determining are not in most cases adaptations of
principle in all that relates to heredity selective value. They also open a
and variation. It remains, however, wide vista of incipient and useless
to be shown how far the Mendelian developments which may suddenly, in
phenomenon is general. And it is, of their turn, be seized upon by ever
course, admitted on all sides that, watchful natural selection and raised
even were the Mendelian phenomenon to a high pitch of growth and function.
The second, somewhat, but by no
general and raised to the rank of a law
of heredity, it would not be subversive means altogether, neglected principle
of Mr. Darwin’s generalisations, but is that a good deal of the important
probably tend to the more ready variation in both plants and animals
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
79
is not the variation of a minute part interest to mankind, who do not accept
or confined to one organ, but has their diseases unresistingly and die as
really an inner physiological basis, animals do, so purifying their race, but
and may be a variation of a whole incessantly combat and fight disease,
organic system or of a whole tissue producing new and terrible forms of
expressing itself at several points and it, by their wilful interference with
in several shapes. In fact, we should the earlier rule of Nature.
Our knowledge of disease has been
perhaps more generally conceive of
enormously advanced in the last quarter
variation as not so much the accom
plishment and presentation of one of a century, and in an important
little mark or difference in weight, degree our power of arresting it, by
length, or colour, as the expression of two great lines of study going on side
a tendency to vary in a given tissue or by side, and originated, not by medical
organ in a particular way. Thus we men nor by physiologists in the narrow
are prepared for the rapid extension technical sense, but by naturalists, a
and dominance of the variation if once botanist, and a zoologist. Ferdinand
it is favoured by selective breeding. It Cohn, Professor of Botany in Breslau,
seems to me that such cases as the by his own researches and by personal
complete disappearance of scales from training in his laboratory, gave to
the integument of some osseous fishes, Robert Koch the start on his distin
or the possible retention of three or guished career as a bacteriologist. It
four scales out of some hundreds is to Metschnikoff the zoologist and
present in nearly allied forms, favour embryologist that we owe the doctrine
this mode of conceiving of variation. of phagocytosis, and the consequent
So, also, does the marked tendency to theory of immunity now so widely
produce membranous expansions of the accepted.
We must not forget that in this
integument in the bats, not only between
same period much of the immortal
the digits and from the axilla, but from
the ears and different regions of the work of Pasteur on hydrophobia, of
face. Of course, the alternative hairy Behring and Roux on diphtheria, and
or smooth condition of the integuments of Ehrlich and many others to whom
both in plants and animals is a familiar the eternal gratitude of mankind is
instance in which a tendency extending due, has been going on. It is only
over a large area is recognised as that some fifteen years since Calmette
which constitutes the variation. In showed that, if cobra poison were in
smooth or hairy varieties we do not troduced into the blood of a horse in
postulate an individual development of less quantity than would cause death
hairs subjected one by one to selection the horse would tolerate, with little
and consequent survival or repression. disturbance, after ten days, a full dose,
Disease.— The study of the phy and then day after day an increasing
siology of unhealthy, injured, or dose, until the horse, without any
diseased organisms is called pathology. inconvenience, received an injection
It necessarily has an immense area of of cobra poison large enough to kill
observation, and is of transcending thirty horses of its size. Some of the
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THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
horse’s blood, being now withdrawn, the improvement in human conditions
was found to contain a very active which can thus be effected, yet we
antidote to cobra poison — what is cannot hope for any really complete or
called an antitoxin. The procedure satisfactory realisation of the ideal of
in the preparation of the antitoxin is escape from contact with infective
practically the same as that previously germs. The task is beyond human
adopted by Behring in the preparation powers. The conviction has now been
of the antitoxin of diphtheria poison. arrived at that, whilst we must take
Animals treated with injections of these every precaution to diminish infection,
antitoxins are immune to the poison yet our ultimate safety must come
itself when subsequently injected with from within—namely ,from the activity,
it, or, if already suffering from the the trained, stimulated, and carefully
poison (as, for instance, by snake-bite), guarded activity, of those wonderful
are readily shown by experiment to be colourless, amceba - like corpuscles
rapidly cured by the injection of the whose use was so long unrecognised,
appropriate antitoxin. This is, as all but has now been made clear by the
will admit, an intensely interesting bit patiently continued experiments and
of biology. The explanation of the arguments of Metschnikoff, who has
formation of the antitoxin in the blood named them “ phagocytes.”
The
and its mode of antagonising the poison doctrine of the activity and immense
is not easy. It seems that the anti importance of these corpuscles of the
toxin is undoubtedly formed from the living body, which form part of the
corresponding toxin or poison, and all-pervading connective tissues and
that the antagonism can be best under float also in the blood, is in its nature
stood as a chemical reaction by which and inception opposed to what are
the complex molecule of the poison is called the “ humoral ” and “ vitalistic ”
upset, or effectively modified.
theories of resistance to infection. Of
The remarkable development of this kind were the beliefs that the
Metschnikoff’s doctrine of phago liquids of the living body have an
cytosis during the past quarter of a inherent and somewhat vague power
century is certainly one of the charac of resisting infective germs, and even
teristic features of the activity of bio that the mere living quality of the
logical science in that period. At first tissues was in some unknown way
ridiculed as “ Metschnikoffism,” it has antagonistic to foreign intrusive disease
now won the support of its former germs.
adversaries.
The first eighteen years of Metsch
Bor a long time the ideal of hygien nikoff ’s career, after his undergraduate
ists has been to preserye man from all course, were devoted to zoological and
contact with the germs of infection, to embryological investigations. He dis
destroy them and destroy the animals covered many important facts, such as
conveying them, such as rats, mos the alternation of generations in the
quitoes, and other flies. But it has parasitic worm of the frog’s lung—
now been borne in upon us that, useful Ascaris nigrovenosa—and the history
as such attempts are, and great as is of the growth from the egg of sponges
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In a transparent water-flea Metschnikoff saw these amceba-like, colour
less, floating blood-corpuscles swallow
ing and digesting the spores of a
parasitic fungus which had attacked
the water-fleas and was causing their
death. He came to the conclusion
and medusse. In these latter re
searches he came into contact with
the wonderfully active cells, or living
corpuscles, which in many low forms
of life can be seen by transparency in
the living animal. He saw that these
corpuscles (as was, indeed, already
Fig. 38-
Fig. 37.
Fig. 40.
81
Fig. 41.
Fig. 42.
Fig. 37.—Phagocyte or colourless corpuscle of a guinea-pig in the act of engulfing two Spirilla or
parasitic vegetable microbes of a spiral shape.
,
. , . _ ... ,
Fig. 38.—The same, half-an-hour later; one of the Spirilla is nearly completely engulfed.
Fig. 39._ The same, ten minutes later still; one of the Spirilla is completely absorbed into the
substance (protoplasm) of the phagocyte. (From Metsc'hnikoff’s book, Immunity, kindly supplied by
the Cambridge University Press.)
Fig. 40.—Phagocyte of a guinea-pig in the course of engulfing a very mobile undulating spirillum.
Fig'. 41.—The same, forty minutes later.
Fig 42 —The same, taken half-an-hour after Fig. 41. (From MetscHmkoff’s Immunity.}
Fig 43 —A large kind of phagocyte of the guinea-pig, killed and stained for microscopic examina
tion It shows the large spherical nucleus and three specimens of the Spirillum of relapsing-fever which
have been engulfed, and are lying within its protoplasm. They would have been slowly digested—that
is to say dissolved by the digestive juices within the phagocyte. (From Metschmkoff’s Immunity.)
known) resemble the well-known
amoeba, and can take into their soft
substance (protoplasm), at all parts of
their surface, any minute particles,
and digest them, thus destroying them.
that this is the chief, if not the whole,
value of these corpuscles in higher as
well as lower animals, in all of which
they are very abundant. It was known
that when a wound, bringing in foreign
�82
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matter, is inflicted on a vertebrate
animal, the blood - vessels become
gorged in the neighbourhood, and the
colourless corpuscles escape through
the walls of the vessels in crowds.
Their business in so doing, Metschnikoff showed, is to eat up the foreign
matter, and also to eat up and remove
the dead, wounded tissue. He there
fore called these white or colourless
corpuscles “ phagocytes,” the eater
cells, and in his beautiful book on
Inflammation, published twenty years
ago, proved the extreme importance of
their activity. At the same time he
had shown that they eat up intrusive
bacteria and other germs (see Figs. 3743); and his work for the last twentyfive years has mainly consisted in
demonstrating that they are the chief,
and probably the only, agents at work
in either ridding the human body of an
attack of disease-causing germs, or in
warding off even the commencement of
an attack, so that the man or animal
in which they are fully efficient is
“ immune ”—that is to say, cannot be
effectively attacked by disease-germs.
Disease-germs, bacteria, or protozoa
produce poisons which sometimes are
too much for the phagocytes, poison
ing them and so getting the upper
hand. But, as Metschnikoff showed,
the training of the phagocytes by weak
doses of the poison of the disease
germ, or by weakened cultures of the
disease-germ itself, brings about a
power of resistance in the phagocytes
to the germ’s poison, and thus makes
them capable of attacking the germs
and keeping them at bay. Hence the
value of inoculations.
The discussion and experiments
arising from Metschnikoff’s demon
strations have led to the discovery of
the production by the phagocytes of
certain exudations from their sub
stance which have a most important
effect in weakening the resistance of
the intrusive bacteria and rendering
them easy prey for the phagocyte.
These are called “ sensitisers,” and
have been largely studied. They may
be introduced artificially into ' the
blood and tissues so as to facilitate
the work of the phagocytes, and no
doubt it is a valuable remedial measure
to make use of such sensitisers as a
treatment. Dr. Wright considers that
such sensitisers are formed in the
blood and tissues independently of the
phagocytes, and has called them
“opsonins,” under which name he
has made most valuable application of
the method of injecting them into the
body so as to facilitate the work of
the phagocytes in devouring the hostile
bacteria of various diseases. Each
kind of disease-producing microbe has
its own sensitiser or opsonin; hence
there has been much careful research
and experiment required in order to
bring the discovery into practical use.
Metschnikoff himself holds and quotes
experiments to show that the “ opso
nins ” are actually produced by the
phagocytes themselves. That this
should be so is in accordance with
some striking zoological facts, as I
pointed out more than twenty years ago.1
For the lowest multicellular animals
provided with a digestive sac or gut,
such as the polyps, have that sac
lined by digestive cells which have the
same amoeboid character as “phago1 In a review of Metschnikofi’s “ Lemons
sur 1’Inflammation ” in Nature, 1889.
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
cytes,” and actually digest to a large
extent by swallowing or taking into
their individual protoplasm raw par
ticles of food. Such particles are
enclosed in a temporary cavity, or
vacuole, into which the cell-protoplasm
secretes digestive ferment and other
chemical agents. Now there is no
doubt that such digestive vacuoles may
burst and so pour out into the polyp’s
stomach a digestive juice which will
act on food particles outside the sub
stance of the cells, and thus by the
substitution of this process of out
pouring of the secretion for that of
ingestion of food particles into the
cells we get the usual form of digestion
by juices secreted into a digestive
cavity. Now this being certainly the
case in regard to the history of the
original phagocytes lining the polyp’s
gut, it does not seem at all unlikely,
but on the contrary in a high degree
probable, that the phagocytes of the
blood and tissues should behave in
the same way and pour out sensitisers
and opsonins to paralyse and prepare
their bacterial food. And the experi
ments of Metschnikoff’s pupils and
followers show that this is undoubtedly
the case. Whether there is any great
variety of and difference between
“sensitisers” and “opsonins” is a
matter which is still the subject of
active experiment. Metschnikoff’s con
clusion, as recently stated in regard to
the whole progress of this subject, is
that the phagocytes in our bodies
should be stimulated in their activity
in order successfully to fight the germs
of infection.
Alcohol, opium, and
even quinine hinder the phagocytic
action; they should therefore be
entirely eschewed or used only with
88
great caution where their other and
valuable properties are urgently needed.
It appears that the injection of blood
serum into the tissues of animals
causes an increase in the number and
activity of the phagocytes, and thus
an increase in the animals’ resistance
to pathogenic germs. Thus Durham
(who was a pioneer in his observations
on the curious phenomena of the
agglutination ” of blood corpuscles
in relation to disease) was led to
suggest the injection of sera during
surgical operations, and experiments
recently quoted by Metschnikoff seem
to show that the suggestion was well
founded. Both German and French
surgeons have employed the method
with successful results, and the demon
stration that an immense number of
microbes are thus taken up and
destroyed by the multiplication (due
to their regular increase by cell
division) of the phagocytes of the
injected patient. After years of oppo
sition bravely met in the pure scientific
spirit of renewed experiment and
demonstration, Metschnikoff is at last
able to say that the foundation-stone
of the hygiene of the tissues—the
thesis that our phagocytes are our
arms of defence against infective germs
—has been generally accepted.
Another feature of the progress of
our knowledge of disease—as a scien
tific problem—is the recent recognition
that minute animal parasites of that
low degree of unicellular structure to
which the name “ Protozoa ” is given
are the causes of serious and ravaging
diseases, and that the minute algoid
plants, the bacteria, are not alone in
possession of this field of activity. It
was Laveran—a French medical man
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Fig. 44.
A diagram showing the life-history and migration of the Malaria parasite, Laverania Malaria, as
discovered by Laveran, Ross, and Grassi. The stages above the dotted line take place in the blood of
man, The oblopg-pointed parasite is seen entering the blood at n just below No. I. The circles
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
—who, just about twenty-five years
ago, discovered the minute animal
organism in the red blood-corpuscles
which is the cause of malaria (see
Mg, 44). Year by year ever since our
knowledge of this terrible little parasite
has increased. We now know many
similar to, but not identical with it,
living in the blood of birds, reptiles,
and frogs (see Fig. 45).
It is the great merit of Sir Ronald
Ross, formerly of the Indian Army
Medical Staff, to have discovered, by
most patient and persevering experi
ment, that the malaria parasite passes
a part of its life in the spot-winged
gnat or mosquito {Anopheles), not, as
he had at first supposed, in the
common gnat or mosquito {Culex),
and that if we can get rid of spot
winged mosquitoes or avoid their
attentions, or even only prevent them
from sucking the blood of malarial
patients, we can lessen, or even abolish,
malaria.
This great discovery was followed
by another as to the production of the
deadly “ Nagana ” horse and cattle
disease in South Africa by a screw
like, minute animal parasite Trypano
soma, Brucii (see Fig. 46 B). The
85
Tsetze fly (see Fig. 48 A, B), which
was already known in some way to
produce this disease, was found by
Colonel David Bruce to do so by con
veying by its bite the Trypanosoma
from wild big-game animals to the
domesticated horses and cattle of the
colonists. The discovery of the parasite
and its relation to the fly and the
disease was as beautiful a piece of
scientific investigation as biologists
have ever seen. A curious and very
important fact was discovered by
Bruce—-namely, that the native big
game (zebras, antelopes, and probably
buffaloes) are tolerant of the parasite.
The Trypanosoma grows and multiplies
in their blood, but does not kill them
or even injure them. It is only the
unaccustomed introduced animals from
Europe which are poisoned by the
chemical excreta of the Trypanosomes
and die in consequence. Hence the
wild creatures—brought into a condi
tion of tolerance by natural selection
and the dying out of those susceptible
to the poison—form a sort of “ reser
voir ” of deadly Trypanosomes for the
Tsetze flies to carry into the blood of
new-comers. The same phenomenon
of “reservoir-hosts” (as I have else-
represent the red blood-discs of man. Schizogony means multiplication by simple division or splitting,
and it is seen in Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The stages below the dotted line are passed in the body of the
spot-winged gnats of the genus Anopheles. A peculiar crescent or sausage-shaped condition is assumed
by the parasite inside the red corpuscle No. VI. These are found to be of two kinds, male and female,
Nos. Vila and Vllb. They are swallowed by the spot-winged gnat when it sucks the blood of an infected
ma.n- Fere I11 the gut of the gnat they become sphericle; the male spheres produce spermatozoa No.Xa,
whit® fuse with and fertilise the female spheres or egg-cells No. XI. An active worm-like form No. XIII
results, which pushes its way partly through the wall of the gnat’s gut, and is then nourished by the
gnat s blood. It swells up, divides internally again and again, and is enclosed in a firm transparent case
or cyst, Nos. XIV to XVIII. The cysts are far larger in proportion than is shown in the diagram, and
are visible to the naked eye. The final product of the breaking-up, which is called sporogony, is a vast
number of needle-shaped spores or young (called Exotospores, as opposed to the Enhaemospores, which
are formed m the human blood, as seen in Nos. 9 and 10, and serve there to spread the infection among
the red corpuscles). The needle-shaped spores formed in the gnat’s body accumulate in its salivary
glands, and pass out by the mouth of the gnat wnen it stabs a new human victim, who thus becomes
infected, No. XIX.
Had the sausage-like phases Nob. Vila and VHb been swallowed by a common gnat or mosquito of
tne genus Culex, they would have been digested and destroyed. It is only in species of gnats of the kind
known as Anopheles that the parasite can undergo its sexual development and subsequent process of
the formation of cysts and needle-shaped exotospores. (After Minchin in Part I. of Lankester’s Treatise
on Zoology, published by A. and C. Black.)
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THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
Fig. 45.
Jbankestrella ranarum (Lank.), the parasite of the red blood-corpuscles of the edible frog, described
originally as Drevanidium ranarum by Lankester in 1882, and previously without name in 1871. The
large ovak^repreTenUhe red corpuscles of the frog ; the dark central mass is the nucleus, N. In a t w®
spindle-shaped parasites are seen ; in b one larger parasite with nucleus n'
^^fVhc spherical
parasite is V-shaped. In d the parasite has become spherical, and w;so ine also. Li f the sphci cal
Lankester’s Treatise on Zoology.)
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
where called them) has since been
observed in the case of malaria; the
children of the native blacks in Africa
and in other malarious regions are
tolerant of the malarial parasite, as
87
which consists in repulsion or destruc
tion of the parasite.
The Trypanosomes have acquired a
terrible notoriety within the last ten
years, since another species, also
E.
Fig. 46.
Various species of Trypanosoma from the blood of mammals, birds, and reptiles. A, T. Lewisii, i
from the blood of rats ; B, T. Brucii, the parasite of the Nagana or Tsetze-fly disease, found in the blood
of horses, cattle, and big game; O, T. gambiensi, the parasite causing sleeping sickness in man;
D, T. equinum, which causes the mal de caderas in South American horse ranches ; E, T. noctuee, from
the blood of the little owl, Athene noctua ; F, T. avium, found in the blood of many birds; G, a species
found in the blood of Indian pigeons; H, T. Ziemanni, a second species from the blood of the little owl;
J, T. Damoniee, from the blood of a tortoise; c g granules; v vacuole; I s fold of the crest or undulating
membrane.
These figures are from Dr. Woodcock’s article on the “ Heemoflagellates ” in the Quarterly Journal
of Microscopical Science, April and June, 1906. (See also the figures in the next chapter relating to
Sleeping Sickness.)
many as 80 per cent, of children under
ten being found to be infected, and yet
not suffering from the poison. This
is not the same thing as the immunity
carried by a Tsetze fly of another
species, has been discovered by Castellani in cases of “ sleeping sickness ” iu
Uganda, and demonstrated by Colonel
E
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THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
Bruce to be the cause of that awful
disease.1 Over 200,000 natives of
Uganda have died from it within the
last five years. It is incurable, and,
sad to relate, not only a certain
number of European employees have
succumbed to it in tropical Africa,
but a brave young officer of the Army
Medical Corps, Lieutenant Tulloch,
has died from the disease, acquired by
him in the course of an investigation
of this disease and its possible cure,
which he was carrying out, in associa
tion with other men of science, on the
Victoria Nyanza Lake in Central
Africa. Lieutenant Tulloch was sent
out to this investigation by the Eoyal
Society of London, and I will venture
to ask my readers to join that body in
sympathy for his friends and admira
tion for him and the other courageous
men who risk their lives in the en
deavour to arrest disease.
Trypanosomes are now being recog
nised in the most diverse regions of
the world as the cause of disease—
new horse diseases in South America,2
in North Africa, in the Philippines,
and East India are all traced to
peculiar species of Trypanosome.
Other allied forms are responsible
for Delhi-sore and certain peculiar
Indian fevers of man. A peculiar
‘and ultra-minute parasite of the blood
cells causes Texas fever, and various
African fevers deadly to cattle.3 In
1 See the next chapter devoted to this
subject.
2 [As well as a new human disease carried
by a huge bug in Brazil. J
8 From recent researches it appears most
probable that ah extremely minute parasite
of this nature is the cause of yellow fever.
A special kind of mosquito, the Stegomgia
fasciata, has for some years now been known
to be its carrier.
all these cases, as also in that of
plague, the knowledge of the carrier
of the disease, often a tick or acarid—•
in that of plague the flea of the rat—is extremely important, as well as the
knowledge of reservoir - hosts when
such exist.
The zoologist thus comes into closer
touch than ever with the profession of
medicine, and the time has arrived
when the professional students of
disease fully admit that they must
bring to their great and hopeful task
of abolishing the diseases of man the
fullest aid from every branch of bio
logical science. I need not say how
great is the contentment of those who
have long worked at apparently useless
branches of science—such as are the
careful and elaborate distinction of
every separate kind of animal and the
life-history and structure peculiar to
each—in the belief that all knowledge is
good, to find that the science they have
cultivated has become suddenly and
urgently of the highest practical value.
I have not time to do more than
mention here the effort that is being
made by combined international
research and co-operation to push
further in our knowledge of phthisis
and of cancer, with a view to their
destruction. It is only within the
past quarter of a century that the
parasite of phthisis or tubercle has
been made known; we may hope that
it will not be long before we have
similar knowledge as to cancer. Only
eighteen months have elapsed since
Fritz Schaudinn discovered the longsought parasitic germ of syphilis, the
Spirocheta pallida (see Fig. 6). As I
write these words1 the sad news of
1 [In 1906].
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
Schaudinn’s death at the age of thirtyfive comes to me from his family at
Hamburg—an irreparable loss.
Let me finally state, in relation to
this study of disease, what is the
simple fact — namely, that if the
people of Britain wish to make an
end of infective and other diseases
they must take every possible means
to discover capable investigators and
employ them for this purpose. To do
this far more money is required than
is at present spent in that direction.
It is necessary, if we are to do our
utmost, to spend a thousand pounds
of public money on this task where
we now spend one pound. It would
be reasonable and wise to expend ten
million pounds a year of our revenues
on the investigation and attempt to
destroy disease. Actually, what is so
spent is a mere nothing, a few thou
sands a year. Meanwhile our people
are dying by thousands of preventable
disease.
2.—The Advancement of Science as
Measured by the Support given
to it by Public Funds, and the
Respect Accorded to Scientific
Work by the British Government
and the Community at Large.
Whilst I have been able, though in
a very fragmentary and incomplete
way, to indicate the satisfactory and,
indeed, the wonderful progress of
science in the last quarter of a cen
tury, so far as the making of new
knowledge is concerned, I am sorry
to say that there is by no means
a corresponding “ advancement” of
science in that signification of the
word which implies the increase of
89
the influence of science in the life of
the community, the increase of the
support given to it, and of the desire
to aid in its progress, to discover and
then to encourage and reward those
who are specially fitted to increase
scientific knowledge and to bring it to
bear so as to promote the welfare of
the community.
It is, unfortunately, true that the
successive political administrators of
the affairs of this country, as well as
the permanent officials, are altogether
unaware to-day, as they were twentyfive years ago, of the vital importance
of that knowledge which we call
science, and of the urgent need for
making use of it in a variety of public
affairs. Whole departments of Govern
ment in which scientific knowledge is
the one thing needful are carried on
by Ministers, permanent secretaries,
assistant secretaries, and clerks who
are wholly ignorant of science, and
naturally enough dislike it, since it
cannot be used by them, and is in
many instances the condemnation of
their official employment. Such officials
are, of course, not to be blamed, but
rather the general indifference of the
public to the unreasonable way in
which its interests are neglected.
A difficult feature in treating of this
subject is that when one mentions the
fact that Ministers of State and the
officials of the public service are not
acquainted with science, and do not
even profess to understand its results
or their importance, one’s statement
of this very obvious and notorious fact
is apt to be regarded as a personal
offence. It is difficult to see wherein
the offence lies, for no one seeks to
blame these officials for a condition of
�90
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
things which is traditional and frankly
admitted.
This is really a very serious matter
for the scientific world to consider and
deal with. We represent a line of
activity, a group of professions which
are in our opinion of vital importance
to the well-being of the nation. We
know that those interests which we
value so highly are not merely ignored
and neglected, but are actually treated
as of no account or as non-existent by
the old-established class of politicians
and administrators. It is not too much
to say that there is a natural fear and
dislike of scientific knowledge on the
part of a large proportion of the per
sons who are devoid of it, and who
would cease to hold, or never have
held, the positions of authority or
emolument which they now occupy
were scientific knowledge of the
matters with which they undertake
to deal required of them. This is a
thorny subject, and one in which,
however much one may endeavour to
speak in general terms, it is difficult
to avoid causing personal annoyance.
Yet it seems to me one of urgent
importance. Probably an inquiry into
and discussion of the neglect of science
and the questionable treatment of scien
tific men by the administrative depart
ments of Government might with
advantage be undertaken by a com
mittee appointed by our great scientific
societies for the purpose.
At the same time, public attention
should be drawn in general terms to
the fact that science is not gaining
“ advancement ” in public and official
consideration and support. The reason
is, I think, to be found in the defective
education, both at school and univer
sity, of our governing class, as well as
in a racial dislike among all classes to
the establishment and support by public
funds of posts which the average man
may not expect to succeed, by popular
clamour or class privilege, in gaining
for himself—posts which must be held
by men of special training and mental
gifts. Whatever the reason for the
neglect, the only remedy which we can
possibly apply is that of improved
education for the upper classes, and
the continued effort to spread a know
ledge of the results of science and a
love for it amongst all members of the
community. If believers in science
took this matter seriously to heart,
they might do a great deal by insisting
that their sons, and their daughters
too, should have reasonable instruction
in science both at school and college.
They could, by their own initiative
and example, do a good deal to put an
end to the trifling with classical litera
ture and the absorption in athletics
which is considered by too many
schoolmasters as that which the
British parent desires as the education
of his children.
Within the past year a letter has
been published by a well-known noble
man who is one of the Trustees of the
British Museum, holding up to public
condemnation the method in which
the system laid down by the officials
of the Treasury, and sanctioned by
successive Governments, as to the
remuneration of scientific men, was
applied in an individual case. I desire
to place on record here the Earl of
Crawford’s letter to the Times of
October 31, 1905, for the careful con
sideration of those who desire the
advancement of science. When such
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
91
things are done, science cannot be said failure of science to gain increased in
to have advanced much in public con fluence and support in this country,
sideration or Governmental support:— but to mention some instances on the
other side of the account. As long
To the Editor of the “ Times."
SIB,—The death, noted by you to-day, of ago as 1842 the British Association
my dear friend and colleague Dr. Copeland, took over and developed an observatory
His Majesty’s Astronomer for Scotland, creates in the Deer Park at Kew, which was
a vacancy in the scientific staff of Great placed at the disposal of the Associa
Britain.
Will you permit me, Sir, to offer a word of tion by Her Majesty the Queen. Until
warning to any who may be asked to succeed 1871 the Association spent annually
him ?
a large part of its income—as much in
Students or masters of astronomy are not, later years as £600 a year—in carrying
in the selfish sense, business men, nor are
on the work of the Kew Observatory,
they, as a general rule, overburdened with
this world’s goods. It behoves them hence consisting of magnetic, meteorological,
forth to take more care as to their future in and physical observations. In 1871
case of illness or physical infirmity, and not the Association handed over the Obser
to trust to the gratitude or generous impulse vatory to the Royal Society, which
of the Treasury Department.
In old days it was the custom, when a man had received an endowment of £10,000
distinguished in science was brought into a from Mr. Gassiot for its maintenance,
high position in the Civil Service, that he was and had further devoted to that pur
credited with a certain number of years’ service pose considerable sums from its own
ranking for pension. This practice has been donation fund and Government grant.
done away with, and a bargain system sub
stituted. A short while ago the growing Further aid for it was also received
agonies of heart disease caused Dr. Copeland from private sources. From this Obser
to feel that he was less able to carry on the vatory at last has sprung, in the begin
duties of his post, and he determined to resign; ning of the present century, the National
but he learnt that under the scale, and in the
Physical Laboratory in Bushey Park,
absence of any special bargain, the pension he
would receive would not suffice for the neces a fine and efficient scientific institution,
sities of life. The only increase his friends built and supported by grants from the
could get from the Treasury was an offer to State, and managed by a committee of
allow him about half-a-crown a week extra really devoted men of science who are
by way of a house.
Indignant and ashamed of my Government, largely representatives of the Royal
I persuaded Dr. Copeland to withdraw his Society. In addition to the value of
resignation, and to retain the official position the site and buildings occupied by
which he has honoured till his death.
the National Physical Laboratory, the
1 trust, Sir, that this memorandum of mine Government has contributed altogether
may cause eminent men of science who are
asked to enter the service of the State when £34,000 to the capital expenditure on
already of middle age to take heed for their new buildings, fittings, and apparatus,
future welfare.
and has further assigned a grant of
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
£6,000 a year to the working of the
Cbawfobd.
laboratory. This institution all men of
2 Cavendish Square, October 28.
science are truly glad to have gained
It is more agreeable to me not to from the State, and they will remember
dwell further on the comparative with gratitude the statesmen—the late
�92
THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
Marquis of Salisbury, ths Right Hon.
Arthur J. Balfour, Mr. Haldane, and
others—as well as their own leaders
—Lord Rayleigh, Sir William Huggins,
and the active body of physicists in
the Royal Society—who have carried
this enterprise to completion. The
British Association has every reason
to be proud of its share in early days
in nursing the germ at Kew, which has
at length expanded into this splendid
national institution.
I may mention also another institu
tion which, during the past quarter of
a century, has come into existence,
and received, originally through the
influence of the late Lord Playfair (one
of the few men of science who have ever
occupied the position of a Minister of
the Grown), and later by the influence
of the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain,
a subsidy of £1,000 a year from the
Government and a contribution of
£5,000 towards its initial expenses.
This is the Marine Biological Associa
tion,1 which has a laboratory at Ply
mouth (see Pig. 47), and has lately
expended a special annual grant, at
the spontaneous invitation of His
Majesty’s Treasury, in conducting an
investigation of the North Sea in
accordance with an international
scheme devised by a central committee
of scientific experts. This scheme has
for its purpose the gaining of such know1 I had the honour and good fortune to
found this association, and to collect the funds
so generously given to it; then for many
years to act as its honorary secretary, to
design and superintend the erection of the
laboratory, and to organise, in conjunction
with my scientific colleagues, its staff, its
scheme of work and government. On the
death of our beloved President, Professor
Huxley, I was elected as his successor, and
still occupy that position.
ledge of the North Sea and its in
habitants as shall be useful in dealing
practically and by legislation with the
great fisheries of that area. The reader
will, perhaps, not be surprised to hear
that there are persons in high positions
who, though admittedly unacquainted
with the scientific questions at issue
or the proper manner of solving them,
are discontented with the action of the
Government in entrusting the expen
diture of public money to a body of
scientific men who give their services,
without reward or thanks, to carrying
out the purposes of the international
inquiry. Strange criticisms are offered
by these malcontents in regard to the
work done in the international explora
tion of the North Sea, and a desire is
expressed to secure the money for
expenditure by a less scientific agency.
I do not hesitate to say here that the
results obtained by the Marine Bio
logical Association are of great value
and interest, and, if properly con
tinued and put to practical application,
are likely to benefit very greatly the
fishery industry; on the other hand, if
the work is cut short or entrusted to
incompetent hands, it will, no doubt,
be the case that what has already been
done will lose its value—that is to
say, will have been wasted. There is
imminent danger of this perversion of
the funds assigned to this scientific
investigation taking place.1 There is
no guarantee for the continuance of
any funds or offices assigned to science
in one generation by the officials of the
next. The Mastership of the Mint,
held by Isaac Newton, and finally by
1 [The present Government (1911) has
withdrawn the special grant for North Sea
investigations.]
�THE ADVANCE OF SCIENCE
the ' great chemist Thomas Graham,
has been abolished, and its salary
appropriated by non-scientific officials.
Only a few years ago it was with great
difficulty that the Government of the
day was prevented from assigning the
Assistant-Directorship of Kew Gardens
to a young man of influence devoid of
all knowledge of botany I
One of the most solid tests of the
93
quent; they are rare in this country.
It is, therefore, with especial pleasure
that I call attention to a great gift to
science in this country made only a
few years ago.
Lord Iveagh has
endowed the Lister Institute, for
researches in connection with the
prevention of disease, with no less a
sum than a quarter of a million pounds
sterling. This is the largest gift ever
Fig. 47.
The Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association on the Citadel Hill, Plymouth, overlooking
Plymouth Sound. The laboratory was built with the aid of funds raised by public subscription and a
contribution of £5,000 by H.M. Government, and cost £12,200. The Association had up to the year 1906
expended, exclusive of this sum, since the opening of the laboratory in 1884, about £62,000, or an average
of £3,000 a year on the maintenance of the laboratory, steam-boat, and fishing boats, and in payment of
a staff of scientific observers. Of this sum the Government has contributed one-third; the rest has
come from private donations and subscriptions, and from the “ earnings ” of the laboratory by sale of
specimens, admission fees to the tank-room, etc. The journal of the Association, published at intervals,
records a vast amount of scientific work, advancing our knowledge of marine life and of the life-history
of fishes.
In addition to the above expenditure and results, the Association has superintended and most
carefully directed the expenditure of £6,000 a year during recent years in the investigation of the
southern area of the North Sea and of the Channel at the request of H.M. Government, the work being
part of the International Investigation of the North Sea. The very voluminous results of these inquiries
are published in special reports by the International Committee. Full particulars of the work of the
Marine Biological Association can be obtained from Dr. E. J. Allen, the Director, the Laboratory,
Citadel Hill, Plymouth, who will also receive donations and applications for membership of the
Association.
esteem and value attached to scientific
progress by the community is the dedi
cation of large sums of money to
scientific purposes by its wealthier
members. We know that in the
United States such gifts are not infre-
made to science in this country, and
will be productive of great benefit to
humanity. The Lister Institute took
its origin in the surplus of a fund
raised (at my suggestion, and with my
assistance as secretary) by Sir James
�94
THE ADVANCE OE SCIENCE
Whitehead, when Lord Mayor, for the
purpose of making a gift to the Pas
teur Institute in Paris, where many
English patients had been treated,
without charge, after being bitten by
rabid dogs. Three thousand pounds
was sent to M. Pasteur, and the sur
plus of a few hundred pounds was
made the starting-point of a fund
which grew, by one generous gift and
another, until the Lister Institute, on
the Thames Embankment at Chelsea,
was set up on a site presented by that
good and high-minded man the late
Duke of Westminster.
Many other noble gifts to scientific
research have been made in this
country during the period on which
we are looking back. Let us be thank
ful for them, and admire the wise
munificence of the donors. But none
the less we must refuse to rely en
tirely on such liberality for the deve
lopment of the army of science, which
has to do battle for mankind against
the obvious disabilities and sufferings
which afflict us and can be removed
by knowledge. The organisation and
finance of this army should be the care
of the State.
It is a fact, which many who have
observed it regret very keenly, that
there is to-day a less widespread inter
est than formerly in natural history
and general science outside the strictly
professional arena of the school and
university.
The field naturalists
among the squires and the country
parsons seem nowadays not to be so
numerous and active in their delight
ful pursuits as formerly, and the
Mechanics’ Institutes and Lecture
Societies of the days of Lord
Brougham have given place, to a very
large extent, to musical performances,
bioscopes, and other entertainments—
more diverting, but not really more
capable of giving pleasure, than those
in which science was popularised. No
doubt the organisation and profes
sional character of scientific work are
to a large extent the cause of this
falling-off in its attraction for ama
teurs. But perhaps that decadence is
also due in some measure to the in
creased general demand for a kind of
manufactured gaiety, readily sent out
in these days of easy transport from
the great centres of fashionable amuse
ment to the provinces and rural dis
tricts.
Before concluding this retrospect I
would venture to allude to the rela
tions of scientific progress to religion.
Putting aside the troubles connected
with special creeds and churches, and
the claims of the clerical profession to
certain funds and employments, to the
exclusion of laymen, it should, I think,
be recognised that there is no essential
antagonism between the scientific spirit
and what is called the religious sen
timent.
“ Religion,” said Bishop
Creighton, “ means the knowledge of
our destiny and of the means of ful
filling it.” We can say no more and
no less of Science. Men of Science
seek, in all reverence, to discover the
Almighty, the Everlasting.
They
claim sympathy and friendship with
those who, like themselves, have
turned away from the more material
struggles of human life, and have set
their hearts and minds on the know*
ledge of the Eternal.
�THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
95
Chapter III.
NATURE’S REVENGES: THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
Among the strange and mysterious
diseases to which mankind is subject
in regions less familiar to the civilised
world than Western Europe, none is
stranger or more appalling in its quiet,
inexorable deadliness than the Sleeping
Sickness of the West African coast.
Apparently it has existed among the
natives of that region from time
immemorial; but the first printed
record we have of it is due to Winter
bottom, who, writing in 1803 of Sierra
Leone, said: “ The Africans are very
subject to a species of lethargy which
they are much afraid of, as it proves
fatal in every instance.” One of the
latest notices of the disease, before it
became the subject of active investiga
tion within the last ten years, is that
of Miss Kingsley, who saw a few cases
near the Congo estuary; but, though
she was impressed by the mysterious
fatality of the disease, she did not
describe it as very prevalent or as a
general source of danger to life. The
opening up of the Congo basin and in
creased familiarity with the inner
lands of the West African coast have
shown that this disease is widely
scattered—though rarely so abundant
as to be a serious scourge—through
the whole of tropical West Africa.
Writers in the early part of the last
century described the disease as
occurring in the West Indies and in
Brazil. Its presence was almost cer
tainly due, in those days of the slave
trade, to the importation of negroes
already infected with the disease ; and
a curious theory obtained some favour,
according to which the sleeping sick
ness of the West Indian slaves was a
kind of nostalgia, and, in fact, the
manifestation of what is sometimes
called “ a broken heart.”
The signs that a patient has con
tracted the disease are very obvious.
They are recognised by the black
people, and the certainly fatal issue
accepted with calm acquiescence. The
usually intelligent expression of the
healthy negro is replaced by a dull,
apathetic appearance; and there is a
varying amount of fever and headache.
This may last for some weeks, but is
followed more or less rapidly by a
difficulty in locomotion and speech, a
trembling of the tongue and hands.
There is increased fever and constant
drowsiness, from which the patient is
roused only to take food. At last—usually after some three or four
months of illness—complete somno
lence sets in ; no food is taken, the
body becomes emaciated and ulcerated,
and the victim dies in a state of coma.
The course of the disease, from the
time when the apathetic stage is first
noticed, may last from two to twelve
months.
It is this terrible disease which has
lately appeared on the shores of the
Victoria Nyanza, in the kingdom of
Uganda, administered by the British
�96
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
Government. Until the early part of
the year 1901 there was not the
slightest suspicion that sleeping sick
ness occurred in any part of the
Uganda Protectorate; nor was it
known in East Africa at all, any more
than in the north and south of that
great continent. It seems gradually to
have crept up the newly-opened traderoutes of the Congo basin, and thence
to have spread into the west of
Uganda, the territory known as
Busoga. Numbers of Soudanese and
Congo men are known to have settled
in this region after the death of Emin
Pasha. First noticed in 1901, it was
estimated in June, 1902, by the
Commissioner of Uganda, writing
officially to the Marquess of Lans
downe, that 20,000 persons had died
of this disease in the district of Busoga
alone, and several thousands in the
more eastern portion of Uganda.
In 1906 the number of deaths in
this region due to sleeping sickness
since 1901 amounted to more than
200,000 ; and this though, most fortu
nately, the disease had not yet spread
eastward from Uganda into British
East Africa,1 nor, so far as had been
1 The disease has actually entered into the
administrative area known as British Bast
Africa, but has not made any rapid progress
towards the coast. According to a report by
Dr. Wiggins, the disease is confined in British
East Africa, as in Uganda, to those areas in
which Glossina palpalis occurs. [To this I
must now (1912) add that the disease has
spread into both the Upper Soudan and
Nyassaland. Continuous and praiseworthy
efforts to deal with the disease have been
made by the Colonial Office, and are still in
progress. An expedition has this winter been
sent, under Colonel Sir David Bruce, to study
the spread of the disease in Nyassaland. The
Royal Society of London has now for some
years maintained a special bureau, issuing
reports at regular intervals of all information
as to the investigations into sleeping sickness
reported, down the Nile. No curative
treatment for the disease has yet been
discovered; nor is there any authen
ticated instance of recovery.1
The appalling mortality produced by
this disease in Central Africa naturally
caused the greatest anxiety to his
Majesty’s Government, which had but
just completed the railway from the
East Coast to the shores of lake Vic
toria Nyanza, and had established a
prosperous and happy rule in that
densely populated region. The official
medical men on the spot, though
capable and experienced practitioners,
were unable to cope with this new
and virulent outbreak. The Foreign
Office, having no imperial board of
hygiene and medical administration to
apply to in this country, sought the
assistance of the Royal Society of
London.
A committee of that society had
already undertaken the study of
malaria at the request of the Secre
tary of State for the Colonies, and
had sent out young medical men as a
commission to make certain enquiries
and experiments on that subject and
report to the committee in London.
The sleeping sickness enquiry was un
dertaken by the same committee; but
unfortunately very insufficient funds
were placed at its disposal. When
the South African cattle-owners found
their herds threatened twelve years
carried out not only by British observers and
officials, but also by French, German, and
other investigators. A really adequate effort
is being made to deal with the disease.J
1 [A treatment by means of injections of
antimony (potassium tartar emetic) into the
blood has been used, as well as other similar
methods. A very few cases (not a dozen) are
on record of permanent recovery under such
treatment.]
�THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
ago by a new form of mortal disease—
the East Coast fever ”—the South
African Government accepted the offer
of Dr. Robert Koch, of Berlin, to
undertake the investigation of the
disease and the discovery, if possible,
of a remedy, for the sum of £10,000.
No such sum was at the disposal of
the committee of the Royal Society.
They were obliged to send out young
and enterprising medical men, practi
cally without pay or reward, to see
what they could do in the way of
determining the cause of, and, if pos
sible, the remedy for, the terrible
sleeping sickness raging in Uganda
and destroying daily hundreds of
British subjects. The committee set
to work in the summer of 1902, and
sent out Drs. Low, Christy, and
Castellani to Entebbe, the capital of
Uganda.
The guesses as to the cause and
nature of sleeping sickness at the time
when this commission set forth were
very various. Some highly capable
medical authorities held that it was
due to poisonous food. The root of
the manioc, on which the natives feed,
was supposed to become infected by
some poison-producing ferment.
A
more generally received opinion was
that it was caused hy a specific bac
terium which invades the tissues of
the brain and spinal cord. Several
totally different micro-organisms of
this sort had been described with
equal confidence by Erench and Por
tuguese investigators as the cause of
the sleeping sickness studied by them
in West Africa or on the Congo. Sir
Patrick Manson, the head of the British
Colonial medical service, an authority
of great experience in tropical disease,
97
had put forward the suggestion that
the sleeping sickness was due to the
infection of the patient by a minute
thread-worm (allied to the “ vinegar
eel,” and one of a great class of para
sites) which he had discovered in the
blood of negroes, and had named
Filaria perstans.
The occurrence of minute worms
(true worms, neither unicellular plants
nor protozoa) in the blood of man was
first made known by Dr. Timothy
Lewis, who described the Filaria
sanguinis hominis, as well as some
other most important blood-parasites,
some years ago (1878), when officially
engaged in an enquiry into the cause
of cholera in Calcutta. Subsequently,
in China, Manson found that these
little blood-worms were sucked up by
mosquitoes when gorging themselves
on the blood of a patient. It is,
indeed, difficult to imagine how they
should escape passing into the mosquito
with the blood. Manson suggested
that the minute worms (known to be
the embryos of a worm which, when
adult, is about two inches long) are
obliged to pass through a mosquito in
order to accomplish their development;
but no proof of this suggestion has
ever been made. We know by abun
dant and repeated demonstration and
experiment that another blood-parasite
—the malaria parasite—must pass
through a mosquito, in whose body it
develops, and by which it is carried to
a new victim of infection. This was
suspected long ago by both peasants
and doctors, and experimentally proved
by Ross; but no such proof has been
given of the relation of Lewis’s blood
worm to a mosquito. The so-called
Filaria perstans, discovered by Manson
�98
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
in the blood of negroes, appears to be
very different from the Filaria san
guinis hominis of Lewis. It is not
known how it gets into the blood ; and
it is very astonishing, and much to be
regretted, that none of the medical
men who have had it under observa
tion have given a proper anatomical
account of it. It appears that this
worm is very common in the blood of
negroes in tropical Africa; and as it
was found in several cases in the
blood of individuals attacked by sleep
ing sickness, Sir Patrick Manson was
justified in entertaining the view that
this parasite was the cause of the
disease.
One of the first results obtained by
the commission sent by the Royal
Society committee to Uganda was the
proof—which had, indeed, been already
furnished by the resident medical
officers of the Uganda Protectorate—
that Filaria perstans, though remark
ably abundant in the blood of the
negroes of Uganda, can have nothing
to do with sleeping sickness, since,
though it often occurs in persons
attacked with that disease, it also
exists in districts where sleeping sick
ness is unknown; and, further, many
cases of sleeping sickness have been
observed in which no Filaria perstans
has been discovered in the blood or
other parts of the body.
While Drs. Low and Christy occu
pied themselves with settling this
question as to the connection of Filaria
perstans with the disease and carried
out a careful study of its clinical
aspects, Dr. Castellani examined the
brain and spinal cord of those who
died from sleeping sickness, for bac
teria. He found again and again an
extremely minute globular vegetable
parasite—of the kind known as strep
tococcus—which he concluded to be
the cause of the disease, although he
had not produced the disease experi
mentally by inoculating an animal
with this microbe.
In the early part of 1903 these were
the only results obtained by some six
months’ work of the medical men sent
out by the Royal Society’s committee;
and it was felt that something more
must be done. The investigation of
a disease hitherto little known and
studied is one of the most difficult
tasks in the world, requiring the
highest scientific qualities.
Any
serious attempt to deal with the
sleeping sickness in Uganda would,
it was at length recognised, require
the dispatch of a man of proved
capacity and experience, provided
with full powers and with trained
men as his assistants. No such men
are provided by the public service of
the British Empire. To detach a
medical man of recognised insight and
experimental skill from his practice—
even were it possible to find one
specially qualified for the present
enquiry—would involve the payment
of a large fee, which neither the Royal
Society nor the Foreign Office could
command.
What, then, was to be done ? For
tunately there was one man in the
public service, recently appointed to
be one of the chiefs of the educational
arrangements of the Army Medical
Department, who had shown himself
to be especially gifted in the investi
gation of obscure diseases. This was
Colonel David Bruce, F.R.S., who
some fifteen years ago established the
�THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
existence of Malta fever as an inde
pendent disease by his clinical obser
vations and by the isolation and
cultivation of the parasitic bacterium
causing it; and who, further, when
employed by the governor of Zululand
a few years later (1895) to investigate
the celebrated tsetze-fly disease of South
Africa, had discovered, contrary to the
assertions and prejudices of a large
number of African sportsmen and
explorers, that the horse and cattle
disease known as nagana or tsetze-fly
disease was due to the presence in the
blood of the affected animals of a
peculiar corkscrew-like animal para
site, the Trypanosoma Brucei. This
is carried by the bite of the tsetze fly
from the blood of wild game, such as
buffalo and antelope, where it does no
harm, to the blood of domesticated
animals, in which it multiplies and
proves to be the source of a deadly
poison causing death in a few weeks.
The experiments by which Colonel
Bruce demonstrated this relationship
of tsetze fly, trypanosome parasite,
wild big game, and domesticated
animals were universally regarded as
masterly, both in conception and
execution, and absolutely conclusive.
The committee of the Royal Society
came to the conclusion that the thing
to be done was to get Colonel Bruce
to consent to proceed to Uganda, and
to recommend the Foreign Office to
obtain from the War Office the
temporary detachment of Colonel
Bruce for this service. Accordingly
Colonel Bruce arrived in Uganda in
the middle of March, 1903. Dr. Low
and Dr. Christy had already departed,
but Dr. Castellani was still at Entebbe
engaged in the study of his strepto
99
coccus. He mentioned to Colonel
Bruce on his arrival that he had on
more than one occasion seen a try
panosome in the cerebro-spinal fluid
of negroes suffering from sleeping
sickness; but, inasmuch as Dutton
on the West Coast and Hodges in
Uganda had described a trypanosome
as an occasional parasite in human
blood, he had not considered its
occurrence in sleeping-sickness patients
as of any more significance than is the
occurrence of Filaria perstans. Cas
tellani regarded the trypanosome, like
the filaria, as a mere accidental con
comitant of sleeping sickness, the
cause of which he considered to be
the bacterial streptococcus which he
had so frequently found to be present.
Naturally enough, Bruce was im
pressed by the fact that trypanosomes,
of the deadly nature of which he had
had ample experience, had been found,
even once, in the cerebro-spinal fluid
of sleeping-sickness patients; and he
immediately set to work to make a
thorough search for this parasite in
all the cases of sleeping sickness then
under observation at Entebbe. He
generously allowed Castellani to take
part in the investigation, which
resulted in the immediate discovery
of the trypanosome in the cerebro
spinal fluid of twenty cases, out of
thirty - four examined, of negroes
afflicted with the disease; whilst in
twelve negroes free from sleeping
sickness the trypanosome could not
be found in the cerebro-spinal fluid.
Castellani returned to Europe three
weeks after Bruce’s experiments were
commenced, and announced the dis
covery.
Bruce continued his work in Uganda
�100
THE SLEEPING- SICKNESS
until the end of August, 1903, having
been joined there by Colonel Greig of
the Indian Army, who continued the
work of the Royal Society’s com
mission after Bruce left. Other
valuable observations were carried
out by various medical men officially
connected with the Uganda Protec
torate. Bruce soon showed that in
every case of sleeping sickness, when
examined with sufficient care, the
trypanosome parasite is found to be
present in the cerebro-spinal fluid.
He also showed that it was absent from
that fluid in all negroes examined who
were not afflicted with the disease,
but made the very important discovery
that the trypanosome is present in the
blood (not the cerebro-spinal fluid) of
twenty-eight per cent, of the popula
tion in those areas where sleeping
sickness occurs, the persons thus
affected having none of the symptoms
of sleeping sickness, but being either
perfectly healthy or merely troubled
with a little occasional fever. It was
found in these cases, even in some
Europeans, that the earlier presence
of the trypanosome in the blood was
followed by its entry into the cerebro
spinal lymphatics, and by the fatal
development of sleeping sickness.
As already indicated, it was found
by Bruce, on recording the cases of
sleeping sickness brought into or
reported in Entebbe, that there were
certain “ sleeping-sickness areas ” and
other areas free from sleeping sickness.
The theory now took shape in Bruce’s
mind that the trypanosome first gets
into the blood, and then, after a time,
makes its way into the cerebro-spinal
system, only then producing its deadly
symptoms. Very generally, when once
in the blood, the trypanosome multi
plies itself, and sooner or later—
apparently, in some cases, evBn after
two or three years—gets into the
cerebro-spinal fluid. It is probable
that it may sometimes be destroyed
by natural processes in the human
body before this final stage is reached;
and thus the infected person may
recover and escape the deadly phase
of the disease. But nothing certain is
known, as yet, on this head. It was
shown that the trypanosome is found
alive and in large quantity in the
lymphatic glands, especially those in
the region of the neck, in infected
persons. These glands were known
to be enlarged in persons suffering
from the disease.
Colonel Bruce’s next step was to
ascertain the mode in which the
trypanosome is introduced into the
blood. Naturally he looked for a
kind of tsetze fly, such as carries the
trypanosome in the nagana disease of
horses and cattle already studied by
him in Zululand. It is a fact that
the Glossina morsitans and Glossina
pallidipes, which are the tsetze flies
of the “ fly districts ” where nagana
disease is rife, are unknown *in Central
or Western Africa; and also it is a
fact that no tsetze fly had been
observed in the neighbourhood of the
Victoria Nyanza when Colonel Bruce
began his enquiries. He employed,
through the good-will of the native
chiefs and rulers, a large number of
natives to collect flies throughout the
country forming a belt of twenty or
thirty miles around the north of the
lake. Many thousands of flies were
thus brought in, and the localities
from which they came carefully noted.
�THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
101
Among these flies Colonel Bruce were ascertained to be liable to
recognised a tsetze fly ; and when the infection of the sleeping-sick
these collections were received at the ness trypanosome when this was
Natural History Museum in London, introduced by means of injection
it was at once determined by Mr. through a syringe. Such monkeys
Austen, the assistant in charge of the were found to develop the chief
collections of Diptera (or two-winged symptoms of sleeping sickness, and
flies), that the Uganda tsetze fly was ultimately died of the disease, their
not the same species as that of Zulu- cerebro-spinal fluid being invaded by
land and the. fly country, but a distinct the parasites. Accordingly it was
species previously known only on the possible to use monkeys as test
West Coast and the Congo basin, and animals. It was found by Colonel
described by the name Glossina pat- Bruce that tsetze flies (Glossina pal
palis. The story thus developed pates) which had been made to bite
itself : the trypanosome of sleeping infected negroes could carry the infec
sickness is probably carried by this tion to the monkeys; and it was also
West Coast tsetze fly just as the found that even when a number of
trypanosome of nagana is carried in tsetze flies not specially prepared
the south-east of Africa by the Glossina were allowed to bite a monkey, the
morsitans and pallidipes, the regular latter eventually developed the try
panosome in its blood and cerebro
and original “ tsetze ” flies.
Sleeping sickness thus presented spinal fluid, thus showing that the
itself as a special kind of human tsetze flies, as naturally occurring in
tsetze-fly disease. To test this hypo the country around Entebbe, contain,
thesis, Colonel Bruce pursued two many of them, the trypanosome ready
very important and distinct lines of to pass from the fly to a human or
enquiry. In the first place, he found simian victim, when casually bitten
that those places oh his map which by the fly.
Experiments such as these of infec
were marked as “ sleeping-sickness
areas ” were precisely those places tion by the fly, and the use of monkeys
from which the collected flies included in the research, require very great care ;
specimens of tsetze fly, whilst he and it was quite reasonable to ask
found that there were no tsetze flies that they should be repeated and
in the collections of flies brought in most carefully checked before they
by the natives from the regions where were considered as demonstrative and
absolutely certain. It may now be
there was no sleeping sickness.
His second test inquiry consisted in considered as practically certain that
ascertaining whether the tsetze flies of the sleeping sickness is due to the
Uganda are actually found, experi presence in the cerebro-spinal fluid of
mentally, to be capable of carrying quantities of a minute parasite, the
the trypanosome from one infected Trypanosoma Gambiense, which is
person to another. Bor this purpose carried from man to man by the
it was necessary to make use of palpalis tsetze fly, which sucks it up
monkeys, certain species of which I from the blood of an infected individual
�102
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
and conveys it to previously uninfected gnat, in the interior of which it/iultiindividuals. The natives in Uganda1 plies by a process of sexual conjugation.
lie about and sleep under the shade of At the same time the reader who is
trees where the tsetze flies are espe interested in sleeping sickness will
cially abundant; and they are quite probably desire to know more about
indifferent to the bites of flies of one the nature of the tsetze flies and some
kind and another.
further details as to the parasite spoken
It is the dislike to the mere touch of as trypanosome.
/
of a fly, still more to its bite, which
The tsetze flies form a genus called
has protected Europeans almost en by Wiedemann Lin 1830) \ Grlossina.”
tirely from the sleeping sickness. They are only found in Africa; and
Unfortunately there is no immunity some seven species1 in all ar(> known.
for Europeans in the matter; and the *They are little bigger than a common
existence of many cases of white house-fly, and much like it it colour
people infected with the trypanosome, (Fig. 48). They differ :n appearance
who have ultimately died in England from the house-fly in the fact that the
or elsewhere in Europe from sleeping wings, when the insect is at rest, are
sickness contracted through the bite parallel to one another, and slightly
of a fly in Africa, is abundant proof overlap in the middle line, instead of
that there is not, as has been supposed, being to a small extent divergent at
any special freedom from the disease their free extremities. The bite, like
for white people.1
that of all flies, is rather a stab than
The foregoing description of the a bite, and is effected by a beak-like
nature and mode of the infection of process of the head, the blood of the
sleeping sickness will not cause any animal pricked in this way being
astonishment to the layman of the drawn into the fly’s mouth by a
present day who knows anything of sucking action of the gullet. The
recent medical science. We are all tsetze flies appear to be especially
familiar with the danger of fly-bites, greedy, and are said to gorge them
even in this country, where deadly selves to such an extent that the
bacteria are occasionally carried by blood taken in from one animal over
biting flies, such as the horse-flies, flows the gullet, and so contaminates
into the human subject; and nowadays the wound inflicted by the fly on the
everyone is more or less familiar with next animal it visits. It is at the
the discovery of the minute blood present moment assumed very generally
parasite which causes malaria or ague that this is the way in which infection
and is carried by a particular kind of is produced. But it is not at all
1 Only last year (1905) Lieut. Tulloch, of improbable that the trypanosome
the Army Medical Department, who with undergoes some kind of multiplication
Professor Minchin was engaged in carrying
on further researches for the Royal Society and change of form when sucked into
on the sleeping sickness at Entebbe in the tsetze fly, as happens in the case
Uganda, became infected by the trypano
some, probably through an unobserved bite
by a tsetze fly, and died of the disease soon
1 [Now (1912) eleven species are distin
after his return to England.
,guished.}
�THE SLEEPING- SICKNESS
of the malaria parasite when swallowed
by the Anopheles gnat. No such change
has yet been discovered in regard to
the trypanosome of sleeping sickness;
but it cannot be said that the matter
has been exhaustively studied, or that
a negative conclusion is justified.1
As to the parasite itself—the trypa
nosome—a long and very interesting
story has now to be told. The first
blood-parasite ever made known to
naturalists and medical men was that
to which Gruby, in 1843, gave the
name Trypanosoma sanguinis.
He
found it in the blood of the common
frog. We have here reproduced a
Fig.
48.
Tsetze flies—Glossina morsitans—magnified two
diameters. This is the “fly” of the nagana or
horse and cattle disease of South Africa. The
Glossina palpalis, which carries the Trypanosoma
Gambiense, causing sleeping sickness, is very closely
similar to it in appearance.
figure of this original trypanosome
(fig. 49). Similar parasites had been
seen, but not named, in the blood of
fishes. These trypanosomes are all
1 Professor Minchiu investigated this subject
during 1905 in Uganda, whither he went on
behalf of the Tropical Diseases Committee of
the Royal Society. He did not discover
anything corresponding to the development
of the malarial parasite in the gnat, but his
investigations are not yet brought to a con
clusion (December, 1906). [Later investi
gations by French and German observers
—especially those of Kleiner—have recently
demonstrated that there is such a phase of
development and multiplication of the try
panosome of sleeping sickness in the body of
the tsetze fly.]
103
very minute and of a somewhat elon
gated form, a fair average length being
one thousandth of an inch. They are
simple protoplasmic animals, consist
ing of one single nucleated corpuscle.
The protoplasm is drawn out at one
end of the creature into a motile,
undulating thread, and from the point
where this joins the body a mem
branous undulating crest extends along
the greater part of the animal’s length.
There is no mouth, nutrition being
effected by the imbibition of soluble
nutrient matter.
After a long interval Gruby’s trypa
nosome was re-discovered in 1871; and
then several kinds were described in
the blood of tortoises, fishes, and birds.
In 1878 Dr. Timothy Lewis found a
parasite in the blood of rats, at first in
India, and subsequently in the common
rats of London sewers. This parasite
resembles a trypanosome in many
respects (Fig. 46a), but was very pro
perly given a distinct name by Savile
Kent, who called it “ Herpetomonas.”
This name has, however, been dropped;
and the rat’s-blood parasite is spoken
of as a trypanosome. It is the Trypa
nosoma Lewisii, and was the first of
these trypanosomes to be found in the
blood of a mammalian animal. The
Trypanosoma Lewisii of the rat’s blood
seems to do no harm to the rat, in
which it swarms, multiplying itself by
longitudinal fission; nor is it at pre
sent known to produce any trouble in
other animals when transferred to
their blood. Similarly, the frog’s try
panosome seems to exist innocently in
the frog’s blood.
The next trypanosome discovered
(1880) was, however, found in the
blood of camels, horses, and cattle
�104
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
suffering from a deadly disease known
in India by the name “ surra.” It is
called Trypanosoma Evansii, after the
observer who detected it. Trypano
somes now began to get a bad name,
for the next was discovered in animals
afflicted by a North African disease
known to French veterinaries as
“dourine.”
This trypanosome was
called T. equiperdum.
A
injuring them, just as the rat’s trypa
nosome inhabits the rat’s blood with
out producing disease; and that it is
only when the trypanosome is carried
from these natural wild “hosts” to
domesticated animals introduced by
man, such as horses, asses, cattle, and
dogs, that disease results. The Wild
animals are “ immune ” to Bruce’s
trypanosome; the introduced animals
Fig. 49.
The earliest discovered Trypanosome, described by Gruby, in 1843, as Trypanosoma sanguinis, and
It was^not 'no^edSin
Wh°
figure of it in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science in that year.
A little later—namely, in the year
1895—came Bruce’s discovery of a try
panosome associated with a tsetze fly
in the production of the terrible nagana
disease of the “fly-belts” of South
Africa, which renders whole territories
impassable for horses or cattle (Fig.
46b). The remarkable and important
observation was made by Bruce that
this trypanosome (known as T. Brucei)
inhabits the blood of big game without
are poisoned by the products of its
growth and fissile multiplication in
their blood.
Since Bruce’s researches on nagana,
a trypanosome, T. equinum (Fig. 46d),
has been discovered in the horse
ranches of South America, where it
causes deadly disease, the mal de
caderas, among the collected .horses •
and a curiously large-sized trypano
some has been found by Theiler in the
�105
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
blood of cattle in the Transvaal.1
Down to a recent date no trypano
some Jiad been found in the blood of
man ; and indeed it is almost certain
that none of the kinds hitherto men
tioned can survive in his blood. But
in 1902 Dutton discovered a trypano
some in the blood of a West African
patient; and a few other cases were
noted. This trypanosome of human
blood was called by Dutton T. Gambiense. It was not found to be con
nected with any serious symptoms, a
little fever being the only disturbance
noted. It now, however, appears that
this trypanosome in the blood is the
preliminary stage of the infection
which ends in sleeping sickness ; and,
as we have seen, in a population seri
ously attacked by sleeping sickness, as
is that of Uganda, as many as 28 per
cent, of the people have trypanosomes
in their blood.
There is no ground at present known
for distinguishing Dutton’s T. Gambiense of human blood from that which
Bruce has found to be so terribly
abundant in Uganda, and to be the
cause of sleeping sickness. Indeed,
all the trypanosomes of the blood of
the larger mammalia are singularly
alike in appearance; and the figure
which is here given (Eig. 50) of the
trypanosome of sleeping sickness (I7.
Gambiense) might, with very slight
modification, serve to represent the T.
Evansii of surra disease, the T. Brucei
1 [The number of kinds of trypanosome
known has been greatly increased during the
period 1906-1911, and diseases produced
by them have been described. Only one
additional kind producing a disease in man has
been discovered—namely, in Brazil, where it is
carried into the human body by the bite of
an enormous species of bug which infests the
dwellings of country-folk.]
of nagana disease, or the T. equinum of
the South American mol de caderas.
A most characteristic feature, which
has been made out by the careful study
of those trypanosomes by means of
colouring reagents and very high
powers of the microscope, is that,
whilst there is a large granular nucleus,
there is also a small body at the
anterior end of the animalcule which
readily stains, and is placed at the end
of the root (so to speak) of the vibratile flagellum or free thread. This
smaller nucleus has been variously
Fig.
50.
Trypanosoma Gambiense, from the blood of men
suffering from the early symptoms of sleeping
sickness. A, after Bruce and Navarro; B, after
CasteUani. They show a large oval nucleus (drawn
as a black mass), and a small black ” micronucleus,”
or “ blepharoplast ” in front.
called the “micronucleus,” the “ centrosome,” and the “ blepharoplast.”
It is identical with a structure simi
larly placed in non-parasitic micro
scopic animals to which Trypanosoma
is undoubtedly related. We find it in
the phosphorescent noctiluea of our
seas, and in various animalcules called
“ Elagellata.”
The creature drawn in our Eig. 50 is,
then, the typical trypanosome. It is
this which the medical investigator
looks for in his human or animal
patients; it is this which he has
regarded as the sign and proof of
�106
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
infection. Experiments have shown
that, though so much alike in appear
ance in the different diseases we have
named, yet each trypanosome has its
own properties. Human blood-serum
is poisonous to one and not to another;
an animal immune to one is not
immune to another. At present ,no
treatment has been discovered which
will destroy the parasites when once
they have effected a lodgment, or act
as an antidote to the poison which they
produce in the infected animal or man.1
The Trypanosome (T. eauiperdum) of the
disease called “Dourine,” as seen alive in the
blood of a rat, eight days ofter inoculation.
a, the actively -wriggling corkscrew-like para
sites; b, the blood-corpuscles of the rat. This
figure, of comparatively low magnification, gives
an indication of the relative size of the parasites
and the blood corpuscles.
The blood-corpuscles are about j o cnrth of an
inch each in diameter.
always be remembered that we are
liable to confuse two different con-*1
ditions under this one term.
An
animal may be said to be immune to
a blood-parasite because that parasite
is actually unable to live in its blood.
On the other hand, an animal is often
said to be immune to a parasite when
the parasite can and does flourish in its
blood or tissues, but produces no poi
sonous effect. A more precise nomen
clature would describe the attacked
organism in the first case as “ repel
lent,” for it repels the parasite alto
gether; in the secondcaseas “tolerant,”
for it tolerates the presence and mul
tiplication of the parasite without
suffering by it.
We have yet to learn a good deal
more as to the repulsion and the tole
ration of the trypanosome parasites
by mammals and man. Still more
have we to learn about the life-history
of the trypanosome. At the moment
of writing absolutely nothing has been
ascertained as to the life-history of the
trypanosomes of mammalian blood
except that they multiply in the blood
by longitudinal fission.1 Our ignorance
about them is all the more serious
since other trypanosomes, discovered
by Danilewsky in birds, have been
studied, and have been shown to go
through the most varied phases of
multiplication and change of size and
shape, including a process of sexual
fertilisation like that of the malaria
But the fact that in some cases an
animal may become immune to the
attack of the parasite which usually is
deadly to its kind gives hope of an
eventual curative treatment for trypa
nosome infection; as does also the fact
that the serum of some animals acts
2 [Since the above was written there has
as a poison to trypanosomes which
been very great activity in microscopic re
flourish in other animals.
searches on this matter, and a great deal of
With regard to immunity, it must valuable knowledge has been obtained as to
1 [Though the injection of certain prepara
tions of arsenic, of antimony, and of mercury
have in a few cases been followed by recovery.)
the history of several mammalian trypano
somes and their multiplication in the bodies
of fleas, lice, and bugs, by which they are
carried from one victim to another.)
�THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
parasite, to which, indeed, it now seems
certain the trypanosomes are very
closely allied.
It is to; Dr. Schaudinn1 that we owe
a knowledge of some most extraordinary and important facts with regard
to the trypanosomes parasitic in the
blood of the little stone-owl of
southern Europe (Athene noctua).
These facts are so remarkable that,
Were Dr. Schaudinn not known as a
very competent investigator of micro
scopic organisms, we should hesitate to
accept them as true. Supposing as is
107
this chapter, the British Government
has no staff of public servants trained
to deal with the world-wide problems
of sanitation and disease which neces
sarily come with increasing frequency
before the puzzled administrators of
our scattered Empire. There is no
provision for the study of the nature
and history of blood-parasites in this
country—that is to say, no provision of
laboratories with the very ablest and
exceptionally-gifted investigators at
their head.1 We play with the pro
vision of an adequate army, officers,
\
Fig. 53.
Fin. 82.
5%.—Trypanosoma Ziemanni, from the gut of the gnat (Oulex), having been sucked in with the
btood of the owl (.Athene noctud). A, fertilised vermiform stage. B, multiplication of nucleus. C,
elongation and coiling, with increase of nuclei (after Schauamn).
frriTn
rniledformof
Fig. 53.—Minute neutral Trypanosomes in the gut of the gnat liberated fiom the coiled toim oi
Fig. 52, C (after Schaudinn).
Fig.
/not improbable, that similar facts can
be shown in regard to the trypano
somes of mammalian blood, the conclu
sions which our medical investigators
have based upon a very limited know
ledge of the form and life-history of
the trypanosomes occurring in diseases
such as sleeping sickness, surra, and
Bagana are likely to be gravely modified,
and practical issues of an unexpected
kind will be involved.
As has already been pointed out in
and equipment to fight disease which
annually destroys hundreds of thou
sands of our people, much as barbarous
1 Since this was written a professorship of
Protozoology has, with the assistance of the
Colonial Office, been established in the Uni
versity of London. This is a first step towards
a recognition of the duty of the State in this
matter. [Professor Minchin, F.R.S., who
has been appointed to this post, has made
important discoveries, in consequence, by .his
study of the trypasonome of sleeping sick
ness in Uganda, and of the relation of the
rat’s trypasonome to its flea. He has also
been to Rovigno and revised Schaudinn’s
observations on the parasites of the little
1 Dr. Schaudinn died in 1906. He was only owl, confirming some and rejecting others of
Schaudinn’s results.J
35 years of age.
�108
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
States or bankrupt European kingdoms
play with the provision of an ordinary
army and navy. Their forces exist on
paper, or even in fact, but have no
ammunition, no officers, and no infor
mation, and there is no pay for the
soldiers or sailors. Dr. Schaudinn, on
the other hand, carried on his researches
as an officer of the German Imperial
Health Bureau of Berlin; and the
F.
Fig. 54.
A, B, C, D, elongated spiral forms of Try
panosoma Ziemanni (some intertwined) developed
from those of Fig. 53—showing transverse division,
nucleus, and blepharoplast.
E, F, pear-shaped forms resulting from the
contraction of forms like A; G, a cluster of very
minute individuals.
These forms are observed in the gnat and also
in the blood of the owl, into which they pass when
the gnat bites that bird, and were supposed by
Schaudinn to give rise to the large male and female
trypanosomes seen in Fig. 55 (after Schaudinn)
[though this conclusion is not at the present
moment (1911) accepted].
account of them was published in the
official Report of that important depart
ment of the German Imperial Adminis
trative Service three years ago.
It is not possible here to give a full
report on Dr. Schaudinn’s work ; but
it appears that he has studied two
distinct species of trypanosome, both
occurring side by side in the blood of
the little stone-owl, and already seen
but incompletely studied by Danilewsky
and Ziemann. The second of the two
species of trypanosome is in some
respects the more remarkable. Schau
dinn calls it Trypanosoma Ei&manni;
and from the figures which are here
given (Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7), copied from
his article, with the explanations below
the figures, the reader will at once see
what an extraordinary range of form
and mode of multiplication is presented
by this one species of trypanosome.
Space will not permit us to comment
on these various phases beyond noting
how assuredly such forms would
have escaped recognition as belong
ing to the trypanosome history if
seen, before Dr. Schaudinn’s memoir
was printed, by any of our medical
commissioners blindly exploring round
about the diseases caused by trypano
somes in man and mammals.
One very astonishing and revolution
ary opinion announced by Schaudinn
we must, however, especially point out.
Medical men have long been acquainted
with the spirillum, or spiral threads,
discovered by Obermeyer in the blood
of patients suffering from the relapsing
fever of eastern Europe. These were
universally and without question
regarded as Bacteria (vegetable organ
isms), and referred to the genus
“ Spirochaeta ” of Ehrenberg. They
were called Spiro chata Obermeieri ;
and relapsing fever was held to be a
typical case of a bacterial infection
of the blood. It is now held by
Schaudinn that the blood - parasite
Spirochaeta is a phase of a trypano
some (Fig. 54); that it has a large
nucleus and a micronucleus or ble
pharoplast, neither of which is present
in the spiral Bacteria; and, further,
that it alters its shape, contracting so
�THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
as to present the form of minute oval
or pear-shaped bodies, each provided
with a larger and a smaller nucleus
(Fig. 54, E, F). These oval bodies
are often engulfed by the colourless
corpuscles (phagocytes) of the blood;
and it is in the highest degree probable
that such phases of the growth of a
trypanosome have been observed in
some tropical diseases without their
109
parasites, and must lead to important
discoveries in regard to diseases caused
by them in mammals and in man.
The facts that wild game serve as a
tolerant reservoir of trypanosomes for
the infection of domesticated animals
by the intermediary of the tsetze fly,
and that native children in malarial
regions act the same part for the
malarial parasite and mosquito, suggest
Fig. 55.
Trynanosoma Ziemanni, from the blood of the little owl. The stages shown in Figs. 52-54 are
snown m rigs, oz-oa.a-c
passed inside the gnat. The spiral and pear-shaped bodies of Fig. 54 pass from the gnat s proboscis into
the blood of the little owl, and grow there into the large forms here figured. A, B, and C are females,
destined to be fertilised by spermatozoa (see Fig. 21) when swallowed by a gnat. D and B are male
trypanosomes, which will give rise each to eight fertilising individuals or spermatozoa—as shown m
Fig. 56—when swallowed by a gnat.
relation to the spiral forms being
suspected.
The corpuscles lately
described by Leishman, in cases of
a peculiar Indian fever, are very
probably of this nature, as are also
similar bodies recently described in
Delhi sore. On the whole, it may
safely be said that the researches of
Dr. Schaudinn have widely modified
our conceptions as to these blood-
very strongly that some tolerant reser
voir of the sleeping-sickness trypano
some may exist in the shape of a
hitherto unsuspected mammal, bird,
or insect. The investigation of that
hypothesis and the discovery of the
reproductive and secondary forms of
the mammalian trypanosomes are the
matters which now most urgently call
for the efforts of capable medical
�110
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
officers.1 But we must not be san
guine of rapid progress, since men
of the scientific quality needful for
pursuing these enquiries are not
numerous; and those who exist are
not endowed with private fortunes, as
a rule. At the same time no suffi
ciently serious attempt is made by the
British Government to take such men
into its pay, or to provide for the
training and selection of such officers.2
The relations of parasites to the
Fig. 56.
Mule Trypanosoma Ziemanni, giving rise by
nuclear division to eight spermatozoa or micro
gametes. From the stomach of the gnat (Culex).
Each of these penetrates and fuses with the
substance of a female trypanosome, swallowed at
the same time or already taken in by the gnat.
The fertilised animalcule is the vermiform motile
stage of Fig. 52, A; and so we return to the startingpoint of the cycle (after Sohaudinri).
organisms upon or in which they are
parasitic, and the relation of Man,
once entered on the first steps of his
career of civilisation, to the world of
parasites, form one of the most
1 [The life-history of the insects which
carry disease-producing trypanosomes is also
most important, and often difficult to ascer
tain. It is not yet known what insect carries
the parasites which produce horse-diseases,
and it is now thought probable that other
flies than Glossina may in some districts
carry the trypanosome of sleeping sickness.]
2 gee footnote on p. 107.
instructive and fascinating chapters
of natural history. It cannot be fully
written yet, but already some of the
conclusions to which the student is
led in examining this subject have
far-reaching importance and touch
upon great general principles in an
unexpected manner.
Before the arrival of Man—the
would-be controller, the disturber of
Nature — the adjustment of living
things to their surrounding conditions
and to one another has a certain
appearance of perfection. Natural
selection and the survival of the
fittest in the struggle for existence
lead to the production of a degree of
efficiency and harmonious interaction
of the units of the living y-orld which,
being based on the inexorable destruc
tion of what is inadequate and
inharmonious as soon as it appears,
result in a smooth and orderly working
of the great machine, and the con
tinuance by heredity of efficiency and
a high degree of individual perfection.
Parasites, whether microscopic or
of larger size, are not, in such circum
stances, the cause of widespread disease
or suffering. The weakly members of
a species may be destroyed by parasites,
as others are destroyed by beasts of
prey; but the general community of
the species, thus weeded, is benefited
by the operation. In the natural
world the inhabitants of areas bounded
by sea, mountain, and river become
adjusted to one another ; and a balance
is established. The only disturbing
factors are exceptional seasons, un
usual cold, wet, or drought. Such
recurrent factors may from time to
time increase the number of the
weakly who are unable to cope witlM
�THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
the invasions of minute destructive
parasites, and so reduce, even to
extermination, the kinds of animals or
plants especially susceptible to such
influences. But anything like the
recurring epidemic diseases of parasitic
origin with which civilised man is
unhappily familiar seems to be due
either to his own restless and ignorant
activity or, in his absence, to great
and probably somewhat sudden geo
logical changes—changes of the con
nections, and therefore communica
tions, of great land areas.
It is abundantly evident that animals
or plants which have, by long seons
of selection and adaptation, become
adjusted to the parasites and the
climatic conditions and the general
company (so to speak) of one con
tinent may be totally unfit to cope
with those of another; just as the
Martian giants of Mr. H. G. Wells,
though marvels of offensive and defen
sive development, were helpless in the
presence of mundane putrefactive bac
teria, and were rapidly and surely
destroyed by them. Accordingly, it is
not improbable that such geological
changes as the junction of the North
and South American continents, of
North and South Africa, and of various
large islands and neighbouring con
tinents, have, in ages before the advent
of man, led to the development of
disastrous epidemics. It is not a
far-fetched hypothesis that the dis
appearance of the whole equine race
from the American continent just
before or coincidently with the advent
of man—a region where horses of all
kinds had existed in greater variety
than in any other part of the world—
is due to the sudden introduction, by
111
means of some geological change, of a
deadly parasite which spread as an
epidemic and extinguished the entire
horse population.
Whatever may have happened in
past geological epochs, by force of
great changes in the connections of
land-surfaces which brought the adap
tations of one continent into con
tact with the parasites of another,
it is quite certain that Man, proud
Man, ever since he has learnt to build
a ship, and even before that, when he
made up his mind to march aimlessly
across continents till he could go no
further, has played havoc with himself
and all sorts of his fellow-beings by
mixing up the products of one area
with those of another. Nowhere has
Man allowed himself—let alone other
animals or even plants—to exist in
fixed local conditions to which he or
they have become adjusted. With
ceaseless restlessness he has introduced
men and beasts and plants from one
land to another. He has constantly
migrated, with his herds and his horses,
from continent to continent. Parasites,
in themselves beneficent purifiers of
the race, have been thus converted
into terrible scourges and the chronic
agents of disease. Europeans are
decimated by the locally innocuous
parasites of Africa; the South Sea
islanders are exterminated by the com
paratively harmless measles of Europe.
A striking example of the disasters
brought about by Man’s blind dealings
with Nature—disasters which can and
will hereafter be avoided by the aid of
science—is to be found in the history
of the insect phylloxera and the vine.
In America th« vine had become
adjusted to the phylloxera larvae, so
�112
TSE SLEEPING SICKNESS
that when they nibbled its roots the
American vine threw out new root
shoots, and was none the worse for
the little visitor. Man in his blunder
ing way introduced the American vine,
and with it the phylloxera, to Europe;
and in three years half the vines in
France and Italy were destroyed by
the phylloxera, because the European
vines had not been bred in association
with this little pest, and had not
acquired the simple adjusting faculty
of throwing out new shoots.
But it is not only by his reckless
mixing up of incompatibles from all
parts of the globe that the unscientific
man has risked the conversion of
paradise into a desert. In his greedy
efforts to produce large quantities of
animals and plaqts convenient for his
purposes, and in his eagerness to mass
and organise his own race for defence
and conquest, man has accumulated
unnatural swarms of one species in
field and ranch and unnatural crowds
of his own kind in towns and fortresses.
Such undiluted masses of one organism
serve as a ready field for the propaga
tion of previously rare and unimportant
parasites from individual to individual.
Human epidemic diseases, as well as
those of cattle and crops, are largely
due to this unguarded action of the
unscientific man.
A good instance of this is seen in
the history of the coffee plantations of
Ceylon, where a previously rare and
obscure parasitic fungus, leading an
uneventful life in the tropical forests
of that country, suddenly found itself
provided with an unlimited field of
growth and exuberance in the coffee
plantations. The coffee plantations
were destroyed by this parasite, which
has now returned to its pristine
obscurity. Disharmonious, blundering
man was responsible for its brief
triumph and celebrity. Dame Nature
had not allowed the coffee fungus
more than a very moderate scope.
Man comes in and takes the reins;
disaster follows. And there is no
possibility of return to the old regime;
man must make his blunders and
retrieve them by further interference
—by the full use of his intelligence,
by the continually increasing ingenuity
of his control of the physical world,
which he has ventured to wrest from
the old rule of natural selection and
adaptation.
The adjustment of all living things
to their proper environment is one of
great delicacy, and often of surprising
limitation. In no living things is this
more remarkable than in parasites.
The relation of a parasite to the
“ host ” or “ hosts ” in which it can
flourish (often the host is only one
special species, or even variety, of plant
or animal) is illustrated by the more
familiar restriction of certain plants to
a particular soil. Thus the Cornish
heath only grows on soil overlying the
chemically peculiar serpentine rocks of
Cornwall. The two common parasitic
tapeworms of man pass their early
life the one in the pig and the other
in bovine animals. But that which
requires the pig as its first host {Tania
solium) cannot use a bovine animal as
a substitute; nor can the other (Tania
mediocan&llata) exist in a pig. Yet the
difference of porcine and bovine flesh
and juices is not a very patent one ; it
is one of small variations in highly
complex organic chemical substances.
A big earthworm-like stomach-worm
�THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
flourishes in man, and another kind
similar to it in the horse. But that
frequenting man cannot exist in the
horsfi^ nor that of the horse in man.
Simpler parasites, such as are the
moulds, bacteria, and again the blood
parasites, trypanosoma, etc., exhibit
absolute restrictions as to the hosts in
which they can or cannot flourish
without showing specific changes in
their vital processes. Being far simpler
in structure than the parasitic worms,
they have less “ mechanism ” at their
disposal for bringing about adjustment
to varied conditions of life. The
microscopic parasites do not submit
to alterations in the chemical character
of their surroundings without them
selves reacting and showing changed
chemical activities. A change of soil
(that is to say, of host) may destroy
them ; but, on the other hand, it may
lead to increased vigour and the most un
expected reaction on their part in the
production of virulent chemical poisons.
We are justified in believing that
until man introduced his artificially
selected and transported breeds of
cattle and horses into Africa there
was no nagana disease. The Trypano
soma Brucei lived in the blood of the
big game in perfect harmony with its
host. So, too, it is probable that the
sleeping - sickness parasite flourished
innocently in a state of adjustment
due to tolerance on the part of the
aboriginal men and animals of West
Africa. It was not until the Arab
slave raiders, European explorers, and
india-rubber thieves stirred up the quiet
populations of Central Africa, and
mixed by their violence the susceptible
with the tolerant races, that the
sleeping - sickness parasite became a
113
deadly scourge—a “ disharmony,” to
use the suggestive term introduced by
my friend Elias Metschnikoff.
The adjustment of primaeval popu
lations to their conditions has also
been broken down by “ disharmonies ”
of another kind, due to Man’s restless
invention, as explained a few years
ago in the interesting book of Dr.
Archdall Reid on “ The Present Evolu
tion of Man.” Not only does the
human race within given areas become
adjusted to a variety of local parasites,
but it acquires a tolerance of dangerous
drugs, such as alcohol and opium,
extracted by Man’s ingenuity from
materials upon which he operates. A
race thus provided and thus immune,
by its restless migrations, imposes on
unaccustomed races the deadly poisons
to the consumption of which it is itself
habituated. The unaccustomed races
are deteriorated or even exterminated
by the poisons thus introduced.
Infectious disease, it was long ago
pointed out, must be studied from
three main points of view: (1) the
life history and nature of the disease
germ or infective matter; (2) the
infected subject, his repellent or
tolerant possibilities, and his predis
position or receptivity ; (3) the inter
mediary or carrying agents. Whilst
it is true that little or nothing has
been done by the State in acquiring or
making use of knowledge as to the
first and second of these factors, with
a view to controlling the spread of
disease, it is the fact that much has
been done both in the way of investi
gation and administration in relation
to the third factor. The great public
health enquiries and consequent legis
lation in this country, in which
�114
THE SLEEPING SICKNESS
scientific men of the highest qualifica
tions, such as Simon, Farr, Chadwick,
and Parkes, took part during the
Victorian period, have had excellent
results ; to them are due the vast
expenditure at the present day on pure
water, sewage disposal, and sanitary
inspection. But little or nothing has
been done in regard to the first and
second divisions of the subject, in
which the less organised portions of
the British Empire are more deeply
concerned than in waterworks and
sewer - pipes. It is still contested
whether leprosy (which is a serious
scourge in the British Empire, though
expelled from our own islands) is a
matter of predisposition caused by
diet or solely due to contagion ; and
yet it is left to individual practitioners
to work out the problem. The State
prepares vaccine lymph in a cheap
and unsatisfactory way for the use of
its—till recently—compulsorily vacci
nated citizens ; but the State, though
thus interfering in the matter of
vaccine, has spent no money to study
effectively and so to improve the
system of vaccination. Here and
there some temporary and ineffective
enquiry has been subsidised by a
Government office; but there is no
great army of investigators working in
the best possible laboratories, led by
the ablest minds of the day, with the
constant object of improving and
developing in new directions the
system of inoculation.1 Surely if
compulsion, or every pressure short
of compulsion, is justified in enforcing
vaccine inoculation on every British
family, it would be only reasonable
and consistent to expend a million or
so a year in the perfection and
intelligent control of this remedy by
the most skilled investigators. Yet
not a halfpenny is spent by the British
Government in this way. Medicine is
organised in this country by its prac
titioners as a fee-paid profession; but
as a necessary and invaluable branch
of the public service it is neglected,
misunderstood, and rendered to a large
extent futile by inadequate funds and
consequent lack of capable leaders!
The defiant, desperate battle which
civilised Man wages with Nature must
go on ; but Man’s suffering and loss in
the struggle—the delay in his ultimate
triumph—depend solely on how much
or how little the great civilised com
munities of the world seek for increased
knowledge of Nature as the basis of
their practical administration and
government.
1 [Recent progress in our knowledge of
tubercle—the disease caused by the tubercle
bacillus—renders it almost certain that a
system of preventive inoculation will have to
be applied in order to check this diseases.
Sanatoria and abstention from spitting cannot
effect much. The disease is too widely spread
and deeply rooted. It would not be possible
to isolate a fifth of the population, though
isolation would be, as in the case of leprosy,
the effective means of eradicating tubercle.]
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The kingdom of man
Description
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Edition: New and rev. ed.
Place of publication: London
Collation: x,114, 4 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Series title: R.P.A. Cheap Reprints
Series number: No. 50
Notes: Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. First published, London: Constable, 1907. Printed in double columns. Includes bibliographical references. Issued for the Rationalist Press Association, Limited. Publisher's advertisements on four pages at end, also inside and on back cover.
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Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray) [1847-1929]
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Watts & Co.
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1912
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N435
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Anthropology
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The kingdom of man), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
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English
Human Beings-Origins
NSS
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THE SPIRIT WORLD1
By^the BishopSof Salford
I
The Church of Christ—established by her Divine
Founder for the purpose of teaching mankind those
truths in both the intellectual and the moral order
which are to lead them to the fulfilment of the end
for which they were created and to their eternal
happiness hereafter—has never ceased on the one
hand to propound full and satisfying systems of truth
on all questions concerning man’s relation to his
Maker and all that affects his own destiny; and on
the other to reprobate and condemn 'those many
false systems, religious, ethical, or social, which have
arisen in all ages from the very days of the Apostles
to our own. Many of these systems have contained,
indeed, a certain admixture of truths, or at least half
truths, which have rendered them the more insidious
and the more dangerous, as even earnest believers
may be the more easily led away into false systems
by the elements of good which appear therein, so
that they may deceive, as Christ warned us, “ even the
Elect.”2
Not unfrequently systems of this character have
been denominated by names ending in “ ism,” and
there are cases where such an ending, attached to a
term which in itself may be unobjectionable; acts as a
kind of danger signal that the complex of teachings
1 A Pastoral Letter, 1912.
2 Mark xiii. 22.
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which it involves may contain errors of a dangerous and
a pernicious character. Thus whilst the Church may
approve and even maintain certain of the teachings
appropriated by such systems; yet. as she is bound
by her very nature to condemn the errors which are
mixed up with them, so is it her duty to reprobate
these systems as a whole and to warn her children
from attaching themselves to them and becoming
disciples or partisans of the schools which teach
them.
Modern Errors
A few recent examples will make our meaning
clear. It is well known to all, that within recent
years our present Holy Father, Pope Pius X., has
condemned with no uncertain voice and with
Apostolic severity that religious system known as
“Modernism.” Now, we are fully aware that so far
from reprobating or discouraging modern progress of
any kind, whether intellectual, political, or social, the
Church in all ages has blessed and fostered all true
progress and development. Thus she took under her
fostering wing the advancement of literature and the
fine arts in the Middle Ages. The theological and
philosophical syntheses of Thomas Aquinas, so novel
to his contemporaries1; the mighty creations of
Dante, of Raphael, and Michelangelo; the heroic
discoveries of Christopher Columbus, received the
fulness of her patronage and blessing. Similarly, at
the close of the Middle Ages, the Church fostered and
encouraged the then modern revival of ancient
classical learning, known as the Renascence, whilst at
the same time severely condemning and checking the
1 “To his contemporaries the novelty of his work was its character
istic. His first early biographer, William de Tocco, speaks of his
‘new and clear method of deciding questions’; of his ‘new
opinions,’ ‘new projects,’ ‘new ideas.’”—W. Ward, Life of Cardinal
Newman, vol. i. p. 435.
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pernicious neopaganism, the outcome of the excess to
which that revival led, and which vitiated so much of
its action on the mind and morals of Europe.1 Yet
more strikingly did she hail that art, so thoroughly
Catholic in its inception, the art of printing, whose
earliest beginnings she blessed and even enriched
with copious indulgences.2 In our own days, she has
incorporated into her Ritual special blessings for
such modern inventions as the railway, textile
machinery, the telegraph, the motor, and even
the aeroplane. Thus the Church bestows her
approval and benediction on all that is good and
useful in modern progress and enlightenment, whilst
she condemns—-as she is obliged to do—those
dangerous philosophical and theological errors which
have been mixed up with so much of modern
criticism and methods, and are collectively known
under the title of “ Modernism.” It is not, therefore,
what is “ modern ” as such that falls under her ban,
but what is “ modernistic.”
The system known as “ Socialism ” is another
example of what we mean. So far from the Church
being opposed to social reform, it is she who from
her beginning has been the pioneer in all the social
improvements of mankind’s lot. The very adjective
“social” implies “society,” and society itself, as
indicating the brotherhood of mankind under the
fatherhood of God and the equality before God of
all men, “whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or
free,” 3 is the direct creation of the teachings of our
Lord and His Apostles, and most conspicuously of the
great Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Paul.4 The first
result of this entire revolution in the conception of
mankind was the gradual but sure extinction of
ancient slavery and of later serfdom, brought about
1 See Pastor, History of the Popes.
2 See The Catholic Church and the Printing Press, C.T. S., Jd.
3 i Cor. xii. 13.
4 See his Epistle to Philemon.
*
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7'he Spirit World
by the constant pressure of the Church, and especially
of the Holy See, from the days of the Apostles to the
final emancipation of the slaves of Brazil during the
reign and at the solicitation of Leo XIII. The
mention of the name of this great Pontiff cannot but
recall those magnificent Encyclicals1 on the rights of
labour, on the conditions of the working classes, and
on all the burning social questions of the day, forming
a perfect and coherent code of sound teaching, based
upon the principles of Christian doctrine, which will
be found eventually to supply the only true and real
basis for a constructive sociology capable of obviating
and curing the manifold evils and miseries of present
social conditions. But that system which has arro
gated to itself the title of “ Socialism,” based as it is
on principles quite other than those of Christ and His
Church—having for its final goal exclusively man’s
temporal instead of his eternal welfare, and thus
radically subordinating what is primary to what is
secondary—is as such condemned by the Church,
even whilst it advocates a number of practical reforms
which merit her approval and blessing. And the
Church’s wisdom in this discrimination is, alas, only
too emphatically proved by the sad fact, to which
our parochial clergy bear abundant witness, that
our young men, especially among the working classes,
who are beguiled into joining the Socialistic ranks,
invariably end by abandoning the Church and even
giving up Christianity. Here, again, the Church
disapproves not of what is “ social,” but of what is
“ socialistic.”
Spiritualism
The third case to which we would refer, and con
cerning which we shall speak at more length, is the
movement known as “Spiritualism” or “Spiritism.”
The Catholic Church at all times is chiefly concerned
1 See The Pope and the People, C.T.S.
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5
with the spiritual side of man and his destiny, with
the future life beyond the grave, and with the
existence and operation of spiritual beings, whether
good or bad. Hence we might justly say that the
Catholic Church beyond all other religious systems
is a “Spiritualist” organization. But, as in the case
of Modernism and Socialism, an otherwise unobjec
tionable or even desirable epithet has been appro
priated by an entirely different and even hostile
system of teaching and practice, which is nowadays
familiar to everybody under the above-quoted titles.
The history of this remarkable movement is in
teresting. The scepticism engendered by the French
philosophers and encyclopaedists at the close of the
eighteenth century, followed by the hasty generaliza
tions and arrogant assertions of so many students of
physical science in the early part of the nineteenth,
led to the growth and wide diffusion of what is known
as “ Materialism,” which long held sway in both scien
tific and popular literature, as well as in many of
the universities. Because the anatomist and ' the
biologist in dissecting the animal body, or in studyi°g germs beneath the microscope, were unable to
find any trace of an immaterial or spiritual sub
stance ; because the astronomer, the physicist, and
the chemist, in investigating the regions of space or
analysing matter into its component elements, found
no trace of anything outside of matter to respond
to their tests ; because the philosopher, the historian,
the economist considered that the whole story of the
evolution of the universe allowed no place for the
action , of a spiritual First Cause or the agency of
subordinate and secondary spiritual beings; so the
existence of human souls, of pure spiritual beings,
of a God as the Supreme Spirit, were either roundly
denied, or at best declared to be, in the “ Agnostic ”
teaching, unknown and unknowable. There was a
time when Materialism seemed to threaten to absorb
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The Spirit World
the world of science and thought. But the reaction
inevitably came. Pure Materialism is so essentially
contrary to the profoundest instincts of the human
race and to the most venerable and persistent tradi
tional beliefs of every age and race, that the convic
tion of the existence and power of spiritual agencies
forced its way back into men’s minds. An old Latin
poet declared, in the form of a homely proverb, “ You
may drive out nature with a pitchfork, but she will
always return.”1 And so human nature reasserted
its innate and traditional belief in the supersensible
or spiritual by a strong and even violent reaction.
For as all reactions are apt to be violent and to
swing to extremes, so have we experienced of late
years an anti-materialist reaction in the form of an
elaborate and extravagant Spiritualism, permeating
all classes and exercising an ever-growing and, as we
believe, pernicious influence. It is not certain indi
vidual truths, which Spiritualism teaches quite in
accordance with Christian doctrine—such as the
existence of the human soul, its life after death, the
agency of disembodied spirits, the possibility of their
communicating with us—but, as in the cases of
.Modernism and Socialism, the system as a whole,
with all its concomitant errors and abuses, that the
Catholic Church reprobates. Once again we may
say the Church disapproves, not what is “ spiritual,”
but what is “spiritualistic.” And again it must be
plainly stated that Catholics who give themselves up
to spiritualistic beliefs and practices invariably make
shipwreck of their faith, unless they are happily rescued
in time and taught to see the danger of their position.
There is the less excuse for Catholics falling into
the power of Spiritism, inasmuch as the teachings
of their own faith supply them with the most perfect,
the most complete, the most logical, and the most
satisfying system of doctrine with reference to the
1 “ Naturam expellas furca tamen usque recurret.”—Horace.
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world of Spirit and all that it implies in itself and in
its relation to man’s life and destiny.
II
The Teaching
of the
Church
What then is the Catholic doctrine on these
momentous topics? We shall endeavour as briefly
as possible to set forth this teaching.
God the Supreme Being, existing of Himself and
necessarily existing from all eternity, Himself pure
and absolute Spirit, is by His own infinite power and
freewill the Creator of all that exists, whether spiritual
or material. His creation is thus of a double nature,
the one consisting of the material universe, vast
beyond human conception in its magnitude and
extent, the other essentially and purely spiritual.
The Doctors of the Church teach that this spiritual
creation, although strictly speaking it has no direct
relation to space, is of itself immeasurably greater, of
more excellent nature and powers, more wonderful
and more splendid than the whole material universe,
as well as prior to it by creation. The first and
principal portion of this vast. creation consists of
those highly gifted spiritual beings, endowed with
pre-eminent attributes of intelligence and free will,
whom we designate by the generic term of the
Angels, of whom God says in the Book of Job, “The
morning stars praise Me together, and all the sons of
God make a joyful melody.”1 These so highlyendowed pure spirits were destined for a supernatural
end of eternal happiness, but this they had to merit
by the action of their free will; thus, though their
nature was by God endowed with grace from the
beginning, still they had to undergo a form of pro
bation, the nature of which has not been made known
to us, although the Fathers and theologians of the
1 Job xxxiii. 7.
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The Spirit World
Church have speculated much on the subject. What
is certain is that a large proportion of those spirits,
under the leadership of one, the most highly endowed
and the most resplendent of all, by an abuse of their
free will and a refusal to obey Almighty God, fell
away from their primitive state of grace, became
reprobate, and were cast by the terrible judgement of
their Creator into eternal punishment. “ God spared
not the angels that sinned, but delivered them ....
to the lower hell unto torments.”1 “ And the angels
who kept not their principality but forsook their
own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in
everlasting chains.”2 And our Lord Himself tells us
of the “ everlasting fire which was prepared for the
devil and his angels.”3 Thus, henceforth there exist
two vast opposing armies of spiritual beings, respec
tively the servants and the enemies of God, actively
engaged in mutual opposition and hostility.
But this does not exhaust the spirit world. There
is a wondrous creature of God, who stands midway
between the spiritual world and the material world.
This creature is Man. Man is most justly defined as
a spirit or soul endowed with a material body ; and
the complete man consists of the two in intimate and
necessary union. By his soul man belongs to the
spirit world, and like the spirits is endowed with the
supreme gifts of intelligence and free will. By his
body man belongs to the material world, of which his
frame forms a portion physically, chemically, and
biologically. At the very moment of his conception,
man’s soul is created by God, and joined in the
mysterious union with the material germ that is to
evolve into his body; and this union is so intimate
and so necessary that it is destined to subsist for
eternity. Nevertheless, by a wonderful disposition of
Divine Providence there is in the life history of each
human being an epoch during which the spirit and
1 2 Peter ii. 4.
2 Jude 6.
3 Matthew xxv. 41.
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9
the flesh are temporarily disunited ; and whilst the
one goes on living apart, the other is, perhaps for
cycles of time, resolved into its component material
elements. This epoch is the space which extends
from the moment of the man’s death on earth to the
last Judgement Day. During this space, which may,
indeed, subsist for aeons of time, but which neverthe
less must come to an end, the disembodied soul
subsists in one of three states—either united to God
in the eternal felicity of heaven, or suffering in the
eternal prison of hell, or detained for a time in the
temporary place of banishment called purgatory, but
in this latter case infallibly destined after a certain
lapse of time to pass on through the gates of heaven.
At the great Accounting Day this temporary and, so
to speak, unnatural state of separation will in all cases
come to an end, and disembodied spirits will once
again resume for eternity their bodily or material
parts.
The Activity
of
Spirits
Such is a conspectus of the Christian teaching
regarding the existence of immaterial beings, or
spirits, of all orders. But the Church teaches us, not
only of their existence, but also of their manifold
activities, and of their practical relations to and inter
course with ourselves during our mortal lives. In
the first place, there is no doubt that Almighty God
makes use of the vast hosts of those blessed and
happy spirits who share the felicity of heaven as His
agents and messengers in the government of creation.
Hence they are properly called “ Angels,” a Greek
word signifying “messengers”; hence the Psalmist
Says “ Who maketh His Angels spirits.”1 Some of the
Fathers, indeed, hold that God makes use of the agency
of His Angels even in the physical ordering of the
powers of nature and the phenomena of the physical
1 Psalm ciii, 4.
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world.1 Be this as it may, we know from Holy Scripture
how greatly God uses the ministry of these spirits in
His dealings with mankind.2 The Angel who kept
our first parents out of Paradise,3 the Angels who at
different times appeared to Abraham,4 to Jacob;5
Gabriel in the history of Daniel,6 Raphael in that
of Tobias, are all familiar instances in the Old
Testament; whilst the New, from the Annunciation
of Gabriel to Mary to the delivery of Peter by an
Angel, is full of examples of angelic intervention.
Over and above this the Church teaches the beautiful
and consoling doctrine of our Guardian Angels ; that
is to say, that every individual human soul that is
born into the world, has assigned to it by God one of
His angelic spirits, charged to watch over and
protect it from both spiritual and material evils and
aid it on its way to salvation. “ He hath given His
Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy
ways.”7 The task of the Angels is also represented
as that of carrying up our prayers before the throne
of God; and the whole of this angelic activity
between God and man is symbolically represented by
Jacob’s wonderful vision of the ladder between heaven
and earth : “ the Angels of God ascending and
descending by it.”8
On the other hand, there is no doubt that, according
to the mystery of God’s Providence, the lost spirits,
Lucifer and his host of fallen angels, whom we call
the devils or demons, are allowed to exercise no incon
siderable influence in the creation—perhaps, according
to some of the Fathers, even over phenomena of nature,
1 “ Omnia corporalia reguntur per Angelos.” S. Augustin., iii. de
Trinitate, c. 4 (quoted by S. Th. Aq., I. q. no, a. I. o.).
2 “Sunt igitur Angeli universales executores divinse providential”
S. Th. Aq., op. xiv., de Szibstantiis separatism c. 14.
3 Gen. iii. 24.
4 Gen. xix., xxii.
5 Gen. xxviii.
6 Daniel viii., ix.
7 Psalm xc. n.
8 Gen. xxviii. 12. On the whole of this subject, see Lanzoni, Gli
Angeli nelle Divine Scritture, Torino, 1891.
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but certainly in the spiritual, and sometimes even
the physical, life of men.1 Part of our probation in
this life consists in the suggestions and temptations to
sin which these evil spirits are allowed to make
directly or indirectly to our mind and will. “ Our
wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but . . .
against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.”2
Nay, we know, from both the history of the New
Testament and the lives of the Saints in all ages, that
God sometimes allows these terrible spirits even
physically to attack and persecute man’s body. No
more awful phenomena are recorded than those cases
of possession or obsession which are familiar in the
New Testament, and have been known in every age
of the Church even to our own days. For, although
modern science may be able to explain by physical
and psychological forces many cases that our fore
fathers recorded as preternatural, still it must be
admitted that there is a residuum, even in modern
times, of phenomena which can only be regarded as
diabolical in origin.
This teaching has been unchanging in the tradition
of the Church from the Gospel narrative of the
temptation of Christ our Lord in the wilderness by
Satan even down to the well-authenticated cases of
the attacks of the evil spirits on the Blesssed Cure
of Ars in our own days. And although we believe
that since the death of Christ “ the old serpent, which
is the devil” has been bound 3—that is to say that
his power, both spiritual and physical, is very greatly
limited — nevertheless the Church has always held
that he and his wicked hosts exercise a very dreadful
degree of pernicious power, and that more especially
in pagan lands and where the influence of the Church
is less powerful.
1 “ Immissiones per cmgelos malos,” Psalm lxxvii. 49.
2 Eph, vi. 12.
s Apoc. xx. 2.
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Mankind
and the
World of Spirits
Turning now from the activities of these vast
kingdoms of spirits, good and evil, we may ask what
are our relations with that other great and evergrowing multitude of disembodied spirits—that is to
say, the souls of all those who have departed this life,
whether in grace or in sin. Concerning these, the
Church teaches us that God allows the blessed souls
in heaven to know what passes on earth, and to be
interested in the fate of those living. And this is
not a mere benevolent interest, but one of immense
utility and practical value, inasmuch as charity leads
them to be our earnest and unwearying advocates
with the Divine Majesty, so that their prayers are
continually pleading for both our temporal and
spiritual welfare, particularly of those amongst us
who are bound to them by the ties of kinship or
devotion.
Likewise the holy souls, who are
temporarily detained in purgatory most probably are
similarly endowed with this knowledge of what passes
here below, and with the vicissitudes of their fellow
creatures, and more particularly of their kinsfolk and
friends ; and though these souls can no longer pray
or merit for themselves, it is held by great theologians
that they are allowed to exercise some degree of
intercession on our behalf.
The manifold good offices which living men are
constantly receiving from the world of. holy spirits,
whether the angelic hosts or the disembodied spirits
of the just, require from us in return corresponding
offices.
Towards the holy Angels and the Saints and Blessed
in heaven, we have a tribute to pay of homage,
veneration, and devotion, expressed either in the
public liturgy of the Church, so much of which is
occupied by praise and prayers addressed to them, or
by our own individual prayers and devotions. By
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these means the accidental glory of all the blessed
inhabitants of heaven is greatly increased, whilst the
Church and her individual members receive in return
a great accretion of help and patronage.
Towards the souls in purgatory our position is
reversed, and we living here on earth are, by God’s
generous mercy, allowed very greatly to assist them
and to shorten the weary time of their purgation by
offering up for them our prayers and good works of
every kind. In this great work of charity the blessed
spirits in heaven are also engaged. And thus it is that,
by these mutual offices, the whole of God’s kingdom
is for ever vivified by a golden stream of divine
charity which permeates every part:
“ For so the whole round world is every way
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”1
The constant communion between the spirit world
and mankind, above described at some length, is
normally a purely spiritual or intellectual, i.e. a non
material one. Yet there are undoubtedly rare cases
where God allows spiritual beings, whether good or
bad, to make their presence known and even to
communicate with living men by impressions on the
senses of sight, hearing, or touch. Such phenomena,
when spirits thus communicate in some sensible form,
assuming even bodily appearances, are called
“ apparitions.” Not, indeed, that these spirits,
whether angelic or human, do assume real material
bodies, but, by some process which we cannot under
stand, they are allowed temporarily to exercise some
influence on our senses as if they were really embodied
material beings. The Holy Scriptures, the history of
the Church, and the lives of the Saints are full of
instances of these extraordinary phenomena, which
Gods sees fit to allow either for the consolation and
direction, or for the warning and correction, of His
1 Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.
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children. They are phenomena which men must
humbly endure for their spiritual good, but which we
must not desire or seek for, according to our own will
and judgement. Such a practice was reprobated in
the Old Testament in the case of Saul and his
evocation of the spirit of Samuel.1 And it is as
unlawful now as it was in the days of Saul.
Ill
The Pernicious Element of Spiritism
Now the essential and most pernicious element of
modern Spiritism is precisely this unlawful trafficking
with, or seeking to traffic with, spirits, whether good or
bad, whether human, angelic, or diabolical in their
nature. It is begotten of a morbid and fearfully
dangerous curiosity, like that of our first parents, to
know those hidden things which God does not see fit
to make known to us, and therefore to seek such
knowledge is to act contrary to and to sin against the
Divine Will. The Church in all ages has sternly
reprobated and forbidden all such unlawful commerce
with the unseen world, and has reckoned it as a grave
form of that sin which is known as superstition.
But it is not only the sinfulness of these practices
that makes them to deserve the warnings and con
demnation of Holy Church. There is no doubt that
the pursuit of spiritistic practices has a deplorable
effect upon the minds and even the bodies of its
votaries. The most appalling of these effects is the
weakening of the will power. This weakening is pro
gressive and alarmingly inevitable in its developments.
Like the taste for alcohol, but in a still more fatal
manner, it gradually grows in the soul until it absorbs
the energies of the free will and reduces its victim to
almost hopeless helplessness. Now, the loss of the
1 I Kings xxviii.
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free will, by which man has to co-operate in his
eternal salvation, is the greatest loss that can befall
a rational being. It leads to a slavery of the worst
kind and too often ends in the loss of mental control,
in other words in lunacy and despair. Not theo
logians only, but many experienced scientific and
medical authorities are agreed upon these sad facts.
Lest this should seem an exaggerated estimate,
listen to this pathetic outcry of a distressed soul—
one whose personality is well known to several—in a
letter in the columns of a Catholic newspaper only a
few months ago :—
“ I am a trance medium, and I might say an un
willing clairvoyante. Of course, I know Holy Church
forbids all such dangerous and pernicious practices ;
but from actual 'experience I find that the Church
does not fully appreciate their gravity. In my own
case I constantly receive absolution. But how can
I get away from the deadly fascinations of spirit
dealing, which is, as I have proved for myself, nothing
less than direct communication with the devil ? I
know and also feel the inevitable result—a lunatic
asylum. Could others only take warning ! could they
only for one frightful moment see the horrors which
it has fallen to my lot to view whilst in the trance
state! It is too ludicrous for words to imagine for a
moment that departed (passed-over) spirits reappear
at seances; yet many are willing to credit this.
Could they but realize in what close proximity they
are in reality to ‘ the prince of the powers of dark
ness,’ viz. Satan, they would in dread and horror turn
and fly before the magic powers of fascination had
succeeded in weaving that most deadly of all spells.
I have had many and varied experiences that would
take me many hours to relate; but this one thing I
must say, that for those who allow themselves to be
influenced by what they please to term departed
spirits, and who persist, in spite of the warning of
�16
The Spirit World
conscience, etc., there is but one end—damnation.
I know and feel this even at this moment; but what
hope is there now ? It is too late.”1
And in introducing the writer to the press, the
well-known authority on Spiritism, Mr. Godfrey
Raupert, writes:—
“ Although it is typical of the kind of letters which
I am constantly receiving, it puts the matter in an
exceptionally direct and uncompromising form. It
is difficult for me to describe the keen distress
which these letters cause to my mind, and how
deeply they make me realize my isolation and help
lessness in the face of this gigantic evil. It is of a
most subtle and pernicious character, and is not
merely threatening, but is steadily invading human
life, and is ruining countless souls. There is, alas !
abundant evidence that the Catholic sphere is being
increasingly affected. I am daily asking myself:
What is to be done? A letter such as this must
in any case free one from a charge of exaggera
tion, or of over-emphasizing the importance of a
subject of which one happens to have made a special
study.”
We are quite aware that a considerable part of
this modern Spiritism, with its mediums, seances, clair
voyance, evocation of spirits, etc., is demonstrably
made up of chicanery and fraud. But such an admix
ture of mere charlatanism does not preclude the
really preternatural, or even diabolical, character of
some of the phenomena of more advanced Spiritism.
And whatever explanation, whether natural or preter
natural, be given of such phenomena, there is no
doubt that the crucial evil, the specific danger, of
spiritualistic practices is the eventual subjection of
the will power to what is denominated “external
control,” be that control diabolical or merely human.
This control, this surrender of the keys of the free
1 The Tablet, 22nd July 1911.
�The Spirit World
if
will, is the true source of the frightful evils to which
Spiritualism inevitably leads.1
You may ask with some surprise why we should
have chosen such a subject as the present upon
which to address our flock in a Lenten Pastoral.
The reason is that it has been borne in upon us
by testimony from many sides that the pernicious
cult of Spiritism is spreading to an alarming extent
in all classes of the population, and even making
headway among Catholics. We have been credibly
informed that the evil is specially showing itself in
certain parts of our diocese, and that in North-East
Lancashire it is undoubtedly spreading among the
factory operatives, so many of whom belong to our
flock. It has thus appeared to us a solemn duty
to utter a timely and most serious warning against
the dangers, spiritual and even material, which the
adoption of spiritualistic beliefs and practices involves.
And this all the more so, because all the beginnings
are small and apparently harmless. A little dabbling,
perhaps for amusement, in some slight forms of
occultism, leads to deeper interest and an ever-grow
ing craving to know more and see more, until the
victim becomes a full adept and a slave of the cult,
like the writer of the pathetic letter quoted above.
We,-therefore, in the name of Almighty God and of
His Church, most earnestly warn, in the charity of
Jesus Christ, all members of our flock who shall hear
or read our words, to take heed and resist the seduc
tions of any and every form of Spiritism and super
stition of all kind, no matter how mild; and we
warmly exhort our Clergy both by public instruction
1 Full information on the dangers of Spiritism, which we can but
briefly summarize, is to be found in several recent Catholic writers,
e-f ,^auPert> Dangers of Spiritism (Kegan Paul & Co.), Modern
Spiritism (Sands & Co.), The Supreme Problem (Washbourne); F.
Lepicier, O.S.M., The Unseen World(Kegan Paul & Co.); Lapponi,
Hypnotism and Spiritism (Chapman & Hall); F. Miller, O.S.C.,
Sermons on Modern Spiritualism (Kegan Paul & Co.).
�The. Spirit World
and by guidance in the confessional, to preserve souls
committed to their care from these temptations, and
to endeavour to release such as may be already en
meshed in the evil influences.
“ Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of
battle ; be our safeguard against the wickedness and
snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly
pray : and do thou, Prince of the heavenly hosts, by
the power of God, thrust down to hell Satan and
all wicked spirits who wander through the world
for the ruin of souls.” (Prayer of Leo XIII., said
after Mass.)
APPENDIX
The following is an extract from the report of a
theologian upon the Conference cases of the Diocese
of Salford, 1911-12, concerning Spiritism :—
“ Amongst a multitude of letters which have reached
me is one from a non-Catholic lady, telling me that
she, with a sister and two brothers, had had very
strange experiences, of which she sent me the record
she had made. I wish I could divulge the name,
because then it would be seen that the word of the
elder brother was unimpeachable. All I am allowed
to say is that this elder brother was a man who stood
in the first rank of English biologists.
“ These four determined to see whether they could
get communication with the spirits of the dead, as
they thought. In their own drawing-room, without
cabinet or medium, or lowering of lights, they com
menced operations, sitting round a table with their
hands upon it. At once there were signs of the
presence of spirits. To begin with the communica
tions were very trivial, but after a few sittings the
spirit declared that he was the spirit of Bellew.
Bellew, a c.onverted Anglican clergyman, was a great
�The Spirit World
19
friend of this family. They were pleased to think
that they were in communication with the spirit of
their old friend, and some questions were put and
answered. One evening the elder brother asked:
‘ Is your present religion similar in the main to that
which you accepted in this life ? ’ Answer: ‘Yes.’
‘ Are there any material differences between your
present religion and your past religion ? ’ Answer :
‘ Yes.’ ‘ Have you any reason to modify your views
with respect to the doctrine of atonement, which
during your earthly life you fully accepted?’ ‘Yes.’
‘To what extent? to complete negation?’ ‘Yes.’
‘ In that case I presume that you no longer believe
Christ to have been the Son of God in any special
sense?’ ‘No.’ ‘Nor that as the Messiah He was
and is the Saviour of mankind ? ’ ‘ No.’
“ These answers of the spirit perplexed and troubled
the sitters very much, for they were ardent believers
in the divinity of Christ, and in Christ as Saviour.
They began to doubt whether they were really com
municating with the spirit of Bellew, and earnestly
prayed to God that they might not be deceived by
lying spirits. A very extraordinary answer to their
prayer was displayed at the next seance. The spirit
speedily manifested his presence and seemed willing
to answer, but yet 1 like a chained animal seemed
unable to do anything.’ The younger brother was
ordered out of the room by the spirit, and he ‘went
into the country for an hour’s walk, all the time
requesting God to cause the truth to appear, and to
defend His people from deception.’ The elder brother
asked: ‘Why can you not communicate with us
to-night? Is there anything wrong on our side?’
‘No.’ ‘ Are you willing to communicate?’ ‘Yes.’
‘ Are you able to communicate ? ’ ‘ No.’ ‘ Are you
controlled?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘By whom? good spirits?’
‘Yes.’ ‘Then are you the spirit of Bellew?’ ‘No.’
‘Were you deceiving us last night and to-night?’
�20
The Spirit World
‘Yes.’ ‘ Why do you undeceive us now ? Is it because
you are compelled?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Do you retract all
you said about the doctrine of Christianity being
false?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What is the nature of. the control
you are under ? ’ (Answer) ‘ God defends you.’
‘ Then what are you—are you the spirit of a human
being?’ ‘No.’ ‘You were never in the body?’
‘No.’ ‘Then you are one of the Devil’s own?’
‘ Yes.’ ‘ Do the spirits of departed persons ever visit
this earth?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then all the spirits which have
communicated with all believers .in spiritism have
always been evil?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘ What motive have you
in communicating with human beings?’ ‘Hatred.’
‘Hatred of mankind?’ ‘No.’ ‘Hatred to God?’
‘ Yes.’ ‘ You mean us to understand that your hatred
to God leads you to wish to seduce mankind (whom
He loves) from faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ? ’ ‘ Yes.’
‘ In order that they may be ruined and lost? ’ 1 Yes.’
‘ Do the spirits of wicked men ever return to attempt
to deceive their brethren?’ ‘No, none are so bad.’
‘ That appalling depth of malice is reserved for Devils
only?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Now, we know you are a lying
spirit, will you communicate with us any more ? ’
‘No.’
“ From that day, though they made a few attempts,
these four never succeeded in establishing communica
tion. It is of interest to know that these questions of
the elder brother were put mentally, without sound or
sign being made. These quotations, from a long record,
are a strange confirmation of the Church’s teaching ;
and therefore I was tempted to put them forward.
This is by no means the only instance on record of
the evil spirit being compelled, greatly against his
own wish, to declare the truth of his own discom
fiture.” (Sjtz. Saif. xxxi. pp. 106, 107.)
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY, LONDON.
N.—July 1912.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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Title
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The spirit world
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Casartelli, Louis Charles
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 20, p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: "A pastoral letter, 1912".||(BIB) Includes bibliographical references. Author's name from KVK . On p. 1 the author is given as 'The Bishop of Salford', without a name.
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Catholic Truth Society
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1912
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RA1554
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Spiritualism
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The spirit world), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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English
Spiritualism