p. 9 | The Passing of Darwinism by W. W. P.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 19, 1911

The Passing of Darwinism

By W. W. P.

THAT particular phase of evolution usually designated as Darwinism appears to be on the wane. This may be a surprising statement to those who have not followed the trend of scientific discussion bearing upon this subject, but we believe that the facts warrant this conclusion. So dogmatic have been the claims of those who have advocated an apish ancestry for man, and the conclusions drawn from a selected group of phenomena have been asserted with such a perfect degree of assurance, that many of the laity in science have accepted these evolutionary theories without investigation or discussion, evidently thinking that it would be just as bad to be unorthodox in science as in religion, and that both were to be avoided.

Of late, however, there have been some very vigorous protests by men of standing in the scientific world against the teachings of Darwin and his disciples, and the weaknesses of the development hypothesis have been plainly pointed out. Among those who have taken issue with this doctrine is the author of a book recently published, who discusses the question at considerable length. We present herewith liberal extracts from a review of this book:—

The Russo-French physiologist, M. Elie de Cyon, for many years professor in the faculty of sciences and in the Academie Medico-Chirurgicale at the University of St. Petersburg, has lately published a book of essays entitled “God and Science,” . . . The last half of the book is a discussion of the decadence of Darwinism. This decline “predicted thirty years ago,” is now, he insists, an accomplished fact, “however partizans of these views may seek to hide from the public the whole extent of their defeat.” In 1909 there was held at Cambridge University a brilliant celebration of the centenary of Darwin’s birth, and just previously at Paris, a similar demonstration in honor of Lamarck. “The public at large,” writes M. de Cyon, “which follows movements in the scientific world with distracted attention, hardly realizes that these resounding festivals in honor of two noble savants were actually but solemn funeral functions in honor of dead theories. For the initiated, these pompous discourses were merely the passing bell of the hypothesis of descendance.”

M. de Cyon points out that theories of a mechanical evolution were opposed by a far larger group in the scientific world thirty years ago than is generally realized. Among the enemies of Darwinism were such men as Virchow, von Baer, Florens, Milne-Edwards, Claude Bernard, and Quatrefages. But their opposition was either too timid or too disdainful to be effective. “The atheistic evolutionary speculation found immense popular vogue among those who desired to see the Creator dethroned, who wished to be delivered from religion and the restraints imposed by the moral law on covetousness and human passion.” It found browbeating exponents in men like Haeckel, and succeeded, for the

time, in silencing objections. The two bases of Darwinism are the natural selection of the fittest and the hereditary transmission of characteristics acquired in the struggle for existence.

It is curious to note that these bases have been broken down by two evolutionists, H. Spencer and Weismann. The Darwinian system reduced to simple terms is the dogma of natural selection, which “loses all support if acquired characteristics are not inherited.” M. de Cyon goes on to say: “The theory that the marvelous operations involved in a transformation of species, are to be explained solely by the accidents of the struggle for existence and for procreation, is the most absurdly supernatural conception that has been brought forward since the days of Empedocles.” . . .

The theory of an apish ancestry for man, de Cyon declares pure assumption. He quotes Fraas, who devoted his long life to the study of fossil animals: “The idea that mankind has descended from any simian species whatsoever, is certainly the most foolish ever put forth by a man writing on the history of man. It should be handed down to posterity in a new edition of the Memorial of Human Follies. No proof of this baroque theory can ever be given from discovered fossils;” and Virchow: “I have never found a single ape skull which approaches at all the human one. Between men and apes there exists a line of sharp demarcation. If we compare known fossil men with men of today, we can boldly affirm that the individuals of a low development are much more numerous, relatively, among present-day men than among fossils.” In other words, the race is degenerate, rather than the fruit of an exquisite development! . . .

De Cyon is a master physiologist—one of the greatest, indeed, of our day. He was, in his younger years, professor of mathematics in St. Petersburg, and his book shows a well-traveled familiarity with the whole field of abstruse metaphysical speculation. It is interesting, then, to get this testimony to the religion of Jesus from a mind of such perfect training.

“What psychological truth or what historical fact has ever been demonstrated by experimental proofs approaching, even at a distance, those which demonstrate the divine origin of the gospel’s revelations? The culture of the entire civilized world, and the history of myriads brought out of ignorance and savagery to the light of faith and science, reply, ‘None.’”—Record of Christian Work, September, 1911, pages 564-566.

In this decadence of Darwinism we have another illustration of the uncertainty of human science, and of the danger of accepting too hastily man-made theories simply because they are backed by great names, or are labeled as the latest conclusions of scientific research.

We would by no means belittle the great value of those additions to human knowledge which have been the result of patient and conscientious investigation in the realm of science, and we believe that these discoveries have tended to give a more intelligent interpretation to the revelation of a personal God found in the Written Word. We do object, however, to that science, falsely so-called, which with a self-confident air claims to supersede all revelation, and to substitute the gospel of self-salvation for that salvation which is the gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ. The graveyard of science is filled with the decaying remains of many once robust theories which were opposed to revelation, but the truth of God still lives. A voice is still heard which says, “Put not your trust in man.”

W. W. P.