WG-00.4-PREFACE TO REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION

PREFACE TO REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION In the light of criticisms and suggestions which have reached the author from various sources, it has seemed desirable to revise and amplify this work.

It has been asked by several if the writer has not taken too much for granted in saying or implying that the evolutionary theories of the past generation have been generally discarded by the “Science” of today. There is evident need of a further word on this point in order to give a clear statement of just what the writer believes to be the truth in this connection. A distinction is to be made between the theory of Evolution or Development, broadly (which is much older than Mr. Spencer’s philosophy), and the Materialism of the generation which has just passed away. The writer has spoken of the “passing of materialism” and, in particular, has called attention to the discredit which is more and more attaching to that utterly baseless conception known as the Darwinian theory of the Origin of Species. In the first edition of this book the writer said:

“We are concerned, therefore, not so much with Evolution in its comprehensive sense, as with the specific theory of the origin of living creatures, including man, by a process of ’natural selection’ in the ‘struggle for existence.’”

It was to the collapse of this part of the whole system, known popularly as "Evolution,” that attention was specially directed. A few changes of phraseology have made this distinction clearer in the present edition.

Those who wish to examine further evidence indicative of this movement of philosophic thought away from Darwinism and Materialism, are referred to a work, recently published in Germany, by Professor E. Dennert, Ph. D., entitled At the Death-bed of Darwinism, whereof an authorized English translation has been published by the German Literary Board, Burlington, Iowa. The following quotation from the preface of the translation will indicate the nature and scope of the work:

“In the series of chapters herewith offered for the first time to English readers, Dr. Dennert has brought together testimonies which leave no room for doubt about the decadence of the Darwinian theory in the highest scientific circles in Germany. And outside of Germany the same sentiment is shared generally by the leaders of scientific thought.” In chapter 2: of Dr. Dennert’s book the testi­mony of the Strasbourg zoologist, Dr. Goette, is given, being quoted from his Present Status of Darwinism. Dr. Goette refers to the reluctance of some naturalists to discard the theory of selec­tion, and says they are disposed to cling to it "simply because it seems to furnish a much desired mechanical explanation of purposive adaptations.” This reluctance to discard Darwinism, with nothing but the hated alternative of accepting the Bible account of creation, is quite natural.

Reference may also be had to Professor L. T. Townsend’s Collapse of Evolution (National Maga­zine Co., Boston, Mass.), in which the term “Evolution” is used as signifying mainly the Darwinian theory. But with reference to “Evolution,” strictly so-called, the writer not only does not maintain that that theory has been generally discarded in toto, but, on the contrary, firmly believes that there is a sphere whereof it may truly be said that all things contained therein have, from its very beginning, been subject to, and are still undergoing, never- ceasing changes, and that these changes take place in substantial accordance with the so-called “law of Evolution” as formulated by Herbert Spencer. It was from this sphere that Mr. Spencer drew those clear and convincing illustrations of the aforesaid “law” which lent support to his theory, and gained for it such wide acceptance. The sphere wherein everything, without excep­tion, is uninterruptedly undergoing those evolutionary changes (which Herbert Spencer noted, and which he called “Evolution”), is the sphere of human affairs and activities. Upon surveying this sphere, another observer (not so well known in scientific circles as Herbert Spencer) has summed up the prevailing conditions in the comprehensive and familiar line—

“Change and decay in all around I see.” But the important fact which Mr. Spencer and his disciples failed to note is that the operation of the law of Evolution is rigidly limited to the circle of the activities of the descendants of Adam. Within that circle everything, without exception, is subject to evolutionary changes. Outside of it there is not a trace of such changes. In a word, the area of the operation of the law of Evolution coincides absolutely with the area of the consequences of man’s departure from the will of God, as described in Genesis 3 : Evolution is the law of the career of fallen man. Along the entire pathway of that career, alike in all whereof man boasts and in all whereof he is ashamed, the marks of this law are manifest. Outside of that pathway not a glimpse of it can be seen. This is a fact of tremendous significance, and in order to show its importance the writer has added Chapters 16-24., inclusive, which did not appear in previous editions.

PHILIP MAURO.

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