Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 3Huxley, Thomas Henry
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Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley — Volume 3
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Huxley, Thomas Henry, 1825-1895; Naturalists -- England -- Biography
On February 3 appeared the second letter, in which, setting aside the
particular form which his argument against Mr. Gladstone had taken, he
described the broad differences between the teachings of Genesis and
the teachings of evolution. He left the minor details as to the
interpretation of the words in dispute, which did not really affect the
main argument, to be dealt with in the next letter of February 4. It
was a question with which he had long been familiar, as twenty years
before he had, at Dr. Kalisch's request, gone over the proofs of his
"Commentary on Leviticus".
The letter of February 3 is as follows:--]
While desirous to waste neither your space nor my own time upon mere
misrepresentations of what I have said elsewhere about the relations
between modern science and the so-called "Mosaic" cosmogony, it seems
needful that I should ask for the opportunity of stating the case once
more, as briefly and fairly as I can.
I conceive the first chapter of Genesis to teach--(1) that the species
of plants and animals owe their origin to supernatural acts of
creation; (2) that these acts took place at such times and in such a
manner that all the plants were created first, all the aquatic and
aerial animals (notably birds) next, and all terrestrial animals last.
I am not aware that any Hebrew scholar denies that these propositions
agree with the natural sense of the text. Sixty years ago I was taught,
as most people were then taught, that they are guaranteed by Divine
authority.
On the other hand, in my judgment, natural science teaches no less
distinctly--(1) that the species of animals and plants have originated
by a process of natural evolution; (2) that this process has taken
place in such a manner that the species of animals and plants,
respectively, have come into existence one after another throughout the
whole period since they began to exist on the earth; that the species
of plants and animals known to us are as a whole, neither older nor
younger the one than the other.
The same holds good of aquatic and aerial species, as a whole, compared
with terrestrial species; but birds appear in the geological record
later than terrestrial reptiles, and there is every reason to believe
that they were evolved from the latter.
Until it is shown that the first two propositions are not contained in
the first chapter of Genesis, and that the second pair are not
justified by the present condition of our knowledge, I must continue to
maintain that natural science and the "Mosaic" account of the origin of
animals and plants are in irreconcilable antagonism.
As I greatly desire that this broad issue should not be obscured by the
discussion of minor points, I propose to defer what I may have to say
about the great "shehretz" and "rehmes" question till to-morrow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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