Smithson's Theory of Special CreationSmithson, Noble
Religion
Smithson's Theory of Special Creation
Smithson, Noble
Creation
Why does the elephant grow larger than the mouse. Both are mammals and
are built of cells. The mouse has identically the same organs and parts
that the elephant has. The mode of reproducing each is the same as that
of the other. The spermatozoön, ovum and germ-cell are common to both.
How does it happen that all normal adult individuals of each species of
animal in a given region and of each sex, have substantially the same
form and size, called: “the mode?”
The reader may reply that nature fixes the size and form of every
individual of each species. The evolutionist will say that the law of
heredity and environment determine the sizes and forms of animals and
plants; that the mouse is small because his ancestors were small; that
the elephant is large because his were large.
But these replies do not explain the phenomena. Each animal grows
anew, for itself. His body is a new combination of the atoms and
cells of which it is composed. The forces and motions employed in its
construction are new and peculiar to it. When the cells in an embryo
body begin to grow there is no apparent reason why they should not
continue to grow and multiply, forever. Now, what psychic force or
agency ascertains and determines when the work of building up the
animal body has been completed? What force or agency equalizes the
growth and waste of cells in a mature animal body and keeps it of the
same form, size, and weight until the decay of old age comes on?
The size of every animal depends upon the size and number of cells in
his body; and its form is determined by the manner in which these cells
are grouped together. For example there are more cells in the nose
(trunk) and teeth (tusks) of the elephant, in proportion to the size of
his body, than there are in those of the mouse in proportion to his.
It is clear that a mouse would grow to be as large as an elephant if
the cells in his body continued to grow and multiply for a sufficient
period of time. Why do the cells cease to multiply when the mouse has
attained a certain size? Why do they stop work in the elephant’s body
when he gets his normal growth? Do the cells in the mouse and those in
the elephant know when their work is done? How do they know it?
The materialist denies the existence of a First Cause and maintains
that every animal and plant is the result of “a natural continuous and
necessary evolution.” (Haeckel, Evolution of Man, p. 26.) Huxley says,
in effect, that “secondary causes” produce all the phenomena of the
physical universe; and that man and the rest of the living world “are
all co-ordinated terms in nature’s great progression.” (Man’s Place in
Nature, pp. 150-151.)
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