Smithson's Theory of Special CreationSmithson, Noble
Religion
Smithson's Theory of Special Creation
Smithson, Noble
Creation
“We must not assume any original creation, nor repeated creations,”
says Haeckel, “to explain this, but a natural, continuous and necessary
evolution.” (Evolution of Man, p. 26.) He argues that there is no
personal God.
Writing in the Encyclopedia Britannica (vol. 8, p. 746, 9 ed.)
Professor Huxley says:
“No exception is, at this time, known to the general law, established
upon an immense multitude of direct observations, that every living
thing is evolved from a particle of matter, in which no trace of the
distinctive characters of the adult form of that living thing is
discernible. This particle is termed a _germ_.…
“The definition of a germ as ‘matter potentially alive, and having,
_within itself_, the tendency to assume a definite living form,’
appears to meet all the requirements of modern science … And the
qualification of ‘potential’ has the advantage of reminding us that the
great characteristic of the germ is not so much _what it is_, but _what
it may, under suitable conditions, become_.…
“In all cases, the process of evolution consists in a succession
of changes of the form, structure and functions of the germ by
which it passes, step by step, from an extreme simplicity, or
relative homogeneity, of visible structure to a greater or less
degree of complexity or heterogeneity; and the course of progressive
differentiation is generally accompanied by growth, which is effected
by intussusception,” [interstitial deposit.]
“… And so far from the fully developed organism’s being simply the
germ _plus_ the nutriment, which it has absorbed, it is probable that
the adult contains neither in form, nor in substance, more than an
inappreciable fraction of the constituents of the germ, and that it is
almost wholly made up of assimilated and metamorphosed nutriment.”
This being true, it cannot be said that the germ (fertilized ovum) ever
develops into a man or woman. On the contrary it is annihilated; and
its identity is wholly lost among the daughter-cells which are made of
the mother’s food.
Herbert Spencer invented what he calls “physiological units” or
“constitutional units,” and “structural proclivity.” But neither he
nor any other man ever saw one of these “units,” they being wholly
imaginary. In his Principles of Biology (vol. 1, p. 368) under
“Genesis, heredity and variation,” he says:
“So that though all parts are composed of physiological units of the
same nature, yet everywhere, in virtue of local conditions and the
influence of its neighbors, each unit joins in forming a particular
structure appropriate to its place.”
Could anything be more absurd?
For Spencer’s view of “physiological units” and “structural proclivity”
see Principles of Biology 1, pp. 226, 361, 362, 365, 368, 372, and vol.
2, pp. 612-618.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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