"EVOLUTION'S WAY"

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 36, 13 February 1933, Page 2

"EVOLUTION'S WAY"

■"♦ (To the Editor.) Sir,—Under the heading "Evolution's Way, a letter appeared recently in "The' Post criticising an article by Dr. Morgan, ! of America, published on January 2S. Dr. i Morgan says: "Mutations (of species) are due to changes in th_. living cell, and: these 'changes are in turn due to physical '■ chemical laws." The letter referred to. challenges this self-evident idea and substitutes the absurdity that (to quote) "What l really underlies this statement is the fact, that Dr. Morgan has observed that changes in the living cells follow regular laws. This regularity he calls a law, and has mada the mistake of regarding it as a cause. Regularity is neither a law nor a cause; it is merely obedience to a law set by some thing (or person) outside itself The writer sums up that "it seems clear that the cause of changes in anything in nature*cannot.possibly be the mere regularity of those changes." Well, Sir, if the vtrams in Wellington did not follow regular laws, m obedience to the electric current which dogmatically urges them onward and taot backward, we should have to have ai divining branch to prophesy in which, direction (forward, backward, or sideways) the approach, to our destination was "to be made for the day. Absurd, you say?' Kemember, "regularity is neither a law I nor a cause; it is merely obedience to ai law set by some thing (or person) outside' of itself (the tram, in this case). The interaction between natural forces (called nature for short) we have all around us. JJr. Morgan is dealing with, blind forces, j or necessity (our electric current, as above), which forces nre as regular and idependable as gravitation. Nature, surrounds us; we are her pupils, in a sense, but we "master" her only by obeying. The ■ ignorant man may not be scientific, but ; his brain can interpret common sensethat is the evidence of the senses common; to all. We view the vast machinery of: the elements through a- peep-hole, and then pretend that1-that fractional view 1 pictures the whole. To put it plainly, appearances are deceitful. The earth is reported by the senses to be a plain, but we know it to be a moving globe.. The phenomena of the sky changes from season to season, and appear to be the'very opposite tp what science teaches about astronomy. Why may not, then, the evolutionist be right in his conclusions, even if they clash with our ideas of Human origin instilled into us when children?—l I*™' ct °" EVOLUTIONIST.

Air accidents to civil machines in Britain in 1931 caused twenty-three death^ The Royal Air Force total was Eeventyj five.