The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2022, 6 March 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1907.

A correspondent “Fosil” enquires “if it is a fact that the Darwinian ‘Missing link’ lias been recently discovered in the Port Darwin territory of Northern Australia,” and* as others also may bo interested in the question wo may be permitted to state fully the facts that have come to light in connection with this view of the story of Creation. In the first place, let it be stated that thero never was a missing link in the chain of evidence collected by the great Naturalist in support of his theory of Evolution, and therefore the alleged discovery in Northern Australia is in reality an unimportant one from the scientific standpoint. To say this may at first sight appear somewhat unorthodox ,because there are those who regard the Darwinian theory as opposed to the Biblical theory of Creation. That, however, is largely a matter of interpretation and belief with which wo have no desire to interfere except to say that many eminent theologians, including Professor Drummond, aro -and were evolutionists, and can reconcile to their own satisfaction the two accounts of life’s beginnings. All that wo are here concerned about are the facts which science has revealed in eonection with the question pub by our correspondent, and we reply that although it has been stated that something describable as “the missing link” has been discovered in the region referred to by an unknown investigator, the fact so far lacks corroboration. The story is that an aboriginal has been discovered with hands and feet shaped like those of the monkey tribe; but science does not accept these stories until undeniable evidence establishes the allegation, and that, in this instance, is not yet forthcoming. It is interesting, however, to note that as late as the year 1593 a discovery was made in the island of Java by a Dr. Dubois, a surgeon stationed there with the Dutch army, which science has jnonounced to be “a veritable missing link,” and which has supplied actual evidence of the transition between man and the anthropoid ape. This interesting specimen of a long extinct species was rooted up from the Pleistocene strata of an old liver drift by Dr. Dubois who was in pursuit of geological studies, and three years later it was closely examined at Leydon by a conference of leading Paleontologists, with the renowned Professor Virchow at their head, and pronounced to be neither man nor ape, and was classified under the name of Pitheceanthropus Exeetus, or upright-walking ape-man. It was, i:i fact, the “Missing Link,” or the actual connecting link betweei tnar. and the lower order of creation. But, as wo have said, there never was a missing link in the chain of evidence, for there is more actual a; cement in structure between the orangotang and th email than there exists between the greyhound and the bulldog. But there is a vast difference between the two former intellectually, and that is the guif which scientific sceptics could never bridge until the Pithecanthropus was discovered. The chief difference between the man and the monkey lay in the fact that there never was a monkey known that could walk upright, or had a cranial cavity large enough to jermit him to exercise any amount of

intolligohco approaching that of man; but tlio Java discovery supplied 5 lime evidences and established tlio relationship beyond all doubt. Now it may not to some bo a comfortable thought to remember that we possess swell plebecian relatives; but that cannot alter the fact v.liat wo do possess thorn, though the connection is remote, yet, alter all, why should we despiso out forty-sovonth millionth cousins, seeing that the hand that V ade us made them also. And heio Jot us endeavour to dispel a common fallacy attributed to Darwin that could wo but trace our ancestry far enough back wo should find the in.inkoy in our remote an mitral lineage Darwin nover hinted at anything of tlio kind lor all that ho suggested was that l:oth man and monkey sprang from a common origin, no; ti nt man had sprung iron! the monkey; but even if it were so, our objections could not alter tlio fact or help us to got further away from our ancestors in order to satisfy our individual pride. Wo have to take facts as thoy are, not as wo would like thorn to be, and the great facts of Creation are not pliant enough to bo moulded to our vain desires. If science has done nothing else it has taught us that measure of humility which tlio greatest expounder of morals that the world has ovor seen so prominently emphasised, and wo should valuo scientific research for that reason if for no other. “Tlio work of Science,” says Ruskin, “is to substitute facts for appearances, and demonstrations for impressions,” and if its enormously cumulating facts dispel cherished appearances and impressions wo may regret it, but wo must inevitably succumb to the irresistible logic of truth.