UP FROM THE SLIME
Sir,-A long time ago I read a reference to du Nuoy’s book that described him as a Roman Catholic, internationally eminent scientist (now dead), who had been connected with the Rockefeller Institute, U.S.A., and later with the Pasteur Institute, Paris, and had been awarded a prize for his work. My recollection is quite definite, but as I cannot at present quote the supporting
authority, this point must femain in suspense, G.H.D, says that du Nuoy was "not even a Christian." Let du/Nuoy speak for himself: "The time has come for all men of good will and of good faith to become conscious of the paft they can play in life if our great Christian civilisation is to endure. . . Our animal ancestors fought for their lives; men fight for their faith in the higher destinies of man... the so-cailed Christian virtues are really the consequence of the laws of evolution; that is precisely what we believe. . .. The ideas which are the logical ‘result of the telefinalist hypothesis of evolution developed in this book are essentially those of Christian morality." Your readers can decide whether du Nuoy comes within my category of religious scientists, or is, as alleged by G.H.D., "not even a Christian." Those who accept the imaginative story in Genesis as proof that God then created all things as we now know them may be asked: How did the serpent progress before it was condemned to crawl on its belly? Did it walk like a centipede, or fly? And why, as science declares, does the unborn child develop gill-slits, and even a tail? Why do animals during development often pass through stages in which they resemble other and usually simpler animals? Finally, scientists tell us that fossil remains often show us actual intermediate stages in ‘evolution, and if geology speaks truly, we can go back steadily in the earth’s history to a time when there ig no trace of man, and _ still further back when we can still find animals.
J. MALTON
MURRAY
(Oamaru),
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19541217.2.12.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 804, 17 December 1954, Page 5
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338UP FROM THE SLIME New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 804, 17 December 1954, Page 5
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