Part 1

EVOLUTION AND CREATION.

EVOLUTION AND CREATION:

BY

HERBERT JUNIUS HARDWICKE, M.D.,

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, AND MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF EDINBURGH; FELLOW OF THE LONDON MEDICAL SOCIETY; HONORARY FELLOW OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LIVERPOOL, THE SOCIETY OF MEDICINE OF ATHENS, AND THE SOCIETIES OF DOSIM. MEDICINE OF PARIS AND MADRID; VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE MEDICAL BRANCH OF THE MALTHUSIAN LEAGUE; LATE EDITOR OF “THE SPECIALIST.” HON. PHYSICIAN TO SHEFFIELD PUBLIC HOSPITAL FOR SKIN DISEASES, AND TO SHEFFIELD AND SOUTH YORKSHIRE EAR AND THROAT HOSPITAL; HON. CONSULTING PHYSICIAN TO LEEDS PUBLIC HOSPITAL FOR SKIN DISEASES; AUTHOR OF “THE POPULAR FAITH UNVEILED,” ETC.

“‘Learn what is true in order to do what is right’ is the summing up of the whole duty of man for all who are unable to satisfy their mental hunger with the east wind of authority.”—Huxley.

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.

1887.

PREFACE.

Many imperfections, as I anticipated, have been discovered in my “Popular Faith Unveiled,” some of importance and others of little consequence; and many suggestions have been offered in all kindness by those who have done me the honour of reading my work, for consideration in case I should issue another edition. The strongest of all the arguments urged in favour of the real necessity for a second and revised edition is that that part of the subject treated upon which related more particularly to the true origin of man was not dealt with in a sufficiently exhaustive manner in the last work. This, of course, is a true charge: but it should be borne in mind that the main object of the book was to expose the real nature of the popular superstition, and not to trace out the pedigree of man; and, moreover, to have entered fully into such subjects as the evolution of mind and matter would have considerably augmented the bulk of the work, and consequently have necessitated such an increase in the price as to have made it prohibitory to a large number of thinkers, who have not too much spare cash to throw away. I therefore determined not to re-issue the work in an amplified form, but to supplement it with a number of published lectures (delivered here and in various other large towns) and articles, which should be ultimately brought out as an illustrated volume.

These lectures, etc., some of which are re-prints from journals and some of which I have myself printed in my leisure moments, I now offer to the public in book form, together with a number of figures, maps, etc., illustrative of the subjects treated upon. “Man—Whence and Whither” and “Evolution of the God-idea” are re-printed from _The Agnostic_; “Man’s Antiquity,” “Evolution of Mind,” “Zodiacal Mythology,” “Intellectual Progress in Europe” and “The Annals of Tacitus” from the _Secular Review_; and “The Special Senses” and “The Bible” from _The Agnostic Annual_: the remainder of the text, as before stated, has been printed by myself.

I must acknowledge with gratitude my indebtedness to Mr. John Bennett, of Prince’s Buildings, Dronfield, who has been kind enough to assist me by drawing the zodiacal signs, the Bacchanalian insignia, the oriental and Egyptian zodiacs, Amen-Ra, Mafuca, Aidanill and the negro head, the two hands, the Fuegans, the Australian (2), African and European skulls, and Boötes, Virgo, Cetus, Aquarius and Sagittarius; and also to Mr. Wm. Gill Hall, of 66 Cecil Road, Sheffield, who has kindly drawn for me the single chimpanzee, the orang, the lemur, the face of the proboscis monkey, the moor monkey, the hairy couple from Burmah, the genealogy of man, the earth’s section, and the ascent of mind. The remainder of the illustrations, with the exception of the two zincographs of the gorillas and chimpanzees (the frontispiece), have been drawn by myself; and I must trust to the generosity of my readers to overlook the amateur style of my productions, which, it is hoped, will be found sufficiently well done to serve the purpose for which they are intended. However amateur the illustrations may be in appearance, this I can truthfully say, that every sketch in the book is a faithful reproduction of the original. Some of the illustrations, however, have been derived from such gross originals that it has not been considered advisable, for many reasons, to reproduce the figures in their entirety; but wherever part of a figure has been modified by the substitution of a symbolical or other device the fact has been notified to the reader at the foot of the illustration.

In the course of the following lectures the opportunity has been seized to rectify some of the mistakes inadvertently committed in my “Popular Faith Unveiled;” but there are two errors in printing that have not yet been set right, and to which, therefore, I should now like to call attention. The first occurs on page 102, lines 9 & 10 from the bottom, where אלהי—_A.L.E.I._ should have been written אליה—_A.L.Y (or.I.)E. (El Yah), or_ אלוה—_A.L.OU.E. (Eloh)_, etc. The next occurs on page 109, line 6 from bottom, where _millions_ should read _thousands_.

I have only now to frankly admit that during the last few years my views as regards the theories of ultimate causation and the future state have undergone some modification; that consequently I now regard the line of argument adopted in support of the theory of a future state of consciousness on pages 5 & 6 of my above named work as a false one and the conclusions arrived at as consequently false also; and that respecting the existence of a ruling power in the universe, I neither affirm nor deny such a condition, being contented with the knowledge that I neither know nor apparently can ever know anything at all about the matter, and recognizing, with Moleschott, the incontrovertible truth that “there is nothing in our intellect which has not entered by the gate of the senses.”

H. J. H.

Purton Lodge, Sheffield. January 1887.

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.

ERRATA.

MAN—WHENCE AND WHITHER?—Nebular Hypothesis—Formation of Earth’s crust—Fossil remains in stratified rocks—Pedigree of Man—Pleistocene and Neolithic Ages—Spontaneous evolution of life—Theories of existence and ultimate causation—Man’s future state.

MAN’S ANTIQUITY.—Cave explorations—British and continental discoveries—Glacial periods—Tertiary upheaval and submergence in Europe—Tertiary fauna and flora—Pleistocene ice age—Palæolithic age—Tropical origin of Man—Neolithic age—Shell-mounds and remains of lake-dwellings—Bronze and Iron ages—Aryan invasion of Europe—Historic era.

EVOLUTION OF MIND.—Universal life or motion—Protoplasmic life—Cell life—Origin of organs of sense—Embryonic development—Dawn of infantile intellect—Intellectual and emotional evolution in the individual—Corresponding development in the race—Animals reflective and emotional—Language in man and animals.

THE SPECIAL SENSES.—Evolution of.

EVOLUTION OF THE GOD IDEA.—Dawn of intellect—Earliest conception of Deity—Sun worship—First human tribes—Aryan mythology—Vedic system—Brahmanism—Hindu virgin and child-saviour—Boodhism—Western Aryan mythology—Zeus, Apollo, Prometheus, Hercules, Dionysos, & Yao—Central Aryan mythology—Mazdeism—Mithra—Egyptian mythology—Osiris, Isis & Horus—Amen-Ra, Mises—Chinese mythology—Semitic mythology—Akkadian and Chaldean myths—Adonis, El, Yahouh—Jewish origin—Bible gods—Confucianism—Mohammedanism—Christianism.

ZODIACAL MYTHOLOGY.—Ancient and modern zodiacs—Precession of equinoxes—Deification of zodiacal signs and other celestial bodies—Savior-sun-god dramas—Sacred numbers & symbols—Ancient and modern phallic worship—Dionysia, Adonia & Agapæ.

INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN EUROPE.—Egypto-Greek or classic era—Alexander the Great—The Alexandrian Ptolemies—Essenian revivalism—Destruction of the Serapion—Murder of Hypatia—Christian annihilation of science—Birth of Mohammed—The Koran—Saracen learning—Tenth century scare—Crusades—Averroism—Annihilation of Saracen power—Establishment of Inquisition—Discovery of America—Martin Luther—The Reformation—Copernicus—Revival of Arianism—Murder of Servetus—Index Expurgatorius—First newspaper—Murder of Bruno—Kepler’s laws—Galileo—Newton’s theory of gravitation—Discovery of Oxygen—First locomotive engine and screw steamer—Telegraphy—Christian Church opposed to progress.

THE BIBLE—Origin of Authorised Version—List of Bible books—Description of MSS—Ancient Hebrew language—Invention of vowel-points—Dates of earliest Hebrew and Greek MSS.

ANNALS OF TACITUS.—Abelard—Arnold of Brescia—Wicliffe’s heresy and trials—Papal schism—Jerome of Prague—John Huss—Triple Popedom—Council of Constance—Search for old MSS—Boggio Bracciolini, Niccolo Niccoli & Lamberteschi—The forgery—Extracts from letters—Discovery of “The Annals.”

CREATION AND FALL.—Faith and reason—Mosaic narratives—Creation opposed to science—Genesis absurd and immoral—Authorship of Pentateuch—Christianity a failure—The real trinity—Religious hypocrites—Morality not Christianity.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

_Frontispiece_—Chimpanzees and gorillas.

Lemur and face of Proboscis Monkey (after Mivart).

Moor Monkey (after Mivart).

Chimpanzee (after Mivart).

Adult male Orang (after Mivart).

Mafuca and Aidanill (after Mivart), and Swaheli Negro (after Tylor).

Hands of Gorilla and Hammegh man (after Hartmann).

Natives of Tierra del Fuego.

The hairy family of Burmah.

_Man—Whence and Whither?_

Genealogy of Man.

Section of Earth’s crust.

Tertiary period in Europe.

Eocene seas.

Pleiocene seas.

Pleistocene submergence during temperate inter-glacial epoch.

Pleistocene Europe during post-glacial continental condition.

Skeleton of man.

Skeletons of gorilla and chimpanzee.

Outlines of the skulls of a chimpanzee, the Neanderthal man and a modern European.

Outlines of the skulls of the Neanderthal man, a modern Australian and the Engis man.

Australian, African and European skulls (after Tylor and Hartmann).

_Man’s Antiquity._

Evolution of mind in man.

Amœba and Gasteropoda.

_Evolution of Mind._

_The Special Senses._

Androgynous Brahm.

Isis, Horus and fish.

Indranee and Indra; and Lakshmi and Vishnu.

Devaki and Kristna: and Parvati and Siva.

Amen-Ra (after Drummond).

Crucifixion of Kristna; Crux Ansata; Assyrian virgin Ishtar; Cyprian virgin and child; Isis and Horus.

_Evolution of the God Idea._

Zodiacal Signs, showing the precession of the equinoxes.

Bacchanalian insignia.

Oriental Zodiac (after Sir Wm. Jones).

Egyptian Zodiac (after Sir Wm. Drummond).

Northern signs and extra-zodiacal constellations.

Southern signs and extra-zodiacal constellations.

Zodiacal line, or Ecliptic, showing the precession of the equinoxes.

Boötes, Adam, Joseph—Virgo, Eve, Mary—Cetus, Blasphemy.

Aquarius, John Baptist, Peter—Sagittarius, Joseph, Philip.

God incarnate with man.

Phallic amulet and phallic lamp.

Votive offerings to god Priapus.

Phallic crux ansata and amulet.

_Zodiacal Mythology._

Vedic and Hindu Earths.

Greek Earth, and Pomponius Mela’s cosmography.

Eighth and tenth century maps.

Fourteenth century maps.

Egyptian and Ptolemaic planetary system.

Planetary systems of Tycho Brahe and Copernicus.

The Iron Virgin—inside view.

Ditto—outside view.

_Intellectual Progress in Europe._

Sixth century MS. of Luke xx. 9, 10.

Fragmentary MS. from John’s gospel.

_The Bible._

EXPLANATORY NOTES.

The illustration of Brahm, the androgynous creator of the Hindus, “is a copy of an original drawing made by a learned Hindu pundit for Wm. Simpson, Esq., of London, whilst he was in India studying its mythology. It represents Brahm supreme, who in the act of creation made himself double, _i.e._, male and female. In the original the central part of the figure is occupied by the triad and the unit, but far too grossly shown for reproduction here. They are replaced by the _Crux Ansata_ [a cross and circle representing the male and female elements in nature]. The reader will notice the triad and the serpent in the male hand, whilst in the female is to be seen a germinating seed, indicative of the relative duties of father and mother. The whole stands upon a lotus, the symbol of androgyneity. The technical word for this incarnation is _Arddha Nari_.” (Inman’s “Ancient Faiths.”)

The illustration of the god Siva, nursed by his virgin-wife-mother, Parvati, requires some explanation. The right hand of the virgin makes the symbol of the yoni (female principle) with the forefinger and thumb, the rest of the fingers typifying the triad. In the palm and on the navel is a lozenge, emblematic of woman. In the infant’s hand is one of the many emblems of the linga (male principle), whilst under his feet a lotus supports his body. The monkey is emblematic of the carnal desire. The relationship existing between the mother and child was of a twofold nature. The deities of the ancients were usually androgynous, and thus each of the members of the Hindu triad possessed two parts, a male half and a female half, which he inherited from his androgynous parent Brahm, whose female principle brought forth the three essences, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Thus each god became the husband as well as the son of the divine female principle, just as _Virgo_ of the zodiac was both mother and wife of the sun-god of the annual revolution, mother at his birth at the winter solstice and wife at his ascension at the summer solstice. The female part or wife-mother of Siva was the virgin goddess Parvati; of Vishnu, Lakshmi; of Krishna, Devaki; of Indra, Indranee; of Horus, Isis; etc.

The illustration of the amulet of the double _Crux Ansata_, represents the female principle at the top in the shape of a ring (which has the same meaning as the winged disc, cup, and shell, or _Concha Veneris_); the male principle in full vigour on the right side in the shape of a cross (male organ of generation in the original); the unprolific male principle of infancy on the underneath side, also in the shape of a cross (infantine male organ in the original); and the act of generation on the left side, in the shape of a clenched hand, with the thumb bent across the back of the first finger.

The illustration of god incarnate with man represents the saviour of the world—ΣΩΤΗΡ ΚΟΣΜΟΥSÔTÊR KOSMOU—as a cross, or phallic symbol (an erect male organ in the original), which forms the beak on the head of a cock, the symbol of the rising sun, the whole resting on the shoulders of a man, symbolical of the incarnation of god and man.

The illustration of the amulet in Mr. Townley’s museum represents the female principle at the top, in the form of a circle, under which is the victorious sun-god of the vernal equinox, in the shape of a bull’s head with a cross or phallic symbol (erect male organ in the original) on either side of the mouth, the whole being emblematic of the sexual union of the powers of heaven and earth, and the consequent regeneration of nature at the spring equinox.

Mafuca, whose portrait is given in the following pages, was a female ape from the Loango coast, placed in the Dresden Zoological Gardens. Hartmann, in his “Anthropoid Apes,” describes her as being “120 cm. in height, reminding us in many respects of the gorilla. The face was prognathous; the ears were comparatively small, placed high on the skull, and projecting outwards; the supra-orbital arch was strongly developed; the end of the nose was broad; and there were rolls of fat on the cheeks.” K. Th. von Siebold also classed her as a gorilla; but Bolau and A. B. Meyer opposed this view; while Bischoff, judging by the structure of the brain, thought she was a chimpanzee. Now it is pretty generally believed that she was either a cross between the gorilla and the chimpanzee, or else a member of a distinct species of anthropoids intermediate between the gorilla and the chimpanzee. In Hartmann’s account of Mafuca we read that she was “a remarkable creature, not only in her external habits, but in her disposition.... She hardly obeyed anyone except Schöpf, the director of the gardens, and when in a good humour she would sit on his knee and put her muscular arms round his neck with a caressing gesture.... Mafuca was able to use a spoon, although somewhat awkwardly; and she could pour from larger vessels into smaller ones without spilling the liquor. She took tea and cocoa in the morning and evening, and a mixed diet between whiles, such as fruit, sweetmeats, red wine and water, and sugar.... If she was left alone for any time she tried to open the lock of her cage without having the key, and she once succeeded in doing so. On that occasion she stole the key, which was hanging on the wall, hid it in her axilla [arm-pit], and crept quietly back to her cage. With the key she easily opened the lock; and she also knew how to use a gimlet. She would draw off the keeper’s boots, scramble up to some place out of reach with them, and throw them at his head when asked for them. She could wring out wet cloths, and blow her nose with a handkerchief. When her illness began, she became apathetic, and looked about with a vacant, unobservant stare. Just before her death, from consumption, she put her arms round Schöpf’s neck when he came to visit her, looked at him placidly, kissed him three times, stretched out her hand to him, and died.” It may be added to this that Mafuca exhibited the greatest decorum and modesty in the performance of all her daily and other natural functions.

Aidanill, the hairless Australian, is a good specimen of a low type of human being; having a superciliary prominence greater than is usually found amongst races of men, with a remarkably small cranial capacity and almost entire absence of frontal development. The skull, in fact, differs but little from that of Mafuca, given beneath it; and its owner belonged to those races described on p. 14 of “Evolution of Mind.”

The Swaheli Negro is a good specimen of the dolichocephalic prognathous type of head, considerably higher in intellectual capacity than that of Aidanill.

The hands are intended to illustrate the close resemblance between the hand of a gorilla and that of a man belonging to the Hammeghs of the Nubian Soudan. It will be observed that while the fingers of the gorilla are webbed, the second and third fingers of the man are slightly webbed and his thumb and first finger very considerably webbed.

ERRATA.

MAN—WHENCE AND WHITHER?—Page 12, line 11 from top, for “Palæolithic” read “Pleistocene;” and line 12 from top, for “on the earth” read “in Europe, for the human remains found in France clearly testify to the fact; and even in America his antiquity must be very great indeed,” etc.

EVOLUTION OF MIND—Page 1, line 6 from top, for “Protamnia” read “Protista.”

EVOLUTION OF THE GOD IDEA—Page 25, line 17 from top, for Σευς read Ζευς.

INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS IN EUROPE—Page 17, line 9 from top and line 7 from bottom for “Purgatorious” read “Expurgatorious.”

ANNALS OF TACITUS—Page 15, line 13 from top, for “that religion” read “that the religion.”

CREATION AND FALL—Page 6, last line, and page 7, last line but one, for “mammals” read “placental mammals.”

MAN: WHENCE AND WHITHER?

The fables of the creation of nature and man by various fantastic and ridiculous means, which have, for thousands of years, found favour with the unthinking multitudes inhabiting the earth, and which even now are, one or other, firmly believed by the large majority of both the Eastern and Western populations, must, ere long, gradually give way to the truer and grander theory of Evolution, resulting from the study of the natural sciences. Priests, monks, and other interested people, backed up by the enormous wealth which has accumulated to the various religious creeds during the past centuries of darkness, ignorance, and gross credulity, will, no doubt, oppose all their tremendous forces against the new philosophy, thus, for a while, delaying the inevitable result. But this condition of things cannot last long. Education is doing, and will continue to do, its work, until, at length, falsehood and slavery will give place to truth and liberty.

In order to discover the origin of man, it is necessary to carry the mind back to a very remote period, and observe the mode of development of our planetary system; for, according to the theory of Evolution, there were no starting points for particular forms in nature, the whole universe consisting of one continuous unfolding of phenomena.

The modern theory of the mode of development of our earth, as also of all other planets and suns, is the one known as the “Nebular Hypothesis,” which is the prelude to the great theory of Evolution, and which teaches us that the earth, the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the heavenly host are the effects or results of the condensation of a nebulous vapour, which took place many millions of years ago, after having been diffused for an incalculable period of time throughout the illimitable expanse of space. The cause of this nebulous vapour, or attenuated matter, is unknown to us, and will probably ever remain enshrouded in the profound mystery which at present envelopes it. Beyond this limit all is mere speculation or hypothesis; and the Agnostic philosopher and the man of science, humbly acknowledging their complete inability to solve this mighty problem of ultimate causation, are content to leave further speculation in this direction to metaphysicians and poets.

During many long ages this process of condensation of the nebulous vapour steadily continued, being controlled by the laws of gravitation and transformation, until, at length, a number of rotating spherical nebular masses were formed, in a state of high heat from the shock of their recently-united atoms, which spheres gradually cooled by radiation, consequently contracting and becoming possessed of a more rapid rotary motion, giving off from their equatorial regions large rings of vapour, which, in their turn, condensed and, under the influence of the same two laws, formed separate spheres for themselves. This is the mode by which our planetary system was formed, as taught by Laplace and accepted by the scientists of to-day.

The earth, then, in common with other planets, may be said to have passed from the condition of a gaseous to a highly-heated fluid mass, and to have gradually become plastic, and moulded by revolution on its own axis to its present shape—_i.e._, an oblate spheroid, or globe, flatter at the poles than at the equator, with a polar diameter about twenty-six miles shorter than the equatorial diameter. This is the shape that all plastic bodies which rotate on their axes must assume, as we are clearly taught by mathematics.