Chapter 1
WAS MAN CREATED?
BY
HENRY A. MOTT, JR., E.M., PH.D., ETC.,
_Member of the American Chemical Society, Member of the Berlin Chemical Society, Member of the New York Academy of Sciences, Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Member of the American Pharmaceutical Association, Fellow of the Geographical Society, Etc., Etc._
AUTHOR OF THE "CHEMISTS' MANUAL," "ADULTERATION OF MILK," "ARTIFICIAL BUTTER," "TESTING THE VALUE OF RIFLES BY FIRING UNDER WATER," ETC., ETC.
NEW YORK: GRISWOLD & COMPANY, 150 NASSAU STREET. 1880.
COPYRIGHT BY HENRY A. MOTT, JR., 1880.
TROW'S PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING CO., _205-213 East 12th St._, NEW YORK.
Electrotyped by SMITH & MCDOUGAL, 82 Beekman Street, N. Y.
PREFACE.
This work was originally written to be delivered as a lecture; but as its pages continued to multiply, it was suggested to the author by numerous friends that it ought to be published in book-form; this, at last, the author concluded to do. This work, therefore, does not claim to be an exhaustive discussion of the various departments of which it treats; but rather it has been the aim of the author to present the more interesting observations in each department in as concise a form as possible. The author has endeavored to give credit in every instance where he has taken advantage of the labors of others. This work is not intended for that class of people who are so absolutely certain of the truth of their religion and of the immortality that it teaches, that they have become unqualified to entertain or even perceive of any scientific objection; for such people may be likened unto those who, "_Seeing, they see, but will not perceive; and hearing, they hear, but will not understand._"
This work is written for the man of culture who is seeking for truth--believing, as does the author, that all truth is God's truth, and therefore it becomes the duty of every scientific man to accept it; knowing, however, that it will surely modify the popular creeds and methods of interpretation, its final result can only be to the glory of God and to the establishment of a more exalted and purer religion. All facts are truths; it consequently follows that all scientific facts are truths--there is no half-way house--a statement is either a truth or it is not a truth, according to the _law of non-contradiction_. If, therefore, we find tabulated amongst scientific facts (or truths) a statement which is not a fact, it is not science; but all statements which are facts it naturally follows are truths, and as such must be accepted, no matter how repulsive they may at first seem to some of our poetical imaginings and pet theories. We cannot help but sympathize with the feelings which prompted President Barnard to write the following lines, still we will see he was too hasty: "Much as I love truth in the abstract," he says, "I love my hope of immortality more." * * * He maintained that it is better to close one's eyes to the evidences than to be convinced of the _truth_ of certain doctrines which _he regards_ as subversive of the fundamentals of Christian faith. "If this (is all) is the best that science can give me, then I pray no more science. Let me live on in my simple ignorance, as my fathers lived before me; and when I shall at length be summoned to my final repose, let me still be able to fold the drapery of my couch about me, and lie down to pleasant, even though they be deceitful, dreams."[1] The limitations to the acceptance of truth that President Barnard makes is wrong; for, as Professor Winchell has said, "we think it is a higher aspiration to wish to know 'the truth and the whole truth.' At the same time, we have not the slightest apprehension that the whole truth can ever dissipate our faith in a future life."[2] Let us "Prove all things and hold fast unto that which is good," recognizing the fact that "the truth-seeker is the only God-seeker."
AUTHOR JANUARY 25, 1880.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE v, vi
CHART OF MAN'S DEVELOPMENT 10-13
PROTOPLASM 18
CELLS 20
LIFE 22
VITAL FORCE 24
ANALYSIS OF MAN 26
UNITY OF ORGANIC AND INORGANIC NATURE 28
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 30
THE COMING INTO EXISTENCE OF MAN 33
EVOLUTION 58
THEORIES OF THE WORLD'S FORMATION 64
THE BIBLE 70
KANT'S COSMOGONY 76, 86
NATURE A PERPETUAL CREATION 82
LAWS OF EVOLUTION 90
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 92
RUDIMENTARY ORGANS 94
REPRODUCTION BY MEANS OF EGGS 99
DOUBLE-SEXED INDIVIDUALS 99
INHERITANCE 100
ARTIFICIAL MONSTERS 106
ACQUIRED QUALITIES 106
GEOLOGICAL RECORD 108
ONTOGENY 110
THE ATTRIBUTES OF MAN 115
MUSCULAR FORCE 116
THOUGHT FORCE 118
THE ATTRIBUTES OF ANIMALS 122
THE ATTRIBUTES OF A SAVAGE 126
LANGUAGE 128
FAITH 130
TRUE CONSCIENCE 132
BELIEF IN GOD 136
PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD 138
UNITY OF ALL NATURE 140
SOUL 143
THE FINITE SENSES OF MAN 144
THE UNSEEN UNIVERSE 148
MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD 150
HOPE OF IMMORTALITY 142-151
WAS MAN CREATED?
HAECKEL'S CHART OF MAN'S DEVELOPMENT, Arranged by HENRY A. MOTT, Jr., Ph. D.
=9. Americans.= (_Indians._) | | Esquimaux. | | | HYPERBOREANS. Magyars. | | | =8. Arctic Men.= | | | Fins. +------+------+ | | Tungusians. Calmucks. Tartars. | Samoides. | | | | | | +-----------+-------+----+-------+ +---+--+ | | Altaians. Uralians. | | +-----------------+-------+ Japanese. Chinese. Siamese. | | | Tibet. | | | | | | Ural-Altaians. Coreans. +-------+-------+ | | | | | Indo-Chinese. | Coreo-Japanese. | | | | | +----+--------------+-----------------+ | Indo-Germanians. | Semites. Basques. | Caucasians. | | | | | | +----------+--+--------+------------+ | | | =12. Mediteranese.= | | | Singalese. | Fulatians. | | | | | DECCANS. | DONGOLESE. | | | =10. Dradidas.= | =11. Nubians.= | | | | | +----+--+--------+ | Polynesians. | | | Madagascars. Euplocomi. =4. Negroes.= | | | | | | +-----+---+ | =3. Kaffirs.= | | | | | | | Sundanesians. | +---+----+ | | | | =7. Mongols= =6. Malays= | ERIOCOMI. | | | | +------------+--------------+ | Promalays. =2. Hottentots=| | =1. Papuans.= | | | =5. Australians.= | | | | | +---+-------+ | +--+--+ | | | | | EUTHYCOMI. LOPHOCOMI. | | | | | +----+----------+ | | LISSOTRICHI (_straight-haired_) ULOTRICHI (_woolly-haired_). | | +------------+----------+ | =ALALI= (_speechless men_). =PITHECANTHROPI= (_ape-like men_). | V
| PRIMEVAL MEN. | | Satyrus Engeco Gorilla | (_Orang_). Hylobates (_Chimpanzee_). (_Gorilla_). | | (_Gibbon_). | | | | | +---------------+ +---------+------------+ | | African Asiatic (_Man-like Apes_). (_Man-like Apes_). | | +-------------------------------------+ | | Nasalis ANTHROPOIDES Semnopithecus (_Nose Apes_). (_Man-like Apes_). (_Tall Apes_). | | | | | +-------------+ | | Arctopitheci Labidocera | Cercopithecus Cynocephalus (_Silk-Apes_). (_Clutch-tails_). | (_Sea-Cat_). (_Pavian_). | | | | | +----------------+ +--------+---------------+ | | Aphyocera Catarrhina Menocerca (_Flap-tails_). (_Tailed, Narrow-nosed Apes_).
Platyrhinæ Catarrhinæ (_Flat-nosed Apes_). (_Narrow-nosed_). | | +--------------------------------+ | Simiæ (_Apes_). Brachytarsi | (_Lemurs_). | | +--------------+ Proboscidea | Pinnipedia (_Elephants_). | (_Marine Animals Lamnungia | | of Prey_). (_Rock-Conies_). | | Nycterides | | | | (_Bats_). Carnivora +-------------+ | | (_Land Animals | | Pterocynes of Prey_). Chelophora | (_Flying Foxes_). | (_Pseudo-hoofed_). | | Carnaria | | Chiroptera (_Animals Rodentia | (_Flying Animals_). of Prey_). (_Gnawing Animals_). | | | | | +------------------+ | Leptodactyla | | | (_Fingered | Insectivora | Animals_). | (_Insect Eaters_). | | | | +-----------+ | | | | | +----------------+------------------+ | PROSIMIÆ
Sarcoceta (_True Whales_). PROSIMIÆ (_Brought forward_,) | (_Semi-Apes_). Sirenia (_Sea-Cows_). Cetacea (_Whales_). | Ungulata Edentata Deciduata (_Hoofed Animals_). (_Poor in teeth_). (_Deciduous Animals_). | | | +--------+----------------+ | | | Indeciduous | (_Indeciduata_). | | | +-------------------------------------+--------+ | PLACENTALIA (_Placental Animals_). | Marsupialia | Marsupialia Botanophaga | Zoophaga (_Herbivorous_ | (_Carnivorous_ _Marsupials_). | _Marsupials_). | | | +--------------------------+-------------+ | Ornithostoma Marsupialia (_Beaked Animals_). (_Marsupial_). | | +---------------------------+-------+ | PROMAMMALIA (_Glacal Animals_).
MAMMALIA (_Mammals_). Aves (_Birds_). | | | Reptilia (_Reptiles_). | | | +---------------+---------+ | Teleostei Halisauria | (_Osseous Fish_). (_Sea-Dragons_). Amniota (_Amnion Animals_). | Dipneusta | | | (_Mud-Fish_). | Amphibia (_Batrachians_). Ganoidei | | | (_Ganoid Fish_). +----------+-------+--------------+ | | | Amphipneumones | (_Vertebrate Animals, breathing through lungs_). | | +--+------------------------------+ | SELACHII (_Primeval Fish_). | PISCES (_Fishes_). | | Amphirrhina Cyclostoma (_Double Nostrils_). (_Round-mouthed_). | | +----------------------------------------------+--------+ | Monorrhina (_Single-nostriled_).
Craniota (_Animals with Skulls_). Leptocardia | (_Tube-hearted_). | | | Thaliacea. +--------+--------+ (_Sea-Barrels_). Ascidiæ. | | | Acrania +--------+-------+ (_Skull-less Animals_). | Tunicata Vertebrata (_Tunicate Animals_). (_Vertebrate Animals_). | | +-------------------+---------+ | Vermes (_Worms_). | Zoophytes | (_Animal Trees_). | | | +-----+-----+ | Protozoa (_Primeval Animals_).
ANIMAL MONERA. | | VEGETABLE MONERA. | NEUTRAL MONERA. | | | +---------------------+-------------------+ | ARCHIGONIC MONERA (_Pieces of Protoplasm which have originated by Spontaneous Generation._)
WAS MAN CREATED?
WHAT SCIENCE CAN ANSWER.
"The object of science is not to find out what we like or what we dislike--the object of science is Truth." In the discussion of the subject, "_Was Man Created?_" our object will be--not to study the many ways God might have created him, but the way he actually did create him, for all ways would be alike easy to an Omnipotent Being.
Let us look at man and ask the question: What is there about him which would need an independent act of creation any more than about the "mountain of granite or the atom of sand"? The answer comes back: Besides life, man has many mental attributes. Let us direct our attention at first to the grand phenomena of life, and then to man's attributes.
To discover the nature of life, to find out what life really is, it would be folly to commence by comparing man, the perfection of living beings, with an inorganic or inanimate substance like a brick, to discover the hidden secret; for, as Professor Orton says:[3] "That only is essential to life which is common to all forms of life. Our brains, stomach, livers, hands and feet are luxuries. They are necessary to make us human, but not living beings." Instead of man, then, it will be necessary for us to take the simplest being which possesses such a phenomena; and such are the little homogeneous specks of protoplasm, constituting the Group _Monera_, which are entirely destitute of structure, and to which the name "Cytode" has been given. In the fresh waters in the neighborhood of Jena minute lumps of protoplasm were discovered by Haeckel, which, on being examined under the most powerful lens of a microscope, were seen to have no constant form, their outlines being in a state of perpetual change, caused by the protrusion from various parts of their surface of broad lobes and thick finger-like projections, which, after remaining visible for a time, would be withdrawn, to make their appearance again on some other part of the surface. To this little mass of protoplasm Haeckel has given the name _Protanæba primitiva_. These little lumps multiply by spontaneous division into two pieces, which, on becoming dependent, increase in size and acquire all the characteristics of the parent. From this illustration, it will be seen that "reproduction is a form of nutrition and a growth of the individual to a size beyond that belonging to it as an individual, so that a part is thus elevated into a (new) whole."