The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

LIFE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT. 147done with the view of ascertaining, in a generaland necessarily restricted manner, thevalue of the evidence pressnted for its acceptance,thereby ascertaining its relations to theessential characteristics of religious thought.The first and simplest part of the task is toindicate the favorable impression it has madeon the minds of men,-the conquest it hasalready won for itself,-as a theory carryingwithin it a large amount of truth, whatevermay be its final form, after the very intricateand difficult questions involved have beencarefully examined. The theory has carriedgeneral approval for the position that " alliedspecies are descended from a common ancestor,"or, stating the same view in the mannersuggested by experiment, that it is possibleto obtain in the history of a single race of animals,considerable deviations in structure,and to give these deviations fixedness or permanenceby continuance of selected featuresalong the line of hereditary descent. Thishas been amply illustrated by the examplesof the various orders of pigeons, and of dogs;both classes of animals having been largelyexperimented upon, and the distinct varietiesbeing easily recognized and popularly known.